By Kurama
Division D West:
Cream Team versus Phoenix Rising Amethyst (Kurama’s pick Cream Team 2-1, actual outcome PRA 2-1).
Game 1 – Tomb of the Spider Queen: We see a standard single target blow up composition from PRA here involving Stukov and Varian combo. PRA brought the burst with this making life hard on Cream Team’s Malfurion. Securing early game kills with taunt leads to PRA getting a back-to-back turn in to kick things off, opening up the map and giving them control. Some very nice play this game from Varian to stay out of vision and charge in with taunt at the most opportune moments. This was a decisive victory for PRA, but it wasn’t all bad for Cream Team. Cream Team displayed some strong counter engage with Garrosh taunts to turn on the Varian. Slowing sands from Chromie alongside Malfurion root proved to be a strong combination. Hogger was doing well into a losing match up in the offlane. My game 1 MVP goes to Varian.
Game 2: – Towers of Doom: Here we see a draft of Greymane, Orphea, Thrall, Blaze, and LiLi on the side of Cream Team into a Rehgar, Dehaka, Tracer, Valla, and Johanna on the side of PRA. My initial thought was that PRA has a better double soaker and with global threat should be able to apply significant pressure to Cream Team; however, Cream Team has a more well-rounded team fight with easy to land CC chain between Thrall and Blaze which will empower Orphea and allow Greymane to jump into secure kills. The Lili caught me off guard, but into the damage pairing of Valla and Tracer it makes sense. We see some very gutsy invades on the side of Cream Team taking PRAs sapper camp away while fighting down 3v4 with threat of Dehaka dig making it a 3v5. Not sure how this one worked out, but the second time around they were punished by Dehaka digging in and PRA getting some kills. This game felt like it came down to a battle of tank versus healer. Blaze landing some incredible stuns, and great cleanses from Rehgar. In the end the stronger team fight of Cream Team prevailed. My game 2 MVP goes to Blaze.
Game 3: Infernal Shrines: Here we see Cream Team picking up Anduin, Johanna, Hanzo, Tracer, and Sonya into PRAs draft of Varian, BW, Greymane, Hogger, and Chromie. My initial thought here was that Tracer is going to have a rough game, and again we see taunt coming into play from PRA. Shrine clear seems balanced between Hogger and Sonya, but with Greymane and Chromie the edge is in favor of PRA. I was wondering if Johanna would go falling sword this game to combo with Anduin lightbomb and provide team with a cleanse, I think if Cream Team plays that combo with a follow-up Hanzo stun and Sonya leap that things might have gone a little better for them. Instead, we saw blessed shield alongside lightbomb which is still strong engage, but results in lesser ability to save taunted target. This game felt fairly even throughout with PRA emerging the victor. My game 3 MVP goes to Brightwing.
Cats on my Keyboard versus Habitual Line Steppers (Kurama’s pick ComK 2-0, actual outcome HLS 2-1).
Game 1 – Alterac Pass: Here we see HLS drafting a strong composition for the map with Tassadar, Greymane, Anduin, Blaze, and Anub’arak. We see ComK with a draft of Chromie, Rehgar, Muradin, Lunara, and Sonya. While ComK can stall obj for a long time with Chromie, the overall macro pressure from ComK is weaker. HLS checks all the boxes with strong camp take from Greymane, and great wave clear from Tassadar and Blaze. The draft from ComK is definitely higher burden of execution. We see the game start with HLS exerting dominance, but ComK hangs in there and forces a long game. We see Chromie save the game not once, but twice. Ultimately HLS would prevail. This game left me with a lot of questions, mainly surrounding some peculiar talent choices that may have made the gamer harder than it needed to be for ComK. We see Lunara elect for Nature’s Perspective at level 1 over the vision wisp. I think vision to scout rotations and keep an eye on objective may have been helpful, especially with the threat of Anub’arak back cap with beetles. Lunara then goes into siphoning toxin and level 4 and wild vigor at level 7. This build continues into full auto-attack with level 13 and 16 talents. While this can be good and applies a lot of pressure to tanks, it seems sub optimal as the draft from ComK is all about bursting down a target. I would have liked to see Choking Pollen at level 7 from Lunara to provide that kill secure. Furthermore, I did some pondering around the Sonya talents as it seemed the build lack a bit of talent synergy. Lastly, we see Chromie elect for time loop into the defenses of Anduin leap of faith, Blaze bunker, and Anub’arak burrow charge. I think the slowing sands goes a long way around the objectives here and probably gets more value this game. My game 1 MVP goes to Anduin for the strong counter engage from lightbomb and some clutch pulls.
Game 2 – Towers of Doom: Here we see ComK electing to play the Anduin, alongside Muradin and Sonya which are both great lightbomb targets. Damage paring is Tassadar and Lunara which again provides great burst damage. On the side of HLS, we see Chromie, Malfurion, Dehaka, Greymane, and Garrosh. My initial thought here is that Garrosh will have a rough time getting engages into Tass walls and Lunara slows. The Dehaka global will need to be utilized to create some advantage in team fight situations. Chromie with slowing sands and Malfurion root can be very strong especially when a Dehaka can drag them back into it, or a Garrosh can throw them into it. This game again left me with questions about some talent choices. We see Lunara elect for auto-attack focus again, but team comp is screaming “we want burst”. The sustained damage from Lunara is okay, but HLS has a Malfurion that can easily heal up sustained damage. I think playing burst on Lunara makes this game significantly harder for HLS. On the side of HLS, we see time loop from Chromie, which again had me puzzled as ComK now has the Anduin pull. This game went back and forth with both teams getting low on core health; however, the Anduin lightbomb combo with Muradin and follow-up leaps from Sonya were too much for HLS to overcome. My MVP for game 2 goes to Anduin.
Game 3 – Volskaya Foundry: Here we see ComK deviate from the Lunara pick and go into Rehgar, Jaina, Tychus, Diablo, and Sonya. On the side of HLS, we see Tyrande, Blaze, Muradin, Tassadar, and Maiev. My initial thoughts here is that HLS has very strong crowd control with some nice combos. The Maiev pull into Blaze Stun, followed by Tyrande stun is very dangerous when you have the Tassadar burst to follow and a wall to prevent escapes. On the side of ComK we see heavy dive coming from Rehgar, Sonya, and Diablo, but damage that is relatively short range in the form of Jaina and Tychus, perhaps there were some better DPS options that fit the draft identity. I felt HLS had the better draft here and they showed it with a dominate performance. HLS imposed their will on ComK and secured an early keep in the top lane and would go on to win this map and series. My MVP for Game 3 goes to Tassadar.
COSMOS versus Trial by Annihilation (Kurama’s pick COSMOS 2-0, actual outcome COSMOS 2-0).
Game 1 – Infernal Shrines: Here we see TBA coming out with the standard Stukov and Varian combo; however, COSMOS said “NO” and brought out an amazing counter with the Medivh pick. COSMOS draft here included Sonya, Medivh, Johanna, Rehgar, and Tassadar. From TBA we see Leoric, Stukov, Tychus, Varian, and Nazeebo. The Nazeebo is a nice addition as the zombie wall to lock the taunt target into silence is nice, but again COSMOS brings the Medivh protect, alongside a Rehgar cleanse and ancestral heal that just shuts down everything TBA is trying to accomplish. Medivh did an excellent job providing vision and tracking Varian, each taunt was met with counter play from COSMOS. Sonya, despite having what is considered a losing match, showed some dominance in the offlane and created a lot of space for COSMOS. Additionally, the Sonya leaps resulted in very quick and decisive team fights. Overall, there was great play on the part of several players. We got to see the Medivh counter, some amazing cleanses from Rehgar and even aggressive use of purge to secure kills. My game 1 MVP goes to Sonya though as the leaps were the decisive factor in team fights leading COSMOS to a dominate victory in game 1.
Game 2 – Sky Temple: Here we see another counter draft coming from the side of COSMOS. TBA went into ETC, Jaina, Leoric, Valla, and Anduin which appears very strong; however, COSMOS elected Dehaka, Johanna, Rehgar, Kael’thas, and Zeratul. Zeratul proved impactful by harassing the backline of TBA often preventing them from following up on engagements from ETC. The Dehaka global allowed COSMOS to take fights with personnel advantage, and the durability of Johanna and Rehgar allowed fights to be prolonged. Analyzing COSMOS draft as a scaling comp, I would have liked to see more aggressive plays from TBA early on before the Zeratul came fully online. This game we got to see some great Dehaka digs as well often emerging and immediately landing a drag that secured a kill. There was one fight late in the game near COMSOS top keep that seemed like a strong fight for TBA; however, the Zeratul harass on Anduin and Jaina bought enough time for a clutch ancestral to turn the fight. Zeratul would fall, but not without taking both Anduin and Jaina with him, which would ultimately lead to COMSOS securing victory. My game 2 MVP goes to Zeratul.
Division D East:
Crimson Cyber Squad versus Wait Till 10 (Kurama’s pick WT10 2-0, actual outcome CCS 2-0).
Game 1 – Infernal Shrines: Here we see CCS with Tassadar, Malthael, Tychus, Anduin, and Muradin. On the side of WT10 we see Brightwing, Falstad, Gazlowe, Orphea, and Johanna. Both drafts appear to be very strong here. CCS has the lightbomb engage with Muradin. CCS has a comp that says, “I want to kill your tank”. Very strong for front to back focus. WT10 has a draft that has strong counter engage with Gazlowe grav bomb, and Falstad gust. In game though we see Falstad elect for Hinterlands Blast, which I think may have made the game that much harder for WT10. It felt that WT10 was still trying to find their groove. We see a slight misplay around the first objective where WT10 takes their bruiser camp second, but Falstad immediately flies to obj, and BW follows, leaving Gazlowe top lane clearing the opposing bruiser. First, off WT10 bruiser camp will win out in that lane due to being capped second as the CCS camp is pushed up, so the fort of WT10 aids in clearing and ends up pushing that lane in favor of WT10 without the need to commit a hero there for clear. Furthermore, if you’re going to leave a hero there for clear, then leaving a global behind would make more sense. WT10 continued to fight throughout this game, and it felt like they were going to win. The Gazlowe combos were extremely impactful. However, the game came down to a fight around an object at 29 minutes in, and without Falstad gust there was nothing to stop the lightbomb engage with Muradin dwarf toss. We see this resulting in a fight on last objective that results in Falstad being picked off early, and CCS capitalizing with the victory. Had wind tunnel been there, perhaps that fight has a very different outcome. My MVP for game 1 goes to Tychus.
Game 2 – Tomb of the Spider Queen: Here we see very good zone control and displacement coming from the draft of CCS. They have Junkrat, Blaze, Garrosh, Brightwing, and Falstad. On the side of WT10 we have Auriel, Lunara, Leoric, KT, and Muradin. Seeing these drafts I immediately felt that CCS has a better rotational advantage and can utilize Garrosh to punish WT10. Similar to my comments on the Lunara pick in the set between ComK and HLS, we see Lunara going into Nature’s perspective at level 1. I think that vision wisp would have been more valuable to track Garrosh movements, and to aid in making rotations. We do see Lunara go for burst at level 7 here with Choking Pollen; however, we do not see leap at level 10 from Lunara which makes securing a kill difficult. I would have like to see leap if not only for escape in event of Garrosh toss, but also for that additional burst and kill secure. This game ultimately snowballed in favor of CCS with Garrosh putting on a clinic and with Brightwing polymorph follow-up there wasn’t much WT10 could do. My game 2 MVP goes to Garrosh.
30 Seconds to Mosh versus Out of Pocket (Kurama’s pick 30STM 2-0, actual outcome 30STM 2-1).
Game 1 – Volskaya Foundry: I like 30STM draft here with Anduin, Deathwing, Tychus, Muradin, and Leoric, there is a lot of good setups to maximize the Deathwing damage. From OOP we see Lili, Qhira, Nazeebo, Rexxar, and Blaze. I will admit, I’m a bit confused on the Lili pick here. I felt the Nazeebo provides good pressure to Deathwing and if allowed to scale will become a dominate force in the late game. This game felt very back and forth; however, 30STM got behind on the map and did not deal well with the catapult pressure from OOP. We see several amazing silence entombs, but the damage from 30STM was not well focused and often these entombs did not result in kills. OOP was able to hang in there and come out with the victory. My game 1 MVP goes to Leoric despite the loss as Leoric did well to apply macro pressure and the silence entombs were extremely good. If 30STM can clean up the focus and capitalize on those plays, this game might have taken a different turn.
Game 2 – Battlefield of Eternity: Here we see strong race being drafted by both teams. On the side we of 30STM we have Li-Ming, Hanzo, and Sonya for race, alongside Blaze and Anduin. On the side of OOP, we have Artanis and Raynor for race, alongside Tychus, Rehgar, and Anub’arak. I felt that the damage pairing from OOP would be fairly easy for Anduin to deal with, and with the Sonya leap engage and Hanzo stun at 10, I felt the draft heavily favored 30STM. Once in game though we do not see stun arrow from Hanzo, but given that Li-Ming built into race and not calamity the dragon strike makes sense as it is a powerful zoning tool on the map, and still provides good follow-up to lightbomb engage with leap. This game was a decisive victory for 30STM with Blaze leading the way with some amazing stuns. My game 2 MVP goes to Blaze.
Game 3 – Infernal Shrines: Here we see 30STM go back to the Deathwing, and get the Anduin, Sonya, Anub’arak, and Tychus to go with it. On the side of OOP, we see the Lili again, alongside Dehaka, Gul’dan, KT, and Garrosh. My initial thought here is that Garrosh will have a rough time as Deathwing makes getting throws difficult. Additionally, the Anduin pull, and Anub’arak escape make locking a target down difficult. I felt the Lili healing would struggle into the damage output from 30STM, especially once lightbomb with leap combo comes online. The Anub’arak stuns to keep them there and Deathwing fire to follow-up. Early on we see 30STM abuse their Deathwing presence to secure camps, but during first objective Anub’arak doesn’t play patient and dives in allowing Garrosh to then punish him. Anub’arak would adjust as the game progressed and with the strong engagement of lightbomb and leap 30STM would cruise to victory. My game 3 MVP goes to Anduin.
FHK Marry Kill versus YCMYCCaST (Kurama’s pick FHKMK 2-1, actual outcome FHKMK 2-0)
Game 1 – Garden of Terror: Here we see FHKMK going for Rehgar, Kael’thas, Dehaka, Valla, and Muradin. On the side of YCMYCCaST we see Anub’arak, Artanis, Lunara, Lucio, and Tassadar. I initially like the draft of YCMYCCaST better here with fast rotations from Lucio, strong burst follow-up on Anub’arak engage from Tassadar and Lunara, and good camp take/clear from Lunara and Artanis. FHKMK has good map pressure as well with Dehaka global, and Rehgar for camps, but feels more team fight focused rather than playing to the map. Ultimately FHKMK needs to take fast fights otherwise Lucio will become a major problem. Early on we see YCMYCCaST get out to an early lead and appear to be dominating. FHKMK was struggling to find focus, resulting in several members of YCMYCCaST getting low, but not falling, and Lucio being super annoying. As the game progressed, focus became better and individual skill on the side of FHKMK began to shine. We see Valla outplay the Lunara around bottom objective and barely surviving. The Rehgar ancestral heals turned what appeared to be losing fights into winning fights very quickly. This resulted in a comeback victory from FHK. My game 1 MVP goes to Rehgar.
Game 2 – Tomb of the Spider Queen: Here we see FHKMK going with a globe composition in the form of Alexstrazsa and Stiches. They round out this draft with Valla, Chromie, and Thrall. On the side of YCMYCCaST we see Johanna, Lucio, Fenix, Greymane, and Kael’thas. I like the draft of YCMYCCaST as the burden of execution is lower, they have Johanna on Tomb, and lots of damage. FHKMK is playing around hooks, and YCMYCCaST has good escapes on all heroes except for KT. YCMYCCaST should also have rotational advantage as wave clear is in their favor. Once again, this game came down to FHKMK having better micro play. Even though behind on the map for a large portion of the game, they were getting the kills they needed. We see time loop being used to great effect by not allowing a gorged target to escape. We see some amazing plays form Thrall with the use of sunder. It did surprise me a little to see “backline” Stiches over “frontline” Stiches in that I would have expected Stiches to be Bile and in the face of YCMYCCaST a lot due to the extra health and move speed from the globe stacking. I felt with Stiches playing gorge that the Alexstrazsa probably wasn’t needed; however, the life-binder did get some really good value, and lead to a winning boss fight that turned the game. My game 2 MVP goes to Chromie.
With the recap complete it is time for the updated power rankings to move into Week 2 of Season 20.
Division D West:
- COSMOS – COSMOS has a dominate victory in week 1 and showed some intellect in draft with some clutch counter picks that shutdown their opponents plan. They looked in top form and are a force to be reckoned with.,
- Cats on my Keyboard – Despite the loss to Habitual Line Steppers, I’m keeping them at the number 2 spot for now. ComK was without two of their key members (Ghost and Apple). I feel this had an impact on the outcome, and given what I know about Ghost, I’d have expected a different outcome if he were playing. No discredit to HLS though, they played a strong set and pulled off the upset.,
- Phoenix Rising Amethyst – PRA managed to secure a victory over Cream Team in week 1 and looked strong in all three games.,
- Habitual Line Steppers – HLS moves up this week after securing a 2-1 win over ComK. They made some good plays and had a dominant performance from Garrosh.,
- Cream Team – they are still largely unknown after only seeing one NGS set from them. They put up a good fight against PRA, and showed they are here to compete.,
- Trial By Annihilation – They faced arguably the toughest opponent in week 1, they remain at number 6, but there is nowhere else to go but up from here.
Division D East:
- 30 Seconds to Mosh – This team pulled out a 2-1 victory over Out of Pocket and had a strong showing in the game they lost. I’m keeping them at number 1 for now.,
- FHK Marry Kill – they pulled off a 2-0 domination against YCMYCCaST; however, the wins were a bit shaky starting off with YCMYCCaST controlling the early game. As FHKMK scaled into the late game the induvial micro mechanics began to result in the game turning in their favor. This team is still relatively unknown and having some roster changes prior to season start made me skeptical, but it appears they will be a strong force this season.,
- Out of Pocket – moves up after taking a game off 30 Seconds to Mosh. They played a competitive series.,
- Crimson Cyber Squad – moving up from 6 to number 4 after a big upset against Wait Till 10. They played well and proved that they can hang with these teams.,
- YCMYCCaST – moves down after losing 0-2 to FHKMK, we saw a strong early game, but the team began to fall apart in the later stages. Will be interesting to see how they bounce back in week 2.,
- Wait Till 10 – moves down after falling 0-2 to CCS. It appears that WT10 is still finding their groove after several seasons apart.
Kurama’s Pick ‘em for Week 2:
Phoenix Rising Amethyst versus COSMOS: (COSMOS, 2-0) Habitual Line Steppers versus Cream Team: (Habitual Line Steppers, 2-1) Trial by Annihilation versus Cats On My Keyboard: (Cats On My Keyboard, 2-0) YCMYCCaST versus Wait Till 10: (YCMYCCaST, 2-1) 30 Seconds to Mosh versus F.H.K. Marry Kill: (30 Seconds to Mosh, 2-1) Crimson Cyber Squad versus Out of Pocket: (Out of Pocket, 2-1)