Tales From Observer Mode: Nothing Could Possiblie Go Wrong

Oy, but this is a blast from the past. I wrote this down some time ago, stuck it in the "to post" file and promptly forgot about it. But now that we're past the the 1k mark, I don't feel so guilty about putting it up and one-upping my post count. This is before the recent update so things like MoR Mes were a lot more sensible. But, one day I opened up Obs Mode and saw my favorite iQ not quite smurf had a few matches. Then I noticed how their ranking had dropped between two of them. Which only means one thing, of course, they went down with the bitter taste of defeat fresh in their mouths in the first one. And that's always worth watching.


#17 Ministers of Justice [MoJ] vs #47 Next Level Spanking [NLS]

Nomad Isle

• [MoJ]
• W/D - Dev Hammer
• W/D - Axe
• Me/E - ESurge w/ Ward Against Melee
• P/W - Defensive Anthem, w/ Shields Up, Spear of Redemption
• E/Rt - Water w/ Trident
• Rt/A - Weapon of Remedy Resto Rit runner
• Mo/R - LoD
• Mo/E - SoD

Never got to see just why the Wars were secondary Dervs even though I watched them a while. I'm going to guess it wasn't very important, then. Self-heal or something, maybe. Anyhow, this looks like a pretty balanced setup again. Three physicals on the frontline (I'm counting the Para here even though its real job is to stand around and shout at people.), three casters in the midline, and two Monks on the backline. Chuck runs the flag from the Rit spot and you've got the standard LoD/SoD combo with the Monks. Lots of pressure up front with the two Warriors and an ESurge Mes. The Ministers have a few subs from [NoT] playing with them, by the way.

[NLS]

• W/D - Axe
• W/Rt - Axe w/ hardrez, I'm guessing
• P/Me - Cruel Spear w/ Power Return
• R/Mo - Crip Shot
• Me/E - MoR w/ Ward Against Melee, Glyph of Essense?!?
• Rt/A - Weapon of Remedy Resto Rit w/ Weapon of Shadow, Splinter Weapon runner
• Mo/A - LoD
• Mo/E - SoD

Love that Paragon. Rit's pretty nice, too. Have no idea what Glyph of Essense is doing on the Mes. It's another balanced build, obviously, with a snaring Ranger in place of a snaring Ele.

I like this setup a bit better than MoJ's, by the way. Some of the specific skill choices are better. Seems like it should have a bit more pressure, a bit more damage without sacrificing much in the way of defenses.

Right. The fight? Well, it was all [NLS]. They took it to [MoJ] early and often. Decimating their base and keeping the Ministers penned up in their Guild Lord area for most of the match. Only a few breakout attempts by [MoJ] kept it even. When VoD rolled around they were way behind by any measure.

So, of course, that completely didn't matter as they pounded [NLS] at the flagstand, worked off much of their NPC advantage, and pushed them back towards their base. [NLS] quickly lost most of their morale edge, too, as they dropped like flies. It was a frantic as the Ministers relentlessly pushed in on them. But, in the end, [NLS] had a few Archers, a Knight, and their bodyguard while [MoJ]'s Lord decided to go rambo. The Minister's rit was there, desperately trying to keep it healed, while the fighting was in the [NLS] base, but it just wasn't enough. The Lord dropped and so did the Ministers. Took until VoD to really kick it into gear, but good game, nonetheless.