If you were watching the stream today you were really in for some sort of show! The matches are the kind that you really feel were either stomps, or so evenly drawn that you really had to appreciate the amount of tactics used, and in some cases, the desperation that could only be called highlight reel moments.
One of the bigger upsets was the outing of team Loaded-Black. The much heralded Korean RMP team losing to anyone aside from perhaps a Col.Red or EG team is a thought that doesn't come across an arena fans mind. The fact that they were beaten by Nerdstompers.Black(warrior,druid,lock) is something nobody could really expect. They then later were beaten by Dignatas Gaming in a RMP Mirror faceoff. Does this really mark the end of Loaded.Black's reign of superior RMP play? The two teams weren't the only RMP teams, putting aside COL.Red even with their 4man roster you can't quite call it an RMP Team. There were as I said, other teams running the comp which was a bit of a surprise in my mind considering how many comps now, are really viable ones.
To the finals we go!
So, Team EG ends up in the losers bracket, fights its way back to make it to the finals. In this event with double elim and how it was set up, this meant that not only did EG have to win the best of 5 matches against Dr.Realz team(nerdstompers.blue), they'd have to face off against them yet again because of being in the losers bracket! How amazingly stacked it is to win 6 matches against a team that only needs to beat you the first time around. BUT, Team EG rallied around Warlock Class Hero: Azael, winning 3 matches straight!
So they weathered the storm of "Shadow Play" comp. Realz being a super veteran of LAN events decided to go back to his bread and butter class of Rogue that he's known for. They ended up finally winning their 3 matches and taking 1st place. Azael clearly unhappy threw his headset aside. Many would take this as a fit, however anyone who's met, talked, or witnessed him knows him to be the quintessential Professional. He was the first to shake hands with the Nerdstompers.Blue team.
You really had to pull for Realz. I personally love team EG, they have a set of amazing players. Azael is considered to be one of the best, if not the best Warlock around, he can also play the Warrior class well. Woundman may not play other classes, but he plays it to perfection for the reason in that he watches each match he plays in after an event, and puts in the work to correct those mistakes. Tenderloin is the newest to LAN events out of the three, however he's already shown he's probably one of the best restoration shaman in the game.
But, you gotta have some part of you that wants Realz to win. He's by far one of the longest running Pro's in the LAN Arena scene. He had gone for so long without winning an event anywhere, and it isn't to say he's a bad rogue, not at all. Although you don't see much of him because he doesn't release a lot of pvp movies, you quickly appreciate his gameplay when you see him play live.
I really think people underappreciate the LAN game in comparison to live. With live you have random teams and very little knowledge of who you'll play. You'll of course come across a team a few times throughout a night of matches. You however will not face them 3 matches in a row guaranteed, and better yet you don't know you'll face them in a series of games ahead of time. Because these players do know who they'll play and what comp they'll be facing, it allows each team to try to do everything in their power to prepare and set their selves up for any advantage they can. Because of this, the matches are insanely more tactical and intricate. Much more difficult on every front unless someone makes a mistake, which very rarely occurs.
With ESL shutting down that leaves at the moment no Professional League in Europe, this would leave one to think that if something doesn't replace it, then we'll be seeing more Euro teams at MLG events despite it being more costly for their Sponsors.
It's bad for the WOW E-Sport community as a large, but great for MLG and realistically good for world gaming as well. The reason for this is the fact that if they do participate that'll put them into events with more big name teams. As well as helping to quell the question of who's better, North Americans or Euro's?
It'll also open up oppertunities for the long exiled Aussie, Uckington, to have more invites to LAN events here at MLG. He's an internet fan favorite for his creative play with a warlock. But for this sport to continue growing we have to hope another League will open up in europe. The only reason Starcraft, FPS Games and so on see so much success in Tournament play, is not because of our average 16-18 year olds that flood the FPS games, not at all. Majority of FPS professionals are European, and over 20. And Starcraft? A HUGE majority of pro's in that game are either asian, or from Finland/Sweeden/Norway. Esports as a whole, not just WOW needs to have a Professional presence in Europe in order for this genre known as Electronic Sports to survive.
All in all MLG Raleigh as I thought it would be, was an AMAZING weekend of arena play. Some of the best edge of the seat style of matches happened this week. With the end of WOTLK nearing, Blizzcon coming, and the break in the MLG season upcoming, the hunger was really there for every team.
As for myself, tomorrow is Monday, which my partner and me affectionately call "Mooch Monday's." It's our arena match day for our 2's team and were currently just a spit over 1500. It really appears that we as a team are really congealed at this point. We more or less have a strategy in place for each comp we face, and were using more of our Crowd Control in a synergistic manner. Both of us are making more clutch plays to secure our wins. The fact that we didn't realize we had overshot our 1500 rating goal in my mind, goes to show that we really are enjoying the comp and doing well. Looking forward to hitting 1600 tomorrow night.
0 comments:
Post a Comment