Annietude

Arcane | A

Mouldy | A

Nitro | C

Napqueen | D

Dalek | E

21 points

Team review: It’s no real surprise this team finished one position lower than expected, ending up in 6th place. Predicted 6th place, Team RAWR!, played impressively throughout the competition and this team just couldn’t quite keep up the pace with Team RAWR!’s 22 points. A little more team training in the lead up to the competition could have seen this team perform slightly better, but they didn’t finish lower than any teams with less points than them, so you have to give them that. 

Side events: One of the biggest upsets in the triples event was not seeing Arcane, Ace and Ginny in the final. Unfortunately 2 games wasn’t enough for the trio to find a solid spot in the arena and combat some cheeky roof shots from the Dunedin team (who ultimately made the final) consisting of fellow Annietude teammate, Napqueen. Mouldy, vDark and Popeyes ended up taking home the gold, mostly as expected.

Mouldy and vDark fell short of a trophy in doubles, finishing in 4th. Arcane and doubles partner Gravey managed to sneak into doubles finals but finished in last place, which was an odd result seeing as they never finished last in any of their finals games.

Mouldy and Arcane finished 6th and 7th in solos respectively.

2019 Invites trophies: 1

Predicted finish: 5th

Where they did place: 6th (-1)

unBelievable

Crouchy | A

vDark | B

theLeg | B

Gryffo | C

Nimlet | E

23 points

Team review: The most unsurprising result in the teams competition was unBelievable winning Invites 2019. With a strong 23 point team who dominated most of the competition, these guys took home the first place trophy. Ultimately in a capped competition, the weakest player can determine a team’s overall result. Nimlet proved herself as a strong E player who listened to instructions from her teammates and was positioned in a way that she didn’t give away too many points to stronger players looking for some easy shots. 

You can guarantee next year that nearly all these players will be going up a grade!

Side events: vDark, theLeg, and Crouchy took home a serious amount of trophies this competition. The three finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd respectively in solos. vDark took first in triples with partners Popeyes and Mouldy. Crouchy and theLeg finished 2nd in doubles, and 2nd in triples with Team RAWR! member, Gravey.  

2019 Invites trophies: 13

Predicted finish: 1st

Where they did place: 1st  (0)

Fred’s Daggs

Darkpassion| A

Goofy | B

Fred | B

Ginge | D

Jimmy| E

22 points

Team review: Living up to expectations, Fred’s Daggs had a little bit of a shaky start but finished the competition strongly with a 2nd place in the finals. Fred’s Daggs were always my favourite for being the dark horse of the competition, capable of knocking one of the top three predicted teams off their perch (sorry LITT) and they even managed to get better than 3rd in the final. Goofy performed out of his skin with some monster scores (17k+ in one game?) and it really helped this team secure their finals spot.

Side events: Goofy and Darkpassion were the only players playing side events, with Darkpassion only competing in triples.

Goofy finished 9th in solos, and had a valiant effort in doubles with thebmw, placing 5th. If the pair had a third game as good as their first two, they would have gone home with a trophy.

2019 Invites trophies: 5

Predicted finish: 4th

Where they did place: 2nd (+2)

Hamburglars

Hahjay | C

Beggor | D

Enpointe| D

Decoy | E

Maz | E

10 points

Team review: In the lead up to Invites 2019, Hamburglars didn’t really make an appearance at Mt Wellington training nights, which was evident during the round robin as they finished dead last. On the final day of the competition, the team pulled together to win their elimination game, pushing them up the ladder to finish in 9th, one above their predicted finish of 10th. Enpointe had some nice individual scores during the competition, but unfortunately couldn’t quite guide her team with some strategies that could have seen them finish maybe a spot or two higher on the ladder.

There is some real potential in this team. They likely just need a bit of guidance from more experienced players and will hopefully all return for Invites 2020.

Side events:  Beggor and Maz pulled out of doubles, so none of these players ended up playing sides.

2019 Invites trophies: 0

Predicted finish: 10th

Where they did place: 9th (+1)

LIIT

Ace | A

Ginny | A

Arrow | B

Mintie | D

Caboose | E

23 points

Team review: One of the biggest upsets of Invites 2019 was LITT not making the final, and finishing three spots below their predicted ranking of 2nd. Unfortunately this team had a bit of a rough finals day after going in at 3rd place. Nothing much more to be said about this other than maybe just some cohesion issues and bad luck.

Side events: Ace and Ginny, who were strangely left unchallenged in the final, took home the gold in doubles, as somewhat predicted. Ace and Ginny finished 8th and 16th respectively in solos, and missed out on a triples finals appearance with Annietude player, Arcane.

2019 Invites trophies: 2

Predicted finish: 2nd

Where they did place: 5th (-3)

Pure Dunnaz

Lt. Traitor | C

Joker | D

insomnia| D

MySuitIsMyS | D

Simper | E

13 points

Team review: MySuitIsMyS was often heard saying “I just don’t want to come last” during the competition and his wish seemed to come true. Pure Dunnaz was in the first double elimination match and unfortunately were just beat by the Auckland home team, Hamburglars.

The overall individual skill of this team was impressive, although they still need to work on some solid strategies and learn to adapt mid game. They were often seen at the middle of the game in conversations with each other, not knowing what to do when their plan hadn’t worked. The odd dump strategy would have potentially helped this team finish higher on the ladder, but they always seemed reluctant to dump off the bat at the start of the game.

Side events: Lt. Traitor was the highest finishing Dunedin player in solos finals (barring Popeyes), who ended up with a top 10 finish in 10th place. insomnia managed a solos finals appearance, finishing in 20th, which is a decent feat.

2019 Invites trophies: 0

Predicted finish: 11th

Where they did place: 10th (+1)

Sad Clowns

Margie | A

Hatman | A

Rogue | B

Sadlamp| D

Trogy | E

23 points

Team review: Sad Clowns lived up to expectations and finished in their predicted placing of 3rd.

Sadlamp definitely deserves at least a C ranking after this competition so expect his grade to go up next year after playing at a good level during the competition. Trogy played very well for an E, considering he barely played the maze and was often tied up in media work over the course of the weekend.

Side events: Margie, Hatman and Rogue finished 3rd in triples. Margie picked up a 3rd place in doubles with Popeyes. Rogue and Hatman made doubles finals, finishing in 6th. Margie finished 5th in solos, with Hatman surprisingly low on the ladder, ending up in 14th.

2019 Invites trophies: 9

Predicted finish: 3rd

Where they did place: 3rd (0)

Sad Hedgehogs

tsia | C

Sparkle_Suit | C

thebmw | C

Feel…| C

Cpt_Hamfish | D

19 points

Team review: Sad Hedgehogs were the team with the most feel-good story of the competition. Predicted 9th, they had to play finals day without Sparkle_Suit due to illness, and managed to win a game with 4 players. They finished in 7th which would have been a good effort if they had all 5 of their players, let alone only 4.

Hats off to these guys who played amazingly not only on finals day, but also during the whole competition.

Side events: Sparkle_Suit managed a finals appearance in solos with a 15th place finish. tsia just missed out on doubles finals, while thebmw picked up 5th with partner Goofy. Feel.. and Sparkle_Suit managed to trip up some strong teams going into triples finals, although Sparkle_Suit was too ill to play all grand finals games, leaving his team with two players who just couldn’t defend themselves against the other three strong teams.

2019 Invites trophies: 0

Predicted finish: 9th

Where they did place: 7th (+2)

A Team Has No Name

Rooboo | B

Lycan | B

Gregosaur | D

Tenko | D

Markosaur | D

21 points

Team review: When there is a team that plays a lot better on finals day than expected (Sad Hedgehogs), unfortunately there must also be a team that suffers because of it. Sad Hedgehogs beat this team with 4 players on finals day which meant A Team Has No Name was eliminated in 8th spot.

Although this was only one spot lower than their predicted ranking of 7th, it’s unfortunate that this team couldn’t exceed expectations a little bit after Gregosaur, Tenko and Markosaur put in some decent hours of training in the lead up to Invites. In saying that, the three of them played a very good competition and have improved greatly over the past few months and it really showed. More commitment like that will see these three hit C rankings in no time.

Side events: Lycan was the only player to play side events and only competed in doubles with Big Red who couldn’t quite sneak into finals.

2019 Invites trophies: 0

Predicted finish: 7th

Where they did place: 8th (-1)

Team RAWR!

Popeyes| A

T_T | C

Zygorhiza | D

Cyborant | C

Gravey| C

22 points

Team review: Team RAWR! had an impressive competition, exceeding expectations throughout and narrowly missing out on a finals spot. Popeyes proved to captain this team extremely well, with the other players holding their own against some of the more experienced players. Zygorhiza definitely deserves a C ranking next year.

Side events: Impressively, all 5 players on this team managed to make at least one side event final. Popeyes picked up a 4th in solos, 3rd in doubles, and 1st in triples. Zygorhiza and doubles partner Gumby made a surprising appearance in doubles finals after some nice lead up games. Cyborant and T_T finished 18th and 19th respectively in solos, while Gravey snuck into 8th in doubles finals with Arcane. Gravey also picked up a trophy to take home in triples with theLeg and Crouchy.

2019 Invites trophies: 3

Predicted finish: 6th

Where they did place: 4th (+2)

Wholesome Wholewheats

Big Red | B

Blondie | B

Xeta | C

Gumby | D

alt_Psymon | E

Chris.E | E

19 points

Team review: One of the biggest falls from grace of Invites 2019 was Wholesome Wholewheats. Unfortunately Blondie couldn’t play on finals day, essentially making them a 13 point team. They went into finals in 8th place, but had some rough games and a bit of bad luck which lead them to finish last.

They shouldn’t let their finals day impact their full Invites experience though, as all these players had some great moments during the competition, beating teams that finished as high as 6th at one point.

Side events: Three of these players featured in solos finals, Blondie picking up 11th, Xeta 13th and Big Red 17th. Gumby finished 7th in doubles with Dunedin teammate Zygorhiza, which should be highly commended considering their competition.

2019 Invites trophies: 0

Predicted finish: 8th

Where they did place: 11th (-3)

Final predicted rankings: