By Raka
Heavy Group Therapy vs Pepegas on Ice
Game 1: Garden of Terror
Sylvanas, Brightwing, Sonya, Alarak, Anub’arak vs Kaelthas, Chen, Anduin, Raynor, Johanna
Game 1 was a demonstration of Any Given Sunday. The game started off with inches, a very close games where kills were rare and traded when they happened, yet Heavy Group Therepy used their Sylvanas to push hard any chance they got and used a wicked combination of Anub’arak stuns, Brightwing Polymorphes, and Alarak’s whole kit to lock down and excecute the squishier heroes on Pegegas’ team, giving them inches that, by the end of the game, had accumulated into a landslide.
Game 2: Infernal Shrines
Mephisto, Aurial, Alarak, Johanna, Dehaka vs Muradin, Chromie, Imperius, Falstad, Brightwing
Game 2 was a game I was scared for Heavy Group Therapy in. Mephisto is extremely dangerous to play into Chromie due to the existance of her Temporal Recall invalidating his teleport back. However, Aurial was increadibly on point using Crystal Aegis to save him any time he recalled and, despite Chromie’s cooldown being twenty seconds faster than Aurial’s, PoI just were never able to capitalize on it at a time where Aurial wasn’t ready to counter it. Also, PoI made the mistake of playing delicious heroes which made Dehaka significantly more effective.
Maximum Thrust vs HoTS Tuah
Game 1: Towers of Doom
Stitches, Raynor, Chromie, Dehaka, Anduin vs Hogger, Blaze, Nazeebo, Valla, Brightwing
This game very much started off in Maximum Thrust’s Favor. HotS Tuah ran an unconventional Blaze Tank and, the problem with Blaze, is that his engage is ALSO his escape. This problem becomes exaserbated when your opponent has both Stitches AND Dehaka, meaning your escapes become a lot less viable if you do try and walk away. However, as the game bore on, the pushing power of Nazeebo and Valla began to more and more significantly outpace that of Raynor and Chromie, and building after building fell. The late game was Maximum Thrust trying to take back their structures, but rarely pushing into HotS Tuah’s own.
Game 2: Garden of Terror
Dehaka, Johanna, Auriel, Valla, Lucio vs Hogger, Varian, Anduin, Chromie, Li Ming
This game started off really well for HotS Tuah, but then 10’s hit. And Level 10 meant one thing: High Five. Chromie tried for a Temporal Loop? High Five. Varian Landed a Taunt? High Five. Anduin Hit with a Light Bomb? High Five. Oh, now it wasn’t one sided. Maximum Thrust did push too far into HotS Tuah’s base and got wiped, but the death timers were short enough that they were able to come back before the Tuahns could make much headway on the map and, it seemed, HotS Tuah just had a terrible time trying to advance when literally every engage tool they had was getting shut down by one hero.
Game 3: Cursed Hollow
Cho, Gall, Auriel, Gul’dan, Hogger vs Tychus, Johanna, Nazeebro, Tyreal, Brightwing
What HAPPENED in this draft? LOL! I gotta admire Maximum Thrust’s Moxxy here. They took Cho’gall on a map you’re not supposed to (A massive three lane map where the team has to split apart) into a hero you’re not supposed to (Tychus) and they looked really good for the first part of the game. I am surprised that Aurial didn’t go for Resurrection with this comp but, at the same time, Tychus didn’t go for The Bigger They Are. In the end, Tyreal’s Sactification played a great role in blunting Maximum Thrust’s attacks and made it impossible to interrupt the tribute collections and an invulnerable tychus absolutely reaked havoc on both Hogger and Tychus.
Ginormous Jaegers vs Bad Rats
Game 1: Sky Temple
Zagara, Garrosh, Cassia, Brightwing, Dehaka vs Azmodan, Anub’arak, Tyrael, Morales, Greymane
Okay, first of all, people – please be on the correct sides of the lobby. I spent like the WHOLE match thinking Bad Rats was the Tyreal Team since you are listed as the away team on the schedule! That said… Ginormous you cheeky punks! I know what I think of when I see a Tyreal and a Morales on the enemy team and you all absolutely did not disappoint. That said, I feel like the execution may have been a bit off. On this map I would have expected to see an all in on top temple to start to get a fort down, then at 10 you can start medivac shinanigans. Without a fort down, you ended up trying to get a fort AND a keep down against an opponent that could mass taunt, maw, and stab through your whole team. Bloody.
Game 2: Towers of Doom
D.Va, Stukov, Sylvanas, Mei, Falstad vs Malfurion, Tychus, Medivh, Varian, Leoric
Bad Rats are a good team. This game was largely a game of Sylvanas. That hero allowed the rats to push under enemy towers and take kills when they really shouldn’t be possible, she acted as both a counter-engage with her Silencing Arrow, and she was able to side push to dread effect as Ginormous tried to prevent sappers from coming in. While Ogel’s Medivh saved a ton of people from being killed, he was delayed in finishing his quest by the unrelenting aggression of the rats and that stole a lot of kill pressure from the Jaegers