By Peldor
30 Seconds to Mosh vs YCMYCCaST:(Samuro)CloneWar In the first game played on the Tomb of the Spider Queen, Yavapai decided to embrace the spirit of unpredictability drafting by placing Zul’jin played by Shanc in the offlane. Unfortunately, Zul’jin quickly learned why non-mobile heroes in solo roles often end up as gank magnets, getting ambushed thrice before the first Web Weavers even had a chance to stretch their legs. This rocky start set the stage for 30 Seconds to Mosh, who danced their way to a comfortable three-level lead and victory, leaving Zul’jin reconsidering his career choices.
Game two took us to Volskaya Foundry, where 30 Seconds to Mosh thought, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and stuck with most of winning draft from game 1. Yavapai, however, turned the tables by introducing Sgt. Hammer, who redefined the art of side-stepping. Despite a four-man gank attempt, Hammer dodged everything like a pro, prompting caster Ohmster to quip, “They can’t kill this Hammer!” With Sgt. Hammer leading the charge and backed by Valla and Gul’dan, Yavapai steamrolled to victory, setting the stage for a thrilling game three.
The finale on Garden of Terror saw 30 Seconds to Mosh sticking to their guns with Jaina, Blaze, and Anduin for all three games. Meanwhile, Yavapai’s offlane adventures continued this time with Lunara. Despite Lunara’s level 1 wisp talent, she occasionally found herself needing a rescue from Brightwing. But the true hero was Yavapi’s Johanna played by Andrade, whose Steed Charge at level 7 let her dart in and out of battles, sealing the reverse sweep.
Habitual Line Steppers vs Crimson Cyber Squad Next the Habitual Line Steppers (HLS) faced off against the Crimson Cyber Squad (CCS) in a battle for supremacy. On Alterac Pass, CCS picked a trio of globals—Dehaka, Brightwing, and Falstad—aiming to use their mobility to their advantage. But instead of sending a global hero to the bottom lane, it was Junkrat who took on Sonya, giving HLS’s trio of Garrosh, Tyrande, and Tracer the chance to storm down the middle. With Sonya’s leap sealing the deal, victory was assured for HLS.
In the second game on Infernal Shrines, HLS again takes Garrosh. This time CCS drafts a more team fight comp with Tychus, Hanzo, Sonya, Anduin, and Muradin to counter Garrosh, Graymane, Chromie, Tyrande, and Leoric . This allowed HLS’s Leoric to out soak CCS easily pushing out the lanes in favor of HLS. But even with a 5v4 in favor of CCS, they could not gain an advantage as Leoric would just flank them and entomb them. Tirtwig’s healing on Tyrande was enough to sustain through the Light Bomb/Leap/DragonArrow combo. This combined with HLS’s dps combo of BoomerAPM on Chromie leading in all damage and NoMoreHeroes’ Graymane leading in kills (aka KS’ing from Chromie) was enough damage that CodeMonkey’s Anduin could not keep up. Garrosh, played by Vehrn, lived up to Tokeybee‘s words, “Just smacks him with an axe”.
With these victories, Habitual Line Steppers proved they’re not just stepping over lines—they’re leaping over them with style and have secured their position in first place in week 2!
Trial by Annihilation vs Really Aggro Ghoul Elites
In this final match of the week for Div E, we have Trial by Annhiliation (TBA) facing off against Really Aggro Ghoul Elites (RAGE) on Tomb of the Spider Queen. The scene is set with HoneyBadger taking charge as the war chief for RAGE, ready to unleash chaos with Garrosh’s mighty presence. TBA, however, came prepared with a toolkit consisting of Johana, Rehgar, Blaze, Sylvanus, and Kael’thas, designed to either send Garrosh packing or leave him limping away to his corner.
The game was tighter than a pair of skinny jeans, with Garrosh spending most of his time dangerously low on health. Yet, like a stubborn catapult, he still managed to find plenty of opportunities to hurl TBA’s heroes around, disrupting their efforts with the enthusiasm of a toddler flinging spaghetti. Special shoutout to TBA’s Sparhawk, whose Blaze had an uncanny ability to “just walk out” of trouble, much to the amusement of the ever-enthusiastic caster, Ohmster. Just when it seemed TBA might gain control, RAGE’s Leoric played by UrbanPunk combined with Lagwagon’s Anduin executed a Light Bomb combo that setup a four-man farewell party, launching RAGE into a lead big enough to start a new real estate venture in the lanes.
In game two, TBA opted for the first pick and we found ourselves at the Towers of Doom, courtesy of RAGE’s map choice. Despite previous lessons in Garrosh 101, TBA let him slip through their fingers again with RAGE insta picking him on their turn. Enter TBA’s Keladorn’s ETC, the bovine booper, whose mission was to keep Garrosh in check. Alas, our cow friend had the resilience of a paper towel in a rainstorm and ended up being more ‘moo’ than ‘move’, getting unceremoniously launched into the enemy team by Garrosh.
RAGE didn’t even need to reach level 20 to serve up a heaping helping of domination, bagging their first Domination match of this young season. It’s safe to say that RAGE really beefed up their performance—unlike poor ETC, who was left wondering if perhaps he tasted more like chicken.
Fun Facts of the Week That May Only Be of Interest to Hoku
Artanis was not played at all this week, but was banned 3 times. So there’s still hope that Div E will play him.
Tirtwig, the Healer for HLS, leads in KDA for ALL divisions.
Week 3 Preview
TBA has 2 matches scheduled this week. This could prove significant in point accumulation as the others should only have 1 match.
Week 3 Game to Watch
RAGE squares off against 30 Seconds to Mosh. Both are currently tied for second place. Set the date for Tuesday at 8 CST.