The Legends Cup is less than a day away and the judges have finally been announced for the highly anticipated Grand Finals battle. Let’s meet the judges who have been chosen to decide the winner of the upcoming battle.

Designed by Wynn

Before the Legends Cup began, many judges flocked to sign up to judge in this highly anticipated tournament. The judges were then chosen and they continue to be an important part of the tournament to this day.

Over the course of the Legends Cup, several battles have taken place. Whilst battles can often seem to be one-sided on paper, when armies get on the battlefield things can change. This has led to many closely-fought battle taking place with multiple ties being given in the final verdict. Not only this but the two semi-finals had three tied rooms plus one overtime room. This shows how close the battles were and how it’s important for judges to have the necessary experience and training to be able to judge the closely-fought battles. With that being said, we are excited to introduce you to the judges of the Grand Finals!

Can you introduce yourself and briefly list your experience in armies/judging (etc)?

Popcorny: My name is Popcorny I have been in the community for a while and have had minor successes in armies. Judging wise I have most recently been judging the World War and have done many tournament finals before that.

Jakob: Hello I’m Jakob. I am currently the creator of the Friendly Gamers and I am going into my Freshman year of high school. I’ve been in armies since mid 2020, firstly joining IW (up to SiT rank). I then moved to SWAT in early 2021 through August 2022 (up to 3ic). I then moved back into IW until march of this year and then have been with FG since. I started judging during the most recent World War to help prevent a lack of judges, and then proceeded to judge over half of the war.

Spotty: Hey I’m Spotty and I joined the community in February 2018. Since, then I have been apart of several armies such as the Help Force, and Dark Warriors where I was a leader. More recently i’ve been known as a community figure, whether thats being a community admin between the years of 2021-2023, or as Head Judge, where i’ve been apart of the team since summer 2020.

Aubz: My name is aubz and i think i am most know for creating the one direction army back in 2020 as well as my time in SWAT as a leader and an advisor. I have been a judge since 2020 and have been a judge in every league we have had since then!

Mabel: I’m Mabel, and I’ve been in armies for about 3 years coming up this October, and I currently lead the Water Vikings. I’ve been judging for about a year now.

What made you want to judge the Legends Cup tournament and could you describe what your judging experience in this tournament has been like so far?

Popcorny: As a Head Judge it is important to be an active judge therefore judging in the tournament is to be expected. I have found this tournaments battles to be no different from any other.

Jakob: Ever since I started judging the World War, I fell in love with judging. I can’t get enough of it. The experience of judging this tournament and seeing all of the armies maxing so big, reminds me of when armies were in a better place years ago. The Legends Cup battles that I have judged were definitely more relaxed than the war.

Spotty: I’ve always enjoyed judging, so whenever we have a tournamnet, or war I’m usually one of the first people to sign up. Judging throughout this tournament has been intestering, and most certainly exciting, as last week’s battle of ACP vs EGCP was one of the closest battles i’ve judged in ages.

Aubz: I think judging tournaments is the most fun part about being a judge. Every army is trying their hearts out so you get to see the best battles! Seeing armies who don’t always pull the big numbers pull some decent numbers during tournaments is so fun, and with the community fizzling on battles and wars this tournament has been a nice breath of fresh air

Mabel: In all honesty, just boredom, I knew I wasn’t gonna have anything to do on the weekends as much, so figured to just help and judge. The last time I judged for the LC battles was with EGCP and PIC, which wasn’t a bit of an interesting battle as it was pretty obvious at points who the winner was going to be. Really hoping that this battle will be far more interesting.

There have been many close battles this time around, in the tournament. What do you think armies have improved on, if anything, to make these battles that much closer? And what do you keep a close eye on?

Popcorny: I think due to the recent war many armies have increased their battle standards leading to closer battles. I keep a close eye on the CPAJ Judging Guidelines to make sure I am as fair and accurate as possible.

Jakob: Legends Cup is always the tournament for close battles to happen. I think the amount of hype, giveaways, and most importantly, competitiveness is what drives Legends Cup battles to be so close. For the reasons above, that is why I think armies are always so close in LC. As a judge, the most important thing to look for isn’t size when it comes to close LC battles. But for the strength of formations and as always, the amount of covering is the key to pull through.

Spotty: Legends Cup is usually known as one of the most, if not the most important tournaments of the year, so it comes to no surprise that battles are close. Recently we’ve had a new and revamped judging guide released so I think that’s helped leaders unseat and what’s expected of them, for example short and more effective bombs, and creativity. As a judge, we keep an eye on various of different factors, such as size, speed, formations, tactics, and creativity, and how these factors help to give an army an advantage over their opponent.

Aubz: I think armies have really listened to the new judging guideline which outlines what judges are looking for to secure room wins. I’ve seen lots of armies posting screenshots from the judging guidelines to better help their troops understand what is expected. I always like to keep and eye on creativity in big tournaments like this because as a pass leader I know it can be easy to get caught up in the tactics planned and forget to be innovative and creative!

Mabel: Honestly, I think a lot of armies now in this battle are improving in creativity, such as fresher tactics and new creative forms that you have seen in former battles (tournament or not), such as an infinity or Z form. I definitely keep an eye on the use of big word bubbles in all honesty lol. They can for sure make the battle interesting, but the overuse of them can easily annoy any judge.

What do you make of the Army of Club Penguin’s and Rebel Penguin Federation’s performances in the tournament thus far and what are some of the things you think they’ll bring into the upcoming battle?

Popcorny: I think both have performed to the expected level so far. I think both armies will bring lots of vets to the battle.

Jakob: ACP and RPF never seem to disappoint anyone for tournaments. I believe both armies will come up with clever tactics and formations to pull through and awe the community.

Spotty: Both armies have performed amazingly well, especially throughout the semi-finals as both battles were extremely close. From what I’ve seen, both armies have begun making new formations to increase their creativity. Additionally, both armies have noted the changes regarding faster bombs, and have focused on using their active size to help them create better forms and tactics to win their room.

Aubz: I think RPF knows what it takes to win a Legends Cup as they have won in the past recently and always performs well in tournaments. For ACP I know Calgo and the other leaders are hungry for a win and will stop at nothing to do so. It should be a very interesting and close battle!

Mabel: I’m pretty convinced that we’ll see an overtime battle for them. I’m sure they’re going to bring in a lot of vets, especially RPF, so there will be quite a few troops who are very experienced in these battle. Honestly, when Water Vikings were battling up against RPF, they did some pretty clean forms, so that is something I would for sure like to see. I haven’t gotten to experience any ACP battles for myself just yet, but from what I’m hearing, I’m sure they won’t put down the judges with bad forms. This battle I feel is going to be a close one, and it’ll bring in a lot of attention, especially considering RPF’s history with winning tournaments.

The tournament finals are set to be a closely-fought battle between two major competitors. Despite the battle being between the two armies, the judges are set to have their hands full. Judging an intense battle can be challenging, even for the most experienced judges. However, the armies will have to leave everything on the battlefield to try and get the win. We, at Club Penguin Armies, wish both the judges and the two armies the best of luck for the battle on Saturday.

More Information

mchappy2

Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.