/a/ History

2011-2012

Despite a disappointing 2012 4chan Winter Cup, /a/ was in the hunt for glory at the 2012 4chan Summer Cup. Drawn in Group 2 with /m/, /pol/ and /g/, /a/ sought to defend their Summer Cup title as the third-placed side in the rankings. Unfortunately, a brutal loss to /pol/ kept them out of the second round.

The 2013 4chan Winter Cup saw /a/ looking to reaffirm their place as a top side despite drawing what was widely considered the toughest group of the tournament. Rising to the challenge, /a/ swept the group with wins over /mlp/, /m/, and /adv/ to earn their spot in the knockouts. A comeback win over /hm/ propelled them to the final 8, but a poor performance against /cm/ eliminated them.

2013

/a/ took the field in the 2013 4chan Summer Cup with new management but continued its run of success. A cagey draw with /h/ was followed by successive 5-0 demolitions of /tv/ and /po/, launching /a/ to another group-topping performance. In the knockouts, /a/ handled /x/ 3-0 before falling again in the quarterfinals to eventual champion /wg/.

2014

/a/ entered the 2014 4chan Winter Cup as a heavy favorite to top Group A, and indeed got their first goal in the 5th minute of the entire tournament. However, missed opportunities and a successful counterattack left /a/ in an early points deficit with a 1-1 draw against /cgl/. /a/ bounced back with a 4-2 drubbing of /adv/ and seemed poised to advance. However, a surprise 7-3 victory by /cgl/ over /adv/ in the third round meant that /a/'s 1-1 draw against /cm/ advanced them as group runners-up. This set the stage for one of the most anticipated matchups in 4chan Cup history, a round of 16 clash with /sp/. El Classico's return held up to the billing, with Accelerator's heroic keeping keeping /sp/'s first half assault from producing a goal. In the second half, /a/'s fight back saw them carry the momentum and Bert break through for the game's lone goal. /a/'s quarterfinal saw them go down 0-2 to a solid /toy/ squad, but then score 4 unanswered to flip the script. /toy/ attempted to claw back into the match but /a/ prevailed 4-3. /a/'s knockout gauntlet continued when they faced /mlp/ in the semifinals. A late Bert strike appeared to be the winner, but /mlp/ threw everyone forward and found an equalizer deep into second half injury time. /a/ rallied as Mugi found Bert for a second in the late minutes of extra time and /a/ were on to the final. Unfortunately, /a/ could not finish the quest for a historic second star, as /trv/'s defensive efforts resulted in a game with few shots, and they took their first championship 2-0. With Bert taking golden boot and Accelerator taking golden glove for the tournament, /a/ had re-established itself as one of the powers in the Cup.

Then, all that success was undone in the 2014 4chan Summer Cup, where /a/ was relegated and was subsequently voted as the Disappoinment of the Tournament by fans.

With 4 interim managers coming in for the 2014 4chan Autumn Babby Cup, /a/ seemed to get off to a good start by way of a 4-2 win over /r9k/; however, the largest loss of their history followed, 6-1 to /ck/, and a 1-1 draw with /out/ did nothing to help get the team back on their feet. A miracle was needed to even have a chance at advancement against /n/, but nothing happened; a 3-2 win over /n/ wasn't enough for /a/ to show up to the 2015 4chan Winter Cup. /a/ finished their first Babby in 18th place and are scheduled to appear in the 2015 4chan Spring Babby Cup, where fans prayed that drunken magic and the return of Firo can save them from being trapped in the Babbies. Said Babby cup was off to a good start with a 2-1 win over /sp/, but disaster struck quickly afterwards in the form of another 6-1 loss. This time, it was /b/ who got the strong win over /a/, but /a/ bounced back with a 4-0 win over the managerless /cgl/. In a shocking turn of events, it was /cgl/ who got the last laugh: /a/'s 2-1 loss to /c/ combined with /cgl/'s 3-2 win over /b/ eliminated /a/ in the group stage once again.

2015

After being denied their entry to the Elites twice by finishing third place in their group, /a/ went into the 2015 4chan Autumn Babby Cup looking to end the fans' suffering. They were drawn with old acquaintances /adv/ and /toy/, as well as /s4s/ and a semi-dead /3/. Their run began with a very tense and hard-fought match against /toy/, ending in a 3-2 victory after a beautiful header by Bebop in the last minutes of the game. /a/'s second match was against the powerhouse /s4s/, who had been just barely relegated in the previous Elite cup. Many fans were dreading a repeat of the 6-1 curse, not helped by a self-aware PES game tip, but Inferno Cop would shatter the curse and fears with two goals in a very dominant performance. A Bateman goal at 71' threatened to deny /a/ their hard-earned 3 points, but UMR would eventually put away the match, 3-1. At this point, another victory would have guaranteed promotion, but next up was a still-untested /adv/, ready to play spoiler. Fortunately, Inferno Cop continued his great performance by scoring another quick goal. The match was then uneventful, with plenty of back-passing by /a/, until a defensive blunder in the second half let Suicide score an incredible bloot equalizer. Just as things started to look grim, the last few minutes delivered one of the biggest strokes of poetry ever in the cup: Accelerator brilliantly saved two dangerous, powerful /adv/ shots, and in the ensuing counter-attack led by Bebop and Inferno Cop, none other than Bert scored another 90+ goal even after continuous choking, securing /a/'s return to the Elites. Their last match was against a dead /3/ team in a game that didn't even matter, and as such /a/ decided to let a previously carded Mugi rest and employed unusual tactics; even so, the match ended in an easy 2-0 victory for /a/, achieving the 12-point mustard race. As an interesting sidenote, /a/ scored a 90+ in each of the four group stage games. Their run ended in the Round of 16 with a spaghetti-filled 4-2 loss to a strong /an/ side; this result placed /a/ in 13th place overall, and put them in Pot 4 for the 2016 4chan Winter Cup.

2016

Destiny continued to have plenty of surprises for /a/, as in the 2016 4chan Winter Cup they were drawn in group H with none other than /b/, /ck/ and /out/, the former two being the ones responsible for the team's devastating 6-1 losses in previous Babby Cups and the latter being one the teams that helped keep /a/ down in the 2014 4chan Autumn Babby Cup. What seemed like a perfect opportunity for revenge got off to a bad start as /ck/'s spaghetti course would overpower /a/'s defenders and make them walk away with a close 3-2 loss. Next up was /out/, the latest Babby champs who were in an extremely hot streak; due to /b/'s performance in the group, a loss would see /a/ eliminated along with them before the third match. Unfortunately, that was the case as /out/ walked away with a convincing 3-1 win, dooming /a/ to Spring once again. The team's final match against /b/ was pretty much just to determine the Cup's wooden spoon, but /a/ finally caught a break and earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory with a late Bert goal and heroic keeping from Accelerator, thus marking the first time the team has ever beaten /b/ in competitive play as well as cursing their rivals with the wooden spoon.

Unfortunately, Spring wouldn't be simple as /a/ was drawn into group D with /w/, /int/ and none other than /trv/. Their run would start with an anemic 3-1 loss against a solid /w/ side, but easily dispatched /int/ with a dominant 4-1 win in the very next game. Coming up last for the team was a win-or-die match against a practically-safe /trv/, but once again /a/ failed to exact revenge as they lost 4-3 in a very intense match. Finishing 3rd in their group, /a/ placed 18th overall, but made their way into the 2016 4chan Summer Cup due to 2 teams missing the export deadline.

Since they weren't even supposed to be there anyway, /a/ naturally got drawn into the group of death, AGAIN, having to face the current champs /fit/ and old rivals /ck/ and /v/. The team's campaign began well, serving /ck/ a dish best served cold with a 4-2 win, before squeezing out a 2-1 win over /v/, continuing their Tsun-derby dominance. With the other results in the group, all /a/ had to do in their last match against /fit/ was not lose by three. So naturally they lost by seven, making it the worst loss in their history - and one of the worst in overall cup history - and blowing their chance to advance. They will once again play in the 2016 4chan Autumn Babby Cup as a pot 1 team.

With a perfect cup attendance for 2016, /a/ found themselves in the 2016 4chan Autumn Babby Cup's group B along with their previous stumbling block /out/, /po/ and long-term rivals /jp/, who they had never met before in an official cup match, making the group have a fair bit of personal history to the team. So of course, the team set out to choke as hard an humanly possible, losing the first ever True Weeabowl in a cup to /jp/ as well as losing 3-1 once again to /out/ after a dismal Accelerator blunder. A consolation win against /po/ did nothing to save them from the last place in the group. After some bullshit, the team is put into the babby qualifiers, or fetus.

2017

In the 2017 4chan Spring Babby Cup Qualifiers /a/ found themselves in a group with unfamiliar faces: /i/, /y/ and /t/. After beating /i/ 3-1 with Cowboy Bebop's first hat trick in almost 4 years, /a/ would proceed to draw both /t/ and /y/ with a patrician 1-1 scoreline, earning them 5 points and the second place in the group, promoting them to the Spring Cup proper, in which they got drawn with /g/, /w/ and old nemesis /out/, AGAIN. The team's relative success in the Qualifiers was completely undone as they proceeded to lose to /out/ 3-2, with an appalling backpass by Bebop costing them the game. In the following weekend, /a/ would get another early elimination after losing 2-1 to /g/, who managed to earn 7 saves; the game against /w/ was simply to decide which of the two teams would get fetus'd, and the answer soon became clear as /w/ put 4 goals past Accelerator before 77 CMF Lelouch mounted an unholy comeback to prevent the wooden spoon. At this moment, /a/ is scheduled to play in the 2017 Autumn fetus.

With new management and a revamped roster, /a/ looked to return to their former glory, but first they had to face /wsg/, /fa/ and old friends /ck/ in Group B of the 2017 4chan Autumn Babby Cup Qualifiers. Things got off to a rocky start after a hapless 2-0 loss to /wsg/, but the team would quickly recover from this result and convincingly dispatch /ck/ 4-0 and /fa/ 4-1, easily securing second place in the group and advancing to the 2017 4chan Autumn Babby Cup. Once there, /a/ was drawn into group A with familiar faces: /r9k/, /s4s/ and /vp/. Unlike in the Qualifiers, the team's first match would end in yet another 3-1 victory against /s4s/, putting on a dominant performance which was only awarded in the last minutes of the game; unfortunately, it was followed by a sound 3-1 loss against /r9k/. Playing the very last match in the group against an already-dead /vp/ and needing a win to advance over /s4s/ in a 6-6-6-0 meme result, /a/ went all-out and managed to once again win 3-1, a result which had them top their group. In the round of 16, the team faced an /n/ squad which had been a defensive powerhouse throughout the group stages; however, the result would be much different than almost anyone had imagined: with a Megumin double brace, /a/ sent /n/ to Bra7i1 and marked their first KO win since Winter 2014, in the legendary semi-final against /mlp/. In an ironic twist of fate, that very team ended up being /a/'s next opponent, but the horsefuckers were readily dispatched in a third 3-1 victory with the dagger coming from a Cowboy Bebop 90+5' goal. Unfortunately, their run to the finals would stop at the semis, as they once again faced /r9k/ and, after a very close 1-1 match, lost on benuldies after NANA WILLS IT! choked the very last shot. For the third place match, /a/ faced /co/ in a crazy 2-2 match which also ended on benuldies, with /a/ once again on the losing side as Boku no Pico missed his target in sudden death. Despite the disappointing finale, this easily marked /a/'s best cup run in years, complete with a Golden Boot for Bebop, and the team looks to hopefully maintain their performance in the 2018 4chan Winter Cup.

After their performance in the 2017 4chan Autumn Babby Cup, the future looked bright for /a/ and when they were drawn into group H with /an/, /int/, and /cm/, many /a/ fans thought they were guaranteed through and maybe, just maybe, they could get to the finals. However, it seems this new aura of optimism was not to last. /a/'s first match in 2018 4chan Winter Cup ended in a 2-1 loss vs. /an/ with an own goal by Keit-Ai, who was summarily drawn and quartered for this. This put /a/ quite a dire situation and flung most fans into the depths of despair. Thankfully, the next match was vs /cm/ and what could go wrong? Its only /cm/! At first, all seemed well. Megumin got a goal early on and /a/ was fending off the /cm/ attack easily enough but then just before half time disaster struck and /cm/ tied the game. Not even ten minutes later, they scored another and caused a cascade of despair to fall upon every /a/ fan. In the dying moments of the game, Yotsuba saved the team from losing by scoring an amazing 90+ goal after the manager decided to go +2 in a fit of desperation, proving that going +2 can work, though most of the time it will just result in a few more goals in your own net. Things were even tighter for /a/ now, they had to win against /int/ by two goals to go through to the round of 16, not impossible but still hard to do. The match vs. /int/ started off with a goal by Yotsuba not even 10 minutes into the game, giving the weary fans hope for /a/ to advance. But once again, things didn't turn out the way they hoped. /int/ was being destroyed by /a/ but always managed to stop the attack at the last second or save the ball at just the right angle and the match ended 1-0 for /a/, ruining the round of 16 dream and putting /a/ in 17th place.

2018

With the humiliating own goal and keeper babying by /int/, /a/ was desperate to show that they were still an elite team and deserved to have had advanced. This led to a restructuring of the team, a demotion of Megumin to a regular player, and a change of formation, all of which would inadvertently lead them to their doom. /a/ wasn't the only one to undergo change, the 2018 4chan Spring Babby Cup was changed to a megababby, the first one in two and a half years. /a/ was drawn into group B with /c/, /t/, /s4s/, and our old friend /jp/. The first match vs. /c/ started great for /a/, with two goals in 12 minutes, one by Truck-kun, the new medal and celebrated hero who saved /a/ from deadly counters time and time again in the 2017 4chan Autumn Babby Cup. Due to a strange decision to have man marking on some of /c/'s players, space was created and Do It For Her was able to score a goal for /c/ soon after but /a/ managed to get another one in the net on the next attack. Things looked great right before half time but then the /c/ management made some changes to their tactics and shut down the /a/ attack, as well as managing to score another goal before the half was over and getting two more the next half. Because there were no decent changes by the /a/ management and the fact they used man marking, many mocked /a/ for "throwing away their win". The subsequent match vs /s4s/, now a member of the no bracket club, looked shaky at the start but was easily won 2-1 by /a/. The fateful match of /jp/ vs. /a/ was next, and once again, /a/ was blamed for throwing away their lead after failing to counter the /jp/ management's changes. Things were dire for /a/, they had to win against /t/ by three goals, and though they were an autopilot, they had shown they were quite the force to be reckoned with. In a humiliating display, despite testing for the match the entire week, /a/ lost 4-2 to a fucking autopilot, affirming that this new /a/ management needed some serious fixing. The head manager issued a public apology for their performance and claimed responsibility for how shit they had become this cup. He affirmed the fans that the new /a/ management would not give up yet and will spend the 6 months they have till the 2018 4chan Autumn Babby Cup training, bettering themselves, and figuring out what went wrong. Whether or not this training will amount to anything yet to be seen but at the moment, prospects seem grim for /a/.