YC110.03.10
(Reprinted from the Caldari Navy Times Newsfax)
(ISAZIWA) - Caldari paramilitary alliance The Fourth District was eliminated in the first round of Sunday's elimination competition of the 5th Alliance Tournament, a strong run coming to an end in battle against eventual tournament champions Ev0ke. However, the team's captain, CDRE Ladel Teravada, has promised that the alliance will return in the next tournament stronger and wiser, vowing to improve on the alliance's already impressive showing.
The Fourth District began its tournament run this time with a powerful win over the team from Exa Nation, eliminating the entire enemy force with the loss of only five Griffin-class frigates, the only hitch being an instance where CDR Terry "Mookuh" Hijakosji drifted slightly out of range of his wingmates' remote shield repairers. Though this allowed the Exa Nation team to beat his shields slightly below half strength, he was able to return to the formation and quickly brought back to full strength.
The second battle, against eventual tournament finalists Triumvirate., was the Fourth District's only loss during the group stages. Though the battle could have gone either way in the first few minutes, with the Fourth District dropping one of the enemy logistics cruisers into low armor, the Triumvirate. team was able to eliminate the Fourth District electronic warfare support and use their own jammers to great effect. They were able to keep CDRE Teravada's Abbadon-class battleship from firing near through the whole match, leading to the loss of the entire Fourth District team.
The next weekend saw the Fourth District going up against United Corporations Against Macros, with a Caldari-heavy Fourth District team eliminating a grab-bag of assault frigates, interdictors, heavy assault cruisers, and a command ship from UCAM. The Fourth District team was never really in danger from the enemy fleet, its heavy shields and ECM drones keeping the enemy force at bay, while the cruise and heavy missiles from the Fourth District ships picked them apart. The victory put the Fourth District in second place going into the last fight of the group stages, with their next match to determine whether they would hold their place.
The last fight of the tournament for the Fourth District was against the pirate alliance known as The Church. This fight was a bit of a grudge match, as some Caldari Independent Navy Reserve's first combat actions were against many of the pirates that went on to form The Church., so expectations were high among the Fourth District's supporters. The pirate alliance brought the setup that had proven successful before for them, focusing on heavy damage and electronic warfare. However, according to ADM Derrys Otireya, the Fourth District's chief strategist, this was something the Fourth District's fleet was designed to counteract exactly, focusing on heavy logistics and drone usage. Though the Guardian of CDRE Teravada suffered heavy damage at the start of the fight, he was able to recover, and while the Ishkur of CDR Ayari made mincemeat of the pirates' EW support, the drones of the Fourth District Dominix-class battleships slowly dismantled the Deimos-class heavy assault cruisers. In the end, the field was completely cleared of pirate vessels and the Fourth District had taken no losses.
The victory over The Church. put the Fourth District into the elimination round, up against Ev0ke, the former members of the Tortuga mercenary coalition and defunct Dusk and Dawnalliance. Unfortunately, the Fourth District team, expecting the dual logistics setup that had been extremely successful in the tournament so far, was caught off guard by Ev0ke's high damage three Megathron fleet. Though they were able to eliminate a number of Ev0ke's support frigates, their Raven and four Drakes were eventually overwhelmed by the enemy force, knocking them out of the tournament in the first elimination round.
However, Fourth District supporters were quick to point out that the alliance's only losses were against the two tournament finalists, making their elimination not quite as disappointing a showing as many commentators were saying during tournament broadcasts. Supporters also pointed out that this was only the second tournament the pilots of the Fourth District had participated in (with Reserve pilots having flown under the flag of the Aunni Ti Tsun Consortium during the 4th Alliance Tournament), and they still managed to place within the top 16 teams.
Caldari Naval Forces Trideo will be replaying all of the past two weeks' tournament coverage over the next two weeks, courtesy of the Lai Dai Corporation and CONCORD's Interstellar Services Division. Be sure to tune in and watch any of the matches you might have missed, as this tournament has been acclaimed by Splinterz fans the cluster over as one of the most exciting combat sporting events in the last five years.
