Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: MH vs eF

19:23GMT: Game updates from the #gwp again. [EW] 1, [Vibe] 0, [tag] 0, [iPod] 1.

19:33GMT: Further update. [EW]/[Vibe]: 1 - 0 EW, [tag]/[iPod]: 1-0 iPod, [iQ]/[OUT]: - 1-0 iQ, [MH]/[eF]: 1 - 0 eF. The second round of matches should be rolling in soon.

19:35GMT: Still waiting on the Mostly Harmless vs Team Everfrost Match to go live.

19:39GMT: Pal Clamatius is on now. He's apparently keeping an eye on the iQ matches for me.

19:54GMT: And we're back. Looks like [MH] went down to a crushing defeat against [eF]. Clothes are being rent and shields being broken as we speak. And [Vibe]'s out too. [iPod] pulled the upset against [tag] - looks like I picked the wrong sleeper. The only results not in yet are [iQ]/[OUT]. Given what Clamatius is saying about the first match, ie "Looks like iQ saw OUT coming" I think it's pretty clear what's going to happen.

19:58GMT: One of my guildies is thrilled because he's got his picks entirely right so far. Mine? Well, I had [acid] making it to the Final Four, how do you think I'm doing?

20:00GMT: [eF]/[MH] Game Two is now up, time to start watching.

20:05GMT: Okay, so I'm being lazy here. But I just had to follow the IRC conversation for a bit. Turns out I've somehow transmitted my disease to the Mostly Harmless crew. They came down with a mysterious sickness before today's games. Transcribed IRC convo of the day:

<[MH]Phelann> half of us are sick
<[MH]Phelann> its crazy
only reasons we lost
ONLY REASON
nah seriously half of mh is sick
its nuts
<[MH]Morgant>half
<[MH]Morgant>no more
STOP MAKING OUT WITH EACH OTHER IMO

20:10GMT: Woo, spoke too soon again. It seems to be the theme of the day. iQ and OUT are tied heading into a third and decisive match.

20:14GMT: Seriously, I'm heading in match now. If people would stop talking to me about hte matches that just finished, I could do this a whole lot quicker.

Match Twelve - Game One
#3 Mostly Harmless vs #6 Team Everfrost
Isle of Weeping Stone

MH
A/W - Shadow Prison but no BoA? Looks like Siphon Speed nd Recall instead, so it's basically a pure Sin.
W/E - Earth Shaker knocklocker with Shock
A/W - Shadow Prison but no BoA?
E/Mo - SF spammer
E/Mo - SF spammer
Mo/E - Shield of Regeneration
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection

eF
W/A - YAA Sword Warrior
W/Mo - Eviscerate Axe Warrior
N/E - Reaper's Mark with melee hate
Me/Mo - Migraine with degen hexes
E/Rt - Water Runner. Water Trident with Weapon of Warding
R/Mo - BHA
Mo/E - Didn't see the elite so I'm guessing it's Divert or something.
Mo/A - LoD

Finally, a halfway decent/interesting map! Always liked that one. [MH] goes with a nasty Recall split build with a 3 Monk backline and dueling SF spammers. [eF] runs with something pretty balanced but heavy on the degen and hexes. This could be a good one.

20:16GMT: Even headed into the 3rd minute. No deaths but MH is getting hammered by degen.

20:23GMT: Still pretty even but this match has turned around thanks to [eF] gaining position. They've boosted twice now. And [MH] just can't get a kill to push them off the flagstand.

20:24GMT: [MH] has tried to split off their Sin #1 and the Shield of Regen Monk but they're being checked by [eF]'s ele/rit.

20:25GMT: The split just met up with [eF]'s 3 man split - Warrior, Ranger and aforementioned Ele. Looks like [MH] has brought the onther Sin in for an attempt at a Recall split. But they're not making any progress. Not dying thanks to Recall but they just can't get far past their gate.

20:26GMT: Meanwhile, the rest of the team is penned up in their base. The split's pulled back to the main group and now it's a scrum in the area in front of the Lord.

20:29GMT: [MH] is making a push. They've gotten a couple kills but they're stalling out around the front gate. That's actually not bad as the narrow confines makes the SF extremely deadly.

20:33GMT: Nothing doing on that push. It's VoD now and [eF] is just now pulling out of the base. They still have a lot of NPCs and with their AoE they can make up the difference in a hurry.

20:35GMT: Oh, nice place on [eF]'s part. They've set up just in front of their NPC horde so that [MH]'s midline can't quite get in range to lay down the SF heat on the Archers without making themselves vulnerable. [MH]'s NPCs are gone and they've pulled back to base.

20:36GMT: The gank attempt is on but [eF] was watching and they're about to collapse on [MH]'s recall split.

20:39GMT: A lone Sin's still trying to slip by the side path but it's not gonna happen. The Lords are walking and it's only a matter of time now before [MH] folds. Time to bail. Lots of good action and movement in this game, which is what I really like to see, but in the end [MH] just couldn't stand up to the degen pressure.

20:40GMT: Still no word on the 3rd iQ/OUT game. It's live on obs mode but apparently no one's watched it to the conclusion yet.

20:45GMT: I'm getting hungry so let's get this show on the road. Starting game two now.

Match Twelve - Game Two
#3 Mostly Harmless vs #6 Team Everfrost
Jade Isle

MH
R/Mo - ?
W/A - Crippling Slash? Really?
W/E - Shock/Axe
W/Mo - Dev Hammer
R/Mo - ?
E/Mo - Water Runner with Icy Shackles
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/A - ZB

eF
W/A - YAA Sword Warrior
D/W - Melandru's
N/E - Reaper's Mark with melee hate
Me/Mo - Migraine with degen hexes
E/Rt - Water Runner. Water Trident with Weapon of Warding
R/Mo - BHA
Mo/E - Yep, Divert
Mo/A - LoD

Guess what? Jade Isle! Strangely enough, [MH] seems to be running something balanced here (With, of course, a lot of Warriors) which is just really freaking weird. Their Rangers idn't look too unusual, I'm guessing they were dual Broad Head Arrows or something but I never saw them use it. Word is they were going for the "Nobody expects the Spannish Inquisition!" split here but got blown up early and often. [eF] sticks with their previously successful build with a Melly Derv in place of the YAA war. Just looking at the builds, seems like [MH] is going to get eaten up by hexes here.

20:49GMT: Grr, rezzed in midway through the action. [MH] is already on their heals and have taken a few deaths. Fight's happening in front of their base now.

20:54GMT: Resign spike at before the 8 minute mark. Ouch.

20:54GMT: Word from the #gwp is that [iQ] pulled it out in the third game. Well, cats are no longer sleeping with dogs and all is right with the world so that's as good a time as any to take a break. I'll be back.