By Raka
Xul Gin Distillery vs Maximum Thrust
Map 1: Cursed Hollow
Ragnaros, Varian, Anduin, Raynor, Blaze vs Diablo, Li-Ming, Dehaka, Brightwing, Falstad
This was a match of reactions. Maximum Thrust started off the match with two glob- no wait, the teams are on the wrong sides again. Xul Gin Distillery started off with two globals and used them to be able to pressure their opponents to not commit to objectives only to show up at the last moment. That was less successful than it usually was due to some solid play by Maximum Thrust, but Xul Gin proved early on that the Dehaka and the Diablo were savage, with diablo grabbing an opposing hero, charging them back into his own team, and then Dehaka would tongue them for maximum helplessness – and then Brightwing would come along for maximumer helplessness with a polymorph. Once Falstad started gusting the Thrusters as well, it was hard for the Jet team to stay in the game
Map 2: Volskaya Foundry
Brightwing, ETC, Tychus, Tyrael, Lunara vs Garrosh, Kael’thas, Leoric, Deckard Cain, Valla
So if game #1 was all about the synergy between heroes and locking someone down to get a lead, Game 2 was the Tim Allen of games. They really didn’t go for combo strings of abilities, they went for “Garrosh is going to throw you into our team and then we are going to murder your face off!” While Kael’thas’ gravity lapse helped, of course, it really just felt like the damage coming out of the KT and the Valla was deleting anyone that got out of position, and Garrosh got them out of position a lot. The midgame began to swing in Maximum Thrust’s favor as Garrosh started to fall off, but once 20 arrived and Garrosh was at his weakest, a little something called Buried Alive showed up to make Xul Gin Distillery terrifying once again.
Ginormous Jaegers vs HoTS Tuah
Map 1: Braxis Holdout
Chromie, Imperius, Stukov, Anub’arak, Raynor vs Chen, Jaina, Rehgar, Tychus, Johanna
It is easy to look at Jaegers’ 0-6 record and conclude that they are not a frightening team. Don’t make that mistake. This game saw the Jaegers putting on a master class of outmaneuvering their opponents. Initially playing a 2-3 on Braxis, they controlled the top lane and minimized damager int he bottom. They got 10’s first and got the first objective. They maintained a kill lead and consistently seemed the stronger team in teamfights. HotS Tuah had one advantage… Chen is a Drunken Fool. Wandering Keg kept bowling through Ginormous Jaegers and, while the Jaegers seemed the more coordinated team, they could get knocked off their center easily. The Jaegers also, unfortunately, underestimated a 70% Zerg Wave and lost bottom keep for free, which gave the Tuahns an opening to end the game after a successful teamfight.
Map 2: Alterac Pass
Orphea, Sonya, Stukov, Muradin, Valla vs Stitches, Falstad, Anduin, Chromie, Samuro
Ninepoint, is that a banned skin I see? For shame! If Game #1 came down to displacement from Chen, this game came down to displacement from Stitches – but that is selling t short. Obviously, Anduin and Chromie empowered Stitches’ hooks and made it hard for targets to escape (Stukov’s lack of cleanse sure didn’t help either) and Samuro being able to solo objectives or Murky a lane meant that the Jaegers had to keep changing what sort of game they were playing. That said, when they found the enemy they gave at least as good as they got, the kills being even leading into the final teamfight, and the game going for more than 25 minutes before the Tuahns were able to score a decisive enough victory to be able to push the core!
Cats On My Keyboard vs Bad Rats
Map 1: Sky Temple
Greymane, Kel’Thezad, Sonya, Whitemane, Muradin vs Tassadar, Stukov, Dehaka, Cassia, Mei
This was a game of potential. Kel’Thezad represented the difference maker – with agreat combo potential and a lack of cleanse from Bad Rats’ Stukov, KTZ was posed to turn this whole game on its head. Unfortunately, it seems that Bad Rats realized that and very early began to use a combination of Cassia diving the KTZ as well as Tassadar walls to interfere with the Cats’ reactions and KTZ was never quite able to bring his full power to bear. With Master of the Cold Dark not completing until after the core’s invulnerabilty had dropped, it left the Cats’ battle ability lagging behind the Rats’ until the game could be safely won by Templefire.
Map 2: Tomb of the Spider Queen
Dehaka, Falstad, Sylvanas, Rehgar, Muradin vs Gul’dan, Mei, Stukov, Leoric, Valla
This was a strange one. Cat’s draft would have been fantastic on a bigger map, but I definitely felt the Sylvanas’ ability to turn off structures and push was a lot weaker on such a small map, and of course both Falstad and Dehaka’s globals couldn’t be as relevant here. In the end though, the game seemed more decided by the excellent clear of Valla and Gul’dan (though Cat’s Sylvanas could definitely push back well!) coupled with a extremely aggressive stance from the Rats that Muradin struggled to hold back. Poor Mura only really has the ability to stop one hero at a time, so with Mei, Valla, and Gul’dan all pressing forward it feels like the backline is forced to either retreat and leave Muradin to die, or stand and fight inside Mei’s Blizzard.
Pepegas on Ice vs Deny Defend Dehaka
Map 1: Volskaya Foundry
Johanna, Zagara, Anduin, Blaze, Thrall vs Varian, Tychus, Stukov, Leoric, Chromie
This was a map that could have easily gone either way. When I first saw the matchup I couldn’t stop looking from Tychus to the tank and two bruisers on Pepegas’ side. But then I saw Johanna’s flashlight build and Johanna’s flashlight upgrade at 13. Tychus dipped into Master Assassin at 4 to maximize how much he hurt any time he could actually see, but Johanna just did her absolute best to channel Collective Soul and ‘Heaven Let her Light, Shine On.”
Map 2: Infernal Shrines
Tassadar, Leoric, Brightwing, Falstad, Muradin vs Stukov, Blaze, Sonya, Orphea, Hanzo
Remember up in Cats vs Rats, when I said I felt like the double-global would work much better on a bigger map? Well, we are now on a bigger map and the double global worked much better. First kill of the game was due to a Falstad fly-in to a pitched 1v1, and Hanzo consistently had to stay bottom lane to stop the Falstad from pushing, only for Falstad to (of course) be able to fly straight to the objective. Still, don’t let me imply this was a one-sided contest. DDD gave as good as they got, with kills being dead even until late game and objectives taken by both teams. While PoI ended up taking the advantage due to rotation flexibility, that was far from a foregone conclusion!
License to Kill vs Heavy Group Therapy
Game 1: Infernal Shrines
Azmodan, Muradin, Anduin, Blaze, Genji vs Zeratul, Johanna, Brightwing, Muradin, Sonya
Heavy Group Therapy made a bold statement starting this game, giving up first objective to try and push through top fort. I feel like this was an attempt to open up the map as Azmodan can struggle in situations where he has to get further out in lane, plus second Objective was top and so they were largely trading a stronger 2nd punisher for sac’ing the first. As the game progressed, Azmodan’s lack of escape was abused by HGT (who kept removing the forts nearest to objective) by having Zera and Falstad slip in past Muradin to pick him off at the start of teamfights.
Game 2: Braxis Holdout
Arthas, Muradin, Auriel, Sylvanas, Gul’dan vs Mephisto, Anub’arak, Brightwing, Falstad, Samuro
I felt so bad for Arthas here. I am a proponent of Offlane Arthas, but man does he struggle into a Samuro, and we defintately saw it in this game. LtK fought very well bottom lane and control of the bottom point kept shifting back and forth throughout the early part of the game, but as the game pressed forward the fact Arthas just couldn’t effectively fight into a Samuro meant that LtK never had solid control of top lane and, even if they sent someone up to help, Falstad could fly up instantly.
And that does it for our Week 3 recap! Now, just so all you all know, I have surgery tomorrow (Monday) and will be laid out for a bit, so unfortunately you may not get a week 4 and possibly not a week 5 recap. I will try and mend fast enough to be able to do Week 5, but no promises!