By Ruglord
The High Inquisitors took it 2-0 over Magnitude: Epicenter in two very explosive games!
Game 1 was on BOE. I honestly think Epicenter won the draft here, as their Raynor + Li Ming has a ton of race compared to Genji + Zuljin and they even have Uther and Blaze Bunker to deal with the Genji Lightbomb combo. In the end it was a very hard fought game from both sides. A very pivotal moment was both teams base racing and trading keeps on opposite side of the map. Normally this would’ve favored High Inquisitors as they got a full keep while Epicenter only got a keep that was already close to death. However, Epicenter got a Dehaka kill that would sweeten the pot a bit, since it would give them a free objective. With a nearly full shield immortal, it looked like they could actually end, but with some quick moves, Anduin and Genji managed to put up enough of a defense to keep the game going, ultimately leading to a game winning team fight for the Inquisitors.
Game 2 was on Garden, which is quite a different map than BOE, with its large 3 lanes and horrible objective. But the map actually played out very similarly, with both teams having massive gains and massive losses. Inquisitors comp was very similar to Game 1, trading out Zuljin for Jaina and Anubarak for Diablo, but otherwise staying the same. Notably, they kept their Anduin Genji core, which I think Epicenter was far worse at dealing with this time around, with their offlane Rag and Azmodan, both of whom are juicy targets. They did still have Uther to even up the matchup a bit. Both teams absolutely bled heavily throughout the back and forth game and the pivotal moment was once again a base race, with Inquisitors attempting to just go core while Epicenter was occupied top. on the retreat path, Diablo and Anduin died, giving Epicenter the initiative to win the game themselves but again they were rebuffed and again it was disastrous, costing them the game. This was an incredibly close series between two very strong teams; Bo3s are very volatile in my experience so if these two teams face off again, I would not be surprised if the results are different.
Crit Kickers took it 2-1 over Points Donation Squad.
Game 1 was on Towers and it was firmly in Crit kickers hands for most of the early game. PDS did have a secret weapon though: Zagara. And anyone who’s played against a level 16 Zag will tell you how different of a game it is when she gets Corrosive Saliva. After pick on Muradin, PDS were able to claim bottom tower and hold it for the rest of the game. They would slowly but surely crawl back from their 20-32 deficit, ending the game with only 8 shots of their own but more importantly, 0 shots from the enemy team while having all 6 forts. Crit kickers had a very hard time wresting control back from the buildings once they were claimed and it’s not too hard to see why as their backline of Orphea and Falstad, while very scary in a team fight, aren’t super great at slowly whittling down a building, while Zagara makes fighting from behind so much harder. A well played game from both sides overall.
Game 2 would be a nail biter on Volskaya with Crit Kickers mostly holding the reins the entire game. PDS’ DPS here was Zagara and Kel’thuzad, which I’m definitely not super knowledgeable on. On paper though, I feel like they have two very different game plans: Zag wants to whittle you down with bugs while KTZ wants to land a big combo to win. Maybe the plan was to setup a big maw and combo off of that, and with Leap, Judgement, and Lightbomb at their arsenal, that seems like PDS big plan. I even think Crit Kickers kind of played into it, drafting Rexxar which gives KTZ an extra chain target and their tank, ETC, is not super tanky. For the most part their comp is on the squishier side. Theorizing aside, I think PDS had a hard time executing their combo. It seemed quite difficult for KTZ to actually follow up on Judgements and when he did Crit kickers did have the backup plan of good old BW spell shield. There were definitely hiccups on CK’s path to victory, with some very large maws keeping PDS in the game, but in the end, it was CK that would take the victory.
Game 3, more than any of the other games, felt like a draft equality. Both teams had very solid characters; nothing really stood out to me. The big turning point in this match, however was Crit Kickers’ first turn in. They leveraged their offlane prio to force a 5v4 which would give them a pick + a mid fort. With that momentum, they got another turn in that claimed the rest of PDS’ forts. I think more than any other map, playing Tomb from behind feels the most like you’re clawing up a cliff using your fingernails, since your objectives are so much weaker when you don’t have lane presence. And while PDS were able to get a turn in and claim top fort, they were unable to fully regain their momentum from game 1. Crit Kickers would go on to claim 20s and boss, ending the game and the series.
Came From Behind would take it 2-1 over gillyShark at !Bingo night.
Game 1 was on Towers, where Gillyshark busted out a pretty scary comp, of Varian, Rehgar, Greymane, Sylvanas, and Vikings. The plan is simple, 4 man bottom all game and blow up anything that gets taunted. And into BW, Anub, Falstad, KTZ, and Zeratul, there are plenty of pick targets. I even think gilly should’ve gone Mind Control just for more fishing opportunities; the more chances you get the more CFB has to waste their save tools of BW cleanse and Gust. 1-16 was an absolute nightmare from CFB, but as their name suggests, they scaled. 16 Zeratul and Wind Tunnel would prove too much for Gillyshark’s late game, ultimately allowing CFB to crawl to victory.
Game 2 was pretty much the exact opposite of game 1; even though CFB would retain their vikings, it was Gillyshark this time that would go on the war path only to lose the scaling game. With Anub + Alarak, gillyshark ensured anyone unlucky enough to be caught in Anub’s impale was getting sent right back to the hall of storms. Even at 16, CFB was was behind but thanks to their Vikings, they got 20 just a little earlier, which coincided with their third tribute of the game. This gave them enough momentum to tear through Gilly’s mid lane and ultimately end with a boss through bottom, in a complete reversal of Game 1.
I guess CFB wanted to run back the pick comp from game 1 because they brought it out once more, but this time with Anub + Stukov + Kael’thas for even more CC. I’ve seen many a team lose to these style of comps and Gillyshark was no different; CFB held the reins the entire game, not even losing a single building. I honestly don’t super know how you’d answer this type of comp as your save tools will always be on longer CD than their engage tools. I do think Gilly’s Rehgar was a bit of a risky pick, since he is very short ranged and runs the risk of putting himself in danger any time he needs to save someone. I do think Gillyshark had to focus on getting the jump themselves; getting engaged on is always very scary with a Stukov but engaging on the Stukov can maybe flip the script.
Finally, Under Newb Management would take it 2-0 over Spooky Ghosts.
Game 1 was on Braxis and I love that the Ghosts used Genji to bully the enemy offlane Thrall top. Thrall is not a very safe offlaner and with the combined might of Hogger and Genji, he would eventually lose the first fort very early on. I see way too many teams play these very static 1-4s, where the offlane matchup is everything, when in reality, Braxis is a very rotation heavy map. Sadly, for all their progress top, Ghosts could never win bottom either. The idea is that in a 2-1 is that you win the 2v1 harder than you lose the 3v4 and that did happen, but Ghosts could never convert the top fort into an actual advantage. When it came time to all out 5v5s, Ghosts just lost. A big part of this seemed like it was the Auriel’s Resurrect, normally you’d be okay trading 1 for 1, but Auriel made it so that UNM always came out ahead. I’m still not convinced, even with the recent buffs, that Rez is better than just preventing the death with Aegis especially pre 20 when Aegis has almost half the cooldown, but hey it definitely worked very well this game. Spooky Ghosts definitely had their moments and I thought their LB + Genji combo would seal the deal in their favor but it was UNM that would take the game, pretty decisively.
Game 2, UNM struggled a lot more. Ghosts ran a pretty standard comp, this time taking the Auriel for themselves, while UNM brought out a very unique double support with Qhira, Valla, Stukov, and the newly buffed Kharazhim. Ghosts were absolutely crushing in team fights but something flipped at level 16. I think UNM only won a handful of teamfights all game but they really scaled at 16, giving Ghosts a taste of their own lesson on route to a very abrupt team wipe that would give them the game and the series.
Mid-Season Review
And with that we conclude our 5th week of NGS, which brings us to the halfway point of the season. The standings rn are a bit all over the place with some teams still haven’t played their 5th week match, while others are already into their 6th week, so I won’t read too much into the standings. However, Under Newb Management, The High Inquisitors, Crit Kickers, Magnitude: Epicenter, and Gen.M Esports, are my personal picks for teams that I have felt are very strong, throughout the games I’ve watched. I also think Spooky Ghosts has the potential to be a bit of a dark horse, as I have seen them demonstrate some incredible cooperation in the past, showing off their long history together. They do have a long path to climb to get back to the top 8, but I do believe they can do it.