Welcome to Picture Perfect, a column that analyzes photos from throughout army history. In this week’s edition of Picture Perfect, we will discuss the Holiday Smackdown Tournament from 2010.

On December 2, 2010, Club Penguin Army Central announced the Holiday Smackdown tournament, created by Wexfief. Structured similarly to the World Cup, the tournament featured four groups, each with three armies. These groups participated in Round Robin battles as preliminaries.

Overall, the event featured eight days of battle, with an additional two days reserved for tie-breakers if needed. Judges had to send their results and battle pictures to Sklooperis‘ email regarding the tournament rules. The rules included no allies attending battles and no bots. Additionally, trained spies were authorized to infiltrate enemy chats, a standard practice at the time.

The Holiday Smackdown tournament had 12 armies grouped into four divisions. Inside Group A was the Army of Club Penguin, the Underground Mafias Army, and the Dark Warriors. Group B includes the Night Warriors, Ice Warriors, and the Doritos of Club Penguin. Group C comprises the Nachos, Watex Warriors, and the Army Republic. Finally, Group D features Team Gold, Roman Fire Warriors, and the Ice Vikings. The tournament’s first round was set to start on December 10, 2010.

day one

The first two armies to set off the Holiday Smackdown tournament was DW and ACP. According to CPAC, the battle was short.  Throughout the battle, it was noted that the Clover’s larger size was such a huge impact that it covered DW throughout the battle. The judges stated that the Warriors were no match for the Clovers due to their size difference. The battle resulted in the Clovers winning.

Night Warriors and DCP were set to battle next. CPAC mentioned that Night Warriors showed considerable strength during the battle. However, the Doritos decided to forfeit against NW for unknown reasons. Since DCP chose to drop out, the Night Warriors were declared the victors.

The next battle featured the Nachos against AR. Both armies put up a great fight; however, the judges stated that the Nachos dominated the entirety of the battle. Although AR performed better than most armies, the judges decided that the Nachos won the battle due to their superior performance quality.

Finally, the last battle of the day was between the Team Gold’s and Ice Vikings. According to the judges, Team Gold’s performance was lacking and disorganized. The army realized they had already lost before the outcome was announced. When the verdict finally revealed, it confirmed that the Ice Vikings had won due to their stronger performance.

day Two

In the previous round, the winners were ACP in Group A, Night Warriors in Group B, Nachos in Group C, and IV in Group D. The next rounds were set to start on Saturday, December 11, 2010.

The first battle of the second round was UMA against Dark Warriors. This battle ended easily as DW did not show up for unexplained reasons. However, on the bright side for UMA, this meant they won the battle by default.

In the next battle, a similar situation occurred as in the previous one, with an army not showing up for their tournament event. For the second time, the Doritos decided not to show up. As a result, the Ice Warriors won by default, being the only army present in the battle.

Unlike the previous battles, the WW vs AR battle was a tough fight, with both armies neck and neck throughout. Both had similar sizes, and judges noted that WW seemed to employ better tactics. However, because both armies maintained the same level of performance quality, the judges concluded the battle as a tie.

The last battle of round two featured RFW against IV, both winners of their respective battles in the first round. The battle was intense as both armies had similar sizes. With both performing equally well, the judges concluded the battle as a tie.

day Three

As the tournament moved into the third day, it was time for the third round. In the previous round, two armies did not attend, resulting in UMA and IW being declared winners of their battles by default. The other two battles ended in ties, which meant WW, AR, RFW, and IV still had a chance to compete against each other again to officially determine the winners.

UMA and ACP started off the third round and CPAC had expected the Clovers to easily sweep UMA. However, their theory of the Clovers sweeping UMA was not true. The judges had noticed that UMA was fighting back and not giving up. Although UMA put up a good challenge, the judge, Pie, ruled the battle as an ACP victory.

The next battle was NW vs IW. According to CPAC, the battle was quite different. The judges declared the battle undecided because both armies had low turnout and performed poorly.

Within the third battle, it involved the Nachos against WW. Similar to the previous battle, both armies performed very similarly. Because of this, CPAC stated that there was not enough evidence to support a victory on either side. As a result, this battle ended up being undecided.

To conclude day three, the last battle was between TG and RFW. CPAC reported that the battle was dull with a poor turnout for both armies. TG maxed two, while RFW maxed 10. Because RFW had a larger size advantage, they were assumed to be declared the victors for this reason.

Day Four

The following day, the next rounds took place, set for the tie breakers. As with the previous battles, there were two winners, ACP and RFW, and two rooms that went undecided: NW, IW, WW, and Nachos. In today’s battles, judges wouldn’t allow this. In the fourth round, they pitted the armies that had tied on day two against each other. These armies consist of NW and IW, WW and AR, and lastly RFW and IV. These armies were fighting for first place in their own group.

The first battle that took place was NW vs. IW. Due to the absence of a judge in the previous battle, their battle resulted in a tie during the second round. In the fourth round, according to the judge, NW had larger sizes and faster tactics throughout the battle. Due to these reasons, NW dominated the battle, resulting in their victory for the battle and first place for Group B.

The next armies that battled were WW and AR. In their battle, AR had a size difference of 10+ compared to WW. WW tried to put up a challenge, but it wasn’t enough to overpower AR, especially with their size advantage. The judges determined that AR’s larger size was the decisive factor in their victory, securing them the first spot in Group C.

Lastly, RFW and IV were put up against each other. The judge stated that, based on the photos submitted, it seemed as though RFW’s sizes were increasing. However, from the photos, IV appeared larger throughout the majority of the battle. The battle photos had shown IV consistently appearning larger. Due to this, IV were declared the victors. The Ice Vikings also had secured the number one spot in Group D.

day five – PLAYOFFS

As the tournament continues to brew, it was finally time for the playoffs. The rules were a bit different for the playoffs; for example, instead of 20-minute battles, the battles could last up to an hour maximum. The playoffs were set to begin on December 18, 2010. The playoffs would be bringing each group’s top army into direct competition with one another.

In the playoffs, the battle between ACP and AR began with ACP showcasing very large sizes, necessitating the use of two chat rooms. Due to ACP’s significant size advantage, AR decided to forfeit the battle just before it began. Consequently, ACP emerged as the winners by default.

Unlike the previous battle, Nachos vs UMA was completely different as both armies were closer in size and performance. The judge noted that although both armies were neck-and-neck, the Nachos consistently performed better. As a result, the Nachos were declared the victors.

In the third battle, NW and RPW faced each other. Since neither side published photos, RPW admitted their defeat. The community consensus declared NW as the winners of the battle.

In the final battle, the IW vs IV matchup took an unexpected turn. The battle between them was extremely close, making it challenging for the judge to critique it accurately.The judge at the time, Alfrondo, showed bias by favoring the Ice Warriors as the winners, despite community sentiment indicating that IW hadn’t put forth much effort.

Due to concerns about the judge’s impartiality, CPAC decided to resolve the issue by putting the battle results to a community poll. However, the poll faced hacking attempts that compromised its integrity. Later on, it was found that an IW troop named Dash had rigged the poll. As a result, IW decided to fire Dash. Although Dash had tried to hack the poll, IV still had more votes which meant they would be moving to the finals.

Day six

Nachos and ACP were set to battle each other, and the winner would advance to the finals. CPAC reported that ACP’s peak of around 50 troops significantly outshone Nachos. The judges declared the Clovers victorious due to their superior performance and size advantage, with ACP dominating all battle rooms. Consequently, the Clovers earned their place in the finals against the Ice Vikings.

Finals

The finals finally arrived on December 31, 2010, showcasing the Clovers and Ice Vikings, the two armies that had fought fiercely throughout all the battles. The battle ended with both armies engaging in a strong fight. However, the Clovers, who were so large that they had to use four chat rooms during the final battle, appeared to outperform the Ice Vikings. As a result, the judges officially declared the Clovers the winners of the Holiday Smackdown tournament of 2010.

Conclusion

The Holiday Smackdown of 2010 was truly a memorable event that will forever be recorded in army history. This tournament featured rules not seen in today’s tournaments, such as employing trained spies to observe other armies. Also, the judging criteria today are significantly more structured compared to back then. Additionally, tournaments no longer have events lasting 20 minutes or one hour. All battles are now standardized at 30 minutes, with overtime adding an additional ten minutes if needed. What are your thoughts on Holiday Smackdown? Would you like to see this tournament make a comeback during the winter season?

Mare
Editor in Chief

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