ESL Taipei - Asian Continental Finals LIVE BLOG

Game One - We're on Ruins of Lordaeron as Button Bashers pushes in and dispels down the warrior for a huge opener forcing trinket on the Paladin and Shieldwall from the warrior.  After being healed back up Button Bashers controls the Warrior and swaps to the Paladin as they fear the Priest getting some good pressure out on him but he's able to be healed back up.  The warrior from Death Blooms is simply tunneling Hiren and he's dipping up and down between 80% and 50% pretty quickly as Button Bashers goes back to the Paladin and dips him low before forcing bubble.  Bladestorm comes out and Hiren dips low as Numberone is starting to get low on mana.  He gets topped back up and Button Bashers looks like they're running out of gas as they get back to the Paladin and dip him somewhat low again as Numberone goes completely out of mana trying to keep Hiren up.  The Warrior swaps to Numberone as he goes out of mana and gets peeled as Numberone goes for a drink but he swaps quickly back to Hiren and as able to finish him off as Numberone stops his drink to come back and heal Hiren.

1-0 Death Blooms

Game Two - On Ring of Valor as Button Bashers opens hard on the Priest and instantly blinds the Paladin who trinkets right away as Numberone pops PI and is spamming mana burns non-stop.  The Priest is sitting at basically zero mana 20 seconds into the game and Button Bashers is going hard on the Paladin but his HP really seems to not even be moving at all.  The Shadowfiend comes out quickly from Death Bloom's but it's controlled very well by Button Bashers and doesn't get the dispels it needs as it really gives no mana back to their Priest leaving him totally dry.  Hiren is taking huge damage and gets Bladestormed forcing the PS from Numberone, and Numberone goes for a drink while keeping the Priest from Death Blooms in combat.  Orangemarmalade and Hiren swap hard to the warrior and catch him in a kidney to dismantle with a Polymorph on the Paladin and a completely OOM priest helpless to dispel it or heal the warrior as he goes down from full HP in about 5 seconds.
Great job by Button Bashers and especially Numberone for mana burning like a champ.

1-1

Game Three - Back to Ruins of Lordaeron.  Mage and Priest from BB sit back as their rogue saps the Priest as DB and they open onto the Paladin with a Poly following the sap onto the Priest.  The Paladin trinkets but really his HP isn't even moving at all so Button Bashers swaps hard to the Warrior forcing Diving Sacrifice while Numberone starts dispelling the Paladin.  The Warrior dips quite hard to around 30% but gets picked back up and Button Bashers gets CC on the Priest while they swap extremely hard to Paladin forcing bubble which is removed instantly with the Paladin at sub 1000 HP.  He dips down to maybe 200 HP and lives about 10 seconds around there somehow before finally going down as Numberone runs completely out of Mana and is dipping to the Warrior.  Numberone went through an insane amount of mana through his aggressive play in this game and is totally tapped and at about 4k HP but Hiren is able to get their Warrior in a kidney and Numberone escapes behind the tomb as the warrior dies to Orange and Hiren.

2-1 Button Bashers

Game Four - Once again we have Ruins of Lordaeron.  Mage and Priest once again wait back as Hiren slowly moves up looking for a sap which he gets on the Paladin who is dispelled hard as they poly the Warrior and open on the Priest having their entire team CCed.  The Priest comes out of the stun and Numberone Fears him as they go hard onto the Paladin but the Warrior is able to get a Disarm on Hiren and the Pally pops Glyph of Salv which is enough to keep him high HP.  They briefly go to the Warrior before swapping back to the Paladin and forcing bubble as Hiren and Numberone run away to reset leaving Orange by himself as he's bursted down by the Warrior and forced into Iceblock.  Numberone easily heals him up and they open hard on the Paladin and he dips low as PS is used and he's topped back up.  The Priest of Death Blooms is getting burns on Numberone and things are looking pretty bad for them but BB gets a huge opener on the Warrior and dips him extremely blow before he gets a BoP and gets picked back up.  Numberone is completely OOM and things are looking really bad for BB.  Bladestorm comes in on Hiren as he catches a PS and is kept up briefly but he looks completely helpless running away from the Warrior who is being spam dispelled and kept on Hiren who is completely out of cooldowns.  He's able to kite off MS and get topped briefly by Numberone but the Warrior catches back up and he goes down quickly as Numberone watches unable to do anything.

2-2

You can definitely notice the Resilience change in this series especially in s5 gear as Button Bashers continually gets players from Death Blooms low but is unable to finish them off in what is turning out to be a very tight series.  Button Bashers is looking great and I'm surprised that they didn't win after having that amazing of an opener in game 4 but Death Blooms is playing well and keeping this series very tight.

Game Five - Dalaran Sewers.  Mage and Priest push in to the boxes and are popping cooldowns as they dispel down the Warrior and Hiren waits around in Stealth.  They open hard on the Warrior and force both pain supression and shieldwall on the warrior while Numberone gets a couple burns in on the Priest of Death Blooms.  Hiren gets intercepted and eats most of a Bladestorm after being pulled out of his vanish and is dipped down to around 10% before being picked back up.  He's able to pull back and get a clean vanish at the boxes and BB opens very hard on the Warrior but their Kidney is BoPed off keeping the Warrior alive just barely.  The Warrior still looks like he's going to go down but Numberone and Hiren both get caught in a fear and are unable to get out of it so they get picked back up.  The Paladin had to bubble there to keep the Warrior up though and Button Bashers goes hard on him and is able to dip him low and keep him low as they're able to eventually finish him off.  Numberone is completely OOM but it doesn't matter in this 3v2 as Hiren is on the Priest and the Warrior is in CC.

Button Bashers take the series 3-2.  Great games!  It's crazy the amount of pressure they put out on these swaps in s5 gear with the Resil change and they played quite well as usual.


SK Gaming vs Gaming


They're hopping over to Gaming vs SK and I don't know what the series is at as this isn't the planned game to watch I don't think.

Gaming is running Hunter / Warlock / Druid vs SK's Ret / MS Warrior / Druid.

SK Gaming is going hard on the hunter from Gaming as their Warrior is being pressured hard by dots and hunter damage but there's really no DoTs out besides the main target so pressure isn't nearly as high as it could be.  SK Gaming's Druid had to Innervate pretty early so it looks like Gaming is winning the mana war as SK swaps to the Warlock from Gaming and dips him a bit before their Druid cyclones him for whatever reason.  The Warrior from SK is dipping quite low though and keeps having to LoS as he swaps over to the Warlocks Felhunter and gets topped up.  The pet catches some heals and they go hard on the Warlock after he uses demon port for no reason and tanks a full bladestorm.  Guk the warlock is on his second pet and extremely low but for whatever reason SKs Ret swaps to the hunter from Gaming and gets scatter trapped on the other side of the map allowing both the pet and warlock to get topped.  The game continues as we swap to the series we're supposed to see.


Mousesports vs DKP


DK / Hunter / Paladin vs Rogue / Mage / Priest

Game One -  Nagrand Arena. Mousesports is going hard on DKPs Priest and he's dipping quite low while Strangulated but the DK from Mousesports is also dipping low.  He pops AMZ and IBF but is staying low and dipping a lot as the Priest from DKP escapes with a Poly on the hunter from Mousesports and is able to top himself up.  The Paladin had to bubble there to top the DK and he gets feared out of that into a Polymorph and DKP is able to take down the DK from Mousesports.  Good job by the RMP with a setup that's definitely really tough for them.

1-0 DKP

Game Two - Ruins of Lordaeron.  DKP opens on the DK from Mousesports once again and Mousesports is going hard on the rogue forcing both cloak and vanish very quickly, but he gets a clean vanish and re-opens on the DK as the Paladin is forced to bubble the Poly and the DK trinkets the kidney.  The rogue is getting absolutely crushed even through evasion and pain sup is used and spikes down to around 1000 HP over and over even while receiving spam heals from the Priest.  There is really no CC on the Hunter here and he's just going nuts on the Rogue as DKP is focused on CC from the Paladin.  AMZ is forced from the DK but the inevitable happens and DKPs rogue goes down shortly after PS fades as they just can't heal through the damage.

1-1

Game Three - Blade's Edge Arena. Mousesports pushes quickly over the bridge with flare and DnD, as the mage comes up from the other side for whatever reason and the rogue sprints through the flare to get to the DK.  The DK dips to around 30% quite quickly as the Paladin pops Divine Sac and AMZ shortly after.  The Mage blocks at the same time and the Paladin Bubbles to try to top his DK but it's MDed quickly and it looks like the DK may go down.  The Mage comes out of the Block to put damage into the DK and gets completely crushed by the hunter as he's spiked into Kill Shot range and dropped right there while the DK gets a freedom and is able to kite away at low HP.

2-1 Mousesports

Game Four - Ruins of Lordaeron.  Mousesports rush in on the Mage of DKP who is getting hit very hard but the Rogue opens hard on the DK as the hunter is feared by the Priest allowing the Mage to be kept quite healthy.  AMZ and the other DK cooldowns come out along with Sac as the DK is hovering pretty low.  I blinked for a second and the Mage died.. not really sure what happened there, but it likely has something to do with Hunters being completely fair and balanced and not doing very much damage.

3-1 Mousesports take the series.


SK Gaming vs Gaming


1-1 as we join the series.

Game Three - Dalaran Sewers as Gaming swaps back to Rogue Lock Druid from Hunter Lock Druid.  They're going on the Warrior and SK is cleaving down both the Warlock and ROgue pretty hard.  SK has also swapped back to double prot from ms / ret and are crushing the rogue pretty hard in stuns.  The prot pally swaps over to the druid and takes him solo to around 40% before he's topped back up and they go to the rogue.  The dip him down to around 10% but he sprints away and is topped as there's no MS debuff.  Gaming looks pretty helpless as no one is really dipping and there's pretty much no DoTs on anything from the Warlock on Gaming who's being completely ignored, I haven't seen him fear the Prot Paladin at all and he's the only dispel so I'm not sure what he's doing.  The Rogue is completely out of Cooldowns and gets caught in a stun chain and goes down.

2-1 SK gaming

Game Four - Dalaran Sewers.  Gaming swapped back to Hunter / Lock / Druid and I assume that SK will be sticking with their double prot setup which I have felt is much stronger than what they were playing all along.  SK starts hard on the Warlock Pet but it's kept easily up as SK's Pally is freezing trapped followed by a Cyclone while Gaming goes hard on SK's Warrior dipping him low.  He's topped back up as the Pally gets out of CC and they go onto the Warlock dipping him low and forcing the port and then swapping to the pet while the Warlock re-summons.  Not much seems to be happening from either side as pretty much everyone is at 100% HP.  SK swaps to the Warlock who ports immediately and then fears the paladin and there's really no pressure. still.  SK swaps briefly to the Drudi dipping him somewhat low but he gets topped and SK eventually gets a big Shockwave hitting all of Gaming who is clumped up and they dip him to about 20% as Gamings Druid is HoJed out of the Shockwave.  The Hunter uses Deterence and is topped up as they get some pressure out on SKs Warrior forcing him to use his Shieldwall. 

A whole lot of nothing is happening as it seems like SK can just turtle anytime they start getting low at all since they're playing double prot Druid.  SK kills one pet then the second as the Warlock baits both melee off the edge and gets a port in order to summon a new pet.  SKs Paladin bubbles though and gets over to HoJ the summon, which really won't matter as the Warlock runs around for a while and then just summons again as SK is on Gamings Hunter.  The Druid from Gaming falls asleep at his keyboard and doesn't have any HoTs up as he gets swapped to and dropped to 100 hp before picking himself up, I'm falling asleep too.. hopefully this game ends soon.  Some more nothing happened until the Druid was caught in the middle without HoTs and gets bursted down by SK.

3-1 SK Gaming


Deathblooms vs Mousesports - 1st Semi-Final Match


Game One -  Ruins of Lordaeron. Mousesports is running their DK / H / Pally, Death Blooms is running Holy Pally / Prot Pally / Arms War and they start on Mousesports Paladin forcing bubble instantly but it's not shattered.  The Warrior swaps to the Hunter while the Prot Pally goes on their Holy Paladin splitting damage.  They swap together to the Hunter forcing Deterence then BoP and AMZ while Mousesports does some damage to Death Blooms Prot Paladin forcing his bubble and then swapping to the Holy Pally.  Death Blooms tops themselves up and then goes hard on the Holy Pally from Mousesports who has no cooldowns and gets dropped shortly after.

1-0 Deathblooms

Game Two - Ring of Valor.  Mousesports is getting pressured pretty hard and the Prot Pally from DB swaps to their Paladin and forces bubble solo by pretty much 100->0ing him in a HoJ -> Silence.  Mousesports forces the bubble on the Holy Pally from DB though as DB goes hard on Mousesports Hunter forcing him low as he gets BoPed.  Mousesports gets all topped back up and DB never got back to Holy Paladin after forcing his Bubble as Mousesports swaps back to DB's Holy Paladin killing him quickly.

1-1

Game Three - Nagrand Arena.  Death Blooms Paladin will likely be able to stay away from Mousesports Hunter on this map which should make it easier as DB goes hard on Mousesports Hunter.  Their Paladin is still being pressured very hard though and has to bubble as his teammates swap to Mousesports Paladin and force his Bubble a bit after.  Mousesports are doing a ton of damage on Deathblooms Paladin since his teammates are still on the other side of the map from forcing the bubble and he dips quite low as his team gets on the hunter allowing him to stay alive a bit longer.  The Hunter pet dies and he dips somewhat low before Mousesports DK grips the Paladin back in and they're able to kill him.

2-1 Mousesports

Game Four - Dalaran Sewers.  Same teams, same setups.  What is Deathblooms going to try to change in order to put themselves back in this series as every time their Paladin is Death Gripped into LoS of the Hunter he's getting punished badly.  The game starts and he's gripped into the middle and strangulated but not before he got a freedom up and he's able to run out pretty much unscathed.  In the meantime Mousesports Paladin has to bubble and there's a ton of pressure out across the board on Deathblooms.  Mousesports DK jumps off the side and trinkets a HoJ to grip the Warrior from Death Blooms down as he gets pressured very hard.  He Shieldwalls and his Paladin bubbles to keep him up but Deathblooms once again just seems to be doing nothing after forcing the Mousesports Paladin to bubble instantly.  Deathblooms Paladin is completely OOM somehow and their Warrior goes down.

3-1 Mousesports

Game Five - Ruins of Lordaeron. Deathblooms is back to running double healer warrior, and Mousesports is doing the same PHDk comp.  DB is training the Hunter from Mousesports while their Priest tries to Mana Burn the Paladin from Mousesports.  He's getting punished pretty hard though by Mousesports and has to blow Pain Suppression then gets BoPed soon after and is able to get a couple burns off while Mousesports Hunter dips low.  Mousesports Paladin comes around the tomb after using it to escape the burns and easily tops him while his team keeps up the huge pressure on DBs Priest.  The Priest has no more saves and his HP is really spiking while his Warrior also has Mousesports Hunter relatively low, but his Priest dies shortly thereafter and MS falls allowing the Hunter to get topped and Mousesports to take the series.

4-1 Mousesports take the series and move into the Grand Finals.



Button Bashers vs SK Gaming - 2nd Semi-Final Match


Game One - Nagrand Arena.  Both teams running their standard setups with SK playing MS / Ret.  BB is going hard on SKs Druid and they dip him pretty low before swapping back to the Warrior.  He Bladestorms and BB goes back to the Druid who has no trinket and it looks like he could be in trouble but his Kidney is freedomed instantly and he easily kites away and across the map as BB goes back onto the Warrior briefly until they can get back on the Druid.  They get back to him briefly but the Druid gets Hiren stuck in a root behind a pillar and kites across the entire map as BB swaps quickly to the Warrior.  Hiren is getting extremely low with both melee on him but is able to kite away and restealth in order to open on the Warrior but SK's Pally uses Divine Sac on the opener so not much happens.  BB swaps off and goes to the Pally who's dipping from Sac and gets him to around 50% but at the same time Numberone is totally OOM and goes down to the Warrior with a little help from the Pally shortly after.

1-0 SK Gaming

Game Two - Ruins of Lordaeron. Orange & Numberone waiting back but Hiren is off to the side and is unable to get a sap.  Orange gets a sheep on the Ret Paladin though and throws CS onto the Druid as they dip the Warrior quite low forcing NS from the Druid out of the CS as well as the Warriors Shieldwall.  The Warrior from SK is on Numberone dipping him pretty hard but Hiren vanishes as his Mage casts into SKs Druid forcing him to pre-hot himself and run away and then they instead open onto the Warrior of SK and burst him down extremely quickly with a fear onto the Druid from Numberone and some huge burst from BB.

1-1

Game Three - Blade's Edge Arena.  BB goes hard on the Ret Paladin from SK while their Priest is being pressured.  They force bubble and it's MDed instantly but they're unable to continue the pressure so they swap to the Warrior briefly.  SK is on Orange dipping him somewhat low but BB goes back to the Paladin dipping him low before he's able to kite away and put some damage into Numberone with a Bladestorm which drops him quite low before he kites away and tops himself.  BB once again gets back onto the Paladin since he ran back in to hit Numberone and after a short while he's simply dipping too low and the Druid cannot keep up as his Paladin goes down.

2-1 Button Bashers
 
Game Four - Ring of Valor.  SK is playing double prot and going hard on BB's mage who dips to about 60% straight off the bat while BB goes hard onto SK's Druid who escapes on top of the pillar as it rises up.  SK is going hard onto Hiren but BB is pressuring the Prot Warrior and they both dip to around 30% before they're both picked back up.  Numberone is trying to get a few burns in on the Druid who Innervates very early but he's forced to stop and heal Hiren who is spiking pretty hard.  BB is sitting on the Warrior for quite a long time but then swaps back to the Druid who once again escapes up onto the pillar at extremely low HP allowing him to top himself off.  Seems like Hiren should've easily been able to hit him from the pillar but instead got stunned while off it allowing the Druid to escape.  Hiren gets into stealth though and they open onto the Druid who really takes no damage at all.  Nothing much seems to be happening for a bit as Hiren is just trying to pillar the Warrior as they put some damage into each other.  Numberone is trying to burn the Druid but he gets caught in two cyclones in a row while Hiren is bursted down quite low.  He's easily picked up after the clones but Numberone is pretty low on mana.  SK's druid pops his second innervate which is dispelled evening up the game and Hiren manages to restealth once again and get an opener onto the Druid while Numberone is burning him.  He's completely tapped but Numberone is also tapped and Orange is having to drink because he's totally OOM as well.  SK's Druid is slowly going down and sits at about 200 HP for a long time while Hiren is peeled, but the melee from SK swap off him allowing yet another restealth which Hiren takes himself out of in order to run after the Druid and vanish.  The druid escapes for a while until he gets sapped so that Hiren can catch up and re-open to finally get the kill as everyone on Button Bashers is totally tapped.

3-1 Button Bashers

Game Five - Ring of Valor.  Although the Resil buff definitely helps SK quite a lot, the lost mobility with the Prot Warrior nerfs are definitely hurting them a lot here so it's a fairly even matchup.  SK once again starts on Orange who is CCing the Warriors as Hiren opens onto SKs Druid with Numberone dispelling him down and helping with some damage.  Orange decides to split some DPS on the Paladin from SK while Hiren and Numberone continue to chase the Druid.  Orange finally swaps over to the Druid with his team and they quickly force another Barkskin and the BoP onto SKs Druid.  BB gets yet another re-opener onto SK's druid but Orange accidentally CSes into the Kidney while Barkskin isn't even up, which I thought might allow the Druid to live but it didn't end up mattering as he drops shortly thereafter giving Button Bashers the series and putting them into the Grand Finals.

4-1 Button Bashers


That's it for tonight, Button Bashers and Mousesports have both claimed their spots at the Global Finals and the last one will come down to Deathblooms and SK Gaming.  Both the Grand Finals and the 3rd / 4th place match will be shown tomorrow so check back for those.