Day Five was make or break in the Third Caldari tournament and proved its status with some tense finishes, including the tournament's first draw, interspersed by some less competitive ties.
The Corporation started things off with a heavy damage set-up that Insurgency had no answer to and ended in a flawless victory to the former. The R0NIN assured themselves of a play-off berth by defeating Kith of Venal in a match featuring four hookbills.
Nebula Rasa easily beat a Lotka Volterra team featuring two mauluses, two harpies and a rapier, although the Southern side had their attentions elsewhere given their war in Scalding Pass. Stain Empire continued their impressive showing, a consistently good team in the tournaments so far, with a 5-0 victory over Morsus Mihi. The match started with the rather amusing sight of two vigils being chased around the arena by a swarm of hostile drones, a situation that did not end well for the two frigates. With some effective dampening on display, MM had difficulty causing any damage to their opponents and SE cruised into the top 16 of the tournament.
The Five and Serenus Letum were headed for an exciting conclusion to something of a slugfest but a minor miscalculation by the Caldari Navy Raven pilot of Serenus Letum saw him move outside the designated arena and suffer a disqualification as a result, although in fairness it would appear this hastened the inevitable conclusion.
The first draw of the tournament occurred when Veritas Immortalis and SMASH battled each other to a standstill. In a classic display of armour versus shield tank, SMASH managed to get their Dominix to within nosferatu range of their opponents but could not bleed them dry. With some superb micro-managing of drones to keep them alive, the stalemate continued and once -V-'s Caldari Navy Raven could fire its weaponry, the SMASH battleship had to retreat. The result sent -V- through to the next round in second place behind The Five in Group C.
RAZOR Alliance beat Exquisite Malevolance but failed to advance as The Star Fraction eked out a win over Muffins of Mayhem and ended up second in the group. With a ship advantage over their opponents, RAZOR went for EM's Absolution as primary and succeeded, only to lose their Oneiros. RAZOR lost a frigate but made it a good exchange as they took down a Megathron leaving two frigates to take on an Abbadon, Absolution and Maulus and despite EM taking out another Maulus, there was only going to be one winner at that stage.
Star Fraction managed to keep their Huginn alive with plenty of support, a ship their opponents admitted they had not expected to face. The only two kills of the contest were two Mauluses, after that both tanks proved effective.
DeStInY secured their first win of the tournament by defeating Enemies of Carlotta in Group E's basement battle. The match featured six Hawk ships, as a prior agreement to have an all assault frigate match-up. Despite using explosive Warrior II drones, DeStInY, once they beat the shield tank of EOC's four hawks quickly polished off their opponents without suffering any losses. Elsewhere, Prime Orbital Systems made short work of Edge of Sanity's frigate brigade.
Restoring some pride, Mercenary Coalition beat The Red Skull but still finished fourth in Group F. In an impressive display of damage, MC traded Mauluses but it appeared they were headed for another defeat by losing their Caldari Navy Hookbill and Cerberus as well. However, the pairing of a Nighthawk and Navy Raven Issue proved too difficult for TRS to damage whilst their own ships were into armour. An unexpected system-wide electromagnetic storm was making life difficult for both teams and it was TRS that came off the worst as MC pulled out an impressive victory. In the group's other game, Terra Incognita breezed to a perfect victory over a depleted Xelas Alliance team that fielded two Feroxes and a Prophecy.
Euphoria Unleashed had a disappointing ending as they became one of the many teams in the tournaments to be destroyed by Band of Brothers. An impressive display of small group support enabled BoB to gain a 5-0 win despite close calls for their Curse and Celestis. Cult of War booked their knockout stage place with a perfect win over an Exuro Mortis team fielding three Drakes. In attempting to keep their Hawk alive, the first EM Drake died through a mixture of nosferatu and its own capacitor usage. Its brethren soon followed as the all-missile team failed.
With little to play for in Group H, Coalition of Carebear Killers may have had the numerical advantage but fell to the quality superiority on display by otherworld Empire Productions, who showed how deadly how fire and forget missiles can be. The Sani Sabik secured top spot with a 5-0 demolition of Dusk and Dawn. Facing an all-battlecruiser opponent TSS focused on the Cyclones of their opponents and whilst D2 tried to overload the tank, once the first Cyclone was destroyed the result was not in doubt.
The stage was set for the final day of the tournament, BoB were looking as uncompromising as ever but new faces such as Against ALL Authorities, The Sani Sabik, Terra Incognita, The Star Fraction and THE R0NIN as well as more experienced ones such as Stain Empire and The Five were likely to test them all the way.