In an intense match between RvB - RED Federation [RVB-R] and SOLAR FLEET [SOLAR] we saw a very close and exciting battle with SOLAR winning by the sliver of 2 points.

Both teams had one victory and one loss in their group and thus needed a victory to advance to the final rounds.

RVB-R fielded a Caldari based 'kite' setup, ships that are able to keep distance, scatter around the arena and shoot the enemy from afar. They brought three Tengus, two Feroxes, a Drake and a Nighthawk with one Taranis. SOLAR, known for heavy faction battleship setups, brought this time a Minmatar based 'rush' team, a high speed, high dps based setup with three Sleipnirs, three Cyclones backed by one Scimitar and a Dramiel plus Thrasher.

RVB-B fielded their ships to the far distance according to their 'kite' setup. SOLAR warped their ships right into the middle of the arena except for their Scimitar at the distance.

With the start of the match, SOLAR rushed towards RVB-B and opened fire on their Feroxes which took heavy damage and soon exploded. RVB-B on the other hand focused fire on MACTEP's Sleipnir from SOLAR and pounded heavily into its shields, however the SOLAR Scimitar was able to repair that damage.

RVB-R switched then to SOLAR's Scimitar and was able to kill it quickly, followed by MACTEP's Sleipnir. The following phase of the match was quite intense and ended in the explosion of RVB-R's Drake and Tengu and SOLAR's Sleipnir and Thrasher.

This left two Tengus and one Nighthawk for RVB-R against three Cyclones, one Sleipnir and one Dramiel for SOLAR which meant 50 points for RVB-R and 52 points for SOLAR. The following kill of a Tengu by SOLAR was countered by RVB-R killing a Sleipnir, SOLAR still leading by 2 points.

RVB-R now focused fire on SOLAR's Dramiel, which would have brought them 4 more points and the lead in the match, two and a half minutes left now. The Dramiel however tanked the incoming missile damage remarkably well and held his ship stubbornly together even after the shields were completely out and its armor rattling under missile fire.

And only 40 seconds left, more armor damage appearing on the Dramiel, it was now a race against time! It didn't help that 20 seconds before the end of the match the missile launchers of RVB-R's Tengu pilot M4n1c M1n3r shut down, white glowing and completely burnt out. Thus the Dramiel barely survived and SOLAR won the match by 2 points, proceeding to the next round while RVB-R was out.

Dack MaRoac from RVB-R commented the loss of the match and not advancing in the tournament "We are here for the PvP, we love exciting matches, we salute our opponents, and absolutely love all the matches we have been in" and continued to describe that the battles in RVB-R are often similar intense "Politics is not what RvB is about."