By Raka
Pepegas on Ice vs Ginormous Jaegers
Tomb of the Spider Queen: Auriel, Kael’thas, Leoric, Varian, Falstad vs Tassaface, Tyrende, Diablo, Artanis, Raynor
This was a really close match up in terms of draft. Ginormous had the Diablo Charge into Tass Wall setup with the Tyrende stun follow up. Raynor took Ace in the hoele and a very well coordinated team could have absolutely shredded through the Pepega team. Pepegas, for their side, had a decent combo with the taunt into Gravity Lapse, but their real advantage was waveclear. Artanis is scary in melee but the constant threat of the Falstad stopped him from truly being able to engage into Leoric and the wave clear diff is savage on this map. Once the first blue turnin happened, it was hard for Ginormous to push back against the unrelenting lane pressure and that ended up leading to a very difficult time catching the enemy in their brutal combo since they couldn’t advance across the map without being seen.
Cursed Hollow: Brightwing, Falstad, Kael’thas, Deathwing, Mei vs Dehaka, Cho’gall, Valla, Auriel
Holy globals batman! With Brightwing, Falstad, and Deathwing pairing up against just Dehaka, it is safe to say that Pepegas had the advantage on abrupt rotations. This battle largely came down to Cho’gall trying to get into Pepegas’ formation and cause havoc. The problem was, of course, that Pepegas responded by being extremely aggressive, diving forward into and past Cho’gall and locking down Valla. If Valla went down, then Auriel’Gall just lacked the damage to stay in the fight. The strategy wasn’t perfect, particularly around tributes where the addition of Dehaka made it very dangerous to try and push past the front line, but the end of the game saw Pepegas narrowly edging out Ogel with 7 kills to 6.
License to Kill vs Maximum Thrust
Dragon Shire: Anub’arak, Zeratul, Chromie, Aurial, Leoric vs Mei, Rehgar, Valla, Li Ming, Hogger
First thing I noticed about this match was that Leoric was not double soaking while Hogger was. On the one hand, that gave License to Kill unfettered access to the Dragon Knight as Leoric dominated the top point, but that also means Zeratul had to keep disappearing (ya know, more than usual) from Bottom lane to go catch mid soak, which allowed Maximum Thrust to regularly apply pressure. Once the bottom fort went down, Maximum Thrust really started to run away with the game, able to consistently get the better of engagements since their opponents lacked a moonwell.
Towers of Doom: Diablo, Chromie, Tychus, Rehgar, Blaze vs Stukov, Dehaka, Anub’arak, Valla, Li Ming
This is Towers of Doom and, to an extend, that means the first 80% of the game doesn’t matter. The game started off with LTK owning the lion’s share of the shots, kills, and experience, being up 4 kills, a level, and 4 shots at the 5 minute mark. However, Towers is the comeback map and the late game saw the come back a coming. The turnaround started with a bloodthirsty Tychus just after 10’s which led to Maximum Thrust landing a turn around kill, an evening of levels, and a damage lead on cores. Following this, we got into a rough situation where Diablo had a hard time moving in on “Stuns4Days” Anub’arak and Blaze had one fairly telegraphed stun to his name. However, while MT was good at punishing over-extensions, the Chromie’s time loop was a constant threat, particularly with Stukov lacking a stun, and patient play converted the bottom fort to LTK’s side! Slowly, the special agents moved the map, converting forts, and eventually ending the game 14 kills to 7.
Tomb of the Spider Queen: Malthael, Rehgar, Hanzo, Chromie, Diablo vs Brightwing, Leoric, Deathwing, Tyrael, Sylvanas
This was a match I was very excited to review. I immediately saw issues, as Chromie’s effectiveness would be much less with Deathwing being immune to most of her abilities, Brightwing ACTUALLY having a cleanse, and Malthael being one of the more gankable offlaners on the smallest map in the map pool. Still, Tyrael is not exactly a meta tank and Deathwing’s damage is extremely telegraphed. Maximum Thrust got right to work, utilizing the Sylvanas to push lanes and roving as a fourman. The Leoric rotated a bit more aggressively for soak and support than the Malthael did, likely because the Malthael had to be more cautious of surprise attacks, but overall the teams seemed evenly matched. As 10’s hit, Deathwing’s life got harder with Malthael representing a constant threat if he ever got low, and Leoric wasn’t exactly having a good time of it either. Both forts in bottom lane fell as objectives were traded. Thrust took out all three of their opponent’s forts with their second turn in and seemed to be taking over the game, but a brilliant counter offensive by LTK led to several of them dying in a brief window when they were down 16’s. This turn around gave LTK their second turn in and the game equalized again. After another scrappy turnaround fight where the Thrusters got one kill and then managed to lose their whole team in the fall out, LTK took boss and 20 and seemed to be closing in on the game’s end!
However, then Maximum Thrust hit 20. Now, look at the teams. Notice that both Sylvanas and Leoric are on Maximum Thrust and, well, you all play HotS and you know what that means. Chromie, whose time loop has been a terror the whole game, suddenly had to deal with Sylvanas doing her job but way better, and if LTK tried to push in to help whoever got Mind Controlled, well there was a Silencing Entomb to mess up their whole game. This game was a nail biter, and neither team was ever truly comfortable, but it did eventually end with a Maximum Thrust victory after LTK’s hopes and dreams were… buried alive. Sunglasses
Heavy Group Therapy vs Witch Rhythm
Braxis Holdout: Valla, Samuro, ETC, Auriel, Falstad vs Stitches, Rehgar, Tassadar, Dehaka, Hanzo
Heavy Group Therapy set us up for an imposing start with a pair of kills before the one minute mark, though Witch Rhythm’s Tassadar had a panic wall that helped with one of them. At the same time though, Real Rad Dad’s Dehaka managed to gain an advantage over the top lane Samuro which led to Falstad having to fly up to correct and, well, we’ve seen this song before – if the Falstad is top then bottom loses. This led to Witch Rhythm gaining an advantage on point channel, though then HGT turned it around and got their own side up, ultimately capturing the bottom lane fort. As 10’s hit, HGT began running from bottom to top en mass and WR were left trying to keep up. The runabout culminated in a boss take just as the zerg wave came leading to a devastating assault on the top keep that, while it didn’t end the game, it left Witch Rhythm in a position they could not return from.
Infernal Shrines: Mephisto, Hogger, Diablo, Uther, Falstad vs Johanna, Anduin, Fenix, Leoric, Kael’thas
Witch Rhythm came out looking for blood this time around and very quickly punished a Mephisto for teleporting in an awkward place. Between Anduin and Kael’thas’ roots, a Mephisto who has to return to a weird spot is going to die pretty quick. When it came to fights on the point, Witch Rhythm’s Fenix acted very similarly to a Tychus in terms of making it difficult for Hogger to freely spin, and Uther’s healing + shielding was fantastic for Diablo but neither Mephisto nor Falstad had the HP to be able to comfortably position aggressively. The second shrine turned into an absolute bloodbath spanning multiple minutes of contestation, ults being used multiple times before, finally Witch Rhythm secured the Mortar Punisher. HGT fought hard and managed to paint the map blue in terms of camps, but they had a hard time making much forward momentum with heavy catapult pressure constantly building in top lane, leading to a Witch Victory.
Garden of Terror: Chromie, Anub’arak, Rehgar, Falstad, Dehaka vs Thrall, Johanna, Anduin, Li Ming, Lunara
This game started out very slow and methodical. Witch Rhythm headed top and put a lot of pressure on top fort but couldn’t quite bring it down. However, this attention gave an experience lead to HGT which they used to slowly edge their opponents out of fights. This led to HGT getting bottom fort and also getting 10’s first, which they used to spring ahead in kills. Once the wound was open, HGT began regularly exploiting their global advantage by having Falstad push bottom lane and, as soon as one of their non-global opponents went to bottom Falstad would fly to the team and flex the uneven fight. Still, let no one think this game was one sided. Witch Rhythm secured the first terror phase and captured top lane with it, threatening a repeat of the Infernal tactic. Unfortunately, unlike Infernal, the Seeds were sitting at 2/3 for HGT after the Terror Phase, and it wasn’t long before big angry blue plants were beating on Witch Rhythm’s walls.
Deny Defend Dehaka vs Xul Gin Distillery
Alterac Pass: Dehaka, Anub’arak, Falstad, Chromie, Brightwing vs Johanna, Stukov, Sylvanas, Hogger, Tassadar
Well, DDD certainly had the Global Advantage going into this game! With Deheckan Dehaka, Brightwing, and Falstad – yeesh! XGD certainly played aggressively, chaining Anub’arak stuns with Dehaka togues to gread effect, but any time Anub’arak disappeared from midlane to be a pest, the Sylvanas from DDD was on point to push forward and cost them precious structure health. When it came to objective time, neither team seemed interested in taking it and the objectives actually lasted until level 12 before they were fought for. Between Tassadar and Stukov, DDD had excellent tools to deny a channel, a problem XGD solved by sneaking the objective with just Anub’arak. Following this, XGD largely played conservatively, knowing that Johanna, Stukov, and Tassadar are largely defensive heroes that punish dives and DDD would have to rely on Sylvanas to engage with the Mind Control. The game ended with less than ten kills overall due to the slow methodical and cautious push.
Cursed Hollow: Anub’arak, Falstad, Kael’thas, Leoric, Rehgar vs Raynor, Stukov, Stitches, Hogger, Chromie
The Raynor made my eyebrows go up and, even better, it was an Exterminator Raynor,, sending inspired mercenaries down lanes to really punish XGD if they overcommitted to an objective. This game started out much better for DDD, with them being up 2 kills to 1 after taking the first tribute. XGD responded by trading a boss for the second tribute and, eager for momentum, DDD tried to contest the third tribute while also sending Raynor to clear the boss, leading to a lot of deaths and an evening of overall kills. The match largely equalized here, with both sides getting a tribute and both sides ultimately destroying all three of their opponent’s forts. As we hit level 20, it was absolutely anyone’s game – but once again a glance at the heroes will show that XGD is much stronger at 20, with Buried Alive and Wind Tunnel on deck. Ultimately, a fantastic entomb initiated a team wipe and led to an XGD victory, but it was absolutely not a game that DDD was out of.
Bad Rats vs HoTS Tuah
Infernal Shrines: Kerrigan, Deathwing, Blaze, Anduin, Sonya vs Chen, Jaina, Valla, Rehgar, Muradin
My eyebrows definitely went up when I saw main-tank Blaze, but Bad Rats had it figured out in an interesting either or combo. If Blaze actually hit his stun, Kerrigan was on hand to land the follow up that kept potential targets locked down for the deathwing stir-fry, and Blaze’s oil made it much harder for Hots Tuah to manuver which let the combo reverse, with Kerrigan pulling them into a stun while they were slowed and then Blaze nailing the follow up. The other big question mark of the game was the rarely seen Chen. Chen definitely made Bad Rats uncomfortable, with their backline unable to stay in the back and a lot of positioning thrown out the window, but on the other side Chen relies on being able to drink to keep his shields up, but four of the five heroes that Chen is facing have baseline stuns and that certainly made his life difficult. In the end, we ended up with a runaway stun train with Rats for wheels and… that worked somehow. Okay, weird analogy. Moving on…
Sky Temple: Falstad, Samuro, Diablo, Rehgar, Sylvanas vs Chen, Valla, Anduin, Varian, Li Ming
Bad Rats started by trying tp cheese bottom and, while they got a tower, HotS Tuah was READY, sending two bottom to be prepared for any shinans! Overall, this game went much better for HotS Tuah on the battlefront, with them holding their own in the early game and even going up in kills. However, the Samuro kept disappearing to do Samuro things and, after a pair of temple phases, the constant lane pressure had levelled all three of Hots Tuah’s forts. This made it increasingly dangerous for them to take prolongued fights due to the absence of healing fountains so they tended to play back near their keeps but, of course, that just meant that they lacked any temple presense and the laser beams just assailed their fortifications.