Tales From Observer Mode: Heavy Weight Fight

[rawr] vs. [MoJ] - GvG Tournament

The Ministers of Justice appears to be an all-star team of semi-retired guilds, filled out by some top tier ringers. You've got Augie and Vanq and Tommy and my man Ensign and those are just the ones I recognize. I remember watching them storm up the ladder a few weeks ago and they sit at #35 right now. A tournament match between them and #3 Rebel Rising, no slouches themselves, is marked in my book as a "much watch".

Isle of the Dead

#3 [rawr]

• W/E - Axe w/ Conjure (Frost)
• W/A - Axe w/ D-Dagger
• P/W - Defensive Anthem w/ Aggressive Wild
• Throw, Spear of Lightning, Harrier's
• Me/Rt - Hex Eater Vortex Dom Mes w/ Revealed,
• Shatter, Mirror, Power Leak, Diversion and
• I'm guessing Flesh of My Flesh
• E/Mo - B-Surge Draw bot w/ Ward Against Melee
• Mo/E - SoD prot
• Mo/E - LoD heal
• E/Mo - Water SoR runner

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is what a balanced team looks like these days. Maybe you switch out the Mes, or vary the runner spot some but you start with that solid frontline and that defensive backline.

#25 [MoJ]

• A/E - Aura of Displacement w/ Shock
• W/Rt - Backbreaker w/ Enraging Charge, For
• Great Justice, Mokele Smash, Flail
• A/W - Shadow Prison w/ BoA, Recall
• Me/E - Power Block Dom w/ Ward Against Melee
• runner
• P/W - Defensive Anthem w/ Aggressive
• Harrier's, Vicious
• Mo/A - ZB split w/ Return
• Mo/R - LoD heal
• Mo/E - SoD prot

Augie's running what looks to be his vaunted double Backbreaker build. Very sexy. 8 seconds of knocklock must be fun. There's also a very split friendly trio with those double Sins and the split Monk Ensign's on. The Mesmer tends to run flags for them when the Monk's split off.

Interesting match-up here. Two good teams running slightly different builds. The Ministers look to be a bit more aggressive, a bit more split happy, and a bit more fragile but still resilient thanks to having three Monks and other defenses. Meanwhile, the Rebels look to be more resilient, with two heavily armored Warriors and a bunch of disruption. In other words, [Rawr] would be a pain come VoD while [MoJ] looks to be well able to set the table before getting there. Should be fun to watch, especially if things drag on.

I rez in about 3 minutes into the match, the teams are fighting around the flagstand and, frankly, not much is happening. Nice push up by [MoJ] lead by their split squad and they get a morale boost. Now [Rawr] is trying to return the favor, hammering Chuck who's in his familiar role as flagger. Go Chuck, you magnificent bastard, go!

About 7 in, [Rawr] is starting to crack here, the fighting's all in front of their base and they're starting to take deaths.

A few minutes later and they've managed to recover, staunching the bleeding, and losing only the first layer of NPcs in their base. But the game's score board says they're well behind and the morale chart says they're hurting.

Now it's [MoJ]'s turn to crack, as they take four or five deaths in rapid fire fashion, losing their entire backline as they try to desperately retreat, but it's just before the auto-rez so [Rawr] can't capitalize. Meanwhile, [MoJ]s Sins slip into their base and work down a few more NPCs before bamfing back out - they're running a Recall sandwich with Ensign as the meat and on the small Isle of the Dead map, it's very effective.

A few seconds from VoD now, and [MoJ]s splie is trying to take out a few more NPCs before they rush the flagstand. The Ministers are up on morale, being nearly at full, and up on NPCs, having lost virutally none. But half their split wipes around the 19 minute mark, leaving them underhanded during VoD. Soon enough the team's are equal again, with the their respective hordes wiped out. [MoJ] is taking the worst of it, constantly being pressured. Sure enough, at the 23:30 mark it's a resign spike as the Rebels take it. Just a bit stronger in the flagstand fight at VoD with those Wars and a Water Ele as opposed to [MoJ]s two Sins and a three Monk backline.

Caught another match with [rawr] later in the day. They'd climbed to #2 and were up against #41 I The Academy I with blast from the past Rayne subbing for them. [Ai] were running with two axe Wars, a P/Me with Mirror and the ubiquitous Defensive Anthem, a Hex Eater Mesmer, an Ele runner and the typical LoD/SoD Monks. They got hammered, resigning out as their Lord was downed before the ten minute mark. Definitely a fierce team.