Dark Crusade of the cyber cafes

Another Dark Crusade Mini Tournament was held in Autumn Breeze Internet Café, Klang over the weekend earlier this month organized by New Era Interactive Software. The tournament was attended by 30 players with several representatives from cyber cafes around the Klang area and a few hard core players from Seremban that came to show who was the best in the ‘universe’. 

The tournament was based on the Outer Reaches map and only one map was chosen to be played to make it simpler for new comers to try the game, which was the overall objective of the Mini Tournaments by New Era. 

The tournament kicked off with all 30 players in a single elimination, playing the best of 3 rounds. The Outer Reaches map required players to rush their opponents quickly and gain map control as soon as possible. As Dawn of War Dark Crusade employs ‘strategic points’ to generate resources, control of these points ensured victory to the resourceful commander. 

A notable match in the first tier among all 30 players saw Osiris (Hong Boon Hooi) trying his best to block the advances from the new comer [AB] Alan Ng’s (Alan Ng) unstoppable Necron death march. Despite an attempt to rebuild his base, Osiris fell at the hands of the Death God. Another Necron players like Sathes made quick work of his opponent, W1 (Ahmad Syazwan Bin Nasarudin) even after trying to change races to confuse him. In another match, Fall-from-Grace’s (Kevin Tan) immediate Imperial Guard turret rush made gave little chance to Anwarz’s Scout Marines. The Outer Reaches at this point was dominated by many Necron players but for some their death march was easily countered by veteran players like Scrubie MY (Calvin Seak) versus {AB] Ng Jian Hong (Ng Jian Hong).  

Many other veterans from the previous tournament manage to move up the ladder along with many fresh faces but due to their lack of experience many could not withstand the onslaught from seasoned players. 

In the second tier of the top 15, Wibi (Yong Chi Ping) sought justice for his fellow brethren of the LYNK (LowYatNetKakis) as he was matched up against [AB] Alan Ng. The speed and ranged firepower of the Tau Empire was a clear dominant in the current version of Dark Crusade. Necron players in this second tier did not fare well with only G.Spec’s (Yip Yau Kean) steadiness as the Necron giving him an edge against Heaven’s (Wong Sin Wah) Orks while TieRen (Lu Yi Zheng) had a walkover. 

After a quick lunch, the third tier commenced players who instantly became winners as the prize structured covered till the 8th winner. All the matches were more intensely played as the grand prize was at stake. Hunt’s (Vishallan Govan) battle cry in hopes to instill fear in RotiCanai did not work as he casually broke him down with the Space Marines.

5ouLBuRneR managed to win one game with the Chaos Marines against Wibi but the forces of evil fell to another, the Necron in the end. In another battle, the Necron did not fare well such in Redeye (Koh Jen Yen) versus TieRen and G.spec versus Scrubie MY. They were both was not quick enough to counter their opponents lightning fast Tau forces.  

The third tier, deciding the first to the fourth positions were between RotiCanai versus Redeye and Wibi versus Scrubie. 

To the surprise of many RotiCanai played as the Imperial Guard and Eldar, possibly hoping to confuse Redeye with his varying tactics but eventually failed to Redeye’s consistency. Wibi’s death march by the Necrons managed to over power Scrubie MY’s small Tau forces forcing him to take on RotiCanai for the 3rd placing. In the final match between Wibi and Redeye, the unstoppable Necrons along with proper understanding of the Necron army once again managed to overpower Redeye’s Tau to reclaim the championship.  

 
In the end, the winners, were: Champion: Wibi (Yong Chi Ping), 1st Runner up: Redeye (Koh Jen Yen), 2nd Runner up: Scrubie MY (Calvin Seak), 5th to 8th: RotiCanai (Wong Shaw In), Hunt (Vishallan Govan), G.Spec (Yip Yau Kean), TieRen (Lu Yi Zheng), 5ouLBuRneR (Lexiss Pong).  

This tournament’s total cast prize of more than RM 2,000 was given away, doubling the previous tournament in December. This was New Era’s second Dark Crusade Mini Tournament and New Era will be organizing more Dark Crusade Mini Tournaments and has more tournaments in their line up to promote a more exciting and vibrant gaming scene in Malaysia.  

For more information on the tournaments, visit Dawn of War Dark Crusade Tournament Mini-site: www.neweragames.com.my/darkcrusade