ESV Championship Series Grand Finals Preview

This Saturday October 4th at 9pm EDT Team Snowflake and Symbiote Gaming will do battle to determine which team will be crowned champion of the inaugural season of the ECS. After topping their respective groups, both teams looked dominant in the semifinals. Snowflake had a solid performance, and despite having just a few games with Chillatech in the lineup, were able to dismantle Clairvoyant Gaming 2-0. Symbiote was as strong as ever, defeating ESV Wildfire 2-0 in quick and decisive games. These two teams were favorites from the start, and they did not disappoint with their strong performances as the season progressed. Let’s take a closer look at each team and their respective journeys to the ECS Grand Final.




Best Map: Haunted Mines (4-0)

Lineup:

Player	Role	Most Played Hero(es)	Best Hero (Win%)
Sold1er	Tank/Fighter	Arthas	Arthas (4-0)
Dreadnaught	Tank	Tyrael	Tyrael (6-0)
Kaeyoh	Fighter	Tassadar	Tassadar (6-0)
Arthelon	Carry	Tychus	Tychus (5-0)
Madtimmy	Support	Malfurion	Rehgar (4-0)

Symbiote entered this season of ECS as the favorites to win it all, and any who doubted their skill were silenced as they cruised to an 11-1 regular season record and first place in Group B. They have been praised by casters and fellow competitors alike for their decisive map movement that allows them to get experience leads that snowball to early victories. In addition to consistently winning in quick and decisive fashion, Symbiote has shown how seriously they take the drafting phase. Compared to other teams, the players of Symbiote have played a relatively low number of heroes. This isn’t a knock on their hero pools, but rather a sign of their meticulous mastery of heroes and compositions. Sold1er performs best on strong fighters with powerful initiation. He has had strong showings on Arthas, Kerrigan, and Sonya, making him a flexible and dangerous opponent. If you’re an enemy carry, you had better hope that his eyes aren’t set on you. Dreadnaught is the tank of Symbiote, playing the vast majority of his games on Diablo and Tyrael this season. Symbiote relies on him for strong team fighting and damage soaking to protect their carries. Kaeyoh is one of the carries for Symbiote, devastating opponents with his Falstad and Tassadar all season long. Their other carry is Arthelon, a former professional League of Legends player who has transitioned well to Heroes of the Storm. Last but not least is the support Madtimmy, who has played primarily Malfurion and Rehgar throughout the season. Despite their reluctance to play a wide variety of heroes in the regular season, Symbiote is not an easy team to force into uncomfortable picks. In the playoffs they showcased their ability to win with heroes that we haven’t seen from them as often. Particularly of note were Arthelon’s Zagara and Kaeyoh’s Falstad, which were both used to great effect in their victory over Wildfire.



Best Map: Dragon Shire (3-0)

Lineup:
,

Player	Role	Most Played Hero(es)	Best Hero (Win %)
Chillatech	Tank	Arthas/Rehgar	Arthas (2-0)
LzGamer	Fighter	Tyrael	Tassadar (2-0)
Faye*	Utility	Tychus	Tyrande (1-0)
IdrA	Carry	Tychus	Tychus (4-0)
Keylax	Support	Falstad	Brightwing/Uther (1-0)

Sporting such recognizable names from the StarCraft scene as IdrA, LzGamer, and for a few weeks, Sheth, Team Snowflake quickly established themselves as not only a fan favorite, but also one of the favorites to win the tournament. Despite this, their journey to the finals was not as smooth as Symbiote’s due to constant roster shuffling and role swapping. Sheth and Faye replaced Shaggy and Glaurung in week 2, and after a mediocre couple of weeks Chillatech took over Sheth’s position. Aside from the roster moves, Snowflake had a hard time pinning down roles within the team. Most of the team played a varied assortment of Heroes during the regular season, but as we saw in their playoff match against Clairvoyant, they have found a formula that works. Keylax has taken over the support role and played excellent games on Brightwing and Uther despite it being his first week playing support. Chillatech has moved from Support to more of a fighter/initiator role, although it is difficult to tell where his strengths lie given that he has only played Arthas since the switch. LzGamer played 6 games on Tyrael during the regular season, but did not touch him in their semifinal series, leaving question marks as to what heroes he may break out in the finals. Faye has played an eclectic bunch of Heroes since joining the team, and it is tough to say that she plays a specific role. IdrA mentioned in an interview after their victory over Clairvoyant that Faye is an excellent Tyrande player, leaving that as a potential sleeper pick in the finals. Lastly there is IdrA himself. He has shown strong play on carries like Tychus, Valla, and Falstad, with middling performances on Tassadar and Zeratul this season. Expect him to stick with what he knows and play one of these three strong ranged carries throughout the series.




The draft phase could play a bigger role in this best of three than it has during any other game of this tournament. Both teams have highly prioritized picks, and both will be trying to get their favorite compositions, whilst denying their opponents bread and butter heroes. Here are a few heroes that will be hotly contested in the draft.

Tassadar – I expect Snowflake to ban Tassadar, quite possibly in every game, in order to keep him away from Kaeyoh. He has proven to be highly proficient on this hero, and no player on Snowflake has utilized him to nearly as great an effect this season.
Arthas – Expect Arthas to get picked up early in every game if he isn’t banned. Sold1er has played very well on the hero and it is the only hero Chillatech has played since swapping roles with Keylax last week.
Tychus – Both IdrA and Arthelon love this hero, and with support bans being prioritized in the current meta, it’s likely that one of them will be playing Tychus in every game. He is a likely first pick for either side.
Tyrael – Tyrael is likely to be 2nd or 3rd picked every single game. Both LzGamer and Dreadnaught have recorded 6 games on Tyrael this season. If the previous three picks weren’t already so important, he would be first pick material.




This match promises to be a slugfest. Symbiote look like the favorites on paper given their stable roster and domination during the regular season, but Snowflake has shown remarkable improvement and looked very crisp in their semifinal match with their new and improved lineup. If Snowflake can get comfortable compositions and keep the game even going into the midgame, their stellar team fighting could carry them through. However I believe that Symbiote’s fluid map movement and decisive calls will carry them through to the championship.

Symbiote Gaming 2-0 Team Snowflake

Brought to you by the Heroes of the Storm Team
Writer: Yorkie
Graphics: Blizzard, Shiroiusagi
Editor: GMarshal