Posts from 2011 World Championship for Heroes IV Online.

Coordinator:

Oxygen (e-mail: oxygen@heroesleague.ru)

Executor:

CTPAHHuK (e-mail: beermanru@mail.ru)

Organizers:
Camoes – Heroescommunity (e-mail: antoniomclopes[dog]gmail.com);
Havr – HeroesLeague (e-mail: havr[dog]bk.ru);
HeartDe – HeroesPortal (e-mail: sandrochka[dog]inbox.ru);
Lu41k – HeroesWorld (e-mail: lu41k[dog]yandex.ru);
M8mat – Archangelcastle (e-mail: m8mat[dog]hotmail.com).

Judges:
Gustn – Heroescommunity (e-mail: gustn_toh[dog]terra.com.br);
DJN – Archangelcastle (e-mail: jean.ruhlmann[dog]gmail.com);
00Draniki – HeroesPortal (e-mail: tracey4adams[dog]yahoo.com);
Shnurov – HeroesLeague (e-mail: shnurov[dog]list.ru);
Zybr – HeroesWorld (e-mail: shineheart[dog]yandex.ru).

The judges' decisions during the tournaments are final and not subject to appeal.

Tournaments are held on version Heroes IV — Equilibris 3.51. No third-party modifications are allowed.

Tournament format

World Championship has a classic Playoff structure. The size of the bracket depends on the number of registered players.

Dates and deadlines

October 1st: championship start
December 16th: championship end.

For round 1 of the World Championship, you have 21 calendar days(3 pairs of off days), for subsequent rounds - 14 calendar days(2 pairs of off days)

Maps for the 2011 World Championship and recommended difficulty:

1. Power Spot (Master - Expert, 8 min);
2. Plains of Despair (Master - Expert, 8 min);
3. Circle of life (Master - Expert, 8 min);
4. Eldorado (Master - Expert, 6 min) ;
5. Bizarro (Master - Advanced, 8 min);
6. Heart of the Winter (Master - Expert, 6 min);
7. Iron Man (Master - Expert, 8 min);
8. Spleen (Master - Expert, 8 min);
9. Danger Zone (Master - Expert, 6 min);
10. Lezkandra (Master - Expert, 8 min).

Dear participants, please be sure to read the Regulations and Rules of the tournament carefully.

Download Regulations and Rules, Download maps, Download software.

Tournament goal

The tournament is held annually with the aim of uniting the community of "Heroes of Might and Magic IV".

The current world champion is Gustn

Playoff bracket:


Data for registered players:
Data table

Hamachi networks have been created for WC 2011 players:
For the first 8 pairs of players: WC 2011 1-8 (password WC 2011)
For 9-16 pairs of players: WC 2011 9-16 (password WC 2011)

If you are the host of the game:
In case of absence of an opponent or a failed start to the game, the Host must inform the judges in advance (5 days before the end of the round). If there is no explanation from the host regarding the unplayed match, he will be awarded a technical defeat. A technical defeat is also given to the host for using maps that are not on the list of tournament maps and for using modified tournament maps without prior agreement with the judges.

Be sure to report the result of the game to CTPAHHuK via e-mail in the following format:
[First player's name] ([race]) [def/lose] [Second player's name] ([race]) — [map name], [game time at the end of the game in the format "month week day"]
For example: CMEPTb (Haven) def. ANL (Haven) — Crimson and Clover, 113

This thread is not intended for resolving controversial situations.

The thread was created to resolve current issues and contact the executor, judges and organizers with suggestions or appeals, in case of prolonged absence of their answers to personal messages and email.


WC Team
Oxygen, Camoes, CTPAHHuK, 00Draniki, DJN, Gustn, Havr, HeartDe, Lu41k, M8mat, Shnurov, Zybr.

GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!!

This time, the bracket turned out to be quite balanced. There are a couple of serious matchups that are already set for the round of 8, but most of the interesting games will take place in the quarterfinals. Havr had the worst luck – he'll have a tough time already in the round of 16, and Matthew will be waiting for him even further down the line. Shnurov doesn't have it easy either – he'll face Camoes in the round of 8. Although, perhaps the newcomer will give him a run for his money, but I wouldn't want that to happen. A good matchup is also shaping up between Strannik and Kavaler, but I would still bet on Strannik. :-[

Added after 13 hours 10 minutes
Zybr (Death) def. RionPaladin (Order) — Bizzaro, 146

It seems I was the first to finish my game. :) The game as a whole wasn't too difficult, and I definitely still need to improve. I got lucky in several moments during the game. First, I found two champion lairs and a devil lair. Second, neither of the enemy's prisons had lords guarding them. Third, at the end, I found gloves and two additional devils in the cacti. I played cautiously, without taking unnecessary risks. First, I scouted in all directions and determined the best course of action. I decided not to spend money on scrolls and extra movement, and instead, I placed devils on day 5. I moved slowly because my scout wasn't leveling up at all – I almost reached the end of the game with only the first level of scouting, until I maxed out the Death skill.))) Of the more or less serious or at least average battles, I would mention taking the devil lair at the end of the first week. I lost a couple of heroes there, but I kept all the venom units just in case. After that, it was easy, but I didn't rush to level up to level 4 for a long time. I focused on tactics. At the beginning of the third week, I finally decided to break through to level 4, gathering 4+3 devils and 2 champions. I managed to win the first battle against 6 champions and 15 venom units with difficulty, barely making it. After that, I felt more confident. The viewers already saw what happened next. I collected some artifacts, and with the help of the venom units, I broke through the guard tower, the thief's hideout, and the magic garden, thereby earning enough money to buy the Helmet of Power and the key to the portal, which significantly improved my movement. This led me directly to the second champion lair. I collected everything that was there (at the top). I gathered some spells and moved towards my opponent. I killed his sentinel gnome with a devil, then used a potion of endurance to reach his army on the same day. The final battle wasn't very successful. After the battle, my opponent conceded. Thank you to him for the game.

BigAke (Sylvan) def. HeartDE (Haven) — Circle of life, 213 :smile14: Armor is strong, and our tanks are fast ;-)

Game 1/16: CTPAHHuK (Haven) defeats Kapper (Asylum) on Bizarro in 1m2w1d. Game 1/8: CTPAHHuK (Necropolis) defeats CavalierGard (Asylum) on Plains of Despair in 1m2w7d. Unfortunately, we couldn't finish both maps. Thank you to our opponents for the game.

BigAke (Nature) def. Zybr (Death) - Bizarro 215

It was a great game! There was literally everything: setbacks, luck, despair on both sides, and fierce battles. So, let's go over everything in order. I started well: by the middle of the first week, I had 3 castles and a Grand Master of Nobility. As my opponent later said, he felt like giving up at that point, but he pulled himself together and continued the game. And it paid off! After that, things got tough for me. First, I became convinced that almost all the treasure locations were blocked for me, and I couldn't get close to an Expert of Death. On the other hand, I encountered a Chaos village with a Creature Dwelling, which ultimately doomed me at the beginning.
On day 5, the devils didn't appear, unlike in the previous game - there was nowhere to defend resources, simply nowhere! They only appeared on day 7. I decided that with 1 devil, 3 venomoths, and some minor units, I would attack the Creature Dwelling. But there were 2 dragons there. They fried me. Well, it wasn't critical, but it was annoying. -1 devil. Things got even worse after that. In a fit of anger, I attacked a griffin nest with two more devils (it seems it was a few days later) and was defeated again. It was the middle of the second week, and I had low-level heroes, no army, and I didn't know where to go. It was a moment of despair. I thought about giving up. But in the end, we postponed the game. With a fresh perspective, I looked at the map, identified the only possible route, and outlined a plan of action. Taking the newly spawned devil and 6+1 ghosts, I went up, bypassing the two-way portal. Along the way, I captured the Dwarven Shield (+20% to defense), then took a Vampire Lair. This gave me some kind of army, capable of at least breaking through something. After that, I did everything, constantly speeding up the pace, but quite calmly and deliberately. I moved without backtracking, spending each move as rationally as possible. As a result, I managed to "from the back" open a couple of passages, and logistics improved. I upgraded the runner, upgraded the tactician. By the time I opened the passage to my opponent, I had 6+1 devils, two chaos creatures, and only Experts, a Grand Master of Running, a tactician 535, and an Expert of Death. By that time, I had only learned 1-2 circles of spells. I took 8 Dark Champions + 21 Ice Shields of Might (+30% to defense and a nature ward), then took a Legendary Axe (+40% to attack) from 6 Creature Dwellings + 14 ifrits, losing 2 devils (I consider this a justified loss), then defeated 11 phoenixes with earth elementals for a worthless cactus (+10k gold). On the mushrooms, I rushed to the center, towards the Creature Dwelling. With such artifacts, even 1 dragon would be a great help. I captured it without much difficulty and took the Creature Dwelling. I took a protective ring from the venomoths, and in the cactus, I got a cloak (just in time!). At the same time, a partisan war between gnomes and elementals, BigAke's heroes, and my thieves and pigs, had been going on for several days. I monitored his movements in every way.
So, not seeing the presence of his army nearby, I entered his territory, took the mushroom (again, they gave me junk, but at least not 1 imp, as it was at the beginning), leveled up on a tree, and took the Staff of Chaos from under 14 bulls. I returned, learned some magic. And here is one of the main mistakes: in the third castle, I didn't finish building the magic tower, and there, on the 4th floor, "Call of the Dead" was patiently waiting, a spell with which I could have easily dealt with the Fortress. But, unfortunately, I didn't learn it before the Fortress. After carefully checking my opponent's base with thieves and removing the effect of the fountain, I decided that with such an army and stats, I could easily defeat him and attacked. The Fortress battle went terribly - I attacked and didn't finish off the forty, for which I logically received a mass cancel (if I had "Call of the Dead," the mass cancel would have gone to my opponent, and the devils would have destroyed his heroes). After that, I made a couple more mistakes and received debuffs from my own spells (reflected by a mirror). With the tactics of my devils, it was almost impossible to defeat them (only 1 was killed), but the heroes were almost all defeated. In the end, when it became clear that I was losing the Fortress battle, I fled. But I decided to play it out to the very end. I built the 4th floor in the third castle, saw "Call of the Dead," and gasped (well, I won't elaborate on the remarks I made to myself :D). I gathered 10 venomoths and 3 old vampires (from the lair), took "Call of the Dead," and settled in the castle. I defended myself with a cool head, using my only chance - to kill as many phoenixes as possible with the venomoths and then raise them with "Call of the Dead" (a powerful tactician is still a powerful tactician, and it's hard to kill him - I had a guardian robe). As a result, the battle turned out to be interesting, difficult, and I almost managed to destroy my opponent's tank. But at the last moment, he managed to drink a Greater Healing Potion. That's where it all ended.
Whew, it turned out great. I'm happy that I managed to almost turn around a hopeless game (after all, in addition to losing against me, there was the terrain, as well as the cacti, which gave absolute garbage), but it's a pity that in the end I gave away the victory myself.
But BigAke is great! He played well and deservedly won.
Thank you for the game and good luck in the future!

BigAke (Nature) loses to M8mat (Haven) in the Circle of Life map, 1-3-4. Basically, I wasn't expecting much when playing against Matthew, but I also had bad luck... I didn't even get a Grandmaster's Amulet until the final... and my fast unit was also weak... My opponent already controlled the Gloves of the Warrior, the second castle, and my gold mine by day 5... I only managed to take back all these advantages on day 8 (although I did free the lord earlier :-)). Thanks for the game. :smile14:

Jel (Nature) defeats CTPAHHuK (Nature) Bizarro 147

Nature again :) 5 games on Bizarro in autumn and 5 games as Nature )))

Started for the dead. Strained for the living. Ended just as I started :) Having bought the passage to the second castle and some mushrooms along the way, for some reason, I went to clear the Mantis. It was in those very Mantises that I got wiped. I don't understand at all why I went there. The road toward the dwelling was a dead end, and I already knew that. Moreover, I bought the mushrooms near the pigs specifically so that after the second castle I could turn around and run for the prisoner. In short, I lost my entire army and 2 game days. After buying 3 tigers and leprechauns, I finally went to free the prisoner. On the way, I encountered Bizarro's Hut. I managed to take it, but lost almost all my heroes in the process. Only the Runner and 3 tigers remained. To the two lost days, another day was added waiting for the resurrected. The resurrected heroes quickly caught up with the army using mushrooms and attacked the thieves' bank. Then it got more interesting — with three tigers and heroes, I rob the thieves, but I spend a lot of mana. And on the way to the prisoner, there are another 3 clusters of such thieves running around. I keep going, having absolutely no idea how to break through three sets of a hundred thieves. It's already the 7th day, and I realize that for the first time in my life in a game of this duration, I'm afraid of the "littles." And imagine my joy when I saw that the neutral thieves had cleared off the road :) Passing through without battles, I finally free the Expert Druid. Spending the last reserves of mana on the battle with the final neutral thieves, I push through to the altars, learn Sands there, and flee to the castle. To the second one, so that now I can definitely take out the Mantis.

The second attack on the mantises went easier. Moreover, on the way I used a two-way teleport to capture the 3rd Order castle and return back to the Mantises. The third castle gave me a decent idea. If I had won, I would have written — a great idea :) To take, besides Tactic, Runner, GM Life, and GM Nature, GM Order. Against Jel's Nature, I was waiting for Teleport and Mass Dispel. I ended up getting nothing in the castle. Just random junk. Except for Berserker, which I couldn't use in the finale — there was no opportunity to cast it on monsters or Jel's heroes.

The essence is this. At 125, my heroes have levels: 1, 1, 1, 2, 3. Jel's heroes, as expected, are close to level 10. However, whether it was just how things played out or whether I started running like a maniac out of fear, in short, I cleared my territory faster than Jel and came to him myself. Because I was afraid he would cook up a Demonologist from his prisoner. Before coming to him, out of 4 opportunities to cast Quicksand on Jel's main heroes, I missed two, and in two cases, I took away half a game day :) Several people saw what a hole I was in by the start of the 3rd week. Not everyone watched until the end. By the finale, the sides were:

Jel had — Warlord lvl 19 with Exorcism, Paladin GM Life lvl 16 with Dispel, a simple GM Nature lvl 16, and a Bard lvl 17 with Master Nature; 16 Phoenixes, 10 Mantises, 16 WD. Dispel only with the Lifer, Exorcism and Tactic with him.

I had — Warlord lvl 18 with Swarm of Bees and Anti-Magic (Expert Nature), Paladin GM lvl 17, Battle Mage GM lvl 16 with Berserker and Dispel, GM Druid lvl 17 with Dispel, Runner with Teleport lvl 17 from a scroll; 10 Phoenixes and 10 Mantises.
He had morale +5, I had +11 (+9 on heroes). From tactical artifacts, having almost fully cleared my side, I only had the shield against nature and morale ones. He had the Helmet of Speed and Boots of Speed. At the same time, his morale +5 worked just as often as mine, i.e., every turn. His Phoenixes could fly to any of my heroes from almost any point, especially from the starting position. He attacked me and his Phoenixes flew behind my Tactic, who was standing at the very top left, striking such that the druid fell too. Quite a speed.

Despite the coolness of his artifacts. By the way, he also had an Axe +40% to monster attack :) Despite his luck with artifacts, I admit my mistake in the finale. A ridiculous blunder, but my own :) Just as I started the game wrong, I started the final battle wrong. Just one mistake, both at the start and in the finale. Blocking Jel's WD with my 10 Phoenixes, I stood slightly crookedly — blocking the line of sight for a strike on the heroes, but exposing my Mantises. Jel immediately cast Forgetfulness on my mantises with his WD, and they immediately skipped a turn :) This happened three times. With his WD, he did nothing but mess up my mantises. Not a single other mistake in the finale. But there was no point in error-free play anymore. One mistake was enough. Exactly like at the start of the game :) Not losing 3 games. It could have been easier to play on the battlefield. And the easier it is to play, the fewer the mistakes ))) In the end, the resolution was one-sided; he controlled my Mantises, and I couldn't solve it with Phoenixes alone. His Mantises under anti-magic wouldn't obey me. I had to play defensively. I held out for 5 rounds and surrendered :)

It was interesting to play. Losing, given my start, became more pleasant with each passing day. Especially after opening the passage. Every day I added a lot to both the army and hero levels. In terms of levels, considering I had one more hero, I think I caught up by the end. Regarding the army, everything was decided by the layout. I joined everyone except 2 Phoenixes and all Mantises. I had few WD — 3 neutral positions, Gargantuans also 3 or 4. But Gargantuans are joined 1 by 1, plus they are slow. I played as best I could, messing up twice.

Remembering the first 14 days of the game, I lost with pleasure. In the end, resisting :) There's no particular disappointment. There's only an unpleasant feeling — losing to an opponent who is one line above you in the World Championship rating :) Therefore, we will try to go further in the next WC, especially through Jel :)

And meanwhile.... Interportal awaits ))))))))))

That's it, I'm going to sleep. From 11 AM to 3 AM, nothing but nature. My nature. Jel's nature. Neutral nature. That's what I'll be dreaming about :)