How the civs did in Round 1 of King of the Desert -- the Americas are too strong edition

KotD is perhaps our best chance yet to look at how the new balance works and how the new and old civilizations match up on the game's most popular map. The second round has already begun, but to avoid spoilers (and to help people win those sweet, sweet Membeuros when betting on the second round), let's look at how the civilizations did in the first round. I'll give an update later with some head-to-head matchups, probably after the whole tournament is done.

Biggest Winners: Malians, Burmese, Incas (<3), Aztecs

Biggest Losers: Vietnamese, Magyars, Ethiopians

Some things to think about:

• Malians: Viper believes that they are the best civ right now, and the results of round 1 make that seem pretty plausible.

• Burmese: They were a surprisingly rare pick, appearing in only 8 out of the 16 series, given that they were so strong in the games that they appeared.

• Incas/Aztecs/Mayans: I think a large part of the relative success of the Incas and Aztecs compared to the Mayans is that the addition of Feudal Eagles is way more helpful to the Incas/Aztecs. Going Eagles as Incas and getting the blacksmith upgrades earlier means that you can play more aggressively, since your villagers are much more resilient. And the Aztecs' military creation speed bonus mitigates one of the Eagle's greatest weaknesses. Also, Aztecs and especially Incas can go full infantry the entire game in a lot of situations, which saves on the resources you would normally use to transition into other units.

• Indians/Berbers: Tied for the most popular pick (they appeared in 14 series each), but neither won more games than they lost.

• Vietnamese: Picking the Vietnamese is like resigning, but more time-consuming.

• Huns: The popularity of the Indians and Berbers has probably scared people away from picking them, but I think they're still very strong in most situations. They won more times than the Magyars did despite being featured in fewer than half as many games.

• Sample size and other disclaimers: Do the Ethiopians suck because they went 3-9? Almost certainly not -- the sample size is too small for us to say that. Plus, they're matched up against top-tier Arabia civs in almost every game, so losing more than half of the time should be expected for all but the very best civs. I think the Vietnamese will likely need a little buffing and several civs might need a little nerf, but no single civ looks completely untouchable, thankfully.

^{Let me know if you see any mistakes!}