KIND OF THE FIRST OF ITS KIND
The Arcadeum Arena Alpha Cup a.k.a the “Triple A Cup” just finished up last week and the echoes of hundreds of fierce battles still reverberate in the Arena. It was a historic tournament for our community and our beloved avatar battler, Arcadeum Arena as it showcased new builds and a brand spankin’ new tourney format.
The builds included the debut of 5v5 battles, skill cool down rework, balancing updates and visual effects updates. The 5v5 deployment was a big one as it significantly changed how players thought about strategizing and placement. Of course, skill cool down and balancing are always significant in improving core gameplay. Though there is still much to be done, the latest version of the game is the most fun one yet!
FASCINATING FORMULA 1 FORMAT
More than the format itself, this tournament signified the opening of new ways to go about our tournaments and Game Nights. It was an exploratory, collaborative process that got the team and community together to test out and enjoy something new on the platform and open up a space for feedback and ideas.
For the first Triple A Cup, we decided to introduce a system based largely off the one used in Formula 1 racing. The competition comprised of 5 total rounds with points allotted to those who finish in the top 10. Each round is an individual competition in itself (like an F1 race) with points scored through each round being carried over throughout the tournament adding up to your overall standings.
This format is unique in that a player need not even win a round to win the tournament overall. It’s a consistency game. You can win a round every now and then but place low in others and find yourself losing to a player locking in consistent points.
This scenario is exactly what played out in the Triple A Cup! Arcadia veteran, blarrgh never won a round, finishing 2nd four times and 4th one time to ultimately capture the Championship over fellow Arcadia legend, DoodleMonster who won 2 rounds (most wins overall) but placed 7th, 5th and 5th the other 3.
This format opens up the opportunity for more “winners” as opposed to the more straightforward, high-score-wins-it-all approach. It also gives players more games within the tourney, adding an extra layer of excitement and competition and possibly, a wider range of point scorers. See the top 10 of each round below:
INSIDE THE TRIPLE A CUP
With 24 hours in between each round, the team was able to announce and promote scores and updates as the tourney progressed creating more hype around the event. It’s always exciting to see individual round scores, changes in standings and general leaderboard updates!
The nature of the format also opens up story telling and the creation of narratives around the developments in the tournament and the players competing in it. We decided to have a little fun and introduce “Inside The Triple A Cup”, a mid-round text commentary on the latest happenings in the competition posted on our Discord. Here are some juicy segments for your reading pleasure:
From round 3:
Welcome back to another episode of Inside the Triple A Cup!
Round 3 saw the emergence of the much revered, much feared @DoodleMonster as he bagged his first win of the tournament to propel him to 2nd overall. Ahhh, but it was only a matter of time they said.
“That doodle dude is a legend of Arcadia. I’d say he’s the Lebron James of Game Nights” — Pistol Daddy
@blarrgh | OP Tech’s gotta have something to say about that though. The Arcadia vet is sitting pretty at first place overall with nothing but 3 straight second place finishes. What is this obsession with silver??
from round 4:
@Archx (thatarchthou) mshh unseats Archx for 3rd overall! That last podium spot is lookin’ real juicy.
A surprise out-of-nowhere appearance from @BYG | Ninjabear saw the sneaky bear-who-is-also-a-ninja creep into the top 10 with a strong 4th place finish in round 4. Where have you been all tournament long? Probably doing sneaky ninjabear things.
CHEERS TO THE CHAMPS & CHUMPS
The Triple A Cup was full of twists, turns and great play from an awesome group of players. But alas, there can only be one Arcadeum Arena Alpha Cup Champ.
Ladies and gentlemen, your first ever Triple A Cup Champion, Blarrgh!
Congratulations sir! Already a legend in the community for his enthusiasm and knowledge in gaming and the web 3 space and for his constant helping hand on the server, he has outdone himself with this historic trophy. Take a bow Blarrgh, you deserve it.
Big shoutout to 1st runner up DoodleMonster and 2nd runner up mshh. Two beasts themselves!
THAT’S THE STATS
We’d like to leave you with some fun tournament statistics and a look at the overall tournament standings. Congratulations to our top 10, enjoy your prize money! And of course, our deepest appreciation to everyone who participated. We shall see you guys at the next one. And for those who just can’t get enough, play Arcadeum Arena anytime on Arcadia!
Most wins: DoodleMonster (2)
Most podium finishes: Blarggh (4) mshh (4)
Tournament lead changes: 1
Biggest climb (from R1-R5): thatarchthou 9th-4th
Biggest fall (from R1-R5): brunbrun 3rd-8th
Mr. Consistent: blarggh, 4-straight 2nd place finishes (most consecutive)
Highest tournament score: mshh (1644)
Total Tournament Score (accumulated score per round)
blarggh: 7577
DoodleMonster: 7180
Archx: 6840
Chichik: 6646
mshh: 5899
Haseo: 5063
Mooshon: 4527
1st Place finishers:
DoodleMonster: 2
Archx: 1
Mooshon: 1
mshh: 1
2nd Place finishers:
blarrgh: 4
Archx: 1
3rd Place finishers:
mshh: 3
Mooshon: 1
Brunbrun: 1