The 2014 4chan Autumn Babby Cup Megapost: Football's Coming Home

In just a few short weeks, the 4chan Cup returns with its thirteenth edition, jam-packed with hype teams and amazing potential Group Stage matches. Following The Summer of The Fallen, /a/, /b/, /k/, /mlp/, /sp/, /trv/, /v/, and /wg/ are all in the same cup, ready to give fiery competition to their Babby and Fetus-tier brothers. The road to the Autumn Cup has been fraught with twists and turns, new faces and homecoming giants, read on below.

Forty-four potential teams stand at the gates of the Cup, prepared to fight for promotion and a lower-tier of 3rd place trophy alike. The kicker this time around was supposed to be the new commissioner, longtime /a/ manager and blender modeler Gainare Tottori, and we were supposed to enter a new age of Beberterator, but real life caught up with the 3D-artist, and DrBorisG has returned as Interim Commissioner for this one last cup filled with Horse Pussy and /y/ crashing games with no survivors.

Here's where things get interesting; this Cup may not have an even number of entrants. Yes, four new boards are here to play, some longer than others, and all but one have had their mettle tested in minor streams and test cups alike.

/biz/ - Business & Finance, /i/ - Oekaki, /t/ - Torrents, and /w/ - Anime/Wallpapers join the 4CC to make the competition a massive 60-team organization. /biz/, managed by one QinTheWise, has received the most attention due to its unique subject material and test formations for the past months. Everything from Star Destroyers to two medal defenders (and only two medal defenders) has been seen from this team, including a back-and-forth blowout duo of matches against /cgl/. /t/ and /w/ have also been tested in their early stages, with the more promising bet being on /t/. (Have you seen their blenders? Stuff of nightmares) Sadly, this tournament must maintain a structure of equality, so if all current teams in the 4CC sign up to play, only /biz/ will be able to compete. As the ABC signups continue, and certain managers looking particularly MIA, the likeliness of the other 6th Founding teams making it are looking tighter and tighter.

Only oldfags remember

With DrBorisG's return, as has his no-nonsense policy towards "dead" teams and rigging. A direct product of Dragongate, Boris has a staunch disposition to quell any rigging that may pass under his rule, but was unable to do much about the Foojile-Rowan fiasco running rampant in the 2014 Spring Babby Cup, where /fa/ and /pol/ advanced to the finals after rumors that the two were friends in real life, and potentially even the same person, or simply KHS Rowan commencing a Reich on his own team. Not wanting to deal with any shit this time around, Boris has not only banned Foojile, but deemed /fa/ unfit to participate in the 2014 ABC.

He has stated on the matter that there is far too much risk with letting someone manage the team that he cannot be sure isn't a part of a "KHS circle", a term used for a group of managers in the official 4CC and invitational VG League team /pdg/ - Payday General affiliated with the /pol/ manager's assumed Steam clan. The fate befallen /fa/ has also stretched to /cgl/ and their potential manager, another member of KHS, and /3/ manager R3APER has had his ABC suspension upgraded to a full-fledged banning after further KHS suspicion. Orange and Black, manager of /ic/, has also been met with rejection for cup re-entry, though his status in /pdg/ management has been looking far more promising.

The Prodigal Son Returns

Another issue that has been pressed since the end of Summer; Twitch's new "muting" policy. The cup has assured since that archivers will record matches live, keeping the replays available for archive viewings. Though many tests have been done since Summer on various streamers' Hitbox accounts, the cup will remain at twitch.tv/the4chancup.




With so many teams' talent in question since the end of the Summer Cup, many viewers are left in the dark on which teams, other than their own home team, to root for and shamelessly bandwagon. Horse News has gone over the numbers, and from each pot, here are the teams to look out for in the 2014 Autumn Babby Cup.


Pot 1: /k/ - Weapons
The 2014 Spring Babby Cup saw the Rebirth of /k/, the second Champion of the 4CC ever. Manager Miles Paratus and his team have been hard at work since, polishing their pieces and training innawoods only to go out of the Summer Cup on the first ever "Knockout Qualifier" in 4CC history against /ic/. A team newspaper, "The Kravda", and team scarves have gone into circulation, and if the new goalhorn is anything to suggest, Zergface and friends will truly be the Panzer Elite come Autumn.

Pot 2: /a/ - Anime/Manga
After a loss of management following Summer, things looked bleak for /a/. lack of relevance choking on Erwin Smith's arm during Cup Matches, /a/ is looking as one of the more promising "Big Teams" to return to center stage come Winter, especially with old manager Firo looking on to give sage advice to the new guys.
Luckily, drawfag Baito and VG League manager Billybob of Animal Crossing General took the plunge to manage the original champions. Billybob's repertoire consists of a Top 8 finish in the
second VG League, and a Silver Medal finishing in the premiere VGL. Though his partner is untested, and there are rumors about of Bert being sacked due to him choking on Erwin's arm, Billybob may very well lead his new main-cup team to victory alongside Saturday Turnips.

Pot 3: /y/ - Yaoi
It's the same shit every time. "/y/ crashes games", ">gold defender", "what the fuck is this formation", every chance /y/ has had to screw with the 4CC it has taken in full-stride, often alongside fellow homo-weeb team /cm/. Their second to none manager SDA has spent more time in PES than most other people, tinkering hard at how to make a Gold Defender work, and if the recent invitational from Ved is any indication, he's done just that. With the invitational's Golden Boot in tow, Yaranaika could be the bane of any team that's unfortunate enough to try and go super-offensive against his boys. This is a shut-the-book case, expect to see the Yaoi boys in Winter this year (I swear SDA if I eat my words on this one).

Pot 4: /r9k/ - Robot 9000
The 2nd-place finisher from Ved's Cup has proven that you don't need strikers to score, win, and take a silver medal (though you may need them to find a gf). A new tester, Shuckle, joins El Negrito in thecrusade to repeat Autumn 2012's performance, which landed the nil-nil-friendly team a Babby silver medal (despite getting demolished by Cunt Destroyer in the final). Though Pot 4 is filled with throwaway teams and other promising competitors simply down on their luck in recent endeavors, /r9k/ is looking just strong enough in 1.04 with its midfield-based tactics and literally zero strikers to make a name for itself once again. Manager El Negrito has recently announced, sweating after seeing an effeminate male, "/r9k/ plans to revolutionize the Babby cup with exciting cup play".

Pot 5: /vr/ - Retro Games
/vr/ started its 4CC career one year ago, in this exact cup. They were considered in the upper echelon of the newer teams alongside /lgbt/, [s4s], and /gd/ when they were promoted to the 2014 Winter Cup, but since then have done little to build on their early RIPPING and TEARING. Another new manager enters the fray in charge of the retro crowd; Polybius has been hard at work creating new tactics and blenders for his team. Their recent 4th-place finish in Ved's Invitational shows some promise from the squad, but it'll be a long haul for >filters and Doomguy if they want to see another Elite Cup.

And finally, some words from 4CCC higher-up and ex-/mu/ manager, Snorlax (though there are some who call him Tim):

Bold: Horse News
Standard: Snorlax/Tim

Will we see a more exciting endeavor this season over last season?
This entire week has been internal testing for new stat changes for 1.04 which should ensure a much better cup than summer was while also preventing teams from retreading Winter and Spring tactics. Autumn has always kind of been that final season of each PES version where everyone knows everything. We're trying to prevent that.

We're also ensuring the cup will be much more fun this time around! Not only are regular casters being switched around, but there's a good chance we'll have days with an entirely different commish than Boris!

What all this really means is that this is absolutely going to be the community's cup. We've got the big teams, the fan favourite patch with tweaks to make it better, and a fresher lineup of folks to make everything run well. It's pretty safe to get hyp.

The True Elite

How do you think the new four teams will be integrated into the competition?
First! The new managers are all wonderful people who've helped reignite everyone's passion for the cup. All these new teams will be placed in Pot 5 of the Megababby and will play their way up to a title. Despite these teams being so small, their managers have worked just as hard as anyone and hopefully will have everyone's support.

What has your reaction been to /mu/ winning a cup?
Winning a cup is absolutely surreal. The win didn't sink in for any of our staff until weeks later when it suddenly hit us that, holy shit we actually won. Feedback, Headbuddy, and Sam (THE /mu/ CREW) deserve all the credit for sure. It is worth noting that Snorlax's term as /mu/ manager included a heartbreak loss to /wg/ (a team they will never beat) in the 2013 Summer Cup Finals.

Any final comments?

Transparency has been absolutely paramount to 4CCC in these past few weeks and months. The community learned about big events like Tottori's exit just barely after we did. If we know something, you should know it too. So! If you've got questions/comments/concerns or just want to tell us who's really the best pone, you can direct it all @ SnorlaxSquad on Skype, 4ccsnorlax@gmail.com, or hit up IRC. We're always looking for new managers, so if you want to give it a try just let us know. Thanks!

Sixty teams now habit the 4CC, and this upcoming Babby Cup will pit the old flame, fallen elites, and absolute garbage against eachother in a massive four-week tournament.

As always, the cup can be found at twitch.tv/the4chancup.

Dates set:

Group Stage Draw - October 5th

Export Deadline - October 10th

Export Save Fix Deadline - October 15th

Group Stage - October 17th - 19th, 24th - 26th, 31st; November 1st & 2nd

Knockout Stage - November 7th-9th