There is no denying that the 96y is the only regiment in the EIC playing that way and I have been a referee in enough of their matches to know they use these tactics of delaying the melee / running away to such an extent, only when they have to secure the win. Due to them playing that way, most regiments which simply cannot outrun them with a superior melee stack and team play or a superior shooting, are forced to engage in similar 'tactics' to stand a chance. The 2eFusGre was fully aware of it before coming in the semi-final match and we simply failed at adapting successfully. We won some rounds but eventually, it wasn't enough as the 96y are used to doing it way more than us and anything we could come up with, prepared or thought on the spot, was simply not enough to counter that.
As for the camp. The 2eFusGre came to the 96y in the first two rounds and engaged the combat on the 96y's side of the map, while the 96y had the advantage of the hill and stayed on there. Then, as we understood the 96y wouldn't come to us and wouldn't leave their hill even if we made the effort to approach them, we camped the remaining three rounds of that half at our spawn, to force the 96y in a fight at the middle of that map. During these three rounds, we attempted each time a single volley from across the map while the 96y line was moving from their spawn to the hill on their side and got very poor results from it (nothing more than a few hits in all three attempts). Needless to say that as soon as the 96y got the chance, they headed back to their hill after being forced to fight in the middle, as per allowed by the rules. On the second half, we simply came to the 96y side in each of the remaining five rounds in a desperate attempt at engaging a proper melee. From memory, not once did the 96y came to meet us, they simply waited for us at their spawn until they were forced to engage in close/mid-range manoeuvering by us getting closer.
As for the server, we were not responsible for the EIC servers being down and to be honest, even if we had been playing on an EIC server, the 96y would have been at a disadvantage ping wise anyways, like they have been for the rest of the competition. By accepting to play in a league hosted by western Europeans, with mostly western European regiments partaking in it, regiments like the 96y know they won't get to play in the fairest condition, so bringing this now as an attempt to help your case won't do it for me. Dams offered the IVe Corps as a back-up solution on that night, as he was an admin on it, and both regiments agreed to it. The 96y could have refused it and ask for another server to be found with more equal pings, but they were also aware of the possible complications/delays it could have created. That doesn't take anything away from the fact that the 96y won that match with most of their players around 70/80 pings while the 2eFusGre players had around 20/25.
On the other side, it's also fair to mention that on several occasions, the 2eFusGre could have been warned for not observing the gaps rules and this while moving out, and a couple of FoL could have been slain and were not. Both regiments did some minor rule breaks, as it is the case in most LBs, but the 2eFusGre was the one which benefited the most from Dam's flexible referring, undoubtedly. It's also true that while both regiments used a handful of new additions in the knockout stage, the 2eFusGre reinforcement seemed way more powerful with Drake, Tiberias, Bessières and myself. So I can get behind people saying that the 2eFusGre benefited from this addition rule way more than the 96y did.
For these reasons, I am not mad at the 96y for winning that match and I wish them good luck in their grand-final. I know for a fact that unless GI chokes another final, the 15thYR won't need to adapt to the 96y playstyle to beat them simply because they are a better regiment in every sense of the term and I hope this will reflect in their confrontation. I just want our beloved CIS friends to understand that while their uncharacteristic playstyle got them so far, it makes every match where they are facing a tough opposition extremely boring and unpleasant. If you do take pleasure from winning by playing that way, then lucky you.
