So happy for both! One for clearly stating that now he's actually back, and the other for the long deserved 1st place in a big tournament (and with the hardest seeding too!)
@@mailboro Don't think so, as he himself admitted, he got tilted because of the fact that Hera had 3 home maps and he had just 1 because of the set maps... Can't blame him...
Such a great tournament! I love the Hidden Cup format. So many unique maps and strategies, so many top players :) Thank you Microsoft, thank you T90 and everyone else who made this wonderfull event possible! Also, Jordan getting so far in the tournament and performing so well was the cherry on top of an already beautiful event.
hidden cup 4 easily the most entertaining to watch tournament in the recent history of aoe2 e-sports and john the fearless single handedly made it this way. every one of his matches were an utter pleasure to see
Just have to say this. Age of Empires, you T90, TheViper and the whole community helped me through a very tough and challenging part of my life and this community, you T90 and everyone just deserves the hype and love ❤ Thank you!
Long time viewer on TH-cam. I couldn’t watch this live, but this is the first full tournament I’ve watched through in order... absolutely blown away by everything. I haven’t played AoE2 in over a decade and this is just an amazing community and this is one of the only “sports” I’m interested in haha. Thanks so much T90 and everyone for all you do! Amazing community and amazing players, games and strategy!
The Viper was so good we all knew who he was by the end of the first round. Which makes it all that more impressive that Hera beat him. What a great tournament.
3:49:17 When asked by T90, Jordan reveals the origin of him donning his teal coat of arms and colours in HC4 to pay tribute to TheMax from the qualifiers... I'M CRYING! Jesus that was an emotional moment of true sportsmanship LMAO XD
honestly, the first dum island game was far dumber, nothing like watching two massive fleets get whittled down to 3 ships aside with both sides unable to build more
Timestamps: 0:00:00 Game 1: Arabia - Bulgarians vs Aztecs 0:06:00 Drush 0:14:15 Archer raid 0:17:40 Knights and mangonel attack 0:22:05 Major fights start 0:36:40 Game 2: Islands - Portuguese vs Vietnamese 0:43:30 Galley rush 0:50:50 Transport ship landing 0:58:00 Feitorias and galleon counterattack 1:01:30 Treb landing 1:06:35 Cannon Galleons and caravels 1:09:05 Major naval fight 1:10:20 Light cavalry raids 1:14:00 Castle drop in the middle island 1:35:20 Game 3: Mudflow - Khmer vs Franks 1:41:30 Scout rush 1:50:10 Knight rush 1:52:40 Counterattack 2:04:40 Game 4: Cup - Celts vs Japanese 2:05:55 Boar laming 2:08:00 Drush 2:13:50 Archer, swordsman rush 2:21:30 Micro fight 2:23:50 Castle drop 2:30:15 Paladins raid 2:38:48 Game 5: Slopes - Indians vs Mayans 2:44:20 Drush 2:53:40 Eagle, Ram attack 2:59:30 Castle drop 3:16:24 Hero Guesses 3:18:56 Player Reveals of the first 8 fallen heroes 3:21:37 Player Reveals of the fallen heroes in quarterfinals 3:22:43 Player Reveals of the (semi)-finals 3:24:10 Final table and talking
That Island game will be one of my favorites forever! CANNOT stop talking about it even to my non-AoE friends. There is know way John should have gotten away with as much as he did!
John *moves to build a castle where he previously had one* T90: "well you cant build a castle there..." John *places foundation of castle * T90 *shocked Pikachu face*
SPOILER BELOW Still cannot believe Jordan made it all the way to the final so soon after he got back in the game, very impressed! And truly amazing performance by Hera, who had to beat one powerhouse after another to claim the cup! Thanks to everyone involved in making this tournament happen and I somehow feel the result is good for AoE. Last year shows that the rest of the players have worked really hard to up their game trying to reach Viper. Competition is always a good thing in my book and hopefully even better games are in store!
I only read the comments after watching but there's no point putting "Spoiler below" and then immediately visible to everyone are the actual results lol you needed at least another 3 blank lines to enable people wanting the spoiler to click read more. As this comment is... its just a spoiler for anyone silly enough to scroll down mid-game :D
@@tomdavies9701 Hera got a well-deserved win. And it was long overdue, he has been a beast for a while and deserved to get a big win last year. But are you seriously suggesting he unseated Viper from the #1 spot by winning the FIRST big 1v1 tournament ever? Chill out bro. Viper is still the most consistent player and #1 according to all the TOP players.
@@thomasreed2427 only thing that counts for me is that we see serious competition at the top level now. i think argueing any one is the best rn is difficult, since it comes down to form, preperation etc. and thats the best thing that could happen for the viewers. also i think it's good for viper to loose some torunaments, too. helps to get some motivation to improve.
Absolutely loved the results. Hera got his lost deserved big win beating Viper on his way! Jordan came back to the game like an absolute beast.. and its easy to get carried away by the ridiculous path Hera had to the finals, but lets not forget that Jordan beat MBL, ACCM and YO himself to get to the final ! .. he did not drop more than 1 game in any of the matches other than the finals.. this is a guy who had been gone from the game for so so very long and the game, quality of play, meta .. everything had changed so much while he was gone.. its absolutely insane what Jordan pulled off in this tournament... heck I was shocked he got past Max in the qualifiers (I did feel bad for the Max for sure)!
really dont understand the Jordan hype... he keeps leaving and "coming back" its been going on for a few years already... Maybe finally he will pull his weight in team games.
Thanks so much for organizing this tournament T90! I've just gotten back into AoE, and your streams and videos have been such a welcome into the community. What a fantastic series to watch in the midst of a tough week :)
Jordan brother I feel so sad for your loss but so happy to see you compete like this. Viper, Daut, MBL guys please don't ever change just keep playing like you do. You guys teach us just by playing. You teach us how to actually live life. Enjoy the game/life, sometimes troll people, sometimes get trolled, sometimes build a Daut castle but sometime fail at it spectacularly. Sometimes lame every pig and sometimes that pig kills your scout. But most of all always remember to enjoy.
This tournament had everything: - Great players with even a bigger winner congrats to Hera. - Great caster, Tristan we see your effort you put into this and it is a joy to watch and to listen to your streams/tournaments. - also a big congratulation to all the guys in the back, great job! the aoe community is awesome
can we all appreciate that Jordan is back. Also, congrats to the new winner 👏👏 love your casting, love the hype, love the whole cast of this tournament and the capture age team! my favorite round is between Ivaylo vs John the fearless on Cross. such a God level display of macro and micro of the two players with distinct styles and superb awareness.
33-year-old Dutch guy living in Australia (living a stone throw away from Bondi beach) watching AOE2 content in his apartment, that means only one thing, quality content! Thanks!
Seriously great event and great casting. For the game i dont even play i felt really involved and followed every single row of the tournament. Also got carried thru my "hard times", so big thanks and big respect to all involved for organization, casters and players, you did something truly amazing. Never change guys ;)
This has been beautiful man. I've been watching the entire tournament in half an hour parts inbetween working and I've only just finished it now. Such an amazing achievement for the community and for you! It started with a childhood nostalgia for me and it's grown into a true love of the game. Incredible. Thank you!
Never was into watching tournaments all day long but this really got me! Great job Never thought I would ever be so hyped! Great job T90 it was an Amazing tournament so happy for Hera to finally win a big one!
I love that this game is alive and well. Played a lot as a teenager in the 2000s, so awesome to see so many others still love it and all the updates to freshen it up. Great job to all the players and the crew for presenting this tournament. Also, T90 I appreciate you keeping it PG, keep it up. God bless!
Jordan seemed much more sloppy in the final than the semifinal in which he was so clinical winning 4-1 against Yo. Initially, I thought it might have been nerves but then Viper mentioned that it was at his bedtime which makes a lot of sense since I remember that he is an early morning person. I wonder what would have happened if he had the opportunity to bring the same level he brought against Yo. Certainly the final would have been a much closer one. In conclusion, I think that they should either have had the final alone on the final day at the best possible time for both players or just cast it like the previous rounds, not live (played at a suitable hour for both players), and have the reveal and interviews live. The priority should always be to give the players the opportunity to perform as well as they actually can.
Absolutely agree. Even without the bedtime thing - several hours of almost non-stop high-level play is gotta be taxing. No player will go into the next match with the same level of concentration without a good amount of sleep inbetween.
@@feezee82 He is a nice guy, he wouldn't mention something that sounds like an excuse for losing. But the reality is that he streamed briefly after the final and he looked like a zombie although he is used to streaming and playing for 6+ hours.
My third Hidden Cup. Couldn't catch it live, but watched it whole, swallowed even. T90, Dave, Dux, Robo, Overlay guy and of course Players and spectators.. Thank you all for being a part of this gigantic rts competition, with sincerity, fair play and simplicity. That's what I love to watch... Thank you all.
I was watching almost the entirety of HC4 and I loved it, but I still have to mention my two gripes: 1. The schedule. After watching everything else, I had to bow out of the grand final at midnight my time because a work day was coming up. It just couldn't justify potentially staying up maybe even 3 hours longer. It wouldn't have been as much, but it might have. 2. The seeding. Almost all the strong players were in the bottom half of the bracket. It makes the winning performance even more impressive but it also meant that the grand final was far from the most exciting game. Considering the massive prize pool, this is also rough for those unlucky enough to face the strongest opposition early on. I did come up with a few ideas how to deal with it: a) Start with a group stage. 3 players per group, the winner gets a higher seed for the knockout portion, second place a lower seed, third place is eliminiated b) Semi finals on saturday, 3rd-place match and grand final on sunday. c) (optional) Double elimination instead of single elimination. Most esports use that approach and it balances out bad seeding. It's hard for an event that's mostly prerecorded which is why I'm not sure whether it's feasible. This would turn it into a week long event, which considering the viewing numbers sounds like a good move. It also makes the final day a bit more predictable - 2 Bo7s range from 8 to 14 matches, 3 Bo7s from 12-21. On the other hand you don't want just the GF on the last day, because you viewers to gather before the main thing happens. On a side note: The identification by the casting crew was amazingly spot on - which made the guessing game less fun. I feel that going forward, I wouldn't want to get as many hints laid out and rather solve the puzzle on my own. But maybe that's just me.
So much this. I really wanted to watch more of it live, but having a nice 8hours work, 1hour break, 6 hours work routine on monday forced me go to bed after to island match. The Tournament was awesome, but it was so much, it kinda felt like work watching it all - you really had to schedule it.
@@blaubeer8039 But AoE2 isn't the biggest esport, so it has to stand out. The biggest event being something gimmicky like Hidden Cup is a massive draw. I don't have any viewing numbers for KotD or Wololo, but I don't think they compare to HC.
Thank you T90, Dave and all these talented players to entertain us through these dark times. Amazing casts, breathtaking performances from the players, and a lot of funny moments too :).
Finally finished it all. I have no words, thank you t90, casters and behind the scenes personal! This was an amazing month of AGE for me. Just insane! The quality of these games was just insane!
I've been off and on playing AoEII for at least 15 years now and recently come across your stuff T90. I love the community games and tournies and the interview at the end was fantastic. Loved the sportsmanship between the players and how they talked about their games and their opponents. That interview might have been better than the Islands game!
Finally finished watching this tournament & wow, what a spectacle! So amazed at the level of play & how entertaining this all was. Thank you T90 & co. for everything, amazing Hidden Cup!
well, he said that he guessed dogao based on the fact, that he saw him training the very same civ pick on one of these maps that morning on Mr Yo's stream.
Viper had some big valid criticisms about the tournament. He still believes that Hera absolutely deserved to win but with the home map rules for HC4 were pretty unfair. For example, it's possible to lose with only 1 home map played while the winner gets 3.
Thanks a lot T90 and all who helped organize this tournament! Watching all these matches was a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to see more of these tournaments soon!
Hidden cup has come so far. I wasn't able to catch any live games but even being on YT watching the videos, it was amazing. I remember watching hidden cup 1 on YT as well, and then managing to catch hidden cup 2 live which I believe hit around 14k, which was a big thing for you then and look how far you've come now. Keep on man, your hard work has paid off for you and the AoE community. We wouldn't have this much hype and support for AoE without your contribution to the game, the players and the viewers. T90Salute
What a Series and WHAT A TOURNAMENT! OMG Best AOE2 I've seen on TH-cam! Great job to all the players, organisers, mods, Overlay Guy haha and of course T90! Been watching AOE2 Streamers for a couple of years but DEFS gonna get back into PLAYING after this! It's only been 15 years, what have I got to lose?! haha
First of all, thank you T90! You, Dave and everyone involved in making your community what it is have brought me so much joy over the years. Thank you and enjoy your time off! Spoiler: Congratulations to Hera, insane run! And JorDan is back! Wouldn‘t have believed it, what a show... Hidden Cup delivered again!
viper fanboi here, congrats to hera for coming back into that semifinal. i was so close to tabbing out after that 2:0. it felt over. but he pulled himself together and got a deserved win.
Finally finished watching Hidden Cup and now I can continue watching your uploads without any fear of spoilers! Congratulations to Hera and Jordan, it was an amazing finals and thank you T90 and team for bringing this all together! Best of Luck for the future!
Got a little delayed to watch this awesome, awesome tournament and I have to say this Is one of the best events and hype loaded communities I have ever witnessed. Brutal wholesome energy from the very beginning until the super entertaining end. Thank you to everyone who participated and made this what it is/ was. Thanks. What a big wolololo to draw more fans into this old game
What a fantastic competition, amazing games but honestly I have to admit its the commentary and the showmanship of t90 and the co casters that make it for me, the silly jokes, the struggles getting things right and the banter is what made me watch it all so congrats to the players but big kudos to t90 for being so entertaining and all the co casters that supported.
I watch you now for a couple of months on youtube and just finished the HC4 series and I loved it! Playing AoE2 almost since it came out and now got back on it. Your videos and the community is just great! Keep up the good work T90!
Extend the video till 12 hours next time, so that you can’t know who is winning the last round. Just a black screen or something than. It would make a huge difference in my opinion
@@Connection-Lost if you’re watching the tournament and it’s like 3-1 or something and there’s only a little bit of time left in the video, you automatically know it’s going to be a win for the leading player. if the video is uploaded longer with just a black screen for ~5 hours after the interview then you can still have hope. it’s for people who don’t want to have the outcome kinda spoiled
sc2links manages to embed TH-cam videos with no seek bar. This works but I like your idea better for AOE2 since we need to skip around if we lose our place on these very long videos.
I grew up playing Age of Mythology and have never played Age of Empires (I'm not that good at RTS games), but at the start of the quarantine last year, I was hankering to see how high-level players explore a similar franchise. I tend to be very reclusive with when and how I comment and participate online, but I wanted to say something and I think this is finally a fitting video for it. I wanted to thank you for showcasing all these matches and events. They really helped me to relax while on my breaks during my online job. I've watched a lot of your vods since then. I learned about the fascinating neurosis of FatSlob. The absolute hype of Snippy (might be my favorite player at the moment). I enjoy all the legend videos, but I love the community regicide games. After a while, I started to pick up on the pro player's names and styles. And I'm glad Hera won after barreling through so many of the toughest players.
The seemingly annoying kid that I watched stream AoE few years back with low 2-digit viewers, finally managed to make AoE an actual e-sports game. Congrats T90, you have done a great job. Congrats to Hera, JorDan and everyone else. Amazing games, next level AoE
I just finished watching the whole thing, because I just can not watch so. many games in a row. I am so happy I did not get spoilered while automatically opening comments because of a huge anti spoiler wall in the comments. It really fits together with the great sportsmanship in this whole scene. I just love it. Big respect for your passion t90 and for the courage to go for your dream.
That was such a crazy Tournament. Just wanted to say a huge thank you T90, for hosting the best AoE2 Tournament to date and for getting me back to loving and marvelling at my favourite childhood videogame.
Finally, after almost 2 months. I got to the finales. Before watching it, I want to say thanks to t900 for hosting this amazing event and Dave for the awsome Có casting
Amazing tournament. Dave is an elite co-caster. All the others brought great analysis, but Dave really brings the fun & entertainment to it too (not putting anyone down here). Thanks for putting it all together
Thank you for uploading this! I missed the stream but I was actually able to watch all of HC4 here. Congrats to Hera, really amazing to watch, glad he got a win. It was very well deserved, and also to Jordan, very well played. However, I would have loved to hear from Jordan about that crazy game one in the semi finals with the skirmishers because that was the coolest and silliest thing I've seen in a while.
Took me almost a month to finally getting around to watching this but I have to say I did not expect who would win or who would even go down in the semi finals. Great tourney and I look forward to the next one.
This was so hype, glad that I was able to watch most of it live. Looking forward to watching this again knowing who everyone is!!!! Quick note: It feels like the final reveals were done in a weird order. Second place and the winner should be the last two reveals, no?
At game 7, it's already 3-3, it has to be a predetermined map at that point. If the player who lost the 6th game is allowed a home map, that would be the 3rd home map for him, when his opponent only got 2. As for game 4, it's a bit confusing, but if you think about it, it's the only way. It's 7 games, and the first and last game has to be on neutral ground. How else can the remaining 5 games be divided and distributed!
What an awesome tournament this was. Always great fun, entertaining as all get out, as Jordan said, and amazing outcomes all around. Jordan is playing super well, Hera finally gets a very deserved, hard-fought win. Huge thanks to T90 for hosting, and can't wait for the next one.
Crazy first island game, EXTREME NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS , SUPERIOR MICRO MANAGEMENT AND CRAZY LAND TACTICS!! THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH AND IM SO HAPPY TO SEE PRIZE TOURNAMENTS . THIS IS THE KIND OF ESPORTS I WANNA AND LIKE TO SEE. GREAT COMMENTATORS AS WELL, VERY EDUCATED WITH THE NUANCES OF THE GAME WHICH MADE FOR FANTASTIC NARRATIONS. GREAT JOB GUYS GREAT JOB!!!
.Thank you T90 and your team for such a great tournament. Also really appreciate you not putting names in titles to prevent spoilers when catching up with the matches. Really enjoyed it :)
exceptional caster, T90. glad for you to have found something so meaningful to you and it's reflected in your captivating performance. looking forward to see some more after your time off.
@@thomasreed2427 Not sure about him and Mr_Yo... Also, Jordan unfortunetelly did not played his best in the finals... Viper stated that Jordan was tired... Still, what a great tournament...
Yeah, sucks for TaToh, Jordan played incredible though. Overall he certainly had the easier bracket but beating Mr Yo 4-1 is damn impressive and everything but a fluke
I just love the sportsmanship in aoe2, like there's no toxicity among pro players at all and they can respect and congratulate each other
Confratulate sounds dirty.
@@davidgustavsson4000 *congratulate 11
Well the pros are nice, but in a 1500 elo teamgame, people will not let you pause for a sec, be rude when they lose, won't say gg when they lose, etc
@@peterfrenzke6251 Only if they stop building villagers in Feudal Age lol.
@@peterfrenzke6251 Exactly
So happy for both! One for clearly stating that now he's actually back, and the other for the long deserved 1st place in a big tournament (and with the hardest seeding too!)
What a random place for bots to turn up
Colby Searchlight and Franken-mark
@@TheOatmealPeople what random topics, too..
@Colby Scherschligt Is there any trick to get a girlfriend?? I mean I'd like to try that hack but I don't see it happening...
I feel dirty having the comment invaded like that
Jordan impressed me throughout the tournament and Hera did exceptionally well. Viper was beasting can't deny that.
Viper was the only person undefeated until semifinals, absolutely insane... Goes to show how much effect these crazy maps have on people.
Viper is simply exhausted in longer Sets. That's the Chance for other players!
That was a pretty close match, gg to Hera since he pulled it through after Viper only need 1 game to close the bo7.
@@mailboro Viper was also a bit unlucky not being able to choose his home maps as often as Hera. Hera got 3 as opposed to 1 for Viper.
@@mailboro Don't think so, as he himself admitted, he got tilted because of the fact that Hera had 3 home maps and he had just 1 because of the set maps... Can't blame him...
v Tatoh, v Lierrey, v Viper, v Jordan... what a path he had to take. Congratulations!
he won 4 tournaments at once
Just like in the previous year he had to face like an entire GL team (team secret at the time) 11
@My Channel don't read comments before watching.
@My Channel Very wise of you to read the comments before watching the match.
Such a great tournament! I love the Hidden Cup format. So many unique maps and strategies, so many top players :)
Thank you Microsoft, thank you T90 and everyone else who made this wonderfull event possible!
Also, Jordan getting so far in the tournament and performing so well was the cherry on top of an already beautiful event.
hidden cup 4 easily the most entertaining to watch tournament in the recent history of aoe2 e-sports and john the fearless single handedly made it this way. every one of his matches were an utter pleasure to see
Tatoh, Lierry, Viper, Jordan.. Hera won 4 finals in a row, impressive! Congrats!
Just have to say this. Age of Empires, you T90, TheViper and the whole community helped me through a very tough and challenging part of my life and this community, you T90 and everyone just deserves the hype and love ❤ Thank you!
players are so wholesome and respectfull. love it
Yes. Awesome content. Just as an improvement for next year, it'd be cool to see the players face when they're interviewed
The interview with Jordan and Hera at the end was fantastic. They were both just so generous and humble. Man I love this scene
Long time viewer on TH-cam. I couldn’t watch this live, but this is the first full tournament I’ve watched through in order... absolutely blown away by everything.
I haven’t played AoE2 in over a decade and this is just an amazing community and this is one of the only “sports” I’m interested in haha.
Thanks so much T90 and everyone for all you do! Amazing community and amazing players, games and strategy!
The Viper was so good we all knew who he was by the end of the first round. Which makes it all that more impressive that Hera beat him. What a great tournament.
3:49:17 When asked by T90, Jordan reveals the origin of him donning his teal coat of arms and colours in HC4 to pay tribute to TheMax from the qualifiers... I'M CRYING! Jesus that was an emotional moment of true sportsmanship LMAO XD
TheMax must feel lucky tp have faced such an adversary.
36:42
The moment where the even dumber "Dumbest Islands Game Ever" begins
I can think of a dumber island game, with 3 of something in a random island
What was the original dumbest islands game ever?
honestly, the first dum island game was far dumber, nothing like watching two massive fleets get whittled down to 3 ships aside with both sides unable to build more
I loved it
Oh dear god... Guess it's time to find out what's dumb about it.
Timestamps:
0:00:00 Game 1: Arabia - Bulgarians vs Aztecs
0:06:00 Drush
0:14:15 Archer raid
0:17:40 Knights and mangonel attack
0:22:05 Major fights start
0:36:40 Game 2: Islands - Portuguese vs Vietnamese
0:43:30 Galley rush
0:50:50 Transport ship landing
0:58:00 Feitorias and galleon counterattack
1:01:30 Treb landing
1:06:35 Cannon Galleons and caravels
1:09:05 Major naval fight
1:10:20 Light cavalry raids
1:14:00 Castle drop in the middle island
1:35:20 Game 3: Mudflow - Khmer vs Franks
1:41:30 Scout rush
1:50:10 Knight rush
1:52:40 Counterattack
2:04:40 Game 4: Cup - Celts vs Japanese
2:05:55 Boar laming
2:08:00 Drush
2:13:50 Archer, swordsman rush
2:21:30 Micro fight
2:23:50 Castle drop
2:30:15 Paladins raid
2:38:48 Game 5: Slopes - Indians vs Mayans
2:44:20 Drush
2:53:40 Eagle, Ram attack
2:59:30 Castle drop
3:16:24 Hero Guesses
3:18:56 Player Reveals of the first 8 fallen heroes
3:21:37 Player Reveals of the fallen heroes in quarterfinals
3:22:43 Player Reveals of the (semi)-finals
3:24:10 Final table and talking
Upvote this already.
Grab my like.
I recommend everyone to watch the Island match lmao
@@Royale9 yeah, that was next lever
That Island game will be one of my favorites forever! CANNOT stop talking about it even to my non-AoE friends. There is know way John should have gotten away with as much as he did!
John *moves to build a castle where he previously had one*
T90: "well you cant build a castle there..."
John *places foundation of castle *
T90 *shocked Pikachu face*
Today’s Drinking Game: Take a drink every time T90 calls John the Fearless Hera
SPOILER BELOW
Still cannot believe Jordan made it all the way to the final so soon after he got back in the game, very impressed! And truly amazing performance by Hera, who had to beat one powerhouse after another to claim the cup!
Thanks to everyone involved in making this tournament happen and I somehow feel the result is good for AoE. Last year shows that the rest of the players have worked really hard to up their game trying to reach Viper. Competition is always a good thing in my book and hopefully even better games are in store!
I only read the comments after watching but there's no point putting "Spoiler below" and then immediately visible to everyone are the actual results lol you needed at least another 3 blank lines to enable people wanting the spoiler to click read more. As this comment is... its just a spoiler for anyone silly enough to scroll down mid-game :D
How poetic that Hera claimed the cup on the same map he was crushed on last year
hera smashed it with the hardest opponents, fair play. #1
@@tomdavies9701 Hera got a well-deserved win. And it was long overdue, he has been a beast for a while and deserved to get a big win last year. But are you seriously suggesting he unseated Viper from the #1 spot by winning the FIRST big 1v1 tournament ever? Chill out bro. Viper is still the most consistent player and #1 according to all the TOP players.
@@thomasreed2427 its not that deep, but id argue hera's been top boy for 2021
@@thomasreed2427 only thing that counts for me is that we see serious competition at the top level now. i think argueing any one is the best rn is difficult, since it comes down to form, preperation etc. and thats the best thing that could happen for the viewers. also i think it's good for viper to loose some torunaments, too. helps to get some motivation to improve.
@@thomasreed2427 I'm pretty sure the guy meant he got number 1 spot in the tournament aka being the champ, you know...
You should chill out bro.
Absolutely loved the results. Hera got his lost deserved big win beating Viper on his way! Jordan came back to the game like an absolute beast.. and its easy to get carried away by the ridiculous path Hera had to the finals, but lets not forget that Jordan beat MBL, ACCM and YO himself to get to the final ! .. he did not drop more than 1 game in any of the matches other than the finals.. this is a guy who had been gone from the game for so so very long and the game, quality of play, meta .. everything had changed so much while he was gone.. its absolutely insane what Jordan pulled off in this tournament... heck I was shocked he got past Max in the qualifiers (I did feel bad for the Max for sure)!
really dont understand the Jordan hype... he keeps leaving and "coming back" its been going on for a few years already... Maybe finally he will pull his weight in team games.
I just feel bad for Dogao. He clearly underperformed and got the worst opponent possible.
And Jordan beat max
@@harrymolo4450 indeed.. should have certainly included max on my list
"Keep your stick on the ice" ...
Dave is so Canadian XD
Shout out to all the Eurobros who had to go to bed and were anxiously awaiting this video.
thank you but i could not go to bed that night ^^ i just went with 4 hours sleep and a zombie like work day
well, shool with 1.5 h of sleep was fun...
thanks for thinking of us tho.
Shout out to Jordan who had to start the final past his bedtime.
i just watched it on twitch in the morning
It took me like 4 days after this was uploaded to get through all the matches and watch this.
Thanks so much for organizing this tournament T90! I've just gotten back into AoE, and your streams and videos have been such a welcome into the community. What a fantastic series to watch in the midst of a tough week :)
Bro, the islands game was legendary. I would have resigned 10 times over if I was in the place of Admiral.
Jordan brother I feel so sad for your loss but so happy to see you compete like this.
Viper, Daut, MBL guys please don't ever change just keep playing like you do. You guys teach us just by playing. You teach us how to actually live life. Enjoy the game/life, sometimes troll people, sometimes get trolled, sometimes build a Daut castle but sometime fail at it spectacularly. Sometimes lame every pig and sometimes that pig kills your scout. But most of all always remember to enjoy.
What loss? What happened to Jordan?
@@dogeofgreatness2222 sorry for spoiler
@@SunnySidhu_TinyTauTsss I thi k he thought you were implying that somebody died :P
@@jessegauthier6985 oh my bad
This tournament had everything:
- Great players with even a bigger winner congrats to Hera.
- Great caster, Tristan we see your effort you put into this and it is a joy to watch and to listen to your streams/tournaments.
- also a big congratulation to all the guys in the back, great job!
the aoe community is awesome
can we all appreciate that Jordan is back. Also, congrats to the new winner 👏👏
love your casting, love the hype, love the whole cast of this tournament and the capture age team!
my favorite round is between Ivaylo vs John the fearless on Cross. such a God level display of macro and micro of the two players with distinct styles and superb awareness.
I genuinely think this is the best event I've seen in esports, everyone is having so much fun and the production quality is awesome.
33-year-old Dutch guy living in Australia (living a stone throw away from Bondi beach) watching AOE2 content in his apartment, that means only one thing, quality content! Thanks!
Hoe is het in Australië makker
Seriously great event and great casting.
For the game i dont even play i felt really involved and followed every single row of the tournament.
Also got carried thru my "hard times",
so big thanks and big respect to all involved for organization, casters and players,
you did something truly amazing.
Never change guys
;)
This has been beautiful man. I've been watching the entire tournament in half an hour parts inbetween working and I've only just finished it now. Such an amazing achievement for the community and for you! It started with a childhood nostalgia for me and it's grown into a true love of the game. Incredible. Thank you!
Absolutely insane. This is the first time that I've really felt like I had an understanding of the different pros' styles. Best hidden cup so far.
"fallen hero" part is really touching
Never was into watching tournaments all day long but this really got me! Great job Never thought I would ever be so hyped! Great job T90 it was an Amazing tournament so happy for Hera to finally win a big one!
Thanks for posting it on youtube T90! I'm really not into streaming, so having this up here is much appreciated :)
I love that this game is alive and well. Played a lot as a teenager in the 2000s, so awesome to see so many others still love it and all the updates to freshen it up. Great job to all the players and the crew for presenting this tournament. Also, T90 I appreciate you keeping it PG, keep it up. God bless!
Very nice to see the diversity in skills and mind games used this Hidden Cup! Great tournament!
Jordan seemed much more sloppy in the final than the semifinal in which he was so clinical winning 4-1 against Yo. Initially, I thought it might have been nerves but then Viper mentioned that it was at his bedtime which makes a lot of sense since I remember that he is an early morning person. I wonder what would have happened if he had the opportunity to bring the same level he brought against Yo. Certainly the final would have been a much closer one. In conclusion, I think that they should either have had the final alone on the final day at the best possible time for both players or just cast it like the previous rounds, not live (played at a suitable hour for both players), and have the reveal and interviews live. The priority should always be to give the players the opportunity to perform as well as they actually can.
Absolutely agree. Even without the bedtime thing - several hours of almost non-stop high-level play is gotta be taxing.
No player will go into the next match with the same level of concentration without a good amount of sleep inbetween.
Some of the matches are so late for the Asian players. I almost think maybe Asia should host a tournament and these guys do matches on Asian time
Well Jordan did mention in the interview after the loss that he felt nervous and making mistakes.
@@feezee82 He is a nice guy, he wouldn't mention something that sounds like an excuse for losing. But the reality is that he streamed briefly after the final and he looked like a zombie although he is used to streaming and playing for 6+ hours.
@@qianliang7056 I think that is a fair point.
My third Hidden Cup. Couldn't catch it live, but watched it whole, swallowed even. T90, Dave, Dux, Robo, Overlay guy and of course Players and spectators.. Thank you all for being a part of this gigantic rts competition, with sincerity, fair play and simplicity. That's what I love to watch... Thank you all.
I can't believe how positive, wholesome and entertaining this was. I don't follow AoE, but I watched the whole stream. Thanks for doing what you do.
I was watching almost the entirety of HC4 and I loved it, but I still have to mention my two gripes:
1. The schedule. After watching everything else, I had to bow out of the grand final at midnight my time because a work day was coming up. It just couldn't justify potentially staying up maybe even 3 hours longer. It wouldn't have been as much, but it might have.
2. The seeding. Almost all the strong players were in the bottom half of the bracket. It makes the winning performance even more impressive but it also meant that the grand final was far from the most exciting game. Considering the massive prize pool, this is also rough for those unlucky enough to face the strongest opposition early on.
I did come up with a few ideas how to deal with it:
a) Start with a group stage. 3 players per group, the winner gets a higher seed for the knockout portion, second place a lower seed, third place is eliminiated
b) Semi finals on saturday, 3rd-place match and grand final on sunday.
c) (optional) Double elimination instead of single elimination. Most esports use that approach and it balances out bad seeding. It's hard for an event that's mostly prerecorded which is why I'm not sure whether it's feasible.
This would turn it into a week long event, which considering the viewing numbers sounds like a good move. It also makes the final day a bit more predictable - 2 Bo7s range from 8 to 14 matches, 3 Bo7s from 12-21. On the other hand you don't want just the GF on the last day, because you viewers to gather before the main thing happens.
On a side note: The identification by the casting crew was amazingly spot on - which made the guessing game less fun. I feel that going forward, I wouldn't want to get as many hints laid out and rather solve the puzzle on my own. But maybe that's just me.
So much this. I really wanted to watch more of it live, but having a nice 8hours work, 1hour break, 6 hours work routine on monday forced me go to bed after to island match. The Tournament was awesome, but it was so much, it kinda felt like work watching it all - you really had to schedule it.
I had an oral exam on Monday morning. I couldn't justify watching the whole finals either. And then I got spoilered from Twitter. Feels bad man
@@blaubeer8039 But AoE2 isn't the biggest esport, so it has to stand out. The biggest event being something gimmicky like Hidden Cup is a massive draw. I don't have any viewing numbers for KotD or Wololo, but I don't think they compare to HC.
I loved playing AoE 20 year ago. Now I love it even more! Thank you guys for organizing such a perfect community and events. Congrats to Hera!
Thank you T90, Dave and all these talented players to entertain us through these dark times. Amazing casts, breathtaking performances from the players, and a lot of funny moments too :).
This whole video gave me chills, thank you so much T90 for hosting this and huge congrats to Hera and all players involved!!
Finally finished it all. I have no words, thank you t90, casters and behind the scenes personal! This was an amazing month of AGE for me. Just insane! The quality of these games was just insane!
Thank you T90, Dave, Dux, Microsoft and everybody who contributed to this tournament, this is amazing.
I've been off and on playing AoEII for at least 15 years now and recently come across your stuff T90. I love the community games and tournies and the interview at the end was fantastic. Loved the sportsmanship between the players and how they talked about their games and their opponents. That interview might have been better than the Islands game!
Finally finished watching this tournament & wow, what a spectacle! So amazed at the level of play & how entertaining this all was. Thank you T90 & co. for everything, amazing Hidden Cup!
Props to Jordan, making it to the finals in his first tournament since his comeback is a remarkable achievement.
dude, viper 100% knew who was everyone of his opponents...
yeah as usual :)
would be interested in his experience of the tournament. felt weird not having him in the final interview
well, he said that he guessed dogao based on the fact, that he saw him training the very same civ pick on one of these maps that morning on Mr Yo's stream.
Viper had some big valid criticisms about the tournament. He still believes that Hera absolutely deserved to win but with the home map rules for HC4 were pretty unfair. For example, it's possible to lose with only 1 home map played while the winner gets 3.
@@kerimgueney which incidentally is exactly what happened
Doesn't he always?
Thanks a lot T90 and all who helped organize this tournament! Watching all these matches was a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to see more of these tournaments soon!
Hidden cup has come so far. I wasn't able to catch any live games but even being on YT watching the videos, it was amazing. I remember watching hidden cup 1 on YT as well, and then managing to catch hidden cup 2 live which I believe hit around 14k, which was a big thing for you then and look how far you've come now. Keep on man, your hard work has paid off for you and the AoE community. We wouldn't have this much hype and support for AoE without your contribution to the game, the players and the viewers. T90Salute
Still howling at the fact everyone knew Gonzalo was Daut 100% when he tried to lure that ostrich in and it kept just walking away 😆😆😆
lol
he was probably yelling get in the gate get in the gate
What a Series and WHAT A TOURNAMENT! OMG Best AOE2 I've seen on TH-cam! Great job to all the players, organisers, mods, Overlay Guy haha and of course T90! Been watching AOE2 Streamers for a couple of years but DEFS gonna get back into PLAYING after this! It's only been 15 years, what have I got to lose?! haha
First of all, thank you T90! You, Dave and everyone involved in making your community what it is have brought me so much joy over the years. Thank you and enjoy your time off!
Spoiler:
Congratulations to Hera, insane run! And JorDan is back! Wouldn‘t have believed it, what a show... Hidden Cup delivered again!
DAUT GUESSED HE BEATED HERA
ahahahah what a legend
viper fanboi here, congrats to hera for coming back into that semifinal. i was so close to tabbing out after that 2:0. it felt over. but he pulled himself together and got a deserved win.
Finally finished watching Hidden Cup and now I can continue watching your uploads without any fear of spoilers! Congratulations to Hera and Jordan, it was an amazing finals and thank you T90 and team for bringing this all together! Best of Luck for the future!
Got a little delayed to watch this awesome, awesome tournament and I have to say this Is one of the best events and hype loaded communities I have ever witnessed.
Brutal wholesome energy from the very beginning until the super entertaining end.
Thank you to everyone who participated and made this what it is/ was.
Thanks.
What a big wolololo to draw more fans into this old game
What a fantastic competition, amazing games but honestly I have to admit its the commentary and the showmanship of t90 and the co casters that make it for me, the silly jokes, the struggles getting things right and the banter is what made me watch it all so congrats to the players but big kudos to t90 for being so entertaining and all the co casters that supported.
I watch you now for a couple of months on youtube and just finished the HC4 series and I loved it! Playing AoE2 almost since it came out and now got back on it. Your videos and the community is just great! Keep up the good work T90!
Thank you so much for hosting this awesome tournament T90. Such amazing play and awesome content as always. Thank you from your TH-cam fans!
Extend the video till 12 hours next time, so that you can’t know who is winning the last round. Just a black screen or something than. It would make a huge difference in my opinion
What does this mean
@@Connection-Lost if you’re watching the tournament and it’s like 3-1 or something and there’s only a little bit of time left in the video, you automatically know it’s going to be a win for the leading player. if the video is uploaded longer with just a black screen for ~5 hours after the interview then you can still have hope. it’s for people who don’t want to have the outcome kinda spoiled
Yes, and on the other youtube videos too, it was too easy to tell that someone was gonna win when the ending thing wasn't on there either.
@@l4ncer exactly
sc2links manages to embed TH-cam videos with no seek bar. This works but I like your idea better for AOE2 since we need to skip around if we lose our place on these very long videos.
My donation at 3:49:24
Not 69,69€ as last year and also just in USD but this year it was sadly not possible for me :D
Thanks for the great tournament.
When Dave says "We're fucking ESports bois" literally 4th time watching this and I always get goose bumps! Love AOE
ps AWESOME to see a major company sponsoring an event the RIGHT WAY! Without all the BS and Self Indulgence. Kudos to Microsoft... Respect!
I grew up playing Age of Mythology and have never played Age of Empires (I'm not that good at RTS games), but at the start of the quarantine last year, I was hankering to see how high-level players explore a similar franchise. I tend to be very reclusive with when and how I comment and participate online, but I wanted to say something and I think this is finally a fitting video for it. I wanted to thank you for showcasing all these matches and events. They really helped me to relax while on my breaks during my online job. I've watched a lot of your vods since then. I learned about the fascinating neurosis of FatSlob. The absolute hype of Snippy (might be my favorite player at the moment). I enjoy all the legend videos, but I love the community regicide games. After a while, I started to pick up on the pro player's names and styles. And I'm glad Hera won after barreling through so many of the toughest players.
The seemingly annoying kid that I watched stream AoE few years back with low 2-digit viewers, finally managed to make AoE an actual e-sports game.
Congrats T90, you have done a great job.
Congrats to Hera, JorDan and everyone else.
Amazing games, next level AoE
I just finished watching the whole thing, because I just can not watch so. many games in a row. I am so happy I did not get spoilered while automatically opening comments because of a huge anti spoiler wall in the comments. It really fits together with the great sportsmanship in this whole scene. I just love it. Big respect for your passion t90 and for the courage to go for your dream.
The islands game was the most insane islands game I've ever seen and freaking props to Blue
Rewatching this in February 2022. Amazing games. Can’t wait for more hidden cup tourneys!
Congrats to the winner! It was epic! I was rooting for you the whole tournament!
That was such a crazy Tournament. Just wanted to say a huge thank you T90, for hosting the best AoE2 Tournament to date and for getting me back to loving and marvelling at my favourite childhood videogame.
Here I am, finally finished the finals after 20 days. What a journey.
Thank you t90 for this amazing cup!!
Finally, after almost 2 months. I got to the finales.
Before watching it, I want to say thanks to t900 for hosting this amazing event and Dave for the awsome Có casting
The whole tournament was great! I enjoyed the stream so much, thank you T90! I'm already exited for hidden cup 5
Amazing tournament. Dave is an elite co-caster. All the others brought great analysis, but Dave really brings the fun & entertainment to it too (not putting anyone down here). Thanks for putting it all together
Finally watched through every game. What an amazing tournament. Those semi finals especially were *insane*
Thank you for uploading this! I missed the stream but I was actually able to watch all of HC4 here. Congrats to Hera, really amazing to watch, glad he got a win. It was very well deserved, and also to Jordan, very well played. However, I would have loved to hear from Jordan about that crazy game one in the semi finals with the skirmishers because that was the coolest and silliest thing I've seen in a while.
What a beautiful tournament and what a ride. Great Production und much effort was obviously put in there. Love it! Also it got the final it deserves.
ADMIRAL JUST WON AN ISLANDS GAME WITH NO VILS COLLECTING ANY RESOURCES AT ALL
Search for the dumbest island game ever (the match T90 and Dave mentioned during this).
Took me almost a month to finally getting around to watching this but I have to say I did not expect who would win or who would even go down in the semi finals. Great tourney and I look forward to the next one.
Thank you sooooo much dude, I got super into AoE2 because I could watch the big guys play, and you were the big guy casting. You rock
This was so hype, glad that I was able to watch most of it live. Looking forward to watching this again knowing who everyone is!!!!
Quick note: It feels like the final reveals were done in a weird order. Second place and the winner should be the last two reveals, no?
But when only 4 are left, 1 and 2 get revealed by proxy which puts the spotlight away from them. Either way it's weird to do.
Why are the maps for game 4 and game 7 predetermined?
Isn't that a huge disadvantage for the player losing games 3 and 6?
At game 7, it's already 3-3, it has to be a predetermined map at that point. If the player who lost the 6th game is allowed a home map, that would be the 3rd home map for him, when his opponent only got 2.
As for game 4, it's a bit confusing, but if you think about it, it's the only way. It's 7 games, and the first and last game has to be on neutral ground. How else can the remaining 5 games be divided and distributed!
What an awesome tournament this was. Always great fun, entertaining as all get out, as Jordan said, and amazing outcomes all around. Jordan is playing super well, Hera finally gets a very deserved, hard-fought win. Huge thanks to T90 for hosting, and can't wait for the next one.
Crazy first island game, EXTREME NAVAL ENGAGEMENTS , SUPERIOR MICRO MANAGEMENT AND CRAZY LAND TACTICS!! THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH AND IM SO HAPPY TO SEE PRIZE TOURNAMENTS . THIS IS THE KIND OF ESPORTS I WANNA AND LIKE TO SEE. GREAT COMMENTATORS AS WELL, VERY EDUCATED WITH THE NUANCES OF THE GAME WHICH MADE FOR FANTASTIC NARRATIONS. GREAT JOB GUYS GREAT JOB!!!
.Thank you T90 and your team for such a great tournament. Also really appreciate you not putting names in titles to prevent spoilers when catching up with the matches. Really enjoyed it :)
ohh man, your final speech really hit me. THANK YOU, thanks for your hard work
Love this community !!
Thanks for posting these to TH-cam!
exceptional caster, T90. glad for you to have found something so meaningful to you and it's reflected in your captivating performance. looking forward to see some more after your time off.
Congrats, T90! Another great tournament.
Go to 2:00:30 for an age of empires love story for the ages.
Was in a discord call with the donator at the time and it was beautiful.
This tourney was amazing. I can't wait til the next one! I hope to be there live next time
Finally finished watching everything. Didn't see a single spoiler :D Thanks for a great event!!
This was a great watch. Thank you for showing it all.
1:41:20 Why the farms next to a mill instead of next to a house as Khmer? That's so stupid. I thought, they are pros.
You already had the villagers there, I guess.
Tatoh after seeing Jordan lose 1 to 4 against Hera in a best of 7: well this sucks
If TaToh had Jordan's place in the bracket, he would be in the final and it would be an amazing final set. Would have broken 69k viewers.
Yeah, that's random seeding for you 🤷♂️
@@thomasreed2427 that figure seems oddly accurate
@@thomasreed2427 Not sure about him and Mr_Yo... Also, Jordan unfortunetelly did not played his best in the finals... Viper stated that Jordan was tired... Still, what a great tournament...
Yeah, sucks for TaToh, Jordan played incredible though. Overall he certainly had the easier bracket but beating Mr Yo 4-1 is damn impressive and everything but a fluke