Red Alert Global League: Season 15 - Weekly Highlights

[TTTPPP]

Rulebook Registrations Map Making Contest Schedule Weekly Highlights Standings

Weekly Highlights

As for previous seasons I'll be posting some of the best matches I've seen each week. If you want to watch RAGL matches (spoiler free) then you can download them all from https://ragl.org/games

Week 1

Master's Match of the Week

Masters has got off to a flying start with eighteen matches being played so far. This is the most ever Masters matches played in Week 1 (thanks to ilm for this stat). It was also the second most Masters matches ever played in a week after Season 9 Week 7 which had 31 matches (as players scrambled to finish the group stage). Fazzar deserves a special mention for having played over half of his group stage already!

My pick for highlight of the week is Unano vs Upps:

maceman vs Upps (Masters)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Wg4y1R7V4
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/07be63e23c4c8f0 ... 6b1d474589
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/a4ac5b1a6e6132e ... f4fe622c05

Best of the Rest

The line up this season is potentially great provided players can keep up with the schedule. Bain, Happy and Moods have historically been prone to forfeit, but Happy and Moods have both got matches under their belts and Bain's been active in the Master's channel.

Two of the favourites for this season brought their Week 6 match forward, and it was well worth a watch.

Fazzar vs Kav (Masters)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14H4y167rF
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/7a3ce8a33c07ad2 ... 296059fe07
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/bdbdb1d02e0a3b6 ... bfb335d4a4

Milkman earned promotion from Minions last season with a top four finish and helped by a few players not returning. We started the season on the playtest but the release came out shortly afterwards - this match is the only one in this week's highlights that you need the playtest to watch:

maceman vs milkman (Masters) - Played on playtest-20230927
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/9056abcef31e344 ... 0b690741ee
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/cef2e8a0d5d35f4 ... 2f2f1c61a6

Honourable Mentions

Meanwhile in Minions then players have been sticking closer to the schedule. There are quite a few new names including Nightingale ((Not) New), fiwo, OpiumPrime and goldie. Initially we had jediandrew too, but he was replaced from the waitlist by RAGL-veteran spetsnaz84. From a spectator's point of view then chouchani vs goldie has everything you want from a good old Minions scrap!

chouchani vs goldie (Minions)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1m84y1X7Jb
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/def270f8415905d ... 4233499e48
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/2a1fa6718347278 ... c168bde75d

Finally, this match up gets included in the highlights basically every season. Here we are again with Hans vs me.

Nilhall vs TTTPPP (Minions)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): Cast with commentary Hans PoV
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/6e89b971dce8659 ... f313b552c0
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/d0f61332819d873 ... 5b3e373494

Due to the large number of matches this week then I'm sure there are other matches that could be included in the highlights. In fact I have a few more Week 1 highlights that I might sneak into later weeks if those turn out to be quiet. If anyone wants to post their own set of highlights on here then that would be great!

Other Casts

Nilhall vs fiwo (Minions)
PoV Cast by Hans: Game 1 Game 2

BigHALK vs Nilhall (Minions)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://bilibili.com/video/BV1ec411d71c

milkman vs not happy (Masters)
Cast by FiveAces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1lf3ApssA

Kav vs maceman (Masters)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kut7UsgW23o

Mo vs tux (Masters)
Cast by FiveAces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsBccqlmIHw

Upps vs anjew (Masters)
Cast by FiveAces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDOl1mmHdzg

Week 2 is another double gameweek, so we should have plenty more action. Particularly if Bain and Blackened are around to play their matches. We're also still owed some results for the map making contest!

[TTTPPP]

Week 2

Masters Highlight of the Week

After a record breaking Week 1 then we've had an even busier Week 2! One player partially responsible for this is Blackened as he finally got around to playing some matches this week. He played Fazzar and Happy, which sounded great on paper, but didn't play out so well. He also played tux and moods, which didn't make it into my highlights either. However the match against Unano was a cracker:

Blackened vs maceman (Masters)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1bb4y1g7vw
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/ddb9374f82781fc ... 675a3b4aba
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/8d089a52a841838 ... 69e0caddb1

Best of the Rest

In Minions then the two favourites are Duke Bones and (Not) New (Nightingale). Duke Bones was in Masters last season and (Not) New is actually new to RAGL this season. (Not) New has been racing through his games and has almost finished the season already (he played six matches this week). This match could potentially decide who will win the division. Unfortunately the colour choices for this match are really similar.

Duke Bones vs Nightingale (Minions)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_311f3aWSIk
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1mQ4y1t7XL
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/6025ebeaafc73cd ... 57f8f7e85a
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/c2e3f435af025a9 ... fc07aa1c91

Two other Minions contenders are returning players Hulk and spetsnaz84. This match was originally scheduled for Week 1, but spetsnaz joined from the wait list and so was given a week's grace to get things organised.

BigHALK vs spetsnaz84 (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/5a9223dc15dd13f ... 9559dbecf8
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/63200471084b33f ... 2995076122

Honourable Mentions

Last season Fazzar would have topped the table, but near the end of the season he dropped a game to anjew. How will he manage in this season's rematch?

anjew vs Fazzar (Masters)
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV11H4y1q78Q
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/c95e56cdf5535bb ... f434844e5f
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/602517af58e8a4b ... 65a8242f02

Moods is fast approaching his most completed matches in a RAGL season. This match against Upps was a good one and the first game in particular was great. (Thanks to (Not) New for the recommendation!)

ROCKhardFISTnips vs Upps (Masters)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJX5FyMbx78
Cast by Hans (Chinese): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1BG411D7ep
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/8357d63eb8eb7f7 ... b2aa5a6406
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/e4d0b5bfa9caea7 ... 8248fc5961

Other Casts

Nilhall vs bete (Minions)
PoV Cast by Hans: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1dj411e7sF

Tailix Killa Mentor vs Nilhall (Minions)
PoV Cast by Hans: Game 1 Game 2

fiwo vs Duke Bones (Minions)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J60m9CvGTqQ

Week 3 might be a bit quieter as there is only a single match scheduled for each player. In Minions then we've still not heard anything from OpiumPrime and I'm anticipating there will be the first strikes for him tomorrow.

[TTTPPP]

Week 3

Week 3 started with the first elimination of the season. OpiumPrime received three strikes for unplayed matches and has been disqualified without sending a message in the Minions channel. We also had a strike for goldie as neither he or Hulk delayed their match in time, and goldie was judged to have put slightly less effort into organising it.

Masters Match of the Week

Other than strikes then this was a very quiet week. There were only four matches and only one was played in Masters, which means that anjew vs moods is the Masters match of the week by default! I thought this was a really interesting slightly off-meta match too though, so I'm very happy to include it in the highlights.

anjew vs ROCKhardFISTnips (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/5720effda70e77b ... 47321cbada
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/2eb7923cbeb86f1 ... a648f51f26

Best of the Rest

At the start of the week (Not) New had played everyone except OpiumPrime and Hulk. With the disqualification of OpiumPrime then only Hulk had the potential to take games off him. A two-nil for (Not) New will see him crowned Minions champion.

BigHALK vs Nightingale (Minions)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q62Ub-V7xn0
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/7610d007c174d26 ... e4bdf5f910
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/a1fa76fda42c3a8 ... 57ca814d5f

After neither player delayed the match last week then they played it this week. Hulk vs goldie is another great match.

BigHALK vs goldie (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/22e1adf8d701694 ... adee59ed46
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/e49964de1b66ad9 ... 27e22522cd

Week 4 is a double game week and there were quite a lot of delays last week to catch up on. Here's hoping for some more great matches next week!

[TTTPPP]

Week 4

Masters Match of the Week

Week 4 contained two matches per player and so I had a lot more to choose from than last week when picking the highlights. My favourite this week was anjew vs Mo. The match was meant to happen in Week 1, but both players delayed the match and then Mo took a strike for not being around last week to play. Going into the match then both players are tied on 3 points.

anjew vs Mo (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/b35d73f611c8eab ... 462b3f3c81
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/0095d080c067efc ... c50882ac4e

Best of the Rest

One of the new players in Minions this season is fiwo. He's taken quite a few points already and before this match was sitting roughly midtable alongside Hulk.

BigHALK vs fiwo (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/3cf14c6a560af80 ... 309eecc647
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/bac55821802ce39 ... a2b94c252e

Another Mo match came close to Master's Match of the Week, Mo vs happy. happy hasn't completed a RAGL season since Season 9 and had only played one RAGL match before taking on milkman in Week 1 this season (happy vs goat in Season 10, which was pretty epic Cast by Kaution Cast by FiveAces).

Mo vs not happy (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/6ab3453dc1638d2 ... 44afc19c56
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/eac7fa6c654b8b3 ... 9446a13a79

Honourable Mentions

As mentioned last week then (Not) New is very close to being crowned Minions champion. Assuming all remaining players complete the season then only Duke Bones can steal the title, and it would require a perfect finish to the season. Two of Duke Bones' matches this week were well worth a watch. First up here he is against Hans.

Duke Bones vs Nilhall (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/a067b2945c9955a ... e80b618a1a
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/4f7b393cc8cb87b ... d17d65b2bc

Secondly here's his match against Tailix. If you get chance then it's worth watching the start of every Tailix match this season, and you might see a pattern emerge. There's a classic example at the start of this match.

Duke Bones vs Tailix Killa Mentor (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/f260c7553ef25b0 ... cca326b331
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/ff2a59a01c31bb1 ... d85d1c4d0e

Other Casts

Duke Bones vs bete (Minions)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8dnTDZjIhE

Coming up

Week 5 is a single gameweek, and Minions in particular will be extremely quiet since there's only one match which wasn't played early. In Masters it's looking likely that Moods has forfeit - he's left all the Discord servers and isn't contactable for matches. Three of the playoff spots look pretty fixed with happy, Fazzar and Kav only dropping a handful of games, although happy hasn't yet played either of the other two. Blackened looks favourite to take the remaining playoff spot, but most of the division could in theory take it.

[TTTPPP]

Week 5

As predicted this was a quiet week, made slightly quieter by several players being busy or unavailable. In particular moods has disappeared and barring a miracle will be eliminated tomorrow.

Masters Match of the Week

Blackened is in a strong spot in the league at the moment - he's almost secured a playoff spot. If he wins 2-0 against both Mo and anjew then he'll have done it, however even if he drops a game or two then he's still likely to make the top four.

Blackened vs Mo (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/5a69f83bd1e355b ... 322e9edb0b
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/bfeea93705825ad ... d64a5ae0a4

Best of the Rest

chouchani won his first couple of RAGL games last season, but this season he's playing on a new level and has already won four games. Here he is in action against one of my favourite players to watch:

chouchani vs Nilhall (Minions)
PoV Cast by Hans: Game 1 Game 2
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/59a6987c3f8ea9e ... 9825b992b4
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/905534bab826e3e ... 84c659d901

This is Tailix's last match of the season, and the first game in particular was very entertaining. I mentioned last week that there was a pattern in Tailix's games - he picks Westworld, foregoes the oil and races immediately for power snipes. Then he follows this up with multiple light tanks to take out the oil and hopefully some more power or the expansion MCV. Did Hulk expect this? Watch the replay and find out!

BigHALK vs Tailix Killa Mentor (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/2fe6fd837fb92d6 ... 2a57a7e874
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/27a048cbac587fe ... 97af3f97c8

Honourable Mentions

Tux wanted this in the highlights, so here it is.

anjew vs Kav (Masters)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UsD-mXK3g
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/ca9852257a258d0 ... 9e902db20d
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/e3b41986a0f3e5b ... ae4def34d9

Finally I wanted to give a shout out to chouchani and spetsnaz84 for the second game of this match which went on for ten minutes longer than was probably necessary. The winning player plays very passively while the losing player refuses to give up! Before this final ten minutes then the match was a good one!

chouchani vs spetsnaz84 (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/65b302d44353667 ... 67035cd2cd
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/c6222157c425ae6 ... c6f05b3e80

Other Casts

Nilhall vs spetsnaz84 (Minions)
PoV Cast by Hans: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV13u4y157F8

Coming Up

The big news is that Fazzar's computer is out of action and may take several weeks to be repaired. This has added a lot more uncertainty to the top of Masters, as depending on when the machine is back in action then Fazzar may or may not have been disqualified. Most of the remaining group stage matches should be played this week so Blackened might secure his playoff spot.

[TTTPPP]

Week 6

Masters Highlight of the Week

The last match from this week was the best of the week. anjew has been fairly consistent in playing light vehicle spam with mixed results, but tux decided to take him on at his own game. This match probably breaks some records for number of light vehicles produced in a RAGL game. It also contains a fun break from the action due to tux's mom.

anjew vs tux (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/9a5cb3d8893bedc ... 77d9acf136
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/72ad828f0ac3b7c ... aabe68d5b4

Best of the Rest

DukeBones needed three points from his last six games to guarantee second place in Minions. Meanwhile at the bottom of the table we already have the highest score for a player at the bottom of RAGL. Currently spetsnaz is on 4 points and is in need one more from this (his last game) to avoid last place.

DukeBones vs spetsnaz84 (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/899e63c3357a699 ... ee57d81aea
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/cdf5bc19f611341 ... d9c4c94cc2

One of the most hotly anticipated matches this season is Kav vs happy and this match really delivered. Somehow happy failed to ban Bossman so we were treated to a rare naval battle at the top of Masters. Game 2 was more of a classic game, but also very entertaining.

Kav vs not happy (Masters)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJL3C9vxW6E
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/3ada868c42b4899 ... 490e5ef1a4
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/7abcd816dba20cc ... 63132ecc51

Honourable Mentions

Two players who've been missed from the highlights reel up until now are tux and Bain. I already included tux above, but he also had a great match against Unano. Not satisfied with tux's mom interrupting one match? Well check out this one too:

maceman vs tux (Masters)
Cast by Blackened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX2yURCK4fc
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/b207f8057352cad ... 6fb221eb3a
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/46a0cd85cec9d26 ... 04ae0dcb83

Bain is on the verge of being eliminated by strikes, but he has played a good number of matches this season. This match against Upps is well worth a highlight.

Mr Cloudy vs Upps (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/f923f1f48e1b123 ... 59f39caa26
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/5fb4b8fc46d057b ... a592349b5e

Coming Up

We're going into what should in theory be the final week of the group stage. It looks like Bain may be disqualified and Fazzar still hasn't had his computer back. This gives a lot of potential permutations and so quite a few players could still make it into the playoffs.

Week 7 should be the last week for Minions. There are five matches left and three of them include chouchani.

[TTTPPP]

Week 7

Master's Match of the Week

One of the final games in Masters was between two of the favourites. Although the playoff spots are already decided it does still have an impact on the playoff pairings. If either player wins 2-0 then they will need a tiebreak with Kav to determine who gets the first spot in the playoffs. If the match is a 1-1 draw then Kav will come top and happy/Fazzar will be joint 2nd place.

Fazzar vs not happy (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/89f8b5458eb20ce ... f36369f01a
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/d1087adf016d17d ... c55dcac179

Best of the Rest

Minions has been waiting on three matches from chouchani and he managed to play two of them this weekend. The best was this match, against Duke Bones, who has already secured himself second spot.

chouchani vs Duke Bones (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/f56589964266b12 ... 9305ef5047
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/604f1e87a81d0ed ... 5168ca4966

Finally for this week we have this match between Unano and anjew. Both players will end up somewhere between 5th and 8th place in Masters, so it's possible this match will have an impact on who gets into Masters next season.

anjew vs maceman (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/0a889930677d891 ... 03541806b0
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/a88303df5db4e6f ... 27699406c5

Coming Up

There is still one group stage match in Masters, between Upps and tux. This will also affect the 5th to 8th place positions.

In Minions the two remaining matches both involve Hulk who seems to have disappeared. If Hulk can take three or more points then he'll finish third in Minions.

Over the next couple of weeks we should see the playoffs (one is already planned for the 9th of December). Each match will be best-of-5 as in previous seasons. For the semi-finals the first map will be Pleasant Plains and the final and bronze match will start on Cow Level.