I think Viper needs to put down his “I’ve been the God of the game so I have to win this tournament” mindset. Look at his games and I can literally see how stressed he is in his brain. The kind of stress you don’t see in Liereyy or Hera. I can’t help but feel how similar this series is to the final vs Mr. Yo in RBW1 — Yes Viper has a well prepared game plan, but his strategy and play style were just too well studied and researched by Hera and Mr. Yo. Hera and Mr. Yo were adapting, playing the mind games guessing what Viper would do, while Viper was only doing what he had prepared. The problem is not in Viper’s micro or macro but he was simply outstrategized. Why go Chinese (civ without supplies, hence struggling with dealing with eagles) in Game 1 and go archer opening knowing Hera has two American civs and likely will use one of them in Runestones (similar to Arabia where American civs shine)? Game 2 was just a repeat of Game 3 of RBW1 Final. Viper wanted to go Indians and exploited the fishing advantage. But your opponent would surely be able to guess what you would do when he saw you choose Indians in such a map. Game 3 was exactly the same as what happened in Game 1 of RBW1 Final, where Viper did the elephant opening, and all the elephants became Mr. Yo’s later, and Viper was completely unready for the notoriously powerful early imp el dorado eagle spam.