The Army of Club Penguin recently broke their CPPS era first place record. The Clovers have placed first 5 times this year, breaking former Commander in Chief CSY’s record. However, most major armies do place first on the Top Ten at some point of time. What could it be that makes this achievement so special for the Clovers?
Designed by Scorp
On May 23rd, Army of Club Penguin HCOM Coolguy released an announcement. Following their group stage third round exit from the AUSIA Arena tournament, Coolguy told the army to take pride in their efforts rather than the result. He also revealed that the army had successfully broken it’s CPPS Era Top Ten first place record. Meaning, the number of times the Clovers ranked first on the Top Ten under a single leadership. Calgocubs21, the current Commander in Chief of the Army of Club Penguin, is the person who stole the achievement from former leader CSY. The Clovers bagged the top spot five times under Calgo’s command.
Coolguy’s Announcement
However, there is a much bigger story behind the curtains of this accomplishment. Ever since the very first top ten, the Army of Club Penguin often featured on the top spot. Despite experiencing dips in their performance, the Clovers in general asserted their dominance in the original Club Penguin armies era. Leaders like Boomer20, Shaboomboom, Mchappy, Kenneth1000 and Flipper7706 often propelled the army to the top. In particular, Kenneth1000 and Flipper7706 set unparalleled top ten records in the army, earning the title of Club Penguin Army Legend for their heroics.
However, following their return to the community in September 2019, the army faced more competition than ever. After Chainpro’s uneventful leadership stint, Koloway took over the reigns on November 11th, 2019. All you need to know about his leadership is that he earned Army Legend for his work. Less than a month after his promotion, the army rose to claim the top rank. However, this wasn’t any ordinary first spot grab. The December 1st, 2019 first place earned by the Clovers broke the Rebel Penguin Federation‘s 6 month grip on the Top Ten Armies list.
Koloway’s Retirement Event
From there onwards, the Army of Club Penguin regularly contended with the other major armies for the top spot. Koloway established the army as a pillar of dominance, going undefeated in several wars. He led them to their first tournament victory in years, and gave the Rebels a run for their money when it came to the Top Ten.
During Koloway’s successful reign, the Army of Club Penguin continued to assert their dominance in the community. His leadership laid a solid foundation for ACP’s continued success, as they consistently vied for the top spot against other major armies. ACP, under Koloway’s guidance, remained undefeated in numerous wars, establishing their reputation as a force to be reckoned with.
Koloway’s tenure also marked a turning point for ACP in terms of tournament victories. The army secured their first tournament win in years, showcasing their tactical prowess and strategic abilities. Additionally, their performance in the Top Ten rankings posed a significant challenge to the Rebels, further solidifying ACP’s position as one of the community’s powerhouses.
Upon Koloway’s retirement, CSY stepped up as the sole Commander of the Clovers, following the retirement of his co-leader Kailey310. Under CSY’s leadership, ACP experienced a remarkable period of prosperity. The army flourished under the guidance of an exceptional High Command team that included notable individuals such as Max, 2funky3, Cubster, Kailey, Zelly, and Daniel.
Building on the foundation set by Koloway, CSY’s leadership further elevated ACP’s standing in the community. The triumvirate formed by CSY, Max, and Cubster in the future strengthened the army’s leadership structure. CSY’s influential leadership earned him the prestigious Army Legend role, solidifying his impact on ACP’s growth and success. It can be said that Koloway revitalized ACP from a state of decline and raised it to a position where it could confidently stand among the other major armies in the community.
Army of Club Penguin under CSY’s leadership
However, CSY, Max, and Cubster’s leadership took the Army of Club Penguin (ACP) to new heights. CSY established them as a dominant force in the CPPS era. Their innovative approach brought back classic trends like the ACPTR and Alpha vs. Echo division civil wars. At the same time, they also introduced reforms in warfare and the community’s structure. ACP showcased its adaptability and creativity with the establishment of the Legion Española and came close to winning several significant tournaments.
Unfortunately, on August 30th, 2021, disaster struck for ACP. CSY announced his retirement , triggering a mass exodus of HCOM members stepping down simultaneously. This unprecedented event sent shockwaves not only through the army but also the entire community. The army was dealt a severe blow, and the consequences reverberated far beyond that day, impacting their operations and morale.
In the aftermath of the retirements, FatChicken assumed a leadership role within ACP. However, the army found itself in a precarious position, grappling with a significant drop in size following the high of the Project: Conquest tournament. While size slumps are not uncommon in major armies, the absence of experienced ranks and powerful leaders made the recovery a daunting task for the Clovers. The effects of the mass retirements lingered throughout the year, hindering the army’s progress.
FatChicken eventually stepped down from leadership by the end of 2021, passing on the reins to Jesus1_4. The army faced the challenge of rebuilding and regaining their former strength. The impact of the retirements and subsequent leadership changes underscored the resilience required to navigate the ups and downs of the Club Penguin armies community.
As ACP entered a new phase under Jesus1_4’s leadership, they faced the task of rebuilding their ranks, reestablishing their influence, and reclaiming their status as a dominant force in the community. The journey ahead would require determination, adaptability, and the recruitment of talented individuals to restore ACP to its former glory.
Jesus, also known as Zeus, went on to lead the army for ten months. During this time, the army continuously floated between the major and small/medium classification. The period of January – September proved to be rather unstable for the army. While their struggle to return to their past glory was obvious, the devastating impact of retirements and the lack of experienced members continued to haunt the army.
Following Zeus’ retirement in September 2022, the current leader Calgocubs21 rose to power. ACP had recently restored its major army status. Soon after his ascension, the army pulled off a major upset in the Legends Cup XII, sending their allies Help Force packing. Unfortunately, their run ended in the Semi-Finals. The Christmas Chaos XII tournament in December saw ACP exit, following defeat at the hands of the Help Force.
With their ongoing war against the Special Weapons And Tactics, the Army of Club Penguin finally managed to steal the first spot from the Templars following a long absence from the top on December 30th, 2022. However, soon after that abrupt rise, the army returned to hovering around the middle of the ranks. This trend continued until March, when they slowly began rising towards the top. Often missing out on the top spot by a difference of few points, eventually the Clovers ranked first four times on March 18th, April 22nd, May 6th and May 20th. This came with a healthy sprinkle of top three finishes.
It can be said that after a long period of uncertainty, ACP is crawling its way back to the top. In an attempt to find out more, the CPA Media Team reached out to Calgocubs21.
Ever since the mass retirements, ACP has suffered a heavy downfall until recently. What were the biggest challenges that you had to overcome when you started leading?
I’d say the biggest challenge by far that I’ve had to overcome throughout a majority of my leadership has been fighting the uphill battle of breathing new life into a community that was once in my opinion on the brink of death. One such issue that has been a source of many of ACP’s setbacks and problems has been the lack of staff and almost non-existent pool of qualified troops to pull from for new staff especially towards the beginning of when I first rose to leader. The first week that I took command of the army I had only 1 week of HCOM experience under my belt, 4 moderators, and 0 HCOM in my team to support my big ambitions. When I hit the ground running my first goal of leader was to hire as many staff onto my team as possible focusing on quantity rather than quality and targeting primarily retired ACP staff/vets.
While this method led to short-term success in our run in Legends cup it ultimately led to me having to clean house with a majority of the staff team due to many of them being either largely inactive or unreliable with a level of toxicity that needed to be uprooted. Being that we lacked staff at the time I had to spend many months pulling all nighter after all nighter to ensure that we were presenting ourselves as a high quality army and implementing new engaging things for our troops to enjoy. Overall this has been something that I have been willing to make sacrifices for and has improved dramatically as we’ve continued to build out our HCOM with highly capable individuals such Coolguy, AustinFraud, Mads, and AOL while also bringing in new blood to our moderator team. As of today we currently have 10 total staff serving under me who I consider to be my family.
The other primary issue was our heavy reliance on the same troops who kept on returning for every one of our events but lack of any new troops coming into the army. This was primarily due to our low morale and even worse our low retention rates on troops coming in. Retention was a tricky component to combat and ultimately this was something that came over time. Rather than try to address it head on I decided to focus on building a community from the ground up that I would want to join if I was a kid again. We focused on rebuilding every component of the army to ensure it was up to my high expectations of being perfect. Time and time again I would get the question of “Do we really need to put all this effort into something this small?” The answer is yes. If we want to be the best we have to present ourselves as the best and continue to innovate and be ahead of the competition. There is so cutting corners or finding shortcuts to be successful. We may be one of the smallest staff teams for a major army but I guarantee you that each and every one of my staff outworks every other army in terms of effort.
What is your plan moving forward from this achievement? Do you intend to bring back any old customs, such as the ACPTR? Or will you be looking to implement your own innovations?
Moving forward from this achievement its business as usual. We got a lot to maintain and a lot to improve upon. We still have a lot left on our 2023 roadmap and we have a long way to go before I’m hanging up my letterman. ACPTR in particular has actually already been reopened under my leadership back in January where we had a whopping 8 graduates after almost a year and a half of the program being closed down. After our recent loss in AUSIA Arena, our HCOM has decided that we are long overdue for more ACPTR sessions based on our poor performance and abundance of new troops flowing in that need significant training and education. Our set date for reopening will be this coming June. We’ll also continue to push out new initiatives and innovations from behind the scenes as usual while also bringing back old ACP traditions (one of which being our ACP government). I spend a lot of days scouting out the old ACP website for old traditions and ideas to bring back and incorporate into our current army and it makes it so much more fun.
Aside from that though we set our sights on two things: War Season and Legends Cup. There isn’t a day that goes by where my team and I aren’t craving war. As such we will be categorizing the time between now and Legends Cup as “War Season” for we’ve had enough sitting on the sidelines watching. Legends Cup is also already a point of focus and we plan to end our trophy drought once for all and bring home the tournament that our founder established. In both these endeavors there will be no stopping us this time. Every time we fall to our knees in these temporary setbacks such as our loss in AUSIA Arena or March Madness, we get right back up and come back ten times stronger than we were before. There is not a day that goes by where I rest soundly because I WONT REST UNTIL WE HAVE TAKEN WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY OURS. Armies will learn to fear us because even when we falter we never give up and even more we never forget. We will carve out our legacy and cement ourselves as the greatest of all time.
THERE IS NO STOPPING THE BURNING RAGE OF THE SLEEPING GREEN GIANT THAT HAS AWAKENED.
Can you tell us the true reason behind the success you have enjoyed so far? What tips would you give to other leaders like you?
Honestly its difficult for me to pinpoint exactly what specifically it was that led to our success so far. I think if anything it was a culmination of things such as our extreme attention to detail, our care for our community and our troops, and our resilience to never give up and keep pushing forward. There have been plenty of times where I considered giving it all up and calling it quits hell I did it after Christmas Chaos as well as March Madness. But I never gave up because i’m unsatisfied with what we have achieved and I’m hungry for more. More importantly ACP would never have been seeing the success that it has if it wasn’t for my hard working staff who bust their asses day in and day out.
My advice to leaders is if you want to be successful you have to live and breathe armies and more importantly be passionate about what you do. If you treat this like an everyday job or something you are “required” to do you are gonna burn out instantly and have no route towards getting back up off your feet. Don’t be afraid to be experimental and play trial and error on a lot of components of your army. Some ideas will work out really great while others fail miserably, but you won’t know until you try. Ultimately there is always someone who wants that Top Number One spot, wants that victory in war, wants that sweet feeling of raising a trophy after all those hard fought battles. It all comes down to how much you want it, how far you are willing to go for it, and the sacrifices you make along the way to get there. Determination is EVERYTHING.
For March Madness every one of my staff members poured their hearts and souls into one goal of lifting that trophy once and for all after years of falling just short. Just when we thought it was within our grasp the judges had other plans and in our minds we felt like it was all for nothing and that it was stolen right from under us. Part of me wanted to scream STOP THE STEAL and I did because I was beyond furious. Some would go as far as to compare my rage to Lord “Baby Rage” Pain when ACP bullied Golden Troops or the other time when we got him couped from RPF. Fun times, fun times indeed. But thats besides the point that rather than giving up, we fought on and directed our rage into coming back even stronger than before and bullying the Dark Vikings who had just reached major status back into S/M status where they belong. My only hope now is that our beloved allies PIC and NC bully them out of the community for good.
Which piece of wisdom do you take to heart when it comes to CPA?
Best advice that I ever got was from one of my original HCOM, Shane who told me after our disappointing results in Christmas Chaos, “i just want you to know youve done so much for the army … Dont overwork yourself and sit back and appreciate the shit youve already accomplished, losing a tournament isnt the end as we know.” That tournament loss was by far my lowest point in my leadership and like I mentioned earlier, I was considering hanging up my letterman once and for all. It had been almost two straight months by then of almost a majority of negative results and news while trying to fight an uphill battle of fixing the army. The tournament at the time felt like the final nail in the coffin to my morale and motivation, but Shane was the sole person who went to my DMs after the fact and cheered me up and was the reason why I didn’t give up. Whenever times get tough in ACP I think back to that moment and how much I could’ve missed out on if I didn’t choose to push forward. My sole goal has always been to make ACP great again like how it was in the early days of OG and I’m glad I never gave up.
What is the general theme you’ve tried to uphold in the ACP?
The general theme that i’ve tried to uphold in ACP is a combination between being the best, bringing back an OG feel to armies for the Vets to enjoy, and lastly the most important aspect is having fun through utter CHAOS and :CalgoMoney:
The recent success of the Army of Club Penguin under the leadership of Calgocubs21 could be attributed to a combination of factors. Irrespective of the initial slumps in performance, Calgocubs21’s leadership serves as an inspiration to other army leaders aiming to rebuild or establish successful armies. His advice emphasizes the importance of living and breathing armies, being passionate about the cause, and never giving up. He encourages leaders to embrace experimentation, learn from failures, and stay determined in the pursuit of victory.
The Army of Club Penguin’s recent rise leaves the community speculating what achievement they will go for next. With Legends Cup coming up soon, it might turn out to be the Clovers’ chance to prove to everyone that they are back in the game.