What has perhaps been one of our most ambitious operations in a very long time, Ocean Breakthrough has brought astounding success to the army during the period of Ocean Breakthroughs implementation.
Ocean Breakthrough is an operation that I drafted as an accessory to the Frostbite Plan (the reforms plan of 2025) with the goal of winning Legends Cup. This plan was designed to unite the army, recruit massively, coordinate training efforts, and importantly, have the army file on all cylinders by encouraging strong retention and outreach efforts to get people to attend our events and battles. While we ultimately did not secure a victory in Legends Cup XV, this plan did result in pushing our army to heights never seen in this army before, as well as one of the most significant Legends Cup runs in this army’s history – as well as one of the most significant tournament runs of 2025 so far. I have compiled the results in long-form so we can further reflect the army’s performance.
<><><><><> Before Ocean Breakthrough <><><><><>
Prior to Ocean Breakthrough, the army had been on a subtle but noticeable rise in prominence. Following our victory in the 2024 March Madness, the army ultimately saw various changes in structure and leadership, which ultimately led to a slow decline as the landscape of the army community and Water Vikings alike changed. Coupled with unforeseen circumstances (such as real life issues, spontaneous warfare, and drama), the army ultimately found itself going through a dark era. That being said, the army, while at a very low point by the end of 2024, was ultimately saved from death with the seeds being planted for long-term success.
<><><><><> December 2024 <><><><><>
In this era, Water Vikings was what could be best described as a “medium” army. We certainly had major influence in the community, but the truth is, we were not doing amazing. What greatly helped us at this time was having the solid team placing their roots in further success. We controversially decided to not take part in Christmas Chaos that year, opting to not defend the title for our previous win. Judging how that tournament went, it certainly was best bet for us to not even try.
We fought one of our first major practice battles coming into the new era at this time – against the Aliens army. We truly stood no chance with our lack of in-depth training and our lower size. However, hope still remained in us, and we ultimately realized that something must be done.
At the end of the month, our autism appeared to have returned in more full force, showing a glimpse of hope.
We managed to end the year off strong with our 15th year anniversary event, maxing sizes of 57. While sure, this event contained many allies and support, it was just the event we needed to see our capabilities.
The year ended off confusing for many, as the first idea of the Frostbite Plan was implemented – the lockdown. This was a time where we decided to “close” the army temporarily, so we can focus on setting the army up for a grand return and allow ourselves to enjoy a brief break to ponder the next ideas. This proved to be highly beneficial, as it gave us time to fully draft the Frostbite Plan.
<><><><><> January 2025: The Seeds <><><><><>
The year began uneventful for us, in most respects. That being said, I began drafting the Frostbite Plan at the start of January (ending about a week or two after), with help from Rye, Aaron, Dino, Mabel, Claire, and Revan. Many of the ideas were heard, and ultimately the game plan for the first half of the year was laid out. The server was restructured, and we held out first major active count – which proved to be beneficial in getting activity back in the army.
<><><><><> February 2025: The Watering <><><><><>
We held our re-opening event on February 11th, maxing 42. Starting off on such a strong note was exactly what we needed, and proved to be beneficial for our morale for the remainder of the month.
We returned just in time for our first tournament of the year – Candy Crush Brawl. At this time, we were still considered a medium army, causing us to participate against the other medium armies. Ironically enough, it was a very close race, as the army was not decided purely by battling – it was decided also by challenges.
We came out victorious. Certainly no complaint to be made there, although many people were (of course) upset at our win. Might I add those who were upset could only wish to achieve the feats we have achieved this year, so honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me.
We ended the month off on a strong note, retaining a #5 position on the top ten during the last week of February.
<><><><><> March 2025: The Germination <><><><><>
In March, we continued to do quite well, maxing at least 20+ at most events. Certainly nothing crazy, but it meant that we were not as mid as we were either.
At the start of the month, we managed to rise back to major status. This rise back to major status was a massive relief to all of us, who were uncertain of the future when we returned from our lockdown.
In this month, we held our first major internal competition – Ocean Steadfast. This competition was structured similarly to Ocean Breakthrough, although not quite in depth. The goal here was to defend our title in March Madness, which we won the year prior.
Ultimately, though, we were overran by RPF in the quarter-finals. Quite honestly, we simply did not have the assets, the hype, and the war machine quite prepped to go all out yet.
We ended the month off strong, securing a #5 position on the March 2025 Top Ten Armies.
Our last major event of the month was a fight against RPF, which was an insanely close battle with us only losing in overtime. At the end of this month, I was officially promoted to leader (although I cannot lie I was doing quite a bit of leader work prior haha).
<><><><><> April 2025: The Sprout <><><><><>
Come April, things began to change a bit, as we began to take our organization much more seriously, as well as improved our internal communication.
The first major tournament competition, Ocean Steadfast, came to an end, with the top 6 winners as listed:
To celebrate April 1st, we held an event dressed up as Revan’s army from back in the original era of armies – the Club Penguin Night Divers. This saw a lot of community engagement and made many people entertained during this period, which was nice to see.
We managed to edge out a close victory against our allies the Army of Club Penguin. It was an exhilarating victory in the army, as it was during a period where our higher command was being trained to take on leadership duties.
Throughout the remainder of the month, we began the first Academy session for our staff training. In addition, we launched our first map conquest, gaining several servers on the map. Our celebration can be seen here.
Once again, we ended off on a strong note – cementing ourselves as the undisputed #5 army.
<><><><><> May 2025: The Blue Summer Begins <><><><><>
May is when the Blue Summer is said to have began. It is true, this is when we noticed people beginning to lock-in, as well as events maxing in the higher 20s.
At the beginning of the month, after some in depth planning, we officially announced the major economy reforms inside of our army. This, while a shock to many, proved to be effective in actually allowing our community to adequately interact with a currency that has some real value. This proved to be a major development in the army.
Towards the end of the month, the first Academy cycle was finished. This was a major development, as the standards and structure of our staff system vastly improved by allowing the Academy to communicate and bring forth adequate training and changes to the army.
We held our first battle against the Doritos since their revival at the end of 2024. We came out victorious in this battle.
Top 5, once again.
<><><><><> June 2025: Hope. <><><><><>
At the very end of May, the steam picked up tenfold as the Committee System came into full effect. What followed was more frequent grinding, as well as my own activity increasing due to my semester ending. However, out of nowhere, the Doritos faced severe internal drama that saw many of their top HCOM, staff, and advisors leaving the army. Many of these came here to WV, particularly Yoni, Hyper, Zamb, and Aisha. This provided us a great boost with morale, as well as helped give us an additional team. We held our first event since the incident, maxing 37.
It was truly a good day for us, and many new people joined. We were happy. In addition, Escot was promoted to Viking Commander.
One of our biggest events of month was when we had a major division battle between the Guardians (as Knights), and the Marines (as Ninjas). Ultimately, the Guardians came out victorious.
For pretty much the entire month, we had sizes of nearly 30 at every single event. This made us the largest predominantly CPAB army at that time, and the second largest army overall of that month. What only tanked our averages were our occasional CPJ event.
On the week of 15 – 21 June 2025, we finally reached the top 3 position for the first time of the year. A major morale boost, it meant everything to us.
We came out on top in a three-way practice battle between ourselves, Void Troops, and the Help Force. We sweeped the scene.
We ended the month off by reaching the top 3 position for the second time, at the very end of June.
Ended off strong, with the top 4 position of the whole month.
The seeds were planted for one of Water Vikings’ best Legends Cup runs in history.
<><><><><> Ocean Breakthrough <><><><><>
The internal side of Ocean Breakthrough began on 29 June, although it did not come into full effect until 7 July. That being said, we still continued to have a large hype train – in particular, we held our Squid Game week to start off July.
The Squid Game week ended off with a battle against the Aliens. Ironically, this would be considered by many to be one of the most biased battles of the year, as despite us dominating Aliens in Room 2, and no side dominating at all in the last room, it was ruled to be a sweep. It served as a rally cry, but also made us fearful for how the judges would operate during Legends Cup XV.
Our Road to Legends Cup event saw us max 40+ for the first time in a normal event. This was an amazing feeling and we all knew that there was at least some hope.
At this time, following the announcement of Ocean Breakthrough, we began to smoke crack and recruiting heavily. A common occurrence of speeches by myself and Aaron would occur throughout the month, among many posts, and many community activities. It was rare to see such a united army in this time, dedicated towards such an amazing goal.
7 July was when we were announced information on the Legends Cup tournament. Ocean Breakthrough announced there.
The second week of July, we hit #2 on the top ten.
Things began to change… we were reaching sizes of over 40 people online at nearly every event (and over 30 at our AUSIAs). How could this be? Have we really rose to the top? The largest army? Yes, indeed, the Water Vikings began to really up the odds as we improved communication, our family, and began to perform extremely well in trainings.
We were given information on 12 July – we were to take part in the qualifiers. While many of us were upset about that, many of us felt this is what we needed to see the floor of our performance. Boy, did we need that.
We were nervous, and I remember holding my first conversation around this time. We were positioned previously to fight in the qualifiers. I didn’t bother sharing the bracket here, as that didn’t matter.
<><><><><> The Qualifiers (19 July) <><><><><>
We would go onto fight the Scarlet Republic in the qualifiers. They were much smaller than us, so obviously we were going to win. However, what we did not expect was the stellar performance – and we managed to max 63.
This is what we needed! Unity… yeah, we had that. We already out-maxed our March Madness 2024 max – this was insane!
We did it. We finally hit #1. It was gratifying, felt amazing. Even though it was by a small margin, it was exactly what we needed – the morale boost that would carry us. We would be projected to face our arch-rival, the Templars, next.
For the remainder of the month, we continued to do insanely well. We also locked in heavily, with the mass DMing, the recruiting, the registers, and walkthroughs. In fact, I think if any army had the most registers of July – it was us.
<><><><><> The Quarter-Finals (26 July) <><><><><>
We faced our arch-rival that day. We exceeded all odds, maxing 75 against their 61. So many people thought it would go to overtime, but that didn’t happen. We completely destroyed them. It was gratifying for many, as we managed to do finally get some redemption. This battle set a record for an all-time WV max, being the highest maxed event in WV history (without usage of allies).
Number 1 again.
The next army that we will face… well, the one that has prevented us from winning Legends Cup for many years – Rebel Penguin Federation. Needless to say, we locked in much more. It showed, as we called everyone that we could to show up.
<><><><><> The Semi-Finals (2 August) <><><><><>
This was quite an insane battle. In fact, this was the most intense battle of the entirety of Legends Cup XV. Many people have dubbed this battle as the true finals, and for good reason – this was the largest battle, the closest battle, and the battle between the two largest armies in the community. It ultimately is a shame that this wasn’t the finals. While we wanted to face RPF in the semi-finals, seeing how the tournament played out after (no offense Aliens but you guys fumbled both of your main battles), this should’ve been the finals. We set the highest all-time record in WV history, point-blank period… of 88 against the RPF 80. This battle, as predicted was insanely close.
Room one saw about 50 WV vs 60 RPF. We did it. The last army to bring major sizes (and ultimately, Aliens who succeeded us as well) against RPF in a major tournament dealt with one issue – lockouts. We made sure to fix this issue by training the proper room training etiquette in our army to prevent that. It worked. While RPF was quicker than us just slightly, the sizes were even. We started the room out a bit rough, but we managed to regain our footing at the end – taking turns with each other in terms of dominance. Ultimately, though, due to RPF winning for the first 3 minutes without much push back, they won the first room.
Room two was a bit different. This room had similar sizes, but both sides were on their A-game from start to finish. This ultimately led us to getting a tie.
RPF had a slight debacle with changing rooms into room 3. You see, the judges for some reason announced lock-out rooms, despite the fact that lock-out rooms are not even judged. This threw off RPF, and ultimately led to them joining the wrong room initially. This allowed us to get a force in the 70s inside of the stadium, with RPF having the mid 40s. Our formation choices were much more creative, and we were on our A-game in this room without much competition. RPF was punching above their weight, though, and they can make 40 look like 60 (as they proved in the official finals), but ultimately they could not push hard enough against us to win. WV won room three.
I was nervous a bit at this point. I considered the possibility of it either going to overtime, or it having two ties and a WV win. The former occurred, and we went to overtime. However, we ended up making the same mistake that RPF did, and when the OT room was announced, we joined the wrong room initially.
There it was. 40 vs 70. It was rough. This is where it ended. We managed to punch well above our weight here as well, but RPF being the monsters that they are had little to dispute. The OT room ended with a RPF victory.
At first I was a bit devastated. I mean – the grind and no-life to get knocked out at the semi-finals? However, it dawned on me with the bright sides. This was the closest and most intense battle of the entire tournament. WV managed to rise in two months to become large and strong enough to take on WV, and were the only army in a tournament since RPF’s winning streak to actually match them. After really thinking about that – how could I be upset? We broke records, we performed the second-best in the entire tournament, we had one of the most significant tournament runs of the year, and we ultimately had one of WV’s best Legends Cup runs point-blank period. Sure, this wasn’t the finals officially, and we didn’t win – but this was the true finals, and we barely even lost against the reigning champions. How can I be uspet?
The next morning, the news was announced that we had our third #1 position in a row. I was ecstatic. We all were. Not all was lost.
With that… the journey finally concluded. We made it out as the #1 army, tied with RPF, of the month of July. The most impressive rise of the month, one of the most significant tournament runs of the year, and the solidifying factor of the Blue Summer. It was gratifying. We worked hard, and it felt nice to be at #1. Tied, yes. Tied with our ally, and with the other titan, cementing RPF and WV as the titans of the Legends Cup XV tournament. I was proud. We all were proud to hear the news.
<><><><><> The Statistics <><><><><>
Yapping out of the way – let’s talk about the real stuff; the statistics!
During Ocean Breakthrough, we essentially doubled in size compared to what we were maxing back in May. Going from maxing sizes of 22-25, we started maxing sizes of 40-45 at most events. An insane rise, and one of the most notable rises in the community at the time.
In the way of recruits, with everything tracked, we recruited a total of 900 – 1000 people in the server during Ocean Breakthrough. During this run, we reached the feat of over 9000 server members – we were at about 7700 at the start of June. That is an increase of 1300 within a month. Insane work.
In terms of welcomes, we had around 300 registers on CPA Battleground. An insane number, and a 3:1 ratio with the recruiting.
In terms of walkthroughs, we carried about around 50 walkthroughs in total, which was insane work.
What cannot be denied is that we were a literal machine during this era. The hype and grind was real, and we all felt it. We all worked hard. We all did our hardest to push for that victory, and while we did not win the tournament itself, we went in as a machine, came out as a titan, and broke records in Water Vikings history.
<><><><><> The Winners <><><><><>
A total of 10 winners were announced. 5 from staff/HCOM, and 5 from the troop ranks. This was a collective effort, afterall, and we wanted to award everyone by having two sections with equal awards. Without further ado, these are the ones who pushed the hardest in terms of points.
<><><><><> Staff Winners <><><><><>
1st – Yoni773 [4145 points]
2nd – Chey [3870 points]
3rd – Tomato [3242 points]
4th – Stefan [2995 points]
5th – B2xh8 [1820 points]
<><><><><> Troop Winners <><><><><>
1st – Isagi1 [2302 points]
2nd – PingoBoiii [1831 points]
3rd – Mirakanoo [1284 points]
4th – Bean [1242 points]
5th – Ayeeti [975 points]
<><><><><> Combined Winners <><><><><>
1st – Yoni773
2nd – Chey
3rd – Tomato
4th – Stefan
5th – Isagi1
6th – PingoBoiii
7th – B2xh8
8th – Mirakanoo
9th – Bean
10th – Ayeeti
Congratulations to everyone here, and importantly, congratulations to everyone that helped grind and make this grind as amazing as it was. It was a collective effort of a multitude of people and would not have been possible without the team that we had during this run. Consider yourselves all legends in my book.
<><><><><> A Reflection <><><><><>
Honestly, I never really expected us to make it as far as we did. From the beginning, it looked bleak. We were mid, we were just an average army. We stood no chance. We didn’t have the size, the veterans, the friends, or the training to put up the fight. We honestly all thought that we would get knocked out in the quarter-finals, like we did in March Madness.
That didn’t happen. Instead, starting with June in particular, we just kept getting bigger. Our performance kept going up with time, and honestly, it looked less and less bleak each step of the way. The fear in us was very apparent, though; we did not want to lose the steam. We were afraid of losing the steam. However, we just kept pushing and pushing, and honestly, things kept on exceeding our expectations.
I never expected us to max 40+ at every single event. I never expected us to hit 75 at a battle against Templars. I never expected us to have 91 people online the semi-finals. I never expected us to be the titans of this tournament. Quite honestly, I never expected to even hit #1, let alone of the MONTH. I was in awe, to be frank. This was like a dream come true, the entirety of it. Every little second. The no-lifing paid off. The community was just so united at this time, and honestly, it took everyone else by storm too.
The rise that we had… was insane. Honestly, I’m still in a bit shock that it happened the way it did. We sort of did what the Doritos did in some senses, heck, we sort of did what EGCP did in 2023. However, within that two month period, we became the largest army, trained our army to match the champion, and we rose to become #1. We broke our all-time records. We had one of our best Legends Cup tournament runs to date – beating the likes of our 2022 run. Heck, we had one of the best LC runs of recent memory point blank PERIOD. Against all odds, we actually rose to the top.
There was nothing for us to be ashamed of. We got knocked out in the semi-finals, but that battle is the one that mattered the most in the whole tournament. Consider that run another finals run, it was that insane. We unified towards a goal, we worked towards it, and it ultimately paid off even if we did not secure a victory. We ran like a literal machine. We went from mid to a literal titan. What exactly is to be ashamed of? The only thing that held us back from a victory was just a mess up in the room change. That is Water Vikings luck, of course, but ultimately it doesn’t change the fact that this tournament was ultimately just us and RPF… just how it was a decade ago.
There is a level of irony in it, quite honestly. How in our first two Legends Cup runs it boiled down to RPF and WV. Then, after running on so much hype for our run a decade ago… it becomes that yet again. Things happen for a reason, and honestly, it clearly wasn’t our time to secure a victory. We still have a lot of maturing to do as a community, and we still have a lot of work to do to keep ourselves at the top.
Be proud of what you guys achieved. Every single one of you did the army right. Nothing we did was wrong. We did everything correctly, and it showed. This made history in our community here. There is no denying it. Every seed that was laid on the journey here led to this moment, and will further lead to the history that is made in the future. It is a bright future, I think… after all, the raven has flown all these years.
Thank you all.