SUPERNOVA SHOWDOWN - Official Tournament Thread [Info/Hype/Results]

We've been keeping everyone in the dark, but it's finally time to pull back the curtain and reveal the players for this weekend's Supernova Showdown!



Qualifier

There's still one spot left open in the tournament for the winner of our open qualifier. The qualifier will be held tomorrow (Friday) at 20:00 UTC. Details and signups can be found on the official page.

Tournament Details

All this info can also be found on the official tournament page here.
Tournament begins at 18:00 UTC (there's a countdown on the tournament page) and will be streamed at twitch.tv/teamexodusesports. The format is 1v1 single elimination between some of the best players in PA right now, competing for a $100 prize pool. Matches are single planet, Bo1, except for the finals, which are Bo3. Planets pool has been created ahead of time and tested, meaning we're in for some awesome, high quality PA. This also marks the first tournament run with professional esports experience behind it, so expect awesome!

Players

Godde
Godde’s name is well known in competetive PA. As namesake of the Super Godde Bros, he’s already won Uber’s own 2v2 tournament. Perhaps more importantly for this weekend, he’s also placed top 2 in both PACE open tournaments, winning first in one and second in another. Although a lot has changed since then, with multiple patches and huge changes to both game balance and the overall meta, results don’t lie, and Godde is definitely a name to watch for this weekend. Oh he’s also doing a thesis of PA, so he knows PA inside out!

Gandalf
Known within the community as both a tournament organizer and a competitor, Gandalf only recently got back into a competitive play after a long stint as the director of PACE. While this time spent away from the battlefield at the administration desk will certainly have affected his skill, he’s focused extensively on improving since his return. A recent match against Matiz as part of the King of the Planet series didn’t go quite in his favor, but don’t discount this veteran yet. In the past, he was seen to be awake for more a healthy amount of time before the tournaments, let’s hope he gets some sleep this time.

Mered4
One of 5 players The Realm managed to field for this event, Mered is often overshadowed by his more high profile clanmates. Nevertheless, he put down a decent run as a member of team Hyperion during the Battle of the Beasts, and achieved an impressive 5-1 during PACE’s Martius Mayhem, actually beating one of the other entrants, Superouman, in the process. While he’s not the obvious pick to win, Mered4 definitely has what it takes to compete with the best of them. Expect some great games from him.

Giggle
Part 2 (or 1) of the super successful Super Godde Bros, most of Giggle’s record comes from 2v2 events. In terms of individual tournaments, he hasn’t quite been able to replicate the success he’s experienced when working with Godde. His record for the 2 most recent PACE individual events has been a fairly average 3-3 and 3-2-1. He did go 5-1 during the Seasonal Opener, but considering the rate the game has been changing, that event was a long time ago. Can Giggle prove himself relevant in the current meta? Or is his success a product of his very effective partnership with Godde? Only this weekend will tell.

Rocket Jump
A bit of a dark horse going into this event, Rocket Jump competed in neither the Battle of the Beasts nor PACE’s Commander of March event. Nevertheless, he went 4-2 in the Martius Mayhem, and 5-1 in PACE’s Season Opener. Both impressive results, but the game has changed a lot since then, so the big question is how competitive Rocket Jump is in the current meta. His ladder rankings certainly suggest he is comfortable, but how he fares in a competitive setting will have to be seen come Saturday.

Cola Colin
DEUTSCHE GRÜNDLICHKEIT
As a top member of the community, forum admin, vanguard, modder extraordinaire, he is one of the more well known competitors this weekend. Although a significant amount of his free time is consumed by developing and maintaining PA Stats and other mods, he’s still consistently at the top of the ladder. He’s already demonstrated his strength in a competitive setting with top 3 finishes in both of the recent PACE open tournaments, so expectations are high for this seasoned veteran.
Clopse
Notorious top player and organizer of the Clopsey Tournaments, his play can often seem chaotic and disorganised. However, that impression quickly goes away when he blows up the enemy’s commander. This Irishman’s performance is rumored to drastically improve with number of beers consumed, so a weekend tournament definitely seems to favor him. Clopse is definitely a very dangerous and unpredictable player, and it remains to be seen what he will come up with this time. We certainly can’t wait to find out.

Burntcustard
One of the most consistent top players. Loves to bring a specific strategy to execution.
He is known to nuke spam the hell out of his opponent as early as possible or surprise them with very fast advanced units. Either way, his strategies tend towards, quick, precise execution, usually before his enemies can prepare. As the creator of the Anchor Buttons Mod and current community leader of The Realm for Planetary Annihilation, he has a well established reputation in the community, one he’ll try to keep during the event this weekend.

Pt4h
Great player and maker of the Ptahsaurus mod. Has been storming up the ranked ladder in the last few weeks and is now a solid top 10 player, even on the verge of breaking into the top 5. Pt4h is an RTS lover, he grew up on LAN parties playing games like Starcraft or C&C. His name often brings some confusion to casters and viewers a like, so it’s worth a mention: Ptah is God of craftsmen and architects in Egyptian mythology and is pronounced as /pəˈtɑː/. It remains to be seen if he can keep up his rise, and craft himself a top finish at the event this weekend.

Superouman
Inventor of the Astraeus Vanguard Drop (together with WPMarshall) and other special tactics. His previous RTS experience comes from Starcraft 2, where he was a very well known mapmaker. His maps (most notably Cloud Kingdom) have been played at the highest level, most notably in GSL and Proleague, as well as the official ladder. PA is a game in large part about adapting and taking advantage of the layout of the maps. It’ll be interesting to see if Superouman’s background gives him a unique edge in at least that part of the game. His practice and his skill may be enough to do the rest.

KISEL
Kisel is a russian machine, another one of the new breed of players who have been climbing the ranks up into the top 10 to challenge the old dogs of the alpha days. His rise has been fast, and of all the players he’s been one of the ones playing most in recent times, so that will likely provide him a boost. He’s states that his biggest fan is his mom and we hope she will come watch his performance!

Murcanic
Murcanic is the top Canadian player and refuses to adhere to the commonly accepted meta-strategies. He is known for the innovative and fresh playstyles he brings to the competitive scene. Murcanic used to play Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander in the past, so Planetary Annihilation was a must, and he’s definitely shown it with results. He’s gone an impressive 5-1 and 4-2 in the most recent PACE competitions. That’s a strong showing, but numbers that are definitely not uncommon in the player pool gathered for this event.

Posidian
Posidian is relatively new to PA and competitive RTS games in general but he has been hammering out a lot of 1v1 games and now sits in the top 10 on the ranked ladder. He’s a regular streamer and has a lot of practice. He’s rumored to be a competitive player under a new name, but further information about Posidian remains a mystery, all we know is he is from USA and he probably likes cookies.

TotalAnnihilation
A surprise finalist in the PACE Seasonal Opener, Total Annihilation hasn’t been around for quite as long as some of the other competitors. Due to his time zone, he also hasn’t been seen in quite as many competitions as the other contestants. That makes him a bit of an unknown, and an exciting figure to watch in the upcoming event.

Mattrmunson
A veteran from alpha, Matt hasn’t been around recently, but has been practicing for the Supernova Showdown and is climbing his way back up the top 20. He’s played a lot of games and was very active on the ladder before the reset. A consistent player with a lot of experience, his results are going to depend largely on how well he has readjusted to the current game.

You?
There's still one spot remaining in the open qualifier, and whoever fights their way through it will doubtlessly have the experience necessary to compete, as well as the advantage of recent practice and a great warm up before the event.

#Hype

This is the biggest event PA has had in a while, with one of the most high level player pools ever assembled. Who is your favorite? Who do you think is going to win? Why is your favorite player better than everyone else? Let us know below! We might even quote you on stream!

I'd like to ask how you arrived at this conclusion. It seems to me that you're making a broad and sweeping assumption with reference to all the other tournaments.

I am making a broad and sweeping assumption with regards to all other tournaments! Please, correct my assumption!

EDIT: We can have this discussion some time, but lets do it on Sunday, after the event.

Why? You seem to take no issue with possibly disseminating misinformation for the glorification and sensationalization of your Organization/Tournament.

It's a simple thing to correct up there, why don't you do that and this will all be over?

If you really care that much then make a poll for which tournament is the most professional. Personally I do not care I just want to create an awesome tournament, with live updated brackets for player convenience and a livestream that gives a fantastic viewing experience for the community.

Please don't derail this into a drama thread. Take it up in PMs. Thanks.

OA has a fair point. If I am wrong I should issue a correction.

I checked my claim with the people involved in most of the past PA events. Please PM me who I am mistaken about and I will issue a correction. Until then please follow zaphod's suggestion and leave this thread for its purpose: info and hype.

Let these guy hype themselves and their tournament, no one is stopping you doing the same thing with yours oath.

May the best machine win!

It's gonna be epic. I don't want to enter the qualifier tomorrow because I'm afraid I might win and then I wouldn't be able to watch this live.

Hm, this tournament is like the girl of your dreams.

Do you want be with her in bed or do you only want to watch her with someone else? YOUR CHOICE!

What kind of question is that?!?! Enter the qualifier! It's too EPIC not to be a part of!

It depends... Is she with Brad or Zaphod?

While we all are interested in Zaphod's face, you sir seem to be interested about some others parts as I can see

I am amazed I have been invited to this tournament.
I think captain conundrum is a more worthy opponent than me, but I guess its the unknown that teases the audience.

I certainly wouldn't say you're unknown, and the games I've played with you have been a lot of fun.

Ew.

Why right away? can we get dinner? laugh some?

D:

Don't drag the game

Less than 24 hours till we start the show! I'M SO PUMPED I CAN'T STOP TYPING IN CAPS!

Qualification is over!

Welcome our new participants:

• Elodea
• Taxman66

Taxman66 is invited to replace Giggle, who has canceled his invitation.

As reserves stay these players:

• chpodowock
  
• [RLM]Mot9001

We are slowly starting to gather on IRC or mumble (optional), so come pay us a visit

https://webchat.esper.net/

Room #patournaments