With 184 registered matches played over the course of three months, season 1 of the Red Alert Global League is officially concluded! A big thank you for everyone participating this season, laying the cornerstone for a continuous competetive event and a venue for people to meet and play some good games, both for fun and for prestige. But before we start planning future filled stadiums on par with LoL events, let's have a closer look at how season 1 went for our participating players.

The final matches of the Masters' and Minions' Divisions came in late but managed to hold off the end results and a lot of anticipation for the league's top placements.

Masters' Division

In the Masters' Division FiveAces was to match Medium Tank and Klaas to fight for the last four points after Murto The Ray took a twp-point lead when completing all his games for the season. FiveAces' first match-up vs Medium Tank looked to be a league clencher after a quick strong-armed win for FiveAces on Medium Tank's host map Ore Lord but with a surprise turn of events on FiveAces' host map Singles, Medium Tank managed to take away a point after pulling off both of Ukraine's special traits within minutes of each other, blasting his way through the middle and making his way towards FiveAces' main base.

With one point away from the top still, the last match-up vs Klaas proved to be a big toss-up after Klaas delivered a grade-A match on his host map Ore Lord and took a match point, leaving FiveAces with one last match and final shot at winning the League. On map Sidestep, FiveAces final host map, the battle turned out to be a slug fest after both players got their radar dome and tech center (both spawning Soviet) before their first expansion – normally an unprescedented move on the map but with both players going for the same unorthodox opener the match unraveled into a World War 1 style of death and destruction leaving both sides with huge asset losses. The game flowed back and forth but at one point when it looked like FiveAces was about to be completely contained in his main base, Klaas overcommitted with shock troopers against FiveAces' V2s left and right, leaving Klaas with little assets left to contain FiveAces at his main base. FiveAces eventually reclaimed his original first expansion and started to gain on one of his main strength as an OpenRA player – durability – which allowed him to engage in favorable battles against a fatigued Klaas, supported by harassing MiGs, making the match somewhat one-sided the last five minutes. FiveAces claimed victory after pushing with a Heavy Tank-based army, cleaning up Klaas' first and second expansions in one swoop before knocking on the front door of his main base.

The League title for FiveAces is claimed after a tie-breaker with Murto The Ray, referring to their earlier match-up in which FiveAces won a 2-0, avoiding an additional best-of-5 tie-breaker to decide the winner.

Congratulations to FiveAces for a great performance in the Masters' Division of the first season of the Red Alert Global League, resulting in a champion title, bragging rights and a nice lump sum of $145 as a division winner! Murto The Ray claims 2nd place prize of $55 and Medium Tank 3rd place prize of $25!

Minions' Division

Just like with the Masters' Division the Minions' Division's top spot was decided in the last round. The top three spots in the Minions' Division were contended by Abcdefg30, Kazu and myself (SoScared) throughout the entire season. With a super close race all the way to the end it all came down to a delayed match-up between Abcdefg30 and Kazu. After a decisive 2-0 victory for Kazu he managed to claim the first place with a well earned $40 payout, pushing me down to second and Abcdefg30 to third place.

Congratulations to Kazu for winning the Minions' Division Season 1, taking the competetive scene by storm with rock solid performance, making a name for himself in the community and we look forward to see him play in the next season's Masters' Divsion!

Forfeits in the Masters' Divsion opened up for 5 promotional spots in the Minions' for division advancement. The top five Minions' players Kazu, SoScared, Abcdefg30, Hamb (4th) and Testosterone Rex (5th) will have the opportunity to add on to the top division's ultra competetive scene next season.

Recruit Division

As opposed to the divisions above the Recruit Division has been running with a top contender favourite, OzzyOuzu, which at the start of the season declared his intent on finishing at the very top. He delivered on his promise and lost only one match against Flecken, managing to distance himself by four points to the second place, held by player T. Below OzzyOuzu the rest of the field was involved in a tight race for the top spots which ended up having six advancement slots into the next seasons' Minions' Division. Together with OzzyOuzo and T, player Flecken (3rd), Han (4th), GoldenHippo (5th) and DazUltra (6th) will have the opportunity to play in the next season's Minions' Division.

Congratulations to OzzyOuzo for delivering on his promise to ace the field and secure his advancement into the Minions' Division and for making himseld a serious contender for future play in the Master's Division!

Also kudos to all the players in the Recruit Division for staying the course in a field of absent matches towards the end of the season and a special thanks to player General who despite having less competetive experience compared to the field still completed every match in his division, taking the initiative on his weekly matches and contributing to the health and legitimacy of the Recruit Division's first season.

Thank you everyone!

The Red Alert Global League has benefited from a flying start thanks to the interest and involvement of all its participating players. From the viewpoint of the time the idea of a Red Alert league was conceived the experience of season 1 has surpassed all expectations with countless of great games and a considerable prizepool. We can look towards the next season with anticipation but first it will be crucial to review and improve upon the established format.

Looking forward to Season 2

Regardless, the next season of RAGL is aimed to take off on Monday, September 5th. This gives us limited time to advance the format before the next season but is aimed towards establishing Sep-Nov and March-May seasons which would then have stable 3 month in-betweens. Registrations for season 2 will be open between August 15th-31st. Existing players will have August 1st through 31st to confirm their spots in the league.

Cheers,
SoScared