EVE_NT: Sleeper Social Club vs. Cynosural Field Theory
Apothne
Sleeper Social Club and Cynosural Field Theory are two reasonably well-known names in EVE Online. SSC, a wormholing alliance formed from EVE University’s first Wormhole Campus, and CFT, home to the infamous Tinkerhell, both applied to play in this year’s AT but failed to get in on both the random draw and the silent auction of free spots. Let’s take a look at the setups: SSC: Hyperion x2, Hecate, Ishkur, Nereus (Banned) Vargur x2, Thrasher x2, Stiletto (Banned) Megathron Navy Issue x2, Enyo x2, Taranis Sleipnir, Scimitar, Svipul x2, Harpy Sacrilege x2, Oneiros, Vengeance x2 Bhaalgorn, Guardian, COnfessor x2, Imicus Rattlesnake, Basilisk, Jackdaw x2, Heron CFT: Typhoon x2, Exequror, Punisher x2 Vagabond x2, Sleipnir, Burst x2 (Banned) Machariel x2, Tristan x2, Talwar Deimos x2, Astarte, Navitas x2 (Banned) Raven Navy Issue x2, Heretic x2, Cormorant Orthrus x2, Caracal x2, Scythe Armageddon x2, Augoror, Rifter x2 Both teams show a predilection for battleship-centric setups, perhaps taking inspiration from Waffles nail-biting series with the Tuskers of the previous month.
Match 1
VOD SSC: Sleipnir, Scimitar, Svipul x2, Harpy CFT: Typhoon x2, Exequror, Punisher x2 SSC is running a typical AT archetype in the form of a Minmatar Rush setup: fast, high DPS and selectable damage. CFT bring a RHML ‘Phoon team with Punishers to hold down their targets and allow the larger ships to apply that great damage. CFT launch the series with a fairly major error; they focus on a Svipul straight off the bat. With its ludicrous speed, small sig and boosts from from the Sleipnir links, it is never going to break under Scimitar reps. Even when it gets hardtacked and neuted, it doesn’t even come close to breaking. Ikslagor’s Svipul only drops into low shield at one point, and then only because he waits until the last moment before switching to defense mode. SSC, after some positioning, get on top of the CFT Exequror, slowly breaking through its active tank. When the Exequror drops, the Punishers are quickly picked off by the more agile Svipuls, and it’s a slow but commanding victory for SSC. This match was quite firmly decided when CFT failed to kill the Svipul at the beginning and wasted their first reload cycles trying to burn it down. One of the disadvantages of bringing a battleship setup is that’s where the vast majority of your points go, leaving them with a T1 logi and two T1 frigs as support. SSC on the other hand had a much more well-balanced setup, with each ship able to tank very well with links under Scimmi reps rounded out by a good bit of DPS with very fast, very resilient tackle to apply it. Would CFT have been able to kill the Scimitar or even the Sleipnir if they had primaried it first? It’s not a certain thing, but I’m sure it’s a better call than shooting the Svipul. Score: 1-0 to SSCMatch 2
VOD SSC: Sacrilege x2, Oneiros, Vengeance x2 CFT: Raven Navy Issue x2, Heretic x2, Cormorant The SSC team here is tanky as balls. There isn’t a single ship that’s a particularly nice primary. All the DPS ships have a resist bonus on the hull as well as a MWD sig bloom bonus, and in a 5-man setup, killing a sig-tanking Oneiros can be super hard, especially when you’re using Raven Navy Issues. Neither team, however, have any links which mitigates that problem to some extent. I’m slightly confused by the choice of a Cormorant. I think something like a Vigil would have been far more useful for the CFT team. The match begins and the Cormorant is quickly picked off as the squishiest target, followed shortly by the first of the two Heretics (rockets, why?). Jeremiah in the Oneiros, however, is slowly dying, and even though he does eventually go down, it’s a big advantage for the SSC team that he took so long to die. Spending so much time shooting the Oneiros means the rest of the CFT team still have a lot of time to do work on the RNIs. The Caldari battleships, however, tank like champs. I mean, they take FOREVER to die, and here is where the match turns around: the Sacrileges (if you listen to the post-match analysis) are fit terribly. The suboptimal tank on the Sacs causes them to die while trying to work their way through the massive buffer of the RNIs, who are dual-repping with both an ASB AND a regular shield boosted with cap injection.They would likely have won the match if they had the potential active tank we all know Sacrileges can attain with dual medium reppers, but clearly failed to do so, evening the score. Score: 1-1Match 3
VOD SSC: Megathron Navy Issue x2, Enyo x2, Taranis CFT: Machariel x2, Talwar, Tristan x2 Goddamn I was pumped for this match. Motherfucking Mega Navies. YES. Sadly, odds were the Talwar & Tristans would make short work of the Enyo and Taranis tackle, and I was thinking the Machariels would be able to kite the NMegas all day long and win the match. Looking back afterwards, I couldn’t have been more wrong. This match is the textbook definition of “sloppy”. One of the Machariels just sits there, allows the Megas to barrel onto him and dies in short order. That said, the CFT support do a good job of taking down the SSC tackle, BUT TACKLE ISN’T NECESSARY IF YOU’RE NOT MOVING IN THE FIRST PLACE SSC MAELGAR. Uofis manages to burn down the first Mega navy into low structure while CrystalSteal’s Enyo shoots inactive ECM drones in the middle of the field instead of tackling him, but then Uofis accidently burns out his guns and submits to being killed by the Navy Megathron blasters. If you compare this match with those of last month’s (Tuskers vs. Waffles), you’ll see clearly how each pair of teams are in a completely different league of play. Entertaining as these matches are, they are nowhere near as crisp or elegant as the matches we saw from the previous series. Score: 2-1 to SSCMatch 4
VOD SSC: Bhaalgorn, Guardian, Confessor x2, Imicus CFT: Armageddon x2, Augoror, Rifter x2 This is the battle of the neut teams, the Bhaalgorn with its infinite Nos vs the double range-bonused Armageddons. Confessors are super reliant on capacitor and if either teams logistics gets caught in neut range then it’s zero reps for the rest of the match. The Armageddons get a range advantage on neuts, which could give them a leg up on the Bhaal, but the Bhaal also gets that web range bonus which may allow it to control the battlefield more than is apparent from the hull lists. At the start of the match, the Geddons make an attempt to break SSC’s Confessors, but as we’ve seen repeatedly, large guns are terrible at applying to T3Ds without a hell of a lot of tackle and painters. It is something of a novelty to see an Imicus tanking Rifters under Guardian reps. Meanwhile, CFT’s Augoror dies a fairly slow but inevitable death. The SSC team slowly but surely takes down the rest of the CFT team with reps no longer available, not even ceding their Imicus to bring them a well-deserved victory. Score: 3-1 SSC Victory I think it’s fair to say that SSC did noticeably outfly CFT, and that should be commended, but overall this was a very sloppy match from both sides. I really hope we can see both teams step up their game for future tournaments as I know for a fact they’re both home to some excellent theorycrafters and pilots.About the author
Apothne
Apothne is a proud member of Sniggerdly and an experienced roaming FC. He is a Guest FC and Lecturer for EVE University and anyone who invites him to ramble on their comms for a few hours. He is currently one of the most active and experienced player commentators for EVE Tournaments, including hosting and casting AT XII-XV and all #EVE_NT leagues, as well as the Amarr Championships on stage at Fanfest 2016.
