The Tournament of the Underdog (Part 1)
- TheMed
- Jul 13, 2024
- 14 min read
Updated: Jul 31, 2024
It was a Friday evening in St. Petersburg, FL. Most people my age were probably at bars and clubs a mile way in downtown St. Pete, kicking off their weekend with a bang. I was in my room yelling at the top of my lungs at my computer screen. Twitch was pulled up on my monitor and from its speakers emanated the excited and exasperated voice of the legendary gaming commentator Memb. Memb has commentated on professional Age of Empires II gameplay for over a decade. Even he wasn't believing what he was seeing. Sitaux, the aggressive and opportunistic Frenchman, had Hera, the machine-like Canadian on the ropes. Sitaux had been up 3-1 in this best of 7 series, but Hera had clawed back two games in a row to even the score 3-3. We were now going to that most hallowed ground of competition: Game 7. From a competitive perspective it was the perfect way to end a hard-fought and entertaining day of Age of Empires II, yet I was anxious. Sitaux was a massive underdog and now Hera had all the momentum. All I wanted was for Sitaux to overcome his demons and end Hera's era of total supremacy over the tournament scene. The final civilization picks were locked in. Hera had selected Lithuanians. Sitaux would play as the Vietnamese. This was Sitaux's last chance. Would he let it slip as he had the last two, or would he find another level of gameplay to overcome the world's best Age of Empires II player?
Age of Empires II is a game that seems as old as the trees. Originally released in 1999, the game and its community has gone through its ups and downs over time, yet remarkably its player base has grown. Twenty-five years later, the community is as vibrant as ever and the competitive scene is thriving.
Age of Empires II is an RTS or Real Time Strategy game. Let's break down what that means. "Real Time" specifies that unlike a board game, an RTS is not turn based. Action happens in real time. RTS games are also defined by strategic choices a player must make. Throughout a standard game of Age of Empires players will have to make hundreds of small and large choices that affect the outcome. For example, there are four resources that can be gathered by your villagers: food, wood, gold, and stone. What resources you choose to gather and at what times can completely change the nature of a game by determining what structures you can build, what units you can create, and what upgrades you can research. This constitutes the economic aspect of Age of Empires II.
Despite the economic aspect of the game being extremely important, at its very core Age of Empires II is a game of tactics and fighting. Age of Empires II features a wide roster of many different unit types from slow, but cheap infantry units, to fast and expensive cavalry. What units you train and how you use these units are crucial elements to achieving victory. For example, let's say you are playing as the Franks and your opponent is playing the Berbers. Your civilization, the Franks, has many bonuses that allow you to produce top notch knight units, however your Berber opponent has a very strong counter to your knights: camels, a cavalry unit that gets a bonus when fighting other cavalry units. So as the Frankish player you have a difficult choice to make: do you still go for knights anyway since that is what your civilization is best at, or do you decide to produce another type of unit like monks or archers that aren't as strong as your powerful knights, but your Berber opponent will find harder to counter?
These are the kinds of tough decisions that make Age of Empires II such a deep and fascinating game and why hundreds of thousands of players across the globe still play it twenty-five years later.
AoE II has a vibrant competitive scene that has grown significantly since the release of the Definitive Edition which came out in 2019. Since then, the majority of the largest AoE II tournaments have been won by a handful of world class players. For a long period of time the world's undisputed best player, "TheViper", won nearly every tournament he competed in. In more recent months, a young Canadian player who goes by the in-game tag "Hera" first challenged TheViper's dominance and then eclipsed him, beginning his own era of dominance in the competitive circuit.
While Hera's ascendancy is a relatively recent development, the AoE II tournament scene has always been controlled by a small number of elite players. Age of Empires II is a very difficult game to play at an elite level. Only a very small percentage of the pros have the talent and knowledge needed to make deep tournament runs. Thus, if you were to look back in time to see which players placed in the top four at prestigious tournaments you would spot venerable names like Liereyy, Hera, TheViper, Mr. Yo, and Tatoh over and over again while other players might only make one or two appearances.
In a series of Age of Empires II, the best player almost always wins. The game is so difficult and has such a high skill ceiling that even a small talent gap can lead to a massive difference in performance and results. Large upsets are quite rare. But when they do occur, the moment is that much more unique, celebrated and as a passionate fan like I may argue, euphoric as a result.
The most recent Age of Empires II tourney was the ShenAiXie Cup, a major event with a $20,000 prize pool. It was an Arabia-only tournament meaning that only the game's most popular land map would be played. Once again, all of the usual suspects qualified: Liereyy, Hera, TheViper, Mr. Yo, Tatoh etc. As expected, In the round of 32 all of these players handily demolished their opponents. But then all hell broke loose.
The first upset of the round of 16 came when Sitaux took a close set against community favorite DauT 4-2, yet this was no huge surprise. DauT and Sitaux were considered very close in overall skill, with DauT possessing a slight advantage. However, it was a sign of things to come.
The next set on June 7th was Mihai vs TheViper. TheViper was a heavy favorite. Most consider him to be the greatest Age of Empires II player ever. Mihai is a young Romanian who has yet to win a major tournament. Fans of the game weren't all that excited to watch the set. All signs pointed to TheViper winning in convincing fashion. However, this notion was dispelled immediately. In the first game Mihai played aggressively. In late Castle Age at 32:33 in game time he planted a castle right in front of TheViper's base. For a few tense minutes it looked as if Mihai's aggression might overwhelm TheViper's defense.
But then TheViper's booming economy took over. He hit Imperial Age first, built trebuchets to take down Mihai's forward castle, and proceeded to steamroll. It had been a textbook Viper victory, he had defended efficiently and grown his economy, building an insurmountable superiority in resources. Yet, Mihai had shown grit and a willingness to take risks. Mihai was totally unafraid of and unintimidated by TheViper and would take the fight to him.
The second game was in many ways the opposite of the first. Mihai played much more measured and defensive. He sat back and utilized his strong Vietnamese eco to passively get ahead while lightly pressuring TheViper's base. Once Mihai got to three TCs with handcart the game was practically over. Mihai built a few mid-map castles, got to Imperial Age and used his powerful unique unit, the Rattan Archer, and bombard cannons to close the game out. The series was now 1-1.
In the opening moments of Game 3 TheViper bounced back in a big way. The Norwegian went for a risky and uncharacteristic man-at-arms opening. It paid off in spades. Mihai had not completed his base walls when TheViper's militia timing hit him. In a few seconds Mihai had lost 3 villagers, devastating his early economy. In many games at the pro level losing villagers this early is impossible to recover from.
Following his effective raid, TheViper then played passively hoping to leverage his newly won economic advantage to gradually outpace his opponent. But Mihai countered with aggression of his own, massing a large army of scouts and archers in Feudal Age. Mihai positioned his army to pressure TheViper's berries, a much-needed source of food. TheViper was forced to fight. Mihai's larger and higher-quality army of archers and scouts decimated TheViper's Eagle Scout and skirmisher composition.
After cleaning up TheViper's forces, Mihai positioned his victorious army to the east side of TheViper's base to pressure his gold. He needed to. TheViper was on the way to Castle Age. If TheViper got gold to make Eagles the early Castle Age pressure from the Eagle spam could be crushing. Mihai broke into TheViper's base and put tremendous strain on TheViper's economy, nearly ending the game with his timely aggression. Yet, just as his fate seemed sealed, TheViper was able to amass enough Eagles with double armor upgrades to barely fend off the threat. It was a close-run thing.
The game then progressed to a Castle Age brawl. TheViper went for the classic Aztec Eagle Warrior and monk composition while Mihai focused on knight production complemented by a few crossbows. Mihai's composition was again better. In fights Mihai used his crossbows to pick off TheViper's monks while his knights took care of the eagles. Mihai's micro during these fights was world class, at points even outshining TheViper's own impressive abilities.
While the Castle Age fights were going on, back at his base Mihai was accruing a large economic lead, having researched the economic tech wheelbarrow and also having added an additional Town Center before TheViper. Quickly Mihai outpaced Viper's military unit production and simply overwhelmed with him knights. TheViper saw the writing on the wall and called the GG. It had been an incredible game. Both had played at a high level. TheViper's early militia gamble had paid off handsomely. Mihai's response to go full archers and scouts and pressure Viper's resources was equally impactful. Then again, Viper's defensive effort after Mihai had broken into his base had been nothing short of brilliant. So many memorable moments packed into a short game. Yet down the stretch Mihai had gradually accrued small leads across the board and built upon them to overpower TheViper. He was now ahead 2-1 in the series. On to Game 4.
The matchup for the next game of the series was Koreans (Mihai) vs Malay (TheViper). Malay was one of TheViper's power civs that he had picked early in the draft, whereas Koreans was a later pick for Mihai. TheViper had a distinct civ advantage, but if Mihai could win this matchup, it would also knock out one of TheViper's top picks.
Surprisingly, both players opened militia, with neither finding much early damage. The game started getting interesting when at about 18 minutes into the game Mihai decided to ignore TheViper's skirmishers knocking on the front door of his base and ran his units across the map to pressure TheViper. Both players poked and prodded with their forward units, but then backed off, not wanting to risk overcommitting. TheViper and Mihai clicked up to Castle Age within seconds of each other, but thanks to his faster-aging civ bonus TheViper got there first. Mihai was able to thwart TheViper's early crossbow timing by getting his own crossbow upgrade in the nick of time and leaning on the Korean free archer armor civ bonus.
While blunting and then pushing back TheViper's pressure, Mihai went for an ultra-aggressive siege workshop and began producing mangonels, using this as a springboard to build towers and pressure the front of TheViper's base.
During the time Mihai had set up his forward pressure, TheViper had been expanding his economy, building two TCs in the northern corner of the map. Knowing his opponent was focused on creating pressure, TheViper moved a small group of crossbows in a wide arc, to avoid being spotted, into Mihai's wood line. Mihai reacted quickly building a defensive tower, but the damage was unavoidable. TheViper killed five villagers in seconds, greatly diminishing Mihai's already paltry economy.
However, Mihai was able to punish TheViper's aggression, annihilating the crossbows shortly after their surprise attack with TC and tower defensive fire. Mihai temporarily had a large military lead, but TheViper's economy was beginning to take off.
Things looked especially grim for Mihai after TheViper was able to get up a castle at the front of his base which made any further aggression from this angle of attack futile, and then dealt with Mihai's crossbow mass by deftly controlling his mangonels. A few well-placed ground attacks completely erased Mihai's military superiority, which had been the only part of the game in which he held the upper hand.
TheViper's superior eco enabled him to hit Imperial Age before Mihai had even clicked the button. At this point the game was surrenderable. TheViper was up over 20 villagers, had gathered more resources, had a superior army, and was up an age. The game was effectively over.
But as fate would have it, the unthinkable began to happen. Two actions robbed TheViper of his supreme momentum and allowed Mihai back in the game. First, TheViper went for an ill-advised forward castle drop with only four villages, hoping to catch Mihai off guard. Mihai discovered TheViper intentions and decisively checked TheViper's attempt. Second, Mihai was able to outflank TheViper's base defenses with a small group of crossbows of his own, planting them in TheViper's eco and wreaking havoc.
These two crucial plays impeded TheViper's ability to get out onto the map and pressure Mihai's base. Mihai also slowed TheViper's advance by training War Wagons, the sturdy and powerful Korean unique unit. He used these high HP, tanky units as a stop-gap defensive tool to keep TheViper pinned in his base. Incredibly, Mihai got up to Imperial Age still alive.
TheViper teched into Elite Skirmishers to counter Mihai's War Wagons. Mihai responded by teching into skirmishers of his own. Both added bombard cannons for siege purposes. For a few minutes both sides army compositions mirrored each other as TheViper tested Mihai's defense, looking for a weakness. Behind his skirmishers Mihai was unexpectedly switching into hussar production. Korean cavalry is among the worst in the game, missing the important bloodlines HP upgrade as well as the last attack and armor upgrades. But Mihai correctly recognized that having a fast melee unit that could tank skirmisher fire and raid was key.
Mihai's hussar switch proved pivotal. First, it enabled him to push back TheViper and take down his castle in the center of the map. After opening up the center, Mihai's hussars then swooped down on TheViper's wood lines in the north corner of the map, killing dozens of villagers and forcing a portion of TheViper's army back to his base to defend.
TheViper teched into Elite Karambits to match Mihai's hussars but it was too little too late. Perhaps an earlier tech switch to halberdier by TheViper would have shut down Mihai's hussar spam. In the end, at just over 61 minutes of game time, Mihai made a perfect ground attack to eliminate three of TheViper's expensive bombard cannons. TheViper promptly called the GG.
Mihai was up 3-1. It was unbelievable. Insane. Unthinkable. The young Romanian had the Michael Jordan of Age of Empires II at match point. Could he finish the job?
TheViper was no stranger to these kinds of situations. In fact, TheViper is known for his slow starts. But even though he may be slow out of the gate, TheViper always performs when the pressure is on. He is a competitor to his core. When the lights are the brightest, TheViper is the deadliest. Sure, TheViper was down, but he could never be counted out.
What followed Mihai's ridiculous game 4 comeback was a throwback to TheViper's era of dominance. In short, it was classic Viper. In game 5, despite moments of genius, Mihai fell behind economically and TheViper punished with a perfectly timed forward castle on Mihai's closest TC. Mihai fought well but it wasn't close. TheViper decisively won game 5. 3-2. On to Game 6.
In game 6 Mihai took a decisive fight while TheViper was aging and pressured TheViper's base. Once up to castle age TheViper began pumping out crossbows from double archery ranges controlling the map and parking himself on a prominent hill on Mihai's doorstep. Mihai went xbows himself and almost managed to retake the hill. The game became impossible for Mihai when TheViper found his precarious wood line and pounced, forcing Mihai to relocate all of his wood villagers. The problem was there was no safe wood line to relocate to. TheViper sensed he had cornered his prey, keeping up the pressure. Mihai counterattacked, but TheViper simply brute forced his way into Mihai's base. Mihai had nowhere to run. GG. The series was now tied 3-3.
With his back against the wall, TheViper had battled back two games in a row, nullifying his opponent's lead in the series. Mihai would have one last chance to close out the series. It would all come down to the final game.
Mihai had been holding an ace up his sleeve. For the last two games he had withheld from picking his most powerful remaining civ that he had selected second in his draft: the Malians. TheViper, facing match point two games in a row, had used his stronger civilizations to stay alive. Now he had only had his last two civ picks remaining. Mihai would have a civilization advantage. The final two picks were locked in. The final matchup would be Malians vs Armenians.
Mihai went for another aggressive militia opening. The militia caused a lot of disturbance to TheViper's economy, idling TheViper's Town Center for over half a minute of game time. Between the idle TC and two villager kills, TheViper soon found himself six villagers behind. His economy was a tragedy, resembling modern Russia's after sanctions.
Somehow TheViper found damage of his own. With spears and skirmishers, a composition notorious for its lack of offensive firepower, TheViper was able to force Mihai to build a defensive tower on his wood line and then repositioned his units to deny Mihai's gold, forcing a second tower. Miraculously, despite being economically behind, TheViper clicked up to castle age first.
As TheViper was aging, Mihai sensed what TheViper was up to and made a beeline with his army to TheViper's base. TheViper was caught off guard by Mihai's all-in. Once again Mihai rained down destruction upon TheViper's villagers.
The game stabilized once both players reached castle age. Mihai and TheViper both focused on expanding their economies and began teching into their powerful unique units. As both players clicked up to Imperial Age it seemed as if the game was slowly slipping away from Mihai. Mihai had crippled TheViper's economy early on but had not capitalized on his advantage. TheViper had recovered and possessed a strong late-game army composition with armor-ignoring Composite Bowman, sturdy champions, and halberdiers.
As soon as he reached Imperial Age TheViper built a castle in the center of the map and began trebbing down Mihai's own center castle. Mihai responded by sacrificing his fast, hard-hitting Gbetos to cut down TheViper's trebuchets, shutting down his push.
TheViper then switched the angle of his attack, repositioning his army to take out Mihai's northeastern castle. He had massed a good number of Composite Bowmen to protect his trebuchets but was dangerously low on frontline melee units. Several minutes prior, Mihai had acquired the powerful Malian unique tech Farimba, which massively increased the attack damage of his cavalry units. With 15 Farimba-boosted light cavalry and 20+ Gbetos Mihai moved against TheViper's trebuchets.
A murderous barrage from the Composite Bowmen poured into Mihai's light cav as they charged up the hill. Many fell, but those that remained fell upon TheViper's melee units and dispatched them with alacrity. Now the Composite Bowmen were alone, assailed by the remaining light cav in their midst, and the Gbetos throwing their deadly missiles through their ranks. The fight devolved into a massacre as Mihai's numbers overwhelmed TheViper's position. TheViper's army was massacred where they stood, the trebuchets being dealt with in short order.
Game 7 would not conclude for another 15 minutes, but from this point on the outcome was never in doubt. Mihai poured light cav into TheViper's base, constantly disrupting TheViper's villagers while continuing his unrelenting pressure from the center of the map. Mihai walled off his entire portion of the map, effectively boxing TheViper in his quadrant and preventing him from breaking out. It was only a matter of time. Mihai had the freedom to strike whenever and wherever he chose, while TheViper was caged and shackled, a prisoner in his own fortress. At 1:02:26 in game time TheViper typed "gg, wp congrats!" in chat. It was over. Mihai had completed one of the most remarkable upsets in Age of Empires II history, in the process delivering an iconic performance that will undoubtedly live long in the memories of many an AoE II fan.
No one could have predicted that this wouldn't even be the biggest upset of the round of 16. But indeed, even more extraordinary events were to come. The ShenAiXie Cup was becoming The Tournament of The Underdog.
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