Welcome to Picture Perfect, a column dedicated to analyzing photos from throughout army history. In this week’s edition, we will be exploring the 2012 Champion’s Cup tournament.

The Champion’s Cup tournament debuted on Club Penguin Army Central in the Spring of March 2012, serving as a bridge between Christmas Chaos and Legends Cup. Additionally, 16 armies fiercely contested in four groups on the original Club Penguin platform. The battles were scheduled to take place over the weekend, alternating between one battle one weekend and two battles the following weekend.

The armies in the groups went on to play against every other army in their respective group. The way that this worked was relatively simple. Furthermore, each army engaged in battle against another within the same group, with the victor earning three points. In the event of a draw, each side earned one point, while a loss resulted in no points awarded. The point system dictated the flow of the Champion’s Cup tournament.

The top two armies would go on to advance to the knockout stage, where the winner of each group competed against the runner-up of a different group, determined by random draw. Following this, there was then a random draw for the semi-finals, leading to the final round featuring the two remaining armies.

The crafting of these groups aimed to facilitate the dominance of one or two armies within each group. In Group A, the participating armies were Nachos, Dark Warriors, Special Weapons and Tactics, and Team Gold. Group B included Army of Club Penguin, Golden Troops, Pirates, and Metal Warriors. Group C consisted of Ninjas, Underground Mafia Army, Doritos, and Watex Warriors. Lastly, Group D included Light Troops, Ice Warriors, Shadow Troops, and Global Defenders.

On March 7, 2012, CPAC announced the brackets for each group, revealing the armies set to face each other in the first battle scheduled for March 12, 2012.

The armies scheduled for the first battle on March 18, 2012 were as follows:

• Nachos vs. SWAT
• DW vs. Team Gold
• ACP vs. Pirates
• GT vs. MW
• Ninjas vs. Doritos
• UMA vs. WW
• LT vs. ST
• IW vs. GD

First Battle

Following the conclusion of the battles, CPAC promptly posted the results. The outcome of the battles in Group A saw DW and SWAT emerging victorious, each earning three points. In Group B, ACP took the lead with three points. Meanwhile, GT and MW ended in a draw, earning one point each. Moving on to Group C, the Ninjas declared as the victors with three points, while UMA and WW ended in a draw, each earning one point. Finally, both LT and IW emerged as winners in Group D, securing three points each.

The second and third battles were set to take place on March 17 and 18 of 2012. This marked a change of pace, as the previous week had seen all armies scheduled to battle on the same date. These battles carried significant importance as every point earned would determine advancement to the quarter-finals.

The armies scheduled for the second battle on March 17, 2012 were as follows:

• DW vs. SWAT
• Nachos vs. Team Gold
• ACP vs GT
• Pirates vs. MW
• Ninjas vs. UMA

The armies scheduled for the third battle on March 18, 2012 were as follows:

• Nachos vs. DW
• Team Gold vs. SWAT
• ACP vs. MW
• GT vs. Pirates
• Ninjas vs. WW
• LT vs. GD
• IW vs. ST

Second and Third Battles

Throughout the second and third battles, several changes occurred. In Group A, three armies—DW, SWAT, and Nachos—advanced, rather than just two, due to both SWAT and Nachos drawing in terms of both size and points. However, in Group B, the standard set of two armies advancing—ACP and MW—was observed. Notably, despite MW and GT sharing the same points, MW progressed over them due to a better size difference. Nevertheless, despite the tie in points, MW’s superior size secured their advancement.

In Group C, we witnessed yet again a similar circumstance of two armies being tied to advance. However, only Ninjas and UMA advanced to the next round, rather than three armies. Conversely, WW did not advance despite tying their points with UMA. This decision stemmed from the army opting to drop out of CPAC over a disagreement regarding a judge awarding victory to Ninjas, as WW mistakenly went to the incorrect room. Lastly, in contrast to the other three groups, Group D concluded with no ties; IW and LT advanced to the quarter-finals. Thus, while some groups experienced ties and controversies, Group D remained clear-cut in its results.

However, despite the initial intention for nine armies to move onto the quarter-finals, only eight advanced due to DW shutting down midway through the tournament. The ruling determined that four battles would take place in the quarter-finals, with each winner proceeding to the semi-finals. Following this decision, the quarter-finals results were published soon after the conclusion of the second and third battles.

The armies scheduled for the quarter-finals on March 25, 2012 were as follows:

• SWAT vs UMA
• Nachos vs Ninjas
• ACP vs LT
• MW vs IW

QUARTER-FINALS

As the intense battles to secure a spot in the semi-finals concluded, CPAC finally posted the results of the quarter-finals. During these battles, SWAT dominated the battlefield against UMA, earning them a place in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, in the match between MW and IW, it was a close contest. Ultimately, MW demonstrated more dominance, allowing them to advance to the next round.

A turn of events unfolded during the ACP vs LT battle when LT accidentally entered the incorrect room. Despite both armies having substantial sizes, the mix-up significantly impacted the outcome of the battle, resulting in ACP emerging victorious and advancing to the semi-finals. Within the Nachos vs Ninjas battle, it was a close contest as both armies had similar sizes. However, despite their efforts, the Nachos’ performance was not strong enough to surpass the Ninjas. Subsequently, the Nachos were very upset about losing and started to strip ranks off their troops.

The semi-final battles were scheduled to commence on April 1, 2012. The winners of these battles would compete in the final, while the defeated armies would face off in a third-place playoff. With only four armies left, the upcoming battles were all predicted to be close. However, one army that particularly stood out to the league was Ninjas. The league had predicted that Ninjas would be the favorite to win in the final due to their large size advantage.

The armies scheduled for the semi-finals on April 1, 2012 were as follows:

• SWAT vs ACP
• MW vs Ninjas

SEMI-FINALS

Throughout the semi-finals, the battles were filled with extreme closeness, with armies fighting for their spot in the finals. Throughout the MW and Ninjas battle, it seemed that both armies had similar sizes and tactics were mostly equal. However, the deciding factor towards the end of the battle was the small size advantage the Ninjas had. Due to this, the Ninjas ended up proceeding to the finals.

As for SWAT vs ACP, that battle was also extremely close due to both armies being large. CPAC reported that Kingfunks, the former Head Judge and current Army Legend, encountered being locked out of the room for most of the battle. Therefore, Kingfunks asserted that there was only a sample of the action. However, with extra time allocated due to the closeness of the battle, the outcome became evident, declaring SWAT the victor due to their better size consistency.

After the conclusion of the semi-finals, CPAC published the schedule for the next battle, set for April 7, 2012. The Champion’s Cup finals had different rules compared to the rest of the tournament. For instance, this time, CPAC allowed spying on rooms. Additionally, they extended the battle duration to one hour instead of 45 minutes. Moreover, due to both of these armies having similar colors, the league decided that SWAT would wear dark blue, while Ninjas would wear black/gray.

The armies scheduled for the finals on April 7, 2012 were as follows:

• SWAT vs Ninjas

Finals

The day of the finals had finally arrived for the armies. As previously predicted by the league, it was assumed that this would be a close battle. However, it turned out to be the complete opposite, and SWAT ended up surrendering before the one-hour mark. The battle concluded after 45 minutes, which meant that the Ninjas won the entire tournament. As for the rest of the armies, SWAT took second place, ACP ended up placing third, and MW took fourth place.

Conclusion

The 2012 Champion’s Cup tournament stands out as truly unique. Its innovative point system has left a lasting impact, with many armies still attempting to replicate its success. Unlike any other tournament seen before, the 2012 Champion’s Cup introduced a groundbreaking concept of grouping armies into stages, where they fought within their groups before branching out. This innovative approach was unprecedented and added a new layer of excitement and strategy to the competition.

However, it does come to question how differently judging was back then versus now. For instance, there now needs to be three judges present, and for finals, there are five that are present. Additionally, tournaments are only 30 minutes long, not including any overtime, which could extend the battle by 10 minutes. These adaptations in judging criteria and tournament structure are a response to the changing environment of Club Penguin Armies. What are your opinions on the Champion’s Cup tournament? Do you believe that if the armies were to battle in the present day, with the current judging criteria, the outcomes of the battles would have been different?

Mare
Associate Editor

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