First of all, I'll preface this review by mentioning that these are not quality games by any metric of quality myth2ing.  Mental was playing with 4 men, and 12t was 12t... so don't read on in hopes of finding subtle feints within subtle feints within colourful stuffed chickens like some kind of abstract mything pinata.  Also, this is my first M2 match review, so don't expect any of the following:

1) good screenshots - I got the shakes like your diabetic grandmother, and am not very patient

2) incisive and/or hilarious commentary - I don't do this.

3) other things

Having said that, I was only looking at these films in hopes of some incite into 12t's tactics, since my team plays 'em next week.  I didn't find that, but I think there's enough material here for my first match review, so without further talky-talk:

The 4 mental were quiet early in the match... maybe pondering cruel fate, who knows...  But 12t was talkative:

12t discusses strat in secret code

At first... I thought this was some super organized 12t strat.  I was wrong, but first the 12t battlecry:

12t decides intimidation is their only viable strat

Meanwhile, mental heads all north and 12t heads mostly all north.  12t, however, stops along the way and I figure out wtf they were talking about:





That's right folks, a poorly formed tag... super oldschool!  At this point I put on my LA Lights and started beatboxing.. which I continued to do for the remaining films, but will speak of no more.

All teh units meet north, and the bcing begins.  This goes as expected, except 12t's trower (adren?) fucks up and dies early.  The losses effect was minimal, though, as mental was unable to surmount any kind of attack and was pushed into the east wall:





They reach the east wall, but only Death awaits:



Mental had stashed a peasent south and gotten some myrks across, though.  Ska plays mediocre to bad defense and loses his duff and half a peasant (ratioz :( ).

More nut Trow, this time without the logos on 12t's part... which really was a highlight of the last game, so I was pretty sad when it didn't reappear.  This time however, KW (of mental) develops a decisive plan:



For some reason this plan devolves into "we're going to send all our mauls across, along with KW's myrks", but lets focus on the success first:




And now back to the failures:




At this point in time it's over.  Powrup (of mental) loses the remaining arty (not pretty) and only mental's fearsome defense is left:



12t was confused, scared, and alone:



but in the end, they prevailed.

Game 3 begins with a spark, as Dantski reminds us all why he's the most controversial player in MWC:



Ouch.  Anyway, mental goes with a large melee force, minimal arty, as pictured:



And so does 12t?  I'm not sure if this was because ska couldnt bring himself to push the numbers advantage and get some duffs to micro or what... freakish similar strats, though, for teams in very different situations.



Mental rushes south, hoping to catch 12t offguard, or at least have a numbers advantage.



Unfortunately, there's 12t thrall waiting in the cornfields, and mental fails to not attack them, while mental's thrall go ignored by 12t, until the end.  Not a whole lot to say about this game.. typical m2 melee.. shit was clumped, shit was pussed, numbers were underestimated.  Honestly, mental should blame the corn:



Had mental ignored the thrall in the corn, at least in the intermediary while their south thrall pushed, there's a chance they get a flag... alas, it was not so.  The wars attacked alone and died alone, while the mental thrall were saved til the end.  Too depressed over the loss of their fallen comrades in arms, they put up little resistance.  Or maybe it was the ghol pack.  Who knows.

This one begins with high praise for 12t's next opponent:



And then a little hilarity.  Mental goes into a full camp tactic, which 12t quickly identifies:





But the trow are not located, indeed, they are stuck in the corner as mental cap HMP hopes the element of surprise will lead somewhere wonderful.. perhaps a place made of candy.



Not the case, as the trow hide mental falls behind quickly:



And 20 seconds later:




The situation does not improve:



Mentals trows are out of hiding, and close (or at least stop the growth of) the gap, but by this time all was lost, or at least all of mental's arty was :(

Had they had the numbers, and maybe sent the trow out to kill shit a little earlier, we could have seen another GRUeat (that was retarded, sorry) upset... but, alas, it was not to be.

Krak begins with serious disention among the 12t ranks.  Indeed, I'll be surprised if they show up next week, the arguements were so fierce:






The strat in question:



And mental's trade:



Mental goes with no ghols, which (obviously) means no puss.  12t, on the other hand, has ghols, jmen, and wights.. so they'll get some puss, right?  Wrong!  The 12t gholers are also a little displeased with this, and attempt to talk their way into some puss:



Shai also shows that he's only a pretend m2er here, small puss is for TFL n00bs!

12t splits fairly evenly, but mental heads all north (an unfortunate decision, given the wight situation).  This, my worst screenshot yet, gives you the visuals (squint for the gray):



Once north, team meantal starts layin down some duds and sats.  Praying for a miracle or maybe (more rationally) hoping to cut off any large southern groups.



They continued throwin shit for some time, but 12t quickly moved its wights in on the far side of the northern pond, out of sight of any possible mental taggers.  Indeed, this maneuver sealed the game, as mental's own wights in the west pool had already been tagged.



And the results:



And #2:





I thought about makin this into a purty animation, then I stopped thinkin about it, sorry :/

Even after the fairly devastating (and slightly lucky) wights, the game was fairly close.  The duds and duffs blocking south and managed to kill at least one warrior pack, and generally mental's units (that weren't wighted) played effectively:



But the universe is ever expanding, and all things close drift apart:



D'oh, flagged!

Pretty enjoyable games for 7 v 4, and mental held their own against superior numbers and more experienced players.  See ya next week 12t, plz make pretties on overhead.