This weekend, THS (The Holy Sepulchre) hosted a For Honor tournament in honor of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The tournament – called “Fight Against Cancer” – was a duel event live-streamed on Twitch and organized on Battlefy.
The rules were as follows:
- Double-elimination bracket (you are sent to the Loser’s Bracket after your first tournament match loss)
- The winner of the loser’s bracket will play the winner of the winner’s bracket in the grand final.
- The player in the winner’s bracket needs to win one set of matches to win the tournament. The winner of the loser’s bracket needs to win two sets of matches in the grand finals to win the tournament.
- If the loser wins the first set of matches in the grand final (best 2 out of 3 ) the bracket is reset and both players play one final match to determine the tournament champion.
- You have 10 minutes check in to each match on the Battlefy website. If you do not check in to your match you will be Disqualified.
- No character bans
- All matches are best 2-out-of-3 maps. Each map is a best of 5 rounds.
- Player on top of bracket hosts first match.
- Each player is entitled to host 1 map if they wish. Loser of the first match hosts the 3rd map if they wish
- Map Selection: ARENA MAPS ONLY.
- Players have 1 hour before tournament start to check in. Once the tournament begins, they will then have to check in to each match on Battlefy.
- Zero tolerance policy for holding up the bracket. If players are having an issue with their match, they must contact the admins via Discord. Failure to do so will result in both players being eliminated.
- All bugs/tech available in the live game are illegal. DQs are at the discretion of admins if proof is provided.
- If a player disconnects before the first minute and first kill of the game, they must remake the game with the same characters, on the same map. If the disconnect occurs after the first minute or first kill, the match must be remade with the same characters, on the same map, with the same score.
How the For Honor tournament went down
We were able to catch the grand finals of the tournament, hosted by For Honor Arena. The epic battle came down to Mayco and One Shot (xxone_shotxx115) scrapping it out for the prize. Mayco chose Conqueror for this fight, a heavy character with considerable defensive skills. One Shot went with Warden, a well-rounded hero with a somewhat limited moveset.
The first fight was fairly even, with both One Shot and Mayco scoring two wins each. One Shot was impishly crafty with his feints, while Mayco excelled in his ability to follow his own offense up with guard breaks and light attacks. In the end, Mayco was able to best One Shot with his brilliant all-block finesse.
Lag played a major factor in the first fight and the match was restarted as a result. The second encounter was considerably more in Mayco’s favor, who perfectly timed his guard breaks against One Shot’s shoulder bashes. He was also on-point with countering the Warden’s offense, effectively reversing the onslaught.
Twitch chat makes some points
During the tournament, a conversation was started in the fairly active chat Twitch chat room regarding balance. For Honor, while having quite a good year, still has some issues regarding how one-sided some heroes are.
Conqueror, having recently received a rework, is considered one of the best heroes in-game. Warden, on the other hand, suffers from a very basic moveset. The hero was actually the first For Honor design in development, so this is not surprising. That said, many Twitch followers considered the match-up to be unfair. Even the commentator was recommending that One Shot choose a different character for the next match-up.
Interestingly enough, this sparked a dialogue about why a fighting game has unbalanced heroes. Ubisoft has yet to update some of their older For Honor roster. Many fans of the game consider this an unfair aspect of competitive play. Many of the reworked (Conqueror included) and newer cast have considerably more abilities and options.
The last stand
In the final match, One Shot opted to play as Kensei – a newly reworked hero – instead of Warden. While he did considerably better against Mayco, the Conqueror still managed a victory. Utilizing his all-block stance to its fullest and cleverly timing his shield bashes, even Kensei stood no chance. Mayco managed to put xxone_shotxx115 away for good, solidifying his place in the charity tournament.
Many For Honor players assert that Conqueror is too overpowered and that he isn’t a fair match in duels. That said, One Shot played Kensei in their last dance and simply wasn’t able to beat him. Kensei also received a recent rework, becoming one of the top Heroes in the fighting game. Mayco has won several tournaments before, however, and is a tough cookie.
THS has set up a donation page, urging both players and competitors alike to donate.
The new For Honor expansion is due in the fall of 2018.
