By Ruglord
Points Donation Squad comes from behind to secure their first win of the season 2-1 against Came From Behind!
Game 1 was a pretty comfortable victory for Came From Behind, who kept ahead for pretty much the entire game. Junkrat boops were an absolute menace early, and late game the Auriel healing was just insane. I actually like PDS’ draft a bit more here but Came From Behind was just too clean at defusing PDS kill power.
Game 2 was, for the most part, looking like Game 1. CMB showed off their Junkrat + Auriel core once more and it still absolutely took names. At level 20, however, the game absolutely devolved into the funniest revive fests I’ve ever seen? You kil anyone on CMB? Level 20 res. You kill Malthael? Level 20 rez. ETC even had Death Mosh for more trait value. Even Rip Tire was coming back for seconds and thirds. I think if a Diablo and Leoric were played this game probably would’ve never ended, especially with Auriel casting 20 man ancestrals every 4 seconds.
A big factor in PDS late game plan was Wind Tunnel, the classic game changer. A lot of them were defensive and did little more than secure a boss that would do next to 0 siege damage. But more importantly, it kept PDS in the game long enough for them to finally start winning team fights until an Anub flank + wind tunnel won the game. There was one very difficult moment where CMB may have been able to end, but they would’ve had to win a 3v2 on core without lane pressure. Definitely a very tough call to make.
Game 3 CMB busted out a BEASTLY comp, composed of Sonya, ETC, Greymane, Malfurion, and Medivh. On paper, I actually love this comp. You have macro, both camp and wave clear, in Greymane so your Medivh’s lack of wave clear is somewhat compensated for, plus ETC’s wave clear is not bad post 7. Malfurion also covers the sustain damage aspect of healing while Medivh covers the burst. PDS even had a pretty bursty comp with Anub + KTZ. But it was PDS that held the reigns most of the game and I think it highlighted just how hard Medivh is to play. You have to be very clean with your macro since you have a hard time splitting up thanks to what is basically a double support comp and I think PDS did a good job exploiting that, ultimately going up much more structures, starting wiht an early top fort claim. PDS did have a really good chance to get into the game again late game where a great leap claimed 4 of PDS. But then instead of pushing bottom as 5, they opted for boss, in a lane where PDS still had a fort. I genuinely think at that point, they had to go for not just bottom keep but also core. If you don’t feel comfortable going for core, you gotta at least get the bottom keep to reestablish lane pressure somewhere.
I am also kind of curious if Medivh actually counters Kel’thuzad. If KTZ chains 2 people, pre-13, Medivh can only choose one to protect and I don’t know how happy he is taking the +2 second CD for the AOE protect. Kind of interesting!
Points Donation Squad also secure a 2-0 against Can’t Pause Wont Pause.
Game 1 was on Alterac and I think PDS just walked away with a better draft here. Deckard into Anub is usually very difficult since he doesn’t really have any way to save someone in that situation and Anub usually wants faster fights. Even ETC and Hogger on PWP’s side was tough since they are both very squishy, which further compounds the issue. The only thing I think PDS could’ve done better is not drafting Zagara, who deals as much burst as a mattress. But Hanzo and Leap Sonya were enough.
Game 2 was on Shrines and CPWP busted out a pretty cool double support with Auriel, Tyrande, and Valla, with Xul to over their macro. I feel like I’m saying this a lot every time I see a double support/Medivh draft lately but it’s always cool on paper to see these kinds of drafts until I have to actually watch the game. Double support just requires you to be so clean and play differently. You have to be able to macro without ever splitting your 4 man, which means not only does your 4 man have to be very efficient, your offlaner also has to never die when split. A good example is the first objective, where Xul simply couldn’t stop BW + Greymane giving objective for free push. Tbf, there’s not many offlaners who can, but it’s extra punishing with double support because you can’t rotate a 2nd dps down here like you can with solo support. I’m not even sure what CPWP should’ve done here to be honest. To make matters worse, CPWP wasn’t even winning the team fights, which is what their comp is made to do. They don’t have a real cleanse until 16 despite having two supports and somehow they were getting chunked out in the last fight, despite again, having two supports. I can’t say exactly what went wrong this game, but the more I see double support this season, the more convinced I am it’s a bait unless you REALLY know how to play it.
Came From Behind took it 2-0 over Fancy Flightless Fowl.
Game 1 was on Braxis, I think one of the few Braxis games I’ve analyzed all season. I’m ngl, I am not a fan of FFF picking Stitches nor Nazeebo on this map due to the early game emphasis. Leoric is also not my favorite in terms of generically safe offlaners to last pick especially when one of his hardest matchups, Fenix, has already been picked. I actually think CFB baited themselves by waiting for last pick and choosing Samuro to counter the Leo even harder. Yeah, Samuro into Leo is probably one of the hardest matchups in the game, but with Fenix I actually think they should’ve drafted a more generically good, team fight offlaner since Samuro is so hard to use in actual 5v5s. Perhaps not too surprisingly, FFF’s early game was miserable, losing all their non-core buildings at the 14.5 minute mark, which, given that the game went on for another 11 minutes, means they had 0 buildings for over 40% of the game. But that’s the thing, the game did go on for another 10 minutes ending at level 23, and in those minutes, FFF got a LOT of mileage. After all their comp is INSANELY late game stacked. I would still say it’s a risky strategy, since with no buildings, you only have to mess up one while your opponents get to mess up a couple times (in fact, once FFF got enough kills to get a late game boss, only to not even get a fort with it) and that’s pretty much what happened. FFF landed a LOT of great hooks and entombs late game but they were unable to convert their victories into an actual win. Eventually CFB won a late game fight and the game, which honestly felt like a fluke given how much they had been losing since level 16. But that’s exactly the risk with late game comps, your opponent only needs to win once, you have to constantly win once you hit your powerspikes.
Game 2 was on Volskaya and FFF busted out the Cho’gall, Auriel, Smash Varian comp, with a Falstad to round it out. I actually really love this draft, as the late game potential is through the roof and it’s Volskaya so the late game is really like half the map. However, Ana. I’m not even fully convinced Tychus or Malthael actually counter Cho’gall (definitely unconvinced on Tychus) but anti-heal into a comp that is basically double support at level 20? That’ll do it. Tbf, I think if FFF took very fast fights, they could’ve taken it over CMB’s squishier composition, but it would’ve had to be very coordinated.
Under Newb Management took it 2-0 over gillyShark at !Bingo night.
Game 1 was on Braxis and I really loved the globes draft gillyShark pulled with Alex, Diablo, and Mephisto. I do think the early diablo pick was well punished by UNM though with the instant Garrosh + Tychus lock. Even then, I think gillyShark is very strong in teamfights, if they can survive the initial blowup from Garrosh. Globes Mephisto is just something else, and Dragon can help you brute force your way through some tough matchups. In top lane, gillyShark took Rexxar and UNM responded with Zagara. In my experience, this is probably winnable for Zagara but having a bear is just so nice and I don’t think UNM got much mileage out of the Zag pick. I think people generally play way too hard into the offlane on Braxis. If either team had taken a Genji or Fenix or someone who can rotate easily top, the game is completely different. I think people force the 4-1 way too much, when really there’s actually quite a few ways you can draft Braxis. Typically, a 2vs1 is a harder stomp than a 4vs3, so a good 3-2 comp should win against a 4-1.
Anyway, this game was mostly in gillyShark’s favor, but a single good late game fight gave UNM the momentum to grab boss and zerg, albeit not at the same time which meant gillyShark probably could’ve defended. That is, unless they lose 3 members defending a fort 4v5. I think they really would’ve won the late game if they had defended the push but an incredible 2 man maw + a pick on Diablo was just too much. gillyShark had to cut their losses and defend at their keep wall there. That fort was dead no matter what.
Game 2 featured 3 globals, which meant that if you didn’t tell me the map, I would’ve guessed Garden or Cursed. But actually it was Tomb. Not that globals are bad, as Dehaka and Falstad are certainly solid. and I LOVE the offlane ETC from UNM, which is a seriously underutilized anti-dehaka tech. But the biggest factor in this game I felt was gillyShark’s lack of a cleanse. The early commit to Stukov was honestly very surprising to me given that ETC and Chromie had already been shown; temporal loop alone is a potential death sentence if you have no cleanse. Anub pick later in the game sealed the deal. I don’t really think Stukov is a healer you can pick that early. He can be absolutely oppressive in the right hands but also so brutally punished.
Gen.M Esports flipped it over Spooky Ghosts in a 2-0 fashion.
Game 1 featured one of my favorite dynamics in the game: GenM’s Varian into Ghosts’ Garrosh. It’s a classic Alliance vs Horde dynamic and on paper, I always feel like it’s Garrosh favored. Not only can he cleanse Varian’s engage, he can even flip it (literally) into his own engage, potentially putting Varian in trouble and even cleanse his teammates, one of the few tanks to be able to do so. But in practice, I’ve always found Varian the victor, as his pick style often times leads to a lot of Garrosh deaths. And that’s what happened here. With Tyrande and Tychus, you would not want to be anywhere near that Varian, even if you are Garrosh. With Leoric and Tassadar rounding out the roster, even Lucio couldn’t save Garrosh a lot of times because you can’t cleanse a wall. The game was in GenM’s hands the whole time, not even dropping a building.
Game 2 was on Dragon Shire, and draft wise, I actually like the Ghosts a lot more. Their Genji + Anduin combo is deadly especially into the backline of Junkrat + Zagara. GenM’s Rehgar can save one of them but he has quite low range and can often find himself on the receiving end of the bomb. Plus I just don’t super like the double poke of Junk + Zagara. But in the end, it was GenM that would win again, quite effortlessly. Spooky Ghosts had some moments, including a cheeky Dragon capture that would secure their first fort of the game, but by then they had already lost almost all their own forts and a couple team members in a prior fight. Honestly, I think the best way I can describe this game, is I felt that Spooky Ghosts was just not confident. Even against the CC chain of Varian + Tyrande, they had ferocity, often attempting to strike back at another member of GenM to force a trade. Here, they often times were stuck running away. I think I saw genuinely one light bomb Genji combo connect. There was one moment where Spooky Ghosts was actually up numbers bottom lane, and GenM was slightly overextended. They popped light bomb, which was awesome, but the Genji hesitated just a nanosecond too long to actually pull the trigger and as soon as it started, the engage window was over. Dehaka I think also could’ve asserted his dominance over Leoric a bit top lane; it’s not the freest matchup in the world, but post 7, Dehaka is a real threat even to a Leo that lands his spooky hand. It really seemed like Game 1 took a lot out of Spooky Ghosts, at least that’s my analysis based on their play without access to their comms. It seems to me like they had all the tools for success, but were never able to actually put them to use.
Finally, Crit Kickers took it 2-0 over Magnitude: Epicenter.
I’ve seen quite a few Auriels this week and I think there’s a couple interesting takeaways from when to draft her. Yes she has a panic save with Aegis, but it’s a long CD that also statises your target, so it may not even save them. So if you want to pick her, you need to be able to take slow fights and ensure that your opponent can’t take fast fights. With Anub + Tychus + liming + Leap Sonya, all Crit Kickers want is fast fights: they want to stun + damage + kill anyone they go on. Dehaka and Varian for Epicenter are certainly not bad frontliners to have but as soon as Aegis goes down, all bets are off. Epicenter certainly had much of the early game (and some insane Fears!) but the eventual bottom tower claim from Crit Kickers swung the game in their favor and ultimately brought them the victory.
Game 2 was a pretty comfortable victory for Crit Kickers, who didn’t even drop a single building. It’s not too hard to see why: Falstad is a lategame monster while Leoric doesn’t even need late game into Epicenter’s draft of Tychus, Auriel, Garrosh, Chen, and Nazeebo, none of whom can leave Entomb (maybe Chen I guess). I really like Auriel on Volskaya but I think not only does the rest of Epicenter’s draft want faster fights, but also she lacks the CC a Garrosh may want. It’s also just hard to get engages into Johanna and Leoric on the side of Crit Kickers, who even had gust for the emergency disengage.