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MRBC SEASON 10 WINNERS.
Posted by live1991 on 31 May 2018 (1829 reads)

MRBC Season 10 Winners.



Asia Pacific





Div




European Union




Div



Div



Div



Div



North America




Div



Div



Div



Div



Div



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Div



Post will be coming out soon on how to claim your prizes.

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How to manage and develop a team.
Posted by live1991 on 29 May 2018 (2374 reads)

How to manage and develop a team.



MRBC Discord has added a "Ask the Pro" Chanel, as away for up and coming players and teams to ask for help with anything MWO related.

Q: Geg asked -
Can any of the Div-A /B teams share some advice on how to manage and develop a team. For example, what type of activities do you use during practice? How often do you review tape as a team? How do you handle recruitment? This is less about looking for some secret sauce, more looking for best practices in managing an esport team?

Advice from [-D5-] Odins Steed:



I'm a pretty strong believer in that scrims with other teams are always the best practice. If there is some skill I want people to practice I still want to do it in a live environment where things aren't scripted rather than some drill. Internal scrims are okay as well, but can quickly create this kind of isolated meta that doesn't prepare people for the real thing.

Active recruitment is difficult. In most Div A teams it's just about who you know and people wanting to join you. VETO however presented a unique challenge in that I didn't have great connections in AP at the time, it has a rather small pool of players and we weren't an established team. After I exhausted my friends and friends of friends it involved a lot of cold pitching people I didn't have any relationship with. I started with people I knew by reputation but had to get creative pretty quickly.

This lead to the creation of a spreadsheet of AP players that displayed their leaderboard stats and any information I knew about them (particularly, what their last known comp team/season/region was). The primary source were rosters of competitive teams who had played AP before in any season. A lot of it was word of mouth with me talking to a lot of aquaintances from the region about who might make the cut and just generally who was playing in AP.

With that list I then refined it down to interesting candidates and their likely values as pick ups and approached them(edited)
When I took over recruitment for D5 I approached in the same way, but I had a lot more connections to draw on and much more of it was about networking and talking to my team mates about who they knew
Though D5 was also looking for a slightly different type of player too. We wanted to build a roster large enough to run internal 8v8s for the WC, so while we kept looking for driven talent to maybe play as a starter we were also looking for casual but talented bench who'd be okay helping us practice.
Once we'd made contact in VETO I then invited them to the discord, gave them access to our "open" (as in, open to friends and candidates) practice channel and asked them to come play some practices first
For some it was an immediate click while others it took a few practices before I was sure.

I wanted to make sure people fit and that it's be as drama free as possible. For the most part I think I got it right.
D5 was also mostly the same but was much less structured about how we invited people to scrims due to their lesser use of discord.

Advice from [PHL] Arend :



I second that, best way to improve is to scrim other teams, if possible better ones, after scrims do a debriefing, what worked, what not!

During Scrims let somebody spectate, to see where failures where made, if possible record scrims, just be aware that its proper etiquette to ask the other teams if spectating is ok!

Recruitment is a tricky one, you should look for People at a similar Skill Level of your Team and work to improve the whole Team!
Not worth it, to add an ass hole to your team just because he is good and also not worth to add a potato just because he is a nice guy!

Advice from Val



While I probably qualify for a tag, i was going to stick to simply moderating this channel to avoid conflicts of interest. That said, there is still only a small handful of people who can comment here, so in the interest of giving another point of view, i will comment on this.

Just for reference, I was the main drop planner, and 1 of 2 drop callers for Isengrim this season (Hopefully 2nd div A NA). I have also been invested in their leadership group for quite some time. While Odin was the driving force behind Veto, i worked closely with him in the previous season when we were formed and won div A AP. I will try to avoid repeating what other people have stated even if I agree.

Q: what type of activities do you use during practice?
For Isengrim, this changes between off and on season. When MRBC is not running, the limited practices we squeeze in are focused on specific things. For example, realising when you are a primary focus target, and rotating away as soon as possible. Or, getting guys to use Q to identify rotating focus targets in a brawl, any maps we are having trouble with in particular etc.

Once the season is running, the focus shifts to learning and rehearsing very specific strategies and mechs for our matches. There is 1-2 practices a week, plus the game. One of those practices is a scrim against another team. For opponents we feel need more attention, we squeeze in a second scrim. If we are only able or want 1 scrim during the week, we try to get get a video "live review" session in with the whole team at https://visor.gg/visor/dashboard . If that isn't possible, we do it with a couple of the leadership while recording, post it to youtube, and people watch it within 24 hours of it being posted.

Q: How often do you review tape as a team?
As mentioned above, about once a week during the season, ideally with the whole team. As a drop planner though, i spend at least 10 hours a week reviewing tape on our next opponent to better prepare the team for what we will likely face in the match.

Q: How do you handle recruitment?
With difficulty. Others have really covered this one, but Isen is in an even trickier position than most other div A teams, for a variety of reasons.

Lastly, I'm not sure you will find any best practices for esports in here from teams or individuals. Most have had to learn the hard way, and no one is really paid in this game. But hopefully this gives you another perspective, and you can take what works for your team.


Make sure you join our Discord - https://discord.gg/2sRWfd9 Read the rules and ask your questions :)








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Meta Mechs with bradtothebone From 228 + Video
Posted by live1991 on 28 May 2018 (1325 reads)

Meta Mechs with bradtothebone From 228 + Video



We have been asking Div A teams to provide some insight into their mech builds and choices.

Firestarter-K



bradtothebone recorded this video on the mech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt0D-Xqhk14

Mechlab:



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sǝuO plᴉM 8ᄅᄅ ɯoɹɟ Z ʎɐſ ɥʇᴉʍ sɥɔǝW ɐʇǝW
Posted by live1991 on 28 May 2018 (1888 reads)

Meta Mechs with Jay Z from 228 Wild Ones



G’day you lot. This season we ran a number of tried and tested comp builds however three stand out as being a bit different from the usual competitive mechs.

Panther-10P



I played this mech for both drop 1 (Rubellite Oasis) and drop 4 (Tourmaline Desert) of our week 1 match against Clan Crossfire. On drop 1 we quickly decided on three machine gun lights (ACH-E + 2xMLX-G) and needed a 4th. Given the short range of the remainder of our dropdeck and the heat issues of many other 4th light options, I decided to play this 2 AC2 build. This build got top score utilizing the fantastic quirks to provide heat efficient DPS at range.


In drop 4 on Tourmaline, I used heat vision to quickly spot the dark silhouettes and deliver suppressing fire to any mechs attempting to trade against my pushsing heavy/assault force. This proved very useful as our dropdeck was tuned for mid range DPS aggression.

Quirks:



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(+9 Auxilary nodes for 2x UAV, 2x Strike):


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Jagermech-DD



The Jagermech has been making a comeback or recent and particularly in Solaris Div 4. For comp play we dropped the 6th autocannon in favour of more engine, armour and ammo to survive in 8v8 environment. Despite its reputation for being a glass cannon, we could not ignore the outgoing DPS at range. Kondo, my vice captain, put this to great use as what we call “Auxiliary Firehose” positioning himself to shoot down the same lines for fire the friendly assaults were trading, augmenting the DPS on target. The mixture of LBX2 and AC2 was due to heat efficiency and to crit capabilities of the LBX2. Pellet spread was not a major concern against the 4 assaults and 2 heavies in Drop 5. Kondo piloted the JM6-DD on a number of occasions with the first outing netting a top score in Drop 5, week 1.

Quirks:



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(+9 Auxilary nodes for 2x UAV, 2x Strike):


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Stalker 5S



Yeah righto, you lot knew I was couldn’t make a build write up without mentioning a Stalker. Well here we go. Unlike previous seasons, I only piloted a Stalker once, in drop 5 of week 6 against 1BTC on Grim Plexus. On drop 5, it is common to use a duplicate on an ANH or MCII leaving a 4th assault role to be filled. I noticed that they often fielded an ATM mech and in our previous drop 5 of week 3 on Grim Plexus we faced a mass lock on dropdeck and a push. Hence, I found the Stalker-5S with its dual AMS to be the perfect answer. 2 ERLL for range poking and 2 MRM40s for mid-short range decimation round out the armaments. Additionally, all weapons can be torso mounted to take advantage of the armour redistribution patch. The AMS proved quite effective against the ATM mechs and the 2 MRM40s provided a powerful receiving volley when pushed on.

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Meta Mechs with One Last Byte from 228
Posted by live1991 on 28 May 2018 (2052 reads)

Meta Mechs with One Last Byte from 228


We have been asking Div A teams to provide some insight into their mech builds and choices.

Linebacker-C


In the match between ISEN and 228 - Drop 4 Tourmaline desert, One Last Byte steps into a Linebacker-C scoring with 835 damage, 2 kills and 3 assists.

We asked One Last Byte why he ran this mech.

After the ERLL heat nerf, we started experimenting with HLL/ERML combos as an alternative on a lot of the traditional laservom clan heavies (EBJ, HBR, HBK-IIC-A, MAD-IIC, etc.). Defunked on our team ended up going so far as to try the build on a Summoner, the thinking being that on maps like Mining and Rubellite the JJs could provide a substantial advantage for getting into positions quickly and perhaps unexpectedly. The Linebacker traded that vertical mobility for greater ground mobility, which turned out to be a huge asset. The speed of the Linebacker meant that we could comfortably contest caps with a numbers advantage, rotate between flanks to catch unsuspecting mechs with a 64-point alpha, and generally provide a lurking threat to our opponents. Everyone knows the fear of having a light mech come up behind them and unload on their rear armor -- the Linebacker amplified that fear by putting a mech on the field that could not just show up behind opposing mechs or at weird angles, but could also unleash a brutal alpha when it appeared. Even when the mech wasn't being used in a flanking role, the net 20% range boost the mech got from the skill tree and quirks also meant that it could trade effectively, which combined with the fact that it could relocate quickly meant that the mech wasn't easy to trade against. It became a staple in our decks for the versatility it provided in being able to handle caps, trade effectively, and rotate to push isolated mechs.


Mechlab:

https://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=47 ... b6be8ed94b70499ba1ed6d7d7 (all that really matters are the LA, LT, and RT)

Build notes: The RT gives a range boost as well as the acceleration/deceleration benefits that you'd normally get if you just took set-of-8 pods for the LBK-C, so it's just a straight upgrade if you're already taking laser vom. The C left torso and arm are mandatory for obvious reasons (the only exception being that the B LA and C LA are functionally identical). Both HLLs are placed into the side torsos first to give the mech a bit of a top peek, although I don't leverage that aspect very often due to the Linebacker's fairly long torso and low-ish cockpit. Usually if you can see your opponent they can almost definitely shoot you back.


Skilltree:

https://kitlaan.gitlab.io/mwoskill/?p= ... 481081db0b33d01#s=Weapons

Skilltree notes: I really like having maximum speed tweak on the linebacker since it really fits with the mobile play style (to be described below) and allows you to contest caps / show up places well before your enemies might expect. Outside of that, I take the pretty standard stuff -- laser duration, max range, left half of survival, the upper part of ops for some extra heat management, quad consumables and then as much heatgen as I can get. I occasionally take UAVs as opposed to strikes on some maps where I expect to be playing under the enemy's nose or in tight blind areas for a larger portion of the game (such as Caustic Valley and Frozen City).


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Huntsman-A



Idea behind the mech: I literally threw this mech together in between drops 2 and 3 of our match. We mainly wanted a medium that could hold at the edge of the caldera on Caustic Valley and deal with a push or a standoff deck, but we used our dupe on the Night Gyr so we couldn't take a Bushwhacker for the tankiness or the Hunchback-IIC for the raw power. I was planning on running a 2xPPC Huntsman and dealing with the low DPS but decided to swap to the ATM huntsman at the last second after seeing how effective the ATMs were for ISEN in drop 2 of that set and knowing the strong poptart power of ATMs at the edge of the caldera. I had a 3xATM3 3xATM6 unskilled huntsman built already that I had used for trying out ATMs when they came out, so I threw a skill tree together and dropped some ammo to up one ATM3 to an ATM6 for extra punch. While I didn't end up fighting from the edge of the caldera as planned, I was able to stay close enough to ISEN's mechs throughout the majority of the fight to still have the ATMs deal their damage. I really was pleasantly surprised with how potent this mech turned out to be considering that it was a last-minute addition to the deck.


Mechlab:

https://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=45 ... 07a3ed7cb150c796610647ce7

Build notes: Basically just take maximum missile pods, just with the Prime RT as opposed to the C RT for additional torso yaw. I run the left side missiles on weapon group 1 and right side on group 2 with high mounts on 3.


Skilltree:

Skilltree: https://kitlaan.gitlab.io/mwoskill/?p= ... 0c95065f3abdf26#s=Weapons

Skilltree notes: I threw this together really quickly, so it's not perfectly optimized, but the general things are there: survivability, some mobility (helps for a brawly mech), quad consumables, and the rest into firepower (ops doesn't matter as much due to the low # of heatsinks).

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