Rulebook Registrations Map Making Contest Schedule Weekly Highlights Standings
Weekly Highlights
As in previous seasons I'm planning to maintain a weekly highlights post with a spoiler-free summary of some of the most exciting matches. Previously I've tried to keep to a maximum of five highlighted matches, but given the huge player pool this season then I've extended the list a little.
Week 1
Master's Match of the Week
Before any of the action had started then all the attention was split between the controversial topics of the latest balance changes and division allocation. ZxGanon, RAGL champion for Seasons 7 and 8, hadn't played a ranked game since finishing Season 9 (despite a brief reappearance at the start of Season 11). Over six years later his rating had decayed so much that he was originally seeded into Minions. A last minute change in the allocation algorithm meant that both he and Amelza were included in Masters. Ganon might be rusty, but this match was really entertaining.
Amelza vs ZxGanon (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/0794a6e2be25a08 ... 3bd1fa1ecf
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/b1663b1465de0f6 ... 78081ece04
Best of the Rest
A third player benefiting from the revised divisions was Orb. Orb played in the recent Red Alert Experimental League, but before this had only played a handful of ladder games in the last couple of years. FiveAces recently cast an eight match head-to-head between Orb and tux, and if that left you wanting a bit more then here are a couple more great games.
Orb vs tux (Masters)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/6310a6cfe258050 ... 3f915ff4db
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/e8078b0b47b139c ... 645c6ad0d6
Meanwhile in Minions, TTTPPP is returning for his tenth season and muleyyyy, despite playing ladder games for the past three years, is playing his first season of RAGL. On paper these two were rated very similarly and hopefully the games bear this out, although it's always hard to judge your own matches.
muleyyyy vs TTTPPP (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/80acf87f9a6c88d ... 932f1b6d7c
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/22c5f9abf4a0f01 ... 75ffea8f1e
Another Minions match was milkman (6 previous seasons) against Therapist (last RAGL appearance was Season 11). This was actually the opening match of the season. Therapist is most well known for uploading giant map packs, but he also plays a good game!
milkman vs Therapist (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/dc43a89c4ca1e97 ... d0e8f63b52
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/9ce02372444c0a7 ... 9e0d46e1ff
Honourable Mentions
After playing all 17 previous seasons in Masters, the updated division allocation algorithm dropped anjew into Minions. Here he is in his first match this season against "i am bad at this" (aka Cécile). Despite the name, Cécile is not bad at this, and has the second highest RAGL ladder rating in Minions.
anjew vs i am bad at this (Minions)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/41331580dc91384 ... 6d98a99f7b
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/8205aa7e00f67dd ... affd06ab47
I wanted to end the highlights post by covering Recruits, and so here are a couple of spetsnaz84 matches. This is spetsnaz's 11th RAGL season, and that history contains a lot of minelayers. Svedski was originally in Minions, but requested to move down. This was well balanced match up.
spetsnaz84 vs Svedski (Recruits)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/5999d63d73a7b73 ... 67f1cf6526
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/596ba78298726da ... 157afa7799
The other spetsnaz match is against newcomer 1997cui. There are plenty of mistakes from both sides, but regardless you can still see the players putting on a really good show.
1997cui vs spetsnaz84 (Recruits)
Game 1: https://ragl.org/replay/e920937014a65c7 ... 0a744183f2
Game 2: https://ragl.org/replay/55556abfeb633aa ... 22c488efcf