Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: EW vs SpNv

3:35GMT: Well, last round (Vibe/Meow) was a bust. Pretty much the most disappointing match I've seen all day. I had good hopes for that one because, you know, those teams aren't very far apart. But connectivity problems sunk game one. And game two was a steamroll. I don't really have good expectations for this match, either. Although, at least, maybe I can see some wacky Asian tech.

Oh well, let's get to it, shall we?

3:41GMT: I am getting tired here. Loaded the second game by mistake and spend five minutes watching it before I realized. Still, I will gladly suffer for the sake of the two or three people who regularly read my blog. Just remember, I'm doing this for you.

3:45GMT: Ingesting caffeine. Let's try that again, shall we?

Match One - Game One
#1 Esoteric Warriors vs #16 Supernova Jpn
Corrupted Isle

EW
W/A - YAA
R/Mo - BA (Yes, that's Burning not Broad Head)
D/A - Melandru's.
Me/E - Um, it's got Diversion and Gale? Probably a useless Expel Hexes sitting on that bar.
E/Mo - SF
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB split Monk


SpNv
W/D - D-Slash
W/E - Eviscerate Shock/Axe
P/Me - Shatterstorm with Glowing Signet, They're On Fire!
E/Me - Mind blast with Mark of Rodgort's and a ward
E/Me - SF with Hex Breaker
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB runner

From [EW] it's a good old fashioned 5/3 split. And from [SpNv], well, I wanted some wild Asian tech. I don't think I've seen Shatterstone run in a long, long time.

3:50GMT: I'm going to do something wacky here and actually finish looking at the builds before I actually start watching, you know, the match. It's innovative thinking like this that's gotten me where I am today.

3:53GMT: The Dervish is running the flag here. That's interesting because it's something we stumbled on in OoX and it seems to work well. With Melandru's up you're hard to snare and spike down. With a dedicated split you don't have to worry so much about defending the base so much as being able to survive running the flag in.

3:55GMT: Hmm, because of their split, [EW]'s doing a lot of running by committee. Interesting.

4:05GMT: Hey, it's been over 12 hours of GW watching for me. /wrists!

Anyhow, let's take it from the top one more time. From semi-paying attention the first time around, I know there are very few deaths in this match and it goes to VoD. So, the important parts to pay attention to are the splits.

4:10GMT: As you might expect with a 5/3 build, [EW] splits off 3. They're soon to the side gate. [SpNv] has their ZB runner back and it's soon joined by the Dragon Slasher. Using their NPCs, it's a pretty fair fight. But [EW]'s Ranger is pro and manages to degen those NPCs away under the Monk's nose. This is fight [SpNv]'s losing although you can't tell from the morale chart.

4:11GMT: Although I guess you could tell from that newfangled "Party Status" chart. Whatever.

4:12GMT: Splits stalled at the back gate, by the way.

4:14GMT: Meanwhile, even though they're fighting 6 on 5 at the flagstand, [SpNv] isn't making much progress there either.

4:16GMT: [EW]'s just sent their Dervish to help out on the split. [SpNv] is forced to retreat a bit and giving that ground lets [EW] get inside the base far enough to work the rest of the outer NPCs.

4:18GMT: The split's broken up and is runnig a big circle around the base, taking down NPCs as they go.

4:19GMT: [SpNv]'s sent back another Monk. Hasn't really hurt them at the flagstand but it was a late response and [EW]'s managed to work down a few more NPCs. At this poitn the Ranger is off doing his own thing, stalled by one Monk, while another Monk is frantically trying to outheal a Dervish and a sword Warrior.

4:22GMT: That's it, Supernova's base is clear of all the NPCs except the ones ringing the Lord. The Warrior's base, on the other hand, hasn't been touched.

4:23GMT: The flagstand team is pushing into [EW]'s front gate. But they've taken heavy losses at their own. The Dervish leaves the enemy's base through the front gate and meets up with the main team. They push back out but too late to prevent Supernova from boosting.

4:25GMT: Well, since I know this is headed to VoD, I know how this is going to go. You know who's died so far? Two people on [EW]. You know why that doesn't matter? Because they've got an overwhelming NPC advantage and if they can string this match out to VoD the match is theirs. You'd think [SpNv]'s AoE might be enough to put a dent in those NPCs but, really, they can't put a big enough dent in [EW]'s defenses. This might be a different story if they were rolling them up and getting kill after kill but with the morale this even, those NPCs just give [EW] too much of a tactical advantage to overcome. It's still six minutes to VoD and you know, if I were playing I wouldn't take it for granted (Especially as OoX has this knack for, well, blowing any and all advantages at VoD. It's uncanny, really.) but this game is over.


Match One - Game Two
#1 Esoteric Warriors vs #16 Supernova Jpn
Isle of Jade

EW
W/A - Backbreaker
D/A - Melandru's
P/Mo - Cruel Spear. Really heavy on the attacks because she's slinging Spear of Lightning, Blazing, and Harrier's. There's Aggressive but I've yet to notice a shout to keep it running.
Rt/Mo - Weapon of Fury Rit (awesome) with Splinter Weapon
Me/N - MoR Diversion spammer
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB runner

SpNv
W/N - D-Slash
W/A - Dev Hammer
D/W - Melandru's
Rt/Me - Weapon of Fury Rit
P/W - Crippling Anthem
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Me/A - Runner with MoR

Pretty similar builds here, generally speaking. Mirror matches like this where the secondaries are jumbled up is always fun to see.

4:33GMT: Okay, here's a question. Why do people use Warying Strike when Melandru's is down? I mean, this is not the occasional misclick or a last-ditch burst of damage to down a weakened target. This is something that happens all the time when I spy on Melly Dervs.

4:38GMT: Seeing two Weapon of Fury Ritualists makes me happy. I'm just saying is all.

4:45GMT: Okay, I've finished looking at the builds. I'm not even going to bother with watchign this match again because let me tell you how it went. [EW] loaded in, waited patiently for the gates to open, then proceeded to beat [SpNv] like they owed them money. This was just so completely crushing a beat down my ass is sore by association. I'm still stunned it wasn't a flawless but the morale chart shows a late death shortly before [SpNv] resigned about three minutes before VoD as [EW] was chopping down their Lord.

4:50GMT: Change of plans. I was hoping to get [EW]/[Vibe] done before calling it a night but, honestly, at this point the prospect of watching another series of matches is not what I want to be doing. I'll get to it tomorrow even though that means I'll be due for covering a lot of matches - I'd hoped to have a bit of rest and reflection on the first few rounds beforehand. But for now, I'm still getting over being sick and my sleep cycle is still all screwed up. I'm about to crash hard if I don't get some rest. So, see you tomorrow when we'll be in for some real thrilling games.