EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion

from http://poeticstanziel.blogspot.ca/2012/07/was-malice-pandemic-legions-undoing.html

The Malice was the prize ship awarded to the runner-up of Alliance Tournament IX. Outbreak.

There are only 50 Malices in EVE Online. There will never be any more of them. When they are destroyed, they are gone for good. As such they are worth billions, and word is that Pandemic Legion paid Outbreak over 100B ISK for four of them.

Those four ships were fielded on day six of Alliance Tournament X, the Pandemic Legion versus Rote Kapelle match.

So why did they field these very expensive and very rare ships? I think the answer is two-fold.

Firstly, they're very capable little frigates. With Amarr Frigate V, the bonuses are +25% to all armor resistances and +100% to energy vamp and neut transfers and ranges, They also have role bonuses of an extra 100% to small energy turret damage and 50% optimal range to small energy turrets. These are tough little ships. As seen in the battle, Rote couldn't kill them even when they had not much else left on the field.

Secondly, they're a superb distraction. A lot of FCs might have targetted them simply for the bragging rights of destroying them. "We lost the match, but we did kill four Malices." The enticement to take out 25B ISK frigates at the start of the match would have been a carrot many FC would have chased after.

Unfortunately for the Legion, Rote Kapelle had their eye on the ball. Winning Alliance Tournament X. They've more discipline than the average Alliance Tournament team.

In his summary of the match, Ripard Teg briefly mentions the short discussion the Rote Kapelle team had concerning the Malices on field:
As a distraction, Rote Kapelle wasn't being hooked by the bait. So, if Pandemic Legion had fielded other ships, might have Rote been more apt to split their focus, even slightly? Give the Bhaalgorns time to do their work? Maybe, but not likely. Rote knew taking out the Bhaalgorns were their key to success. That said, the Malices certainly directed Rote's focus more strongly on the faction battleships. Without the Malices, Rote's decision-making might have been slightly more involved. With the Malices on field, the decision was quick and decisive: ignore them. With something a tad more squishy, then maybe, just maybe, Rote's focus might have been slightly split.

One wonders too, if Pandemic's flying was altered due to the expense of their ships. Were they more cautious in their decision-making than they might have been otherwise? Certainly they did not swoop in to scoop loot on one of their regular Bhaalgorns mid-battle.
Granted, the looting occurred late in the match, but why risk giving your opponent more points (which they got due to Ripard's tackle), when your bracket ending with tie-breakers is an all to real possibility?

Rote's set-up was the perfect foil to Pandemic's composition, but if there were different tactics and choices for Rote Kapelle to make, the inclusion of Malices precluded them, forced Rote onto a singular path to victory.

You gotta give it to Pandemic Legion, even when they lose they're the talk of the town. And many kudos to Rote for flying a well-executed match. I think we'll be talking this match for the next couple of Alliance Tournaments. It's not Ten Angry Thoraxes, but it will be in the hall of fame with that match.

I think it was simply "so if we attack them it'll take forever to kill them.. ok ignore them.

I have nothing to do with any tournament stuff for PL, but my feeling at the beginning of the match was that our guys expected Rote Kapelle to field something different. I don't know what our guys might have expected, but probably something that didn't involve flying 25b frigs into a horde of sleipnirs, enyos and ishkurs.

Obviously whatever we had planned didn't work out, but it was a good match either way.

Also rap music and liberals.

In the grand scheme, yes.

But it was an interesting thought exercise, breaking down the match, with respect to the inclusion of the Malices.

Good luck on Sunday.

i have to say no, the malice was not responsible for the loss,

pandemic legions setup was not a bad one, and seemingly it was designed to counter an ECM heavy team, which would not have been prepared for a full amarr opponent, as amarr ships are the rarest in the tournament

the malice was more of a side bet, hoping the enemy might got for ISK damage, rather then targets leading to victory

one memorable match from AT8 i think, where someone wielded a freki, and sucessfully won the match because the oppoent got distracted by the unique ships

overall, a decent setup, which would have devastated the caldari based ECM teams that have been very common in this tournament, while not having any big flaws that i can see

this match was won with skill, and perhaps one team not bringing what the other expected, not by a bad setup