Latest / Start the game already! / [ENG] Masterpieces #03: The Best Final of All Times

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[ENG] Masterpieces #03: The Best Final of All Times · Start the game already!

• 0:15
  Welcome back to another Masterpiece episode.
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  My name is Chris and I am the host of this year podcast, and
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  boy are you going to enjoy this one.
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  If you are a fan of Doubt, in this series, I'm telling you
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  stories about Age of Empires games, either because E Sport
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  History was written or because they showcased excellent
• 0:35
  gameplay, strategic masterpieces, or simply because
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  they are unique and entertaining.
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  And this one clearly belongs to the first category because E
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  Sport History was written in capital letters.
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  Today I want to tell you about simply the best final ever
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  played in an Age of Empires tournament.
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  It's truly is a classic in more ways than one.
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  Firstly because it's about two players who couldn't be more
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  different in their play styles and yet have formed a friendship
• 1:09
  that spans generations. And secondly because it's about
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  the final of Red Bull Wolano 3, the franchise's biggest
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  tournament series. In this final, Doubt, the oldest
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  professional among the players, met Leary, the youngest
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  professional player at the time. The difference between these two
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  was 17 years. Well, it still is, but you know,
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  they're older now, so it's not that impressive anymore.
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  This final has been played back when calling Leary the kid
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  actually made sense. Doubt's career, on the other
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  hand, started with the original Age of Kings game back when it
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  was released in 1999, while Lewis really took off with the
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  Definitive Edition 20 years later.
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  This final was not just a final with a big name, though.
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  Doubt versus Leary was a cultural battle, a legend versus
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  a newcomer, Experience versus innovation, macro versus micro,
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  strategic variety versus speed and perfect execution.
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  Who would win such a match and what would that actually mean?
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  Most will agree with me when I say that Leary went into this
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  final as the favorite. He was the winner of Red Bull
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  Wallolo 2 and therefore the defending champion.
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  Doubt had only just finished in the top 16 in the last
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  tournament and had to qualify for Red Bull Wallolo 3.
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  Leary was considered the second best player behind Viper at the
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  time, while Doubt was ranked somewhere in the top 10.
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  It was also assumed that Empire Wars as a game mode would suit a
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  player like Leary much better than Doubt because there's full
• 2:54
  on action right away and less strategy and more army focus
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  dictates the gameplay. In your typical Empire Wars
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  games, you'll start in the feudal age and build your first
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  few troops almost blindly, unlike in random maps.
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  Doubt can't come up with super creative strategies, actually On
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  the contrary, they could even backfire.
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  In Empire Wars there were actually clear matter strategies
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  especially for the openings. And to everyone's surprise,
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  Doubt surprised all his opponents in the tournament with
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  Cav Archers and scored one victory after another.
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  I remember the final very well, and this last match I'm telling
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  you about today is probably the furthest back I can clearly
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  remember a professional game being played in competitive
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  settings. I would have put all my money on
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  Leary winning. I clearly remember that although
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  I wasn't a big Leary fan at the time, his style of play wasn't
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  like mine at all. Doubt was the living legend even
• 4:00
  back then, so of course I hope that Doubt would win at least a
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  few of the matches against Leary.
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  It was hardly surprising that Leary won game one in Arabia in
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  an arch of war with Britains against Ethiopians, but that
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  doubt would go on. To win the next two games was
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  much more surprising. Was there actually a chance for
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  doubt? I didn't want to believe it, but
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  the hope was surely there, especially as Leary played with
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  the Cumans in the third game, which hadn't been played at all
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  before. But as it turned out, Leary won
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  the next two games and had two match points.
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  Game six saw Dart win with his beloved Koreans against the
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  Saracens. And there it was, the dream
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  final everyone was hoping for. Game #7 deciding who would win.
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  This trophy was the final of the final and it took place on
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  Acclivity. You know, it's that aggressive
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  map where you can't really full wall yourself because there's
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  unbuildable terrain where you always start and valleys.
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  But most of the resources are on the outside of these elevated
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  lands, and mobility is good for forcing map control through
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  endless rates. It's perhaps the only map where
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  you regularly see castles on the edge of the map.
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  Well, apart from Bay, maybe, but that's only one edge, and a very
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  clearly different map. Leery has unsurprisingly chosen
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  the Tatars, certainly the best civilization on this map,
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  because they can play their civilization bonus to do more
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  damage from elevations at any time, and because, as I said,
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  Kev, Archers have just been rediscovered thanks to Doubt.
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  So Doubt knew exactly what Leary would pick, and now he had to
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  make a tough decision. Would he play Huns or Maya
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  against the Tatars? He opted for his signature
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  civilization, the Maya. No player enjoys playing Maya as
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  much as Doubt does, but you could also say that no one has
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  as much experience with the Mayans and feels as comfortable
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  with them as Doubt. So how would the two of them
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  proceed? Does Doubt have a plan against
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  Leary's meta game? The game started and to be
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  honest I was pretty much out of fingernails with excitement.
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  That really had a plan and it was insane.
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  It was so irritating that I thought doubt had given up
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  before it even started on this Omega aggressive map which is
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  more open than almost any other in the tournament.
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  In a tournament where the start of the game is always well build
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  a stable or archery range. Doubt says fuck it, nothing
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  there and starts building up walls on all sides of this base,
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  having to choose a super weird shape because he has to build
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  along the unbuildable terrain on one of the sides.
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  Leary had much expectedly opened Archers and when he saw what
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  Doubt was doing he was 100% confused.
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  But what came next got me off the couch.
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  Minute 4 Doubt was not only fully walled, he was also on
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  stone with 7 villagers and on his way to the castle Age fast
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  castle into unique units on eclivity against a player like
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  Leary and Leary has no idea. He scouted the walls.
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  He saw the market, and smart as Doubt was, he built three more
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  eagles, which he showed to Leary.
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  So Leary probably assumed that Doubt would go into eagles.
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  He didn't see that Doubt was in stone.
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  And Doubt is planning with polluted Archers, the closest
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  thing Mayans have to calve Archers, those units that Doubt
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  had rediscovered in the tournament.
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  Leary doesn't figure out Doubt's strategy until Doubt gets to the
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  Castle Age. And Leary is still a good minute
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  away from the Castle Age. The castle of Doubt is built
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  defensively and he starts producing plumed arches.
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  There he goes for Knights and crossbows to counter them.
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  Then the game develops into in a in a in a very interesting way.
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  Doubt tries to raid Leary with his very agile plumes.
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  But whenever Leary spots Doubts units, he also attacks.
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  And of course he has more units since he's producing from ranges
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  and not just a single castle. Again and again, Leary manages
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  to reduce Doubt's plume numbers. Doubt does have the better
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  economy, but Leary has map control and that is very
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  important on activity. And what do you do as Doubt?
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  Well collect more stone of cores to protect your TCS.
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  Meanwhile Leary has switched scurms to decimate the plumes.
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  It's completely beyond me how they both managed to barely lose
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  any villagers with this aggressive map.
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  Dart clicks to the Imperial age well before Leary does and still
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  has more villages and military on the field.
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  Then again, 20 plumes. Leary has mainly skirms and we
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  all know that as Mayans you have a very good counter to
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  skirmishes. But while Leary has already
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  opened up the resource rich map edge, Doubt is still in the
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  centre because Leary is besieging the map edge around
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  Doubt's base, there's no way Doubt can expand to the edge
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  where there's plenty of gold and stone to be found.
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  But it looks like that's OK with Doubt because he knows that as
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  the Mayans he has more of the resources available on the map
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  since they are longer lasting and it's been so impressive to
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  watch. Doubt has the better timings,
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  even though Leary of the two is the much better timing player.
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  He's very well known for having early Ballistics for clicking up
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  before everyone else does. And while Doubt gets into the
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  Imperial age, Leary still has only 200 food in his bank and
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  clicking up is is far away for Leary.
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  So the question is, will the skirmishes be enough to defend
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  against the Plumed Archers? Doubt has continued to invest
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  into plumes, is soon at 30 plumes and there is still no
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  eagle switch. Leary keeps trying to keep the
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  plume numbers down, but Doubt takes the opportunity to finally
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  go to the edge of the map and secure his resources.
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  While he while Leary was busy trying to snag the the Plumed
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  Archers with his skirmishes. So this is starting to look
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  really good for doubt. And the better it looked for
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  doubt, the more nervous I got watching the game.
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  Do you know that feeling that you get when something that you
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  really, really want, but you're not really counting on happening
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  suddenly becomes almost palpable, really tangible?
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  That's the feeling that I had when watching this game.
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  That's the special kind of nervousness that only comes when
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  something that is real is still fleeting at the same time, much
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  like Doubt's probable victory in an unlike scenario like this.
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  Doubt has shown so much game sense in this game, sensing that
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  Leary has clicked up in the meantime and started to make his
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  first successful race with Plumes.
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  But the game has reached the point where Doubt has to do the
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  Eagle switch, and thanks to his 150 villages, he can go straight
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  into elite Eagles with El Dorado.
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  So when that was happening, I was probably already off my
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  couch, standing in my living room with tension and just
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  couldn't believe what was happening.
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  He did build Eagles in addition to his 30 plus blooms, while
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  Leary just had Cavaliers. The first fully upgraded eagles
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  are already running across the map.
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  Then you start blinking because you your eyes were wide open and
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  you didn't want to blink because you didn't want to miss anything
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  from this very final. But you had to blink and
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  suddenly there are 30 eagles everywhere in Leary's space out
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  of nowhere. They're just running everywhere.
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  0 micro necessary overran his opponent and just to be safe.
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  Doubt started to spread out with his own castles to secure more
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  resources and to take off Leary from potential future resources.
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  But the question was would he even need it because he had
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  almost 50 fully upgraded El Dorado Elite Eagle Warriors on
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  the field. And of course he didn't.
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  That was enough. I jumped up from my couch.
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  If I wasn't already up, I was screaming like an idiot.
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  My girlfriend comes running into the living room and sees a grown
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  man running up and down in front of the TV and cheering for the
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  Lord who finally won his tournament.
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  And after just under 40 minutes that takes the win in the title,
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  the biggest win of his career in the tournament of his life.
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  After first beating Mr. Yo, the winner of Red Bull, Wololof won
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  and knocking the defending champion off his throne in the
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  final. I've hardly ever been so happy
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  for someone I don't know, and I've never been so happy for
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  anyone. Since Doubts words after his
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  victory, it's been a while. Asked about his plumed Archer
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  play, Doubts said it was the moment of brilliance and felt
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  that if he could build the first castle, he would win in this
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  matchup. And well, he was proven right.
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  Reliving that match gave me goosebumps once again and I can
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  only recommend you watch that game again today even though
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  it's already been five years, because Doubt's struggle since
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  then makes that final all the more beautiful.
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  I think that final was the last time we saw Doubt playing to his
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  strengths because he trusted himself.
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  Mayans comforts of completely anti matter, doing what he can.
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  Unlike nowadays he doesn't base his strategy so much on his
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  opponents. Back then he played to his own
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  strengths. It sounds funny but I sometimes
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  wish players like Doubt and Viper would let themselves be
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  less impressed by their opponents, much like Doubt from
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  the past. Who knew that if he could get
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  that castle up and get to his plumes he would win.
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  It's truly was a moment of brilliance.
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  So that was, in my opinion, the best final that I have ever seen
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  and I hope you really enjoyed reliving this final with me here
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  in this podcast. If you enjoyed this episode,
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  there's two other masterpieces I've already published.
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  Just go back in the feed and listen to them.
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  And of course, there will be future ones.
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  Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the other podcasts.