Hidden Cup 3 - Finally finished (watched all the games), my thoughts (SPOILERS) (long):

Wow, what an incredible journey. Viper wins again.

I honestly couldn't pin point many of the players, and unless Dave and t90 pointed out MBL I wouldn't have seen it either.

The only person I guessed, and guessed about 15 minutes in to the first game - was Viper. Something about his skirmisher movements and subtle, yet perfect skirm micro in the first game where he pulled out Elephants (was prior to the elephant pull) just really secured it in my mind it was Viper. I'll talk more about that later.

I'm really, really impressed with Daut's performance. Didn't see that coming at all. I hoped he would have progressed far and he did; that was neat to see.

I honestly have nothing to say about Dogao because he isn't a player I follow.

Firstly, I want to talk about TaToH.

After watching the T90 video "Who is #2?" where t90 pitted Yo, Lierry, MBL, and TaToH together I honestly thought TaToH was some next-level super genius to be able to read his opponents so well. TaToH is a player I've followed for about 3 years ever since I randomly got to play against him (and lost horribly, even though it was a 4v1) on HD. After watching him play for a while I noticed that he was highly creative and in my opinion highly-eccentric. I would see incredible 'strategy' moves but at the same time, really poor decision making. Occasionally when I see TaToH play I sometimes wonder "what the flip is he thinking" and it costs him the game, other times I think to myself "that's a 9000 IQ play right there."

But what I really wanted to talk about with TaToH's play was although yes he chose out of the box strategies, I was a bit confused as to why he didn't apply his incredible 3rd-eye civ picking abilities during HC3. I mean he made it really far, almost made it to the final, but that last 4-1 routing by Hera really seemed like... he wasn't playing like "9000 IQ, I know what my opponent is going to do" TaToH. He was playing like a guy with a plan, that yes has decent micro but is definitely more of a strategist and out of the box thinker. I think if he had stuck to trusting himself rather than trusting his gameplan and premades (if that makes sense) he could probably have taken out Hera. I have not watched many Hera games, but in my opinion Hera seems to play like Liereyy on steroids. Like if you shot Liereyy up with roids and made sure he didn't make any errors - the "stick to the script" meta gameplay hera does just really seems like that.

TaToH reflection complete!

MBL, in my onion, ever since I started watching his games and following him, was like a Viper on crutches. It really seems like Viper is "big Viper" and MBL is "little viper." I guess since DE came out, MBL hasn't been able to play as much due to internet and life. I get that. I was really unimpressed with his showing, he really does seem to be out of form. I seem to remember in the last HC he was a finalist. The MBL of today really did not seem as fine-tuned as the MBL of old. That being said the qualifier he co-casted was HILARIOUS and I hope everyone takes the time to watch it.

Hera is a player I really haven't followed. Watching that game against Daut - honestly made me kind of despise quick-walling and micro. You had Daut, who had a superb gameplan, just getting destroyed by gimmicky movements. That being said, I AM SO FREAKING HAPPY THERE IS A COMPETITIVE NORTH-AMERICAN.

Okay now for the final assessment: TheViper

...How do we find competition for this guy? How is he so freaking dominant?

He clearly stated in the post-final-interview that he was 'toying' with his opponents. While everyone else (Yo, Lierreyy, Tatoh, Hera, Dogao... some of the best AOE players in the world) were PLAYING THEIR FREAKING BRAINS OUT, Viper was toying with his opponents to throw off the crowd and casters. This is like Babe Ruth pointing down left-field and then promptly banging a homer out of left-field dominance. This is Michael Jackson breaking google when he died dominance. This is Michael Jordan... doing Michael Jordan basketball things dominance.

I try to watch Viper and figure out what makes him so dominant - yes he doesn't make many mistakes, but he does make mistakes - like every other player. It seems like when he plays - he's just so calm. And he seems to play a 51% Defense, 49% offense approach. It's never "need to go all in" etc. play with him.

I am struggling to find words to adequate communicate how intelligent and gifted Viper seems to be while playing AoE 2. Honestly I'm really happy I found the professional e-sports aspect of this game 5 years ago - I feel like I'm watching a real 'master of craft' watching Viper play. Sure I love TaToH for his out-of-the-box ability, and Hera for his incredible micro (when he isn't getting 4-0'd) and daut because he's old and still competitive. But watching Viper is like watching a freak - because he makes all of those previous names just look like they are not on the same level as him. And they aren't. It just is so surprising because watching all of the other games, it really does seem like top-tier work and game play. One misclick, one lost villager, can cost them the game. But when Viper plays, he makes those incredibly gifted players ... look like they still have a lot to learn.

If you haven't watched HC3, I highly recommend it. Lots of fun!