Welcome back to the AT team reviews. In this part, we go over some household names as well as some unknown teams, new to the AT. We’ll be taking a gander at LowSechnaya Sholupen, Mercenary Coalition, Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork, NANOBLACK, Northern Coalition., Official Winners Of Takeshi’s Castle, Out of Sight. and Paisti Syndicate.

LowSechnaya Sholupen

Formed: 13/12/2013

Seed: 47

Flagship: None

First Match: Curatores Veritatis Alliance

If you’re going to move a supercapital through Aridia, don’t. These guys will find you and kill you before you can ping for the assistance that’s four mids away from that desolate backwater of New Eden. Between them and #REKKINGCREW, just don’t even bother trying to get a supercapital through southern LowSec, sell your current one, wherever you are now, then buy a new one wherever you’re going.

This is LSH’s second run at the AT, their first was two years ago in ATXII, where they had the bad luck to pull The Camel Empire for their first round. After losing that match, they went on to take a game from The Kadeshi before being eliminated by Easily Excited. LSH have a hard match in CVA, but one nowhere near as daunting as Camel.

Mercenary Coalition

Formed: 28/08/2008

Seed: 51

Flagship: Bhaalgorn

First Match: CAStabouts

Since last AT, MC have made a resurgence from death to relevance thanks to Sabre A taking a group of Unistas and re-building the once great alliance to new glory. A key component in World War Bee, MC have been showing very reasonable piloting and team design in the open practices, so I think it’s entirely feasible for them to make it a few games into the tournament this year. We can only hope their matches don’t go on as long as Seleene’s Alliance Panel presentation.

Ministry of Inappropriate Footwork

Formed: 29/11/2009

Seed: 63

Flagship: Bhaalgorn

First Match: Exodus.

Home to Bei Artjay of #EVE_NT and his proving grounds videos of the open practices, MIF is one of the teams I’ll be really rooting for to do well this year. MIF are primarily a wormholing group, but they have been involved in EVE tournaments both in and outside of the AT. They achieved second place in SCLs 4 and 5, though they did lose both their games in NEOII. In the AT, MIF are a team that consistently need a top team to show them real opposition, but can they break into that pack and become known as a top team themselves this year?

ATXI: Beat Kill it with fire, The G0dfathers, Sadistica, Darkness of Despair and Late night Alliance. Lost to Agony EMpire and HYDRA RELOADED.

ATXII: Beat WAFFLES. and COVEN. Lost to Rote Kapelle and Outbreak.

ATXIII: Beat The WeHurt Initiative, Lost to Nulli Secunda, beat Drop The Hammer and Brave Collective, then lost to The R0NIN.

If you’re looking for a big upset/underdog story in the first weekend, this is the match to look out for. Exodus. are clearly the heavyweights in this matchup, but MIF are a solid tourney team who could very well pull something out of the bag. It will be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire however as if they do beat Exodus., then they will likely be facing Lussy Lou’s russians in VYDRA RELOADED – another team expected to be fantastic this year. That said, coming off a win from Exodus. would make them suddenly the heavyweights.

NANOBLACK

Formed: 30/06/2016

Seed: 40

Flagship: Bhaalgorn

First Match: Rabble Alliance

Another one of the young, new faces this year, NANOBLACK are only 3 months old. Chosen as the team noted Imperium FC Asher Elias is rooting for, NANOBLACK really don’t have much of a footprint for me to track. Looking at their killboards, they’ve recently been flying alongside VYDRA and The Afterlife., but there’s really not that much more to say about them. Teams like NANOBLACK who are a complete mystery with no reputation to speak of are great fun to watch on the first weekend, as you have absolutely no idea what to expect.

Northern Coalition.

Formed: 12/08/2010

Seed: 24

Flagship: Barghest

First Match: White Legion.

The hype is real. Two years ago it was The Camel Empire, last year it was Hard Knocks Citizens, this year it’s Northern Coalition. who has the grapevines buzzing with rumours about how they’re going to be the next big thing. NC. have not been a major force in the tournament previously, but they have been absorbing talent and raising eyebrows in the tournament community.

Last year, under the leadership of NSA Bivas of the AT X winning VoC team (now in VOLTA), NC. had a pretty reasonable run, beating PIZZA in the first round, followed by a loss to Shadow Cartel, then coming back to eliminate The Explicit Alliance in the loser’s bracket before being eliminated themselves by R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N.

We actually have a really good tiered bracket to gauge their strength. First, they face White Legion., a team who may very well be strong but have little tournament pedigree. After that they likely face TEST, a team that seems to increase their strength tenfold each year they compete and who were a serious contender last year. If NC. beat TEST, we will absolutely have confirmation that they are a force to be reckoned with this year. If NC. beat TEST, they’ll run into LUMPY, one of the teams on most people’s list of who has the potential to win the tournament this year, and thus will be an incredibly hard match.

Okay, so let’s say they beat WL, destroy TEST, outfly LUMPY, do they finally get a break? Nope. If NC. beat LUMPY they’re likely to face five-time tournament winners Pandemic Legion, their heterosexual(?) spaceship life partners in a very exciting match.

Official Winners Of Takeshi’s Castle

Formed: 12/02/2015

Seed: 61

Flagship: None

First Match: Hard Knocks Citizens

My sources tell me that Takeshi are in trouble. Not only did they not submit a flagship, allegedly, their core content creators and leadership have mass exodus-ed to Lazerhawks (Grrr WHperium). That said, all you need to run a tourney team is a small core of committed players. Last year, Takeshis two main corps were part of That Escalated Quickly and It Must Be Jelly Cause Jam don’t shake. Neither team made it especially far, but perhaps a merging of talent can come up a winner for this team? I mean, they did beat Takeshi’s castle, so they must be pretty damn good at spaceship arena combat.

Out of Sight.

Formed: 07/08/2011

Seed: 36

Flagship: Bhaalgorn

First Match: The Methodical Alliance

OOS. are a Russian alliance of Bronies who currently hold two constellations in Branch. Last year OOS. made a pretty cool run into the bracket, beating Alternate Allegiance before running into Exodus. In the second round, but then going on an absolute tear in the loser’s bracket, eliminating SpaceMonkey’s Alliance and even Rote Kapelle before finally falling to The Tuskers Co. OOS. were big fans of undermanned Bhaal + double Phoon teams last year, relying on AFs rather than following the trend towards T3Ds, you can see OOS. bringing some variation on that setup in all but one match.

Paisti Syndicate

Formed: 03/01/2008

Seed: 19

Flagship: None

First Match: Brothers in Arms Alliance

Paisti Syndicate are a small-gang alliance last seen raiding and pillaging the Dronelands. Lead by Lacco, a veteran of many ATs, we have another fresh face in the tournament with the potential to give us some cool upsets and shake up the rankings.