Community Reacts: MMXI Finals and Third Place Battle

A week ago, March Madness XI featured two key battles involving four well-known armies from the community. This post recalls these recent battles and seeks community opinions about them.

March Madness began in 2013 when Club Penguin Armies Central (CPAC) hosted the first tournament, followed by three more editions through 2016. After Club Penguin and CPAC shut down, the event paused until the Club Penguin Army League revived it in 2020 during the private server era, though that edition ended in controversy and was resolved with “August Sadness”. Club Penguin Army Headquarters hosted the 2021 edition, and independent leaders ran it in 2022. Since then, Club Penguin Armies has organised every edition of MM. This year, the community participated, and when the Finals and the Third place battles concluded, the results sparked mixed reactions, with many praising the performances of dominant armies while others debated the outcomes and upsets.

Water Vikings vs Templars

TCP vs WV in Iceberg

Both armies performed well overall, but TCP maintained a consistent size advantage, averaging around 50–52 compared to WV’s 40–43, which gave them an edge throughout. In terms of formations, TCP was generally cleaner and more organised, executing shapes like stars, triangles, and underlined forms effectively. At the same time, WV had a few messy or unclear setups at times. TCP also stood out tactically, especially with strong diagonal and chatbar coverage, allowing them to control key moments in the battles. WV showed good defensive play with formations like anchors and triangles, and their performance improved as the rounds went on, but occasional gaps on the sides and diagonals hurt their performance. In the end, TCP clearly won two rooms due to better consistency, while the third room was declared a tie as both armies matched each other in speed, coverage, and execution at different points.

Rebel Penguin Federation vs Army of Club Penguin

RPF vs ACP in Iceberg

The battle saw both armies put up strong performances, but ACP held the upper hand overall. In Round 1, ACP made better use of their size advantage (77–69). They maintained strong coverage and executed cleaner formations. This secured them the win despite RPF’s decent pace. Round 2 was more evenly contested. Both sides traded control. ACP had strong positioning and coverage at times. RPF responded with neater formations and better control of the middle. This resulted in a tie. Round 3 was clearly dominated by ACP. They held a significant size lead, peaking around 85–61. ACP consistently outperformed RPF with larger, more effective formations. They also maintained full-room coverage throughout. With superior consistency, size, and execution, ACP took the final round and secured the overall victory.

Club Penguin Armies reached out to various members of the community to hear their opinions.

Shallisa, Templars LiT: TCP vs WV– As a Templar I’m incredibly proud of our triumph over the Water Vikings. We’ve gone through a lot of changes over the past few months and our third place victory was a testament to our growth and hard work. Water Vikings never disappoint me in their showing for tournaments, so I was definitely nervous going into the battle. Once I saw that they were desperate enough to call upon Dawnables to attend, I knew the victory was ours. That was the final push we needed to secure our victory, and solidify our place as a top three army. We went into this tournament with a lot to prove and we have certainly accomplished our goals. Templars managed to maintain our size throughout the entire battle, peaking with a 54 max in the final room. Water Vikings put up a good fight and they deserve recognition and praise for their performance in battle and throughout the tournament as a whole. Though WV and TCP have gotten much more friendlier towards each other over the years, it’s good to see the competitive rivalry between our two armies continue.

RPF vs ACP– Congratulations to ACP on their first March Madness victory! I know the Clovers have been growing in strength throughout 2026 so far but I was not expecting such an intense performance from them. The Rebel Penguin Federation is often viewed as an untouchable force on the battlefield, so ACP’s victory was a change to the status quo that I welcome and appreciate. Huge props to both armies for maxing well over 100! Though it’s amazing that ACP and RPF have experienced such strong friendship and growth it’s disappointing that we will likely never see such competition on the battlefield during war time. As the two biggest armies in the community as of now, a war between the two of them would genuinely be one for the ages. Alliances are definitely of value but I hope the battle left the Rebels at least a teeny bit hungry for revenge!

Cobra, WV Advisor: TCP vs WV– Going into the battle, I did figure that TCP would potentially hold a slight size advantage, given TCP has managed to have decent success on CP Journey (TCP’s best sizes since 2022 and I would like to hope more organic than 2022). That being said, I did figure that WV would put up a better fight here, given that I was really impressed with WV’s performance in the semi-finals against RPF; where (and without any bias) I was really impressed with how WV was able to make RPF’s size advantage look nearly non-existent in room 1 and the first half of room 2. I was wrong, our performance was not that great and it was a shocking because I figured if we would put up a fight that well against RPF, we could definitely match TCP or at least edge it out at moments. This was incorrect, and I did expect a sweep outcome after the battle was over, but I suppose we were spared of a sweep with that one tie lol. I think this battle serves as a reminder of what should be fixed at WV and it also helps to show that Sidie and Sha have locked in and done well with their recent tenure at Templars, which for all issues I have with everyone and everything involved aside, I do enjoy seeing Templars have some proper relevance again without the level of Xing’s involvement in their summer 2025 run. Good work TCP.

RPF vs ACP– I didn’t find it overly shocking because I figured ACP would have a decent shot at this tournament given their recent success from expanding their language demographics on CP Journey. It was interesting to see how much ACP networked for the battle, in terms of getting friends and some veterans, plus the random veterans who showed up. The max of 120 was also very nice, glad to see ACP hit a proper 100+ again. RPF was going to give them a run for their money because they’re still tanks, I think RPF slacked a bit in part because while they aren’t losing sizes, they aren’t gaining sizes either, and that is where ACP seemed to surprass size wise. I think ACP benefitted from the veterans heavily, if the battle was going to be RPF’s troop base versus ACP’s troop base, I think it is likely RPF would have won the battle. However, tournaments are about the respective army’s community coming together, and ACP managed to utilize that more efficiency. I wasn’t expecting a lockout of RPF in room 3, I figured RPF would be faster than ACP, but once again I think their experienced veterans/friends was able to give them that edge. I was expecting the final verdict to be either RPF – TIE/ACP – ACP. Very impressed with ACP, I’m glad they managed to finally finish what I could not last year! Great performance from RPF as well. Proud of them both, and I’m sure 2026’s tournament scene will be interesting if ACP and RPF can keep this up, and if other armies can close that gap. We haven’t had sizes this large since like 2021 and I didn’t think it was going to improve much past 2025’s sizes, but I was clearly wrong.

Roxy, ACP Leader: TCP vs WV– Was cheering for our allies- Water Vikings, but it’s okay as I’m confident their comeback will be soon!! GG to TCP for winning.

RPF vs ACP– One of the biggest battle we had, probably since ages, but definitely worth it!! RPF were a tough opponent, cheers to them for putting up a good fight. Really happy to see the clovers finally win the clover tournament after a decade it has been released though 🙂

Fun x Time, SF Commander: TCP vs WV– I would expect that the Water Vikings would take the win as they had been triumphant in previous tournaments. The Templars were recently defaced, so some would not be certain they could win, although TCP has been putting good effort as well. At the end, the Templars won after all, proving that they had been working steadfastly.

RPF vs ACP– A tournament battle prediction between the Rebel Penguin Federation and the Army of Club Penguin was actually difficult to think of. Both are top-performing armies with close sizes. During the battle, there was a fluctuation in the size advantage between the two, so it’s without doubt that the battle was close. ACP took the win at the end, so I’m not very surprised. Both armies gave a good performance by using creative formations. Well done to all the participating armies, though. After all, only one army place first a tournament!

Pranav, DW 3ic: TCP vs WV– This result didn’t surprise me much. Templars are a strong major army, despite their setback in January. Water Vikings, while also being strong, isn’t at the level Templars are at, and that is clearly shown in the top tens during March. Every week except the third week of March consisted of Templars leading Water Vikings in the top ten by 20 top ten points or more. It was predictable that TCP would win, and it is just as impressive that WV tied the last room.

RPF vs ACP– I was mildly surprised by the ACP win over RPF, as RPF has been winning tournaments for quite some time now. However, ACP has been just as strong this entire time, and I feel they’ve sped up slightly in 2026, with some veterans also helping. It would’ve been difficult to deem either one a solid victor before the battle, but what I am more surprised by is that ACP won 2 rooms outright and tied 1, showing relative dominance over this battle.