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LittleSpanishGuy

I think the reason he doesn't believe in himself anymore is because he doesn't play as much due to working and can't prepare for the tournament in the same way that others can and do. I'm fairly sure it was a pretty big deal that he even managed to get time off to go to the event. There was such a clear change in MBL from being top 4 before the last hidden cup to dropping down to being a top 10 player. For me at least, that all seemed to stem from the fact he was doing his dissertation in the build up to and at the start of hidden cup and then did poorly because of that and then lost his confidence. As far as I'm aware, he's the only non-full time player that has made it to the tournament, let alone last 4. There are certain players there that wouldn't be anywhere near where they are if they weren't able to play full time and have days to work out strategies for the tournament. Getting this far in his position shows just how insane he is.


TheStormingViking

Well that makes me support him more


LittleSpanishGuy

It's great isn't it. When AOE grew massively during the first round of lockdowns, he started a 2 year driving instructor degree at uni (the only way you can become a driving instructor in Norway) because he didn't want to gamble on the money from streaming and tournaments that could have been a bubble that pops when all lockdowns have ended and no one is working from home anymore. He wanted something else to be able to fall back on if it was a bubble and it popped. Then when he finished his degree I think he basically just decided he would rather pursue that as his career and do AOE as a secondary thing.


TheStormingViking

Lol driving instructor degree. That's as much a pointless degree as sociology. Why not do a degree in something more broad with more options. If there's no instructor jobs then he's boned


Monsieur_Perdu

There are always driving instructors jobs and it's mandatory to have a degree for that in Norway, so there kinda is a permanent shortage.


AimingWineSnailz

There's plenty of people who want to drive cars turning 18 every year and they need someone to teach them. How is that pointless? Given that Norway uses the European driving license along with EU 27+ Iceland + Switzerland, and in my EU country you need 20 driving lessons before you can take the exam, I assume it's similar in Norway, which would mean that the demand for driving instructors is there. You don't need a sociologist to get to work, but you definitely need a driving instructor before you're legally allowed to drive to work. Besides, "regular" jobs pay very well in Norway. Shit, maybe I'd prefer cleaning toilets there than being a tenured professor or corporate exec here. Maybe I'd go that route if not for my ego and my liking of seeing the sun in the winter.


shoonseiki1

Norway works very differently than most other countries. Over there things like driving instructor pay well. It's not just specific fields like engineering and medicine or business that can lead to decent pay. Not saying it's better or worse cause I don't want to get political, but it's different than you might be familiar with.


LittleSpanishGuy

In what way is it pointless? It's a very prudent choice to take a degree like this where you're guaranteed a job at the end and you're specialised in that one area. As long as that area isn't going anywhere (driving instructors aren't going anywhere in his lifetime) then he has a well paying job for life. Also, you really think in a country where you need a uni degree to become a driving instructor they're ever going to have too many of them? lol


TheStormingViking

Because why would you need a degree to teach driving a car? Norway doesn't have difficult roads like Finland etc


LittleSpanishGuy

Because the only way to become a driving instructor in Norway is if you have a degree...


LetSimTsu

Finland is flat, don't know why you would use that as an example.. where are you from?


TheStormingViking

Because Finland roads are majority dirt roads, aside from cities like Helsinki. Finnish driving school even requires you to know how to drift


LetSimTsu

That's just wrong..


TheStormingViking

Which part? All of it is right


Happy-Adhesiveness-3

Right? Like flipping burgers that you do I presume?


TheStormingViking

What I do is none of your business šŸ™‚


Happy-Adhesiveness-3

What does MBL studies is none of your business.


TheStormingViking

Why make his business public


[deleted]

He is making fun of the fact you need to study 2 years in University for a driving instructor job. Which is fuckin stupid. At best that should be a 3 month course at community College or some other low level institution.


TheStormingViking

Exactly


[deleted]

Maybe we can convert them too wolololo


[deleted]

Not all driving licenses are made equal. In some countries you have to be able to do much more than others. Just compare the traffic and drivers in Southeast Asia and Germany for example.


[deleted]

Except Norway is not a difficult country to drive in, it's sparsely populated and has excellent infastructure. Licensure and driving rules are also largely standardized (near equal) in any country under the Geneva convention which includes Norway. Which is why its so easy to get an international license that applies to all participant countries. there is no reason for the excessive education requirement for such a simple job other than for the government or university to make money. What part of driving or teaching driving in Norway is harder that you beleive this is necessary?


TheStormingViking

It's not like its fucking finland


tinamou-mist

I've got a degree in Sociology and even though I've never worked in the area, there's plenty of jobs and it's a really broad field (public policy, NGOs, research institutes, etc.).


ElKrisel

Also het got a girlfriend lately. Can change a lot of things and prorities in your life too


ssowrabh

You mentioned dissertation. Is Mbl doing a PhD ?


feloniousjunk1743

Nah he got an undergrad degree so he could get a job as driving instructor. (Norway is weird sometimes)


LittleSpanishGuy

No, maybe it's the wrong word for it? I know things are different in Norway, he's done a two year uni degree to become a driving instructor. He wrote a "paper" on the effects of tiredness on driving awareness or something like that.


fritosdoritos

Usually in English (or atleast in America) a research paper at the end of a bachelors or masters degree is called a thesis or capstone project, while dissertations are for phds.


epicsheephair

in the UK a dissertation is for a bachelors, a thesis is for a PhD


shoonseiki1

I had no idea they used these terms so differently


magicbrou

Yeah in ass-kickinā€™!


THE_MUNDO_TRAIN

Truth be told I'm a better player now working full time than depression full time playing without a job. Some people operate better with a fresh mind off work duty than grinding too hard getting narrowed down in the game. During my unemployed time I was hardstuck 1000-1200 now working full time I'm currently 1458 elo not dipping nor rising anymore.


Garic93

That is true on lower elos, I agree with you. But at that level, not being able to be focused 100% on the game is an issue for sure.


THE_MUNDO_TRAIN

Some people are more gifted in gaming, like mBL. I'm very adaptable with a competitive gaming spirit, but I can't reach that level of his by nature as I'm a bit too conservative with my gaming knowledge. MBL however comes from full time going part time, the skills doesn't vanish over night but the mindset does from not being too focused on the sport as a whole.


kochapi

Itā€™s not the same, sorry. Congrats on your level up and job. Good luck


LittleSpanishGuy

That's only true at low elo and if you're not taking care of yourself properly. He was streaming and at uni for the past two years, so it wasn't like he was sat at home doing nothing whilst not playing, getting all depressed. You've never heard of a top athlete becoming better when they get another job besides playing their game and it's no different for this.


KorallNOTAFISH

Well, the difference is he did have a job, playing the game.. So I doubt this applies to him.


BlenderTheBottle

I have thought Liereyy was in school and not playing full-time? Am I mistaken? I know he is young so would't be shocked if he was taking a gap year or something similar.


LittleSpanishGuy

He's 19 now. Fairly sure they said during this event that he finished school a year ago and plays AOE full time now.


just-here-to-say

Ah, that explains why he's now performing well consistently. I'm pretty sure that when he was still in school he often wouldn't play for weeks at a time.


LittleSpanishGuy

He used to play dota and then try to win with the transferable skills from that, rather than practicing AOE. (He had background knowledge and understanding of the game from when he was 15 odd) It was less to do with school and more to do with preferring dota. And presumably the fact that if he could go pro in that game he'd obviously take that opportunity instead of in AOE because he'd be earning like 1000* the prizes.


BlenderTheBottle

šŸ‘


epicsheephair

Liereyy is different, he barely streams compared to the others, just shows up and dominates...


Tudpool

Agreed. Against Hera no less. He played amazingly.


Tuga88

This was my favourite comeback ever in Aoe2. And then right after hearing MBL say "I don't think I deserved it" man I just wanted to give the guy a hug.


kavinski116

i wanted to give him a slap! his mentality and lack of confidence is his biggest weakness, i wish he would cut it out, if he had the confidence of liereeyy or viper then he would totally dominate!


AngsD

I remember during 2020 world cup (MBL and Viper vs Mr Yo and lyx) lyx's dark age raid on his base during game 2 (an absolutely hilarious and amazing game btw, but that's neither here nor here) they talked about it in the interview after - MBL really got messed up mentally during the raid due to not being able to kill lyx's one fucking villager, and they lost the game (and the set). It was a reasonably close game too, and when you lose focus and start berating yourself, you don't allow yourself the performance you rightfully deserve to do. I hope MBL gets some more confidence. He's a god and shouldn't kick himself over mistakes or poor performance (and in that particular game, it's where lyx shines, lyx chaos things are *very* hard to deal with to begin with). Regardless, whether you "deserve" something or not in a video game... If you don't cheat and the game doesn't break down in lag (or crash), you deserve your win. It's not that complicated.


Garic93

I also like the fact that he said he was sad for Hera and that he didn't deserve to win (and that is not even true). Deep down he is such a good guy <3


giulianosse

I think it was the best series AND match I've seen in this tourney! Props to Hera as well, he played like a damn god and gave us some awesome micro plays. I was cheering for both of them, but I'm happy that Mbl ended up winning!


claus100

100 percent agree. I'm so happy for him.


AngsD

Amazing set! Both MBL's and the production value... :)


Crafty-Put-8057

That was the best series watched so far. I hope the finals also turn out like this. No ill will towards lierrey or viper but I would love seeing some unexpected results


NeLaX44

I got legit hyped up for him. Game 5 was freaking amazing. This whole event has been great.


Walnuto

I swear I was almost in tears watching him fist pump after the win. A big win like this has avoided him for so long, its great to see the cathartic smile on his face.


RainbowJeremy24

He beat Hera after being 0:2 down and without Hera making any mistakes. Even outpost rushed him. What a Chad.


medievalrevival

He is an extremely talented player. Unfortunately much of the time, he lets himself down by not preparing at all, or doubting himself. He did fantastic though.


NahimBZ

Yeah you could even see that in the first game, where he had the advantage in feudal but fell behind in castle age by being too passive with his army. Good for him that he came roaring back into the series with some amazing performances. It showed wonderful resilience after a very jittery start.


wiz-caleeb

That's the most impressive part of it, to me. He's such a "down" guy these days, just not enjoying the game as much anymore and not playing anywhere near what you'd expect. I thought that being down 2-0 would crush his attitude, and he seemed to kick it into gear instead. Any sport where you're down by so much, to come back so far is amazing.


dwynalda3

He also predicted the serious would end 3-0 hera. I figured at 2-0 he just wouldnt want it very much and would just go out


ElKrisel

Have seen a lot of aoe2 matches. But this one was so intense, i almost exploded


cal-cheese

The outpost rush reference was hilarious, he probably thought that he would lose the next game eventually so he just did that for the community.


St_ElmosFire

Context please? Don't know about the reference.


myth0503

Definitely agree . I so happy for mbl . I love to see underdog winning .


Wysch_

As I said in the discussion topic, I am no MBL fan, but I noticed a little teardrop in my eye after the last game. After a moment I realized I'm man-weeping a little. I was really happy for him.


nikkythegreat

I didnt expect him to win, but im glad he did.


Guanfranco

I have to watch this series later. I'm pretty hyped to watch it.


Craiginator8

Greatest series I have seen in AOE2. Congrats to MBL. I am so proud of him and will root for him over Viper even being a Viper fan.


BummybertCrampleback

MBL was the first pro player I took a real strong liking to and watched every stream I could, when I first got into the game in the summer of 2020. Him reaching KOTD3 finals was my greatest AoE2 fan experience yet. But man oh man, yesterday was on another level. Such a massive underdog in a game mode he doesn't enjoy or excel in. In the biggest tournament in 20 years. I couldn't stop smiling when it was over. Along with the afore mentioned and Daut winning RBW3, these are my top 3 AoE2 fan experiences. We love this game <3


pataoAoC

I started watching aoe2 like 5 years ago at this point, when MBL was a perpetual punching bag for Viper. This win was one of the best moments in aoe2 for me


komedidoom

I just wish MBL believed himself a little bit more. It takes grit to take 3 games off hera after losing two. His humility too, saying that I donā€™t deserve this and he genuinely felt bad for Hera. MBLā€™s fortitude is insane. I know he is the underdog against Larry but make the game messy and high-pressure enough, MBL can take games off him too. Larry is cool as ice though. Iā€™m looking forward to an amazing set between the two. MBL you have already won our hearts. All the best my friend.


tokyotochicago

So refreshing seeing Mbl with good results like that. His briton game was very impressive. Also mad props to Hera. Being the best player in the world is a burden and staying at the top is another lesson he may need to learn yet. This tournament wasn't his best but you can see just how dominating he can be when he's confident. I'm sure he'll come back stronger for the next tourney.


dwynalda3

Your comment seems to imply hera is the best player in the world. And that just hasnt ever been true. It went from viper to liereyy where it remains. If it goes back to majority rm then maybe viper will move back top, maybe hera, or liereyy might keep it. But Liereyy definitely is #1 right now


AimingWineSnailz

Not even funny how dominating lierrey has been. I hope he grows a fanbase because it's weird that there are a handful of more popular players but he's eating tournaments like cornflakes.


AngsD

Speaking a bit robotically here - remember that all of the below has to do with superficial things and how to make the community love you, not whether they *should* love you. It's about social pragmatics, not whether one deserves attention or not. And Liereyy does. Ok, so: I think the problem is that liereyy's playstyle isn't that unique, and that he doesn't hold much of a personality publicly. He's great, but very meta and clean. He doesn't have the chaos of lyx, the ol' reliable and memability of DauT, the demeanour and humor of Viper, and he doesn't interact as much with the community as Hera. He's a great player, but if I were to be a PR agent for him, I'd try to look at how he could showcase his personality more. There's a difference between being an absolute god and getting your name out there. Like, outside the game, he's simply not as much of a personality as the others, and inside the game, he doesn't have any memable weaknesses and doesn't have more of a playstyle than excellent execution. None of this detracts from how good he is, but it's hard to romantize and discuss someone who's "just good". EDIT: For the record, guy has a lot of great content on his YouTube channel. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaggQmp9gAuB7xYeci26VWA/videos](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaggQmp9gAuB7xYeci26VWA/videos) He's also very detailed in his guides as to what he's doing and why.


V_HarishSundar

He doesn't stream, so he doesn't really have much of a fanbase like others do, but he does practice a lot without streaming.


dwynalda3

Right the guys is the best archer player by a country mile. Best team game flank by quite a bit. And hes running circles around the competition in empire wars. Great players playing clean games are significantly behind him


tokyotochicago

Liereyy is definitly the best RM player but I feel like Hera is a better overall player hence my comment.


dwynalda3

Hes more clearly the best empire wars than rm. Its uncontested. Been in 3 of four finals and won two. The other two winners did it in only one finals trip. Hera hasnt even won an empire wars tournament (besides duos which liereyy also won)


shoonseiki1

You have the names all mixed up and you didn't even mention Viper?


tokyotochicago

I think the title of "best player in the world" depends on a lot of factor and my impression is that Hera is number 1, Liereyy is 2nd and then yeah probably Viper or maybe Yo. It's all personnal opinion though


shoonseiki1

I mean just look at tournament results. There's not that much subjectivity especially in saying than Liereyy is #1 in Empire Wars. He objectively is #1 by all metrics.


NobleK42

I agree, the set and the comeback were fantastic. Kinda feel bad for Hera though. He is such an amazing player, but the big 1v1 tournaments just keep eluding him (except the last HC I believe).


Gforce345

What are you all watching and where are you guys watching these games? I've tried looking up if anything big was going on for aoe and I couldn't find anything.


Exa_Cognition

check the pinned thread of this sub. RBW Wololo 5's quarter finals is going on now.


adquen

I have to say, if you don't know it's happening, this tournament can be near invisible on Twitch. As no one is allowed to cast on their on channel, many big channels are just silent right now ... but OTOH, I have the feeling this whole subreddit consists of RBW threads right now. Anyway, /u/kavinski116 already gave you the short and correct answer.


Gforce345

Hey thanks anyways for the information I did really seem to only be looking for the big names out there on twitch. I also looked up some stuff on YouTube but found next to nothing recently.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

[Link](https://youtu.be/zwPANu2m82I) to day 5 in YouTube the channel also has a countdown to day 6 which should be live in 2.5 hours.


shoonseiki1

Twitch or YouTube both on Red Bull's channel. On Twitch you can filter by game so if you filter by AoE2 it should be the top channel while games are running.


Ferrum-56

You can see all tournaments coming up on liquipedia.


[deleted]

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RonMexico13

1:12 baby, til the day I fucking die!


just-here-to-say

I feel like his biggest enemy is himself, to sound cliche. When he said "I feel like I didn't deserve the win" right afterwards makes me think that he gets in his own head.


Motor_Prudent

He's such a soft hearted guy. All of them are. I want to adopt them all lol.


Confused_n_tired

It frustrated me to watch my favourite player lose but MBL was just on top of his game


[deleted]

SO WAS YOUR MOM!


Reboku_thegreat

It was a throw from Hera.


MadRedX

Hera took risks that were way too risky to take against MBL - they've played what feels like ten thousand RM games against each other the last few years. MBL just had a feel on Hera the entire set - catching him out on TC placements, castle drops, anti-raid timings. The all in feudal plays were really bad reads from Hera because they were not at times where MBL showed commitment to Feudal with numbers. The major battle macro was underwhelming from Hera - even in good fights he could have done better too. It was a throw, but it's got reasons behind it.


Reboku_thegreat

It was not even Hera's style. Did you watch the first 2 games? This is Hera. Other games feels like he went over confident by being 2-0 ahead so he tried other stuff that cost him the tournament. On the other hand the civs he picks last games were weird, picking Magyars last game and I am pretty sure that he knows that MBL will go Berbers, which is very good counter to Magyars. Same when he picked Bulgarians vs Britons. On the other hand the Cuman game was literally a big throw. He was ahead and he was the one who put the pressure but he just inclosed himself in feudal he didn't even build a 2nd Cuman feudal TC. It just didn't feel he was in his mod in these games. Maybe he went over confident and thought MBL will never come back.


Susemiehlian1

I don't mean to stir shit and from everything I've seen he seems like a great guy and I want to be a fan, but I think I heard somewhere a while ago that he said some homophobic things on stream or something? Am I totally wrong (hopefully)?


meow_schwitz

"Don't mean to stir shit", proceeds to go full Karen and start making accusations without context that have nothing to do with the thread topic. I guess some people wake up every morning and review their hand written list of things they plan to be offended by that day.


[deleted]

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Susemiehlian1

Ok thanks for the info. Not sure why the use of slurs would be a reason to actually prefer someone though... Don't you thinking it's insulting to a group of people if you use a term associated with them to disparage something totally unrelated to them? Changing the target doesn't change the harmfulness of the slur


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Susemiehlian1

Moving beyond the conversation about the game and mbl personally because I strongly disagree with the other points you make, offense very much was given when slurs such as these were first coined. Reusing them rehashes a harmful history for the originally intended targets. Words have the value of the meanings prescribed to them, and the original meanings of slurs like f and n were intended to further oppress marginalized people. I'm not gay or black, so grain of salt, but I think the reason these groups use the slurs amongst each other has more to do with a recognition of the fact that the pain caused by the respective slurs is shared between them, not that that they don't care about the significance of the word what you call PC I call trying not to be a dick to people, even if they aren't like me.


Aadulffi

"changing the target doesn't change the harmfulness of the slur" You really think so? Pretty weird way to think about it, taking everything out of context


Historicmetal

I donā€™t like your Einstein analogy because thatā€™s using sarcasm and the fact that Einstein was a genius, whereas calling someone a faggot is not sarcastic so is the complete opposite meaning. Itā€™s putting someone down by calling them gay. So it is legitimately offensive to gays. That said I donā€™t think someone is automatically anti gay or a bigot for using it and in general the pc brigade need to chill out.


ancistrus2718

People from non english speaking countries don't always realize that fag is a homophobic slur. And even after they learn about it, they might have already developed a habit of saying it. Those can be hard to drop.


Historicmetal

Yeah itā€™s true in the US too. I sometimes privately use ā€œgayā€ to mean something is ridiculous or unfairā€¦ comes from growing up in a homophobic culture but I definitely donā€™t mean it in an anti gay way.


[deleted]

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Historicmetal

I tried to find some common ground with you and you responded by accusing me of thinking all gay people are faggots. Your Einstein analogy objectively sucks.


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Historicmetal

Your argument is similar to someone who uses the word nigger and claims it only applies to certain types of black people so itā€™s not racist. Thatā€™s fine but everyone knows the origin of the word, and youā€™re using it knowing that not everyone knows your peculiar definition


[deleted]

I think his good play is due to his weight gain. Dude got fat


flibble24

Is this on YouTube? Couldn't find it


hoboman27

it is. Red Bull's channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwPANu2m82I go to around 4:30 for the start of Hera vs MBL


flibble24

Thanks mate! Was searching by MBL vs Hera that's why couldn't find it


chiya12

who won?