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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KHGtLEV.png)
Hello everyone! Most viewers didn’t get a chance to see all the games yesterday, so I thought I’d put together a list of the top games (in my opinion) on Day 1 of the HWC. Unlike other people with real responsibilities, I was graciously allowed to sit through the entire 12 hours of broadcasting while taking notes and chatting up a few fellow TLers. I’ll try to avoid any spoilers and just highlight a few big plays. Without further ado, here are the games!
Coming into BlizzCon, GIA was essentially masqueraded by others as the underdogs from the get-go. They were fairly unknown, didn’t seem like they had impressive play in their Taiwan games, and were not anywhere close to the competition of top teams. The polls showed something like 90% for C9 to win and GIA to get crushed. What actually happened, though, was a surprisingly close game and a great one to start the tournament off.
GIA decided to play Leoric like Murky. C9 insisted on matching them at every tribute with a 5v5 fight, and while C9 was continually securing kills, the constant Leoric pressure allowed GIA to slowly gain ground, win some decisive fights, and secure the first two tributes anyway. C9 does some miraculous xp management and stays ahead in xp even when losing team fights. From here, the game revolves around several boss fights, including the final boss fight with C9 taking on GIA 4v5. All in all, incredible game to start things off.
A lot of us thought Tempo Storm was completely demoralized and had no chance at beating the Korean monsters Team DK. However, Tempo Storm showed up in Game 2. They drafted like a boss and played like the invincible TS we saw back in July and August.
The important thing about this game was that it was an Illidan composition from DK with the surprising addition of Chen. Both teams made a gentleman’s agreement to just race the first immortal, but TS managed to soak a bit in between and grab a half level advantage while also winning the race. During the interim of immortals, both teams played relatively passively, but immortal fights were often explosive and extraordinarily close. Throughout the game, Zuna’s Zeratul was able to hunt down Abathur and keep him from split soaking, but it did leave TS open to 4v5 team fights occasionally.
Dignitas vs YL was a big deal because it acted as a scale to gauge how the Chinese scene matched up to the European scene. In the end, I think we found out that both scenes are pretty well matched. The games were very back-and-forth, and individual skill level and team fight prowess seemed about even between the two teams, creating a truly nail-biting series. Game 3 was the deciding match to see who would move on to the final bracket.
This game had perhaps the most bizarre early game on Haunted Mines yet. In an effort to proactively shut down the possibility of a Sylvanas lane pushing early, Dignitas sent one person to each lane, and then the remaining three members stood awaiting rotations in the center of the map. Oddly enough, this actually scared the Chinese team from pushing in either lane for fear of a big 4v1 gank, so both teams just stood in lane without attacking minions, almost until the first mine phase began. During the mining phases, teams took alternate control of the mines, but Dignitas managed to pull ahead in most cases due to clever mindgaming. Still, the technical team fights of the Chinese stood in the way of easy victory for Dignitas.
Of all the matches on Day 1, this was projected to be the closest, and it was. The series went all the way to Game 3 and, to the very end, could have gone either way with a single good team fight. I’m a huge Dignitas fan, so this was the most exciting series of the day for me.
Game 1 allowed both teams to more or less draft their dream compositions. C9 opted for the new Tyrande/Tassadar support pair while Dignitas drafted an Abathur to augment the damage on their double warrior composition. The early game went fairly smoothly for both teams with almost no deaths and equal tributes taken, but at some point the healing power of Tyrande/Tassadar started to waver against the wall of damage from Sonya/Muradin + Abathur, and Dignitas began to run over C9 in team fights. C9 fought back with clever decision making and potential party bushes to keep the experience fairly even, relying on Tassdar’s Force Wall to help split up team fights effectively.
Maybe I was weary with exhaustion after staying up for 24 hours. Maybe I was starting to become delusional due to the lack of sleep and copious amounts of caffeine I drank to stay awake for this. But this was the best Heroes of the Storm game I have ever seen. DK and Na`Vi are incredibly well matched, and this was such an insanely close game all the way to the very end.
Both teams drafted robust, well-balanced teams that brawled all game long. The mines were highly contested, and neither team gave up much ground until DK won a decisive victory by hitting level 10 first. From there, DK pulled ahead of Na`Vi by up to three levels and pushed all the way to the core by 10:00, making it look as though the night was going to end soon. However, Na`Vi wasn’t out yet. They managed to take a miracle engagement thanks to Sanctification, and start to mount a comeback followed by several picks on Sylvanas as she got out of position, bringing them back even with DK. It was a game where anything was possible, and a single fight would have easily decided the game for either team.
Some general notes:
- Artanis was blanket banned for this tournament.
- Tyrande and Tassadar showed up! Apparently the reworks on these supports are going well and molding them into more viable heroes.
- Tanks are in a really good spot right now. We saw every tank hero drafted except for Rexxar (Stitches was not played but banned in two games).
- Diablo/Falstad is not a good combo.
- Muradin got a 100% pick/ban rate the first day, even higher than Johanna and Leoric. Top tank pick now? I think so.
- Jaina and Uther were first picks in many, many games.
- Illidan comps are dead.
- Medic didn’t look that great. She’ll probably need a bit more time before teams figure out how to use her really well.
- Taiwan is surprisingly good.
- The Chinese are pretty evenly matched with Europe and North America, though it’s hard to tell without eStar, who is well above YL in terms of results.
- Team DK doesn’t look nearly as scary as MVP Black did at the Masters Gaming Arena. Not sure how to feel about this.
- Even on their worst days, Tempo Storm is awesome. If we do see some roster changes in the future, expect the team to stay at the top of the food chain.
- BlizzCon Internet outages are pretty consistent.
- The players on GIA look adorable.
- scHwimpi's hair is amazing.
