The Tournament of the Underdog (Part 2)
- TheMed
- Aug 3, 2024
- 12 min read
(Continued from Part 1)
After witnessing Mihai defeat TheViper it felt like anything was possible. Yet just underneath the feeling of hopeful expectation was the rational response: what had just occurred was not replicable. As the saying goes, lightning never strikes the same place twice. If the ShenAiXie tournament had just witnessed one unbelievable upset, then surely another was even more unlikely.
The first set of the day featured Tatoh, a long-time top contender, and FreakinAndy, a player who had been making a name for himself with some respectable finishes in recent tournaments. Tatoh was a solid favorite, albeit not to the same level as TheViper had been the previous day, but still considered to be a tier above his competition. If TheViper and Mihai's matchup could be analogized as Superbowl XLII with TheViper playing the role of the 19-0 Patriots and Mihai the scrappy New York Giants then Tatoh and Andy's set could be compared to Superbowl LIII with Tatoh representing the old guard Patriots and Andy the young and talented L.A. Rams.
The draft went slightly in Andy's favor. Tatoh's first three picks, Saracens, Lithuanians, Mayans were absurdly strong, but Andy's last five picks were arguably better than Tatoh's. In other words, Andy's draft was more consistently good, whereas Tatoh had a lot of power packed into his top picks.
The first matchup of the set was Tatoh's Gurjaras vs Andy's Hindustanis. Andy had selected the Hindustanis in the first round of the draft, while Tatoh had selected the Gurjaras as his fourth pick. It was important that Andy win this first game, otherwise he would have used one of his top civs and not gotten the win, the AoE II version of not cashing in a check. This would leave Tatoh holding a distinct advantage in the set.
Going into the game it was clear based on the civ matchup that it would feature some odd unit compositions. Neither the Hindustanis nor the Gurjaras possess the powerful knight unit which has dominated the AoE II meta for years, but both civs are renowned for their powerful camels which ordinarily would be used to counter knights.
The first game got off to a slow start. Both players began walling their bases as Feudal Age approached. Tatoh went for an archer + spearmen composition. Andy opted to go scouts into skirmishers. With his more mobile army Andy played the aggressor in Feudal Age, hovering around Tatoh's base and keeping him on the defensive.
The opening few minutes of Castle Age looked dangerous for Andy as Tatoh was able to push back Andy's forward elements with camels and used his crossbows to pick off two villagers on Andy's woodline. Andy reacted calmly, building a defensive siege workshop and scorpions to blunt Tatoh's pressure. Tatoh continued poking and prodding on the outskirts of Andy's base but only tentatively.
While both sides postured and feinted Andy and Tatoh built up their economies, quickly dropping down a second and then third Town center. Tatoh continued pressuring Andy's southern wood lines, thwarting him from gathering any at the back of his base. Andy was thus forced to gather from the wood line closest to Tatoh, which was also the most vulnerable.
At just a bit before 27:30 in game time Andy and Tatoh were poised to fight a game defining engagement. Andy held a hill in the middle of the map that also looked down upon his last secure wood line. Andy's army was a smattering of camels, monks, a few siege weapons, and ten light cav. Tatoh had his own camels, a few Shrivamsha Riders (one of the Hindustani unique units), and about fifteen or so crossbows. Tatoh had a few more camels than Andy and decided to engage. Andy willingly accepted the engagement and initially took a sizable HP lead with his camels. However, Tatoh microed beautifully during the fight and was able to kite back with his crossbows against Andy's light cav and camels as he used his own camels to get on top of and annihilate his siege weapons.
Unfortunately for Tatoh the fight had taken place closer to Andy's own production building enabling his reinforcements to arrive to the fight faster than Tatoh's. As more of Andy's camels arrived on the scene, they were able to overwhelm and then finish off Tatoh's crossbows. By the end of the fight both sides had lost the majority of their military mass, but Andy was six villagers ahead and had enough stone to build a castle. He rushed twenty villagers to a hill within range of Tatoh's most forward Town Center and plopped it down.
During these crucial seconds as Andy was rushing up his castle, Tatoh gained an army lead, yet he still did not have the numbers to take a fight uphill against Andy's camels. He let it go up without resistance. Tatoh's Town Center was destroyed shortly thereafter, exposing a significant portion of his economy and infrastructure. Tatoh was now in a desperate situation and needed to strike a devastating blow to find a way back into the match. He attempted to raid with his camels, but Andy intercepted him with his own. With a much larger mass Tatoh accepted the fight, but what he had in quantity he lacked in quality. Andy's camels had two upgrades more than Tatoh's, making them pound for pound stronger fighting machines. The fight went evenly. This was good for Andy and bad for Tatoh. Andy now had a massive economic lead over Tatoh and map control. After dispatching Tatoh's raiders, Andy positioned to build another castle in the middle of the map, looking to lock down the center and push Tatoh to the edges. Tatoh was unable to contest in time. The castle went up. Seeing the writing on the wall, Tatoh resigned. Game 1 was Andy's.
Andy had used one of his better civs to secure the win in the first game, and had done what he needed to do, leveraging the Hindustanis superior eco, to build up an unassailable advantage.
With almost no delay both players returned to the post game lobby and readied up for game 2. Andy locked in Incas and Tatoh Mayans. Each of these civs were the respective players 3rd pick in draft. It was an even matchup. Arguments could be made that Incas were slightly favored with their anti-infantry slingers and cheap late-game army, but conventional wisdom suggested to never bet against the Mayans. Ever since they were released as a playable civilization in the Conquerors expansion in 2000, the Mayans have been one of the best and most rounded civilizations on most land maps.
As soon as the game loaded in it was obvious Andy had a significant advantage. His map was easily wallable and his base was located on the edge of the map, decreasing the number of angles Tatoh could attack from.
Feudal Age was quiet. Tatoh clicked up to castle age first and immediately built a forward siege workshop to pressure Andy's gold piles. Andy built his own siege workshop to defend. For a few tense moments everything relied on the mangonel macro as both players tried to snipe each other's siege engines.
Andy started shaky. Tatoh managed to get the better of a few trades, but Andy was able to make up for his earlier mistakes and pushed Tatoh back, turning his defense into aggression, using his mangonels to hammer on Tatoh's forward Town Centers. Tatoh was able to get up a defensive castle in response, nullifying Andy's push. With Tatoh's castle protecting the front of his base Andy now had to age up to Imperial if he wanted to continue his pressure.
Andy clicked up and began mining stone for a castle to produce trebs. He wanted to overwhelm Tatoh with an early Imperial push. Tatoh sensed his opponent's passivity and decided to capitalize. As Andy was aging Tatoh rushed up another castle, this one at the front of Andy's base. Tatoh's bold move threw Andy off. Andy had wanted to build his own castle forward to pressure Tatoh's base, but Tatoh's forward castle forced him to construct his own in a defensive position.
Once he hit Imperial Age Andy was able to treb down Tatoh's forward castle but was otherwise unable to capitalize on his early Imperial Age timing. When Tatoh aged up himself he had map control, and a large army of Plumed Archers which Andy had no answer to. Tatoh raided and controlled the pace of the game. It was only a matter of time and Andy was forced to call the gg. Game 2 went to Tatoh.
Game 3 was the least entertaining of the set. Tatoh was on his iconic Saracens pick and Andy was playing as the Mongols. Tatoh was able to get a lead with Feudal Age aggression and he never let up. At every stage of the game Tatoh was ahead, keeping Andy contained within his base. Andy hit Imperial Age first and trebbed down Tatoh's two forward castles, for a brief moment looking like he might be able to turn the tables on Tatoh. But Tatoh's tight blockade of Andy's base had exhausted Andy's closest gold piles. Andy had to break out of the cordon to obtain gold access. When he did, Tatoh was ready. Tatoh's juiced up Saracen camels fell upon Andy's Mongolian horse archers as they advanced. Andy tried to make a fighting retreat, but Tatoh cut off his escape path. Before the slaughter went down Andy typed the gg. Tatoh was up 2-1 in the set.
At this point both Andy and Tatoh had used up most of their top picks. Tatoh still had his Lithuanians pick remaining, which was the only top 3 pick either player had left. The rest of the set would revolve around their lower picks.
For Game 4 Tatoh locked in Spanish and Andy Vietnamese. Andy had a civilization advantage, but the well-rounded Spanish could not be underestimated, especially in the hands of the greatest Spanish AoE II player.
The game was even until about sixteen and a half minutes in Andy was able to destroy Tatoh's entire feudal army with very minimal losses, taking a decisive lead. Tatoh was aware he was significantly behind. He went aggressive hoping to inflict damage to Andy with towers. By going for the forward towers, Tatoh knowingly gave up an early castle age timing. Instead Andy hit Castle Age first, building a siege workshop at home to eliminate Tatoh's towers and queueing up cavalry archers to raid Tatoh's eco. Tatoh invested heavily in defensive towers to prevent the horse archer raids, which did their job but left everyone questioning whether they had been worth it.
Skirmishing broke out in the middle of the map between Andy's cavalry archers and Tatoh's skirmishers. With the proper counter unit Tatoh pushed forward to make an incredibly aggressive castle. As Tatoh's villagers rushed to get the castle down, Andy placed his own castle foundation directly next to it. It was a race to see who would get their castle up first. Andy just barely edged Tatoh in the castle race out but was unable to deny Tatoh from finishing his own.
The two castles now began to lay into each other, both players building petards to damage each other. Tatoh totally committed to destroying Andy's counter castle and with two rams was able to batter it down. Tatoh was pressuring both sides of Andy's base and for a brief period of time was able to deny him access to gold.
Andy pushed out of the southern side of his base with siege rams and cavalry archers, eliminating Tatoh's last remaining tower and reclaiming gold access. With his superior Vietnamese eco Andy clicked up to Imperial Age. Trying to stem the tide, Tatoh incessantly raided the northern corner of Andy's base with skirms and the powerful Spanish unique unit, the Conquistador, a mounted gunpowder unit that excels at killing villagers.
Once Andy hit Imperial, he moved forward with his mass of cavalry archers and planted them in Tatoh's base. Tatoh desperately tried to counter Andy's superior military by hitting him everywhere he was not but to no avail. GG. The series was tied 2-2.
In game 5 Tatoh busted out his last remaining power pick. His vaunted Lithuanians would be pitted against Andy's Persians. Due to the Lithuanians powerful relic bonus, it was apparent that these two cavalry-oriented civilizations would fight tooth and nail during a drawn-out castle age to attain map control. As the game played out Tatoh was able to snag a few relics but Andy's faster producing Persian Town Centers gifted him a substantial forty villager economic lead.
Andy reached Imperial Age a little over half a minute before Tatoh and focused on getting in as many important upgrades as soon as humanly possible while pumping out trebuchets. Once he had the chemistry tech Andy began producing Hand Cannoneers which countered Tatoh's cavalry + halberdier composition.
Tatoh was able to break through Andy's base walls in the south, killing many villagers and pulverizing Andy's food economy.
In another game this would have been deadly, but because of his Persian Town Centers Andy had so many villagers that he could afford to lose them. Andy slowly recovered, making short work of Tatoh's side base he had launched his attack from while advancing on Tatoh's main base with hand cannoneers and bombard cannons. Tatoh could not transition to skirmishers to counter Andy's hand cannoneers fast enough. Andy sieged down the last castle holding together the front of Tatoh's defense and walked into his economy unopposed. Tatoh had no option but to resign. The post-game statistics were illuminating. Andy had outgathered Tatoh by over 7000 resources. Tatoh had committed to a long castle age to win map control and relics but had only been able to obtain two of the five relics. He had also been unable to control the center of the map. Tatoh had needed to get the big returns on his castle age investment to overcome the superior Persian economy, but Andy had been able to counter his opponents game plan with a reactionary and defensive approach.
Tatoh's loss as the Lithuanians changed the dynamics of the entire set. He had been holding this civ as something of a trump card to play at a moment he needed a win. Now he was down his power pick and a match. Andy was up 3-2. Tatoh had no room for error. Again, much like Mihai and TheViper's series the day before, no one had expected these kinds of result for Andy. Andy had lost all five previous series he had played against Tatoh. It was not supposed to be possible for Tatoh to be eliminated this early in a major tournament.
Game 6 took on a different tone compared to the previous games. The stakes were real. The intensity was palpable. It was as if the previous games were homework and this was the actual test, the training ground preceding the real thing. Andy selected the Franks. Tatoh chose the Tatars.
In almost every game of the set Tatoh had been the aggressor. Sometimes Andy was the punching bag, taking beatings almost stoically as the punches rained down upon him, and other times he was the rock against which the waves broke. This game would deviate from that pattern. When Andy hit Feudal Age he made two scouts and sought out Tatoh's wood villagers, quickly killing one and forcing Tatoh to make some defensive spearmen. Both sides kept producing units matching the other's military count. Andy kept Tatoh in base, pressuring his forward berries. At 16:12 in game time Tatoh moved his army to push Andy off a hill near the front of his base. Though Andy and Tatoh were evenly matched in skirmishers and scouts, Andy had a few spearmen in the fight which made it impossible for Tatoh's scouts to trade effectively. Tatoh disengaged with his scouts but took a lot of damage on them as he did. Andy punished Tatoh's overcommitment by running down most of his skirmishers and pushing him back to his base.
Off the back of another good fight almost identical to the first, Andy was able to click up the Castle Age nearly a minute ahead of Tatoh. As he aged Andy repositioned his army, pressuring the front of Tatoh's base and finding his gold. When he hit Castle Age Andy went full aggressive, building a forward siege workshop and monastery to continue the pressure. Tatoh built Steppe Lancers in response and a second Town Center to protect his economy. Eventually Andy built a second Town Center of his own but didn't let his foot off the gas for a second, relentlessly pressuring the Tatoh's gold piles.
The pressure was getting to Tatoh. Though he should have had a superior economy with the addition of an earlier Town Center, Andy's raiding and aggressive posturing had made him idle his Town centers and lose precious villager seconds. Meanwhile Andy's smaller but more efficient economy continued to hum undisturbed. Tatoh attempted to mount raids of his own, but the compactness of Andy's base lowered the return on investment of these ventures.
Andy whittled away at the front of Tatoh's base creeping forward as Tatoh gave ground to buy time and build up his army numbers. Whenever possible Tatoh tried to assassinate Andy's monks with his light cav to keep their numbers down. When he sensed he had a chance, Tatoh pounced. Tatoh needed to definitely check Andy's aggression and secure his forward gold. At 29:34 in game time Tatoh massed his army of camels, light cav and monks to break Andy's position. Andy had fourteen knights, a monk and a lone scorpion to meet him. Crucially, Andy also had two upgrades on his cavalry that Tatoh didn't, an additional armor and attack upgrade. These proved pivotal in the fight. Even though Tatoh possessed the right counter units, he could not match Andy's numbers and quality. Though the fight was close, Andy's Frankish knights prevailed.
At this point Andy had Tatoh in a chokehold. To keep up with the efficient Frankish economy Tatoh built another Town Center, but in doing so he sacrificed his ability to keep up with Andy militarily. Andy kept pumping out his highly upgraded knights and added more scorpions for ranged support. Tatoh managed to amass another army of camels but still lacked upgrades. When Andy's siege rams lumbered forward to batter down Tatoh's starting Town Center, Tatoh made his last stand. Like Napoleon's Old Guard at Waterloo, his camels fought valiantly but were outnumbered and outgunned. Tatoh typed "gg" into the chat. Andy had just won one of the most impressive victories of his Age of Empires II career 4-2.
The AoE II community was now on fire. Something was in the air. First Mihai and now Andy had knocked out two of the best players in the world, punching their own tickets to the quarterfinals and changing the competitive landscape of the entire tournament. Would this trend continue? Could it continue? Was it even possible for lightning to strike a third time? The answers lay ahead.
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