MLG Anaheim Live Blog Sunday: Button Basher Wins It All

Coverage on: http://www.gotfrag.com/

Saturday: 10AM PST
Sunday: 10AM PST

Current time of Anaheim: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=783

Day 1 and 2 are in the bag and a word of advice to MLG admins, it is time to tighten your broadcast schedule and drop the "play every game" stupidity.  Nothing is more frustrating than a team winning the series 3-1, oops let's take a 15 minute break to play the fifth and final meaningless match before another 30 minute break for the next series!  If there is ever a tie in records, you are using the head-to-head record anyway, and in the miracle of a 3-way tie of both head-to-head AND series wins/losses, you can still compare the number of net match wins and get a winner.  Ever heard of quality over quantity?

Two Undefeated Teams

Two undefeated teams with Checksix/BB, only one can stay undefeated.  Checksix did crush both Complexity and SK-US in their previous series, however, even with their terrible old rogue Hannibal, pre-beast cleave nerfs, the Koreans beat them at the last MLG.  And after SK-EU defeated Complexity 5-0, most expected them to walk all over BB, but the Koreans beat them despite SK-EU pulling a Paperkat and pretended they lagged to disqualify one of their losses.  Talk about composure!  Can the Korean RMP pull the unthinkable and beat Checksix here with the huge upgrade in rogue slot and favorable patch changes?  The Korean RMPs target swap A LOT BETTER than American/European counterparts.  Instead of training one target all game, or at most one very predictable swap when the primary target is not working, the Koreans scored a kill on every one of SK-EU's players in their series with clean, crisp target movement.  It is simply beautiful to watch skill overcoming comp disadvantage, and the world will be behind them as they take on Beast Cleave.

Inflame Not So Divine After-all

SK-EU should qualify for bracket play with series victory over BHMS, although a 3 wins, 3 losses record is not exactly what the Europeans had in mind when their 90% win rate team of Cyclone cruised into a tournament where S5 gear makes everything so much easier than live, yet still lost to RMP's and RLS's.  Inflame losing to Azael despite comp advantage in DK/Lock/Druid vs Rogue/Lock/Shaman is going to taint his claim of being the best warlock in the world unless they win it all here.

However, they did have a very close 3-2 series against Beast Cleave, and according to Spoh who runs the same comp in BG9 at top 5 level, DK/Lock/Druid is actually very capable of beating Beast Cleave of both priest/paladin flavors in a series on live, and it looks like SK-EU simply never fought a Beast Cleave of Checksix's caliber.

I still don't understand why warlocks use fel hunter instead of void walker against a team that is going to be training him with two physical DPS's all game, when all his team has to do is survive the bloodlusted wolves and they win by default via sheer DOT pressure. -10% physical damage plus void sacrifice gotta count for something, and I also didn't see DKs take advantage of death grip + Z Axys on Dalaran to shut down Flexx's enhancement shaman.  Using the right pet/spec for the fight I can see SK-EU pulling off the impossible in bracket play.  You know they are going to train you all game, you know all you have to do is last past the spirit wolves, why not drop haunt and go deeper into demonology?  Meta anyone?  Just because X6 killed DK vs BHMC in a meaningless fifth game after they already won the series, doesn't mean it is not something outside of their comfort zone.  A high survivability spec may just be what it takes to throw them off.

If Fnatic Takes Fourth And Final Slot, Watch Out For The Man In The Stands

Interestingly, other than SK-US who is guaranteed to blow up their roster after going 0-6 in this tournament, all other teams have a chance on paper.  BHMS only has two losses but they have to play against the two tough teams in SK-EU and BB in addition to Complexity.  EG has a date with X6 so it is up to Complexity/Fnatic, two of the top four teams in my preview to fight for the final slot.  Complexity must beat BHMS, Fnatic must beat BB, tough match-ups for both teams, but more likely than EG beating X6's beast cleave in my book.

And if Fnatic wins, let's just say global champion Zilea will be at the tournament today, will he take off his jacket and reveal a Fnatic t-shirt inside before stepping into the arena, like when Hulk Holgan showed his NWO outfit for the first time?  The suspense! 

Complexity BHMS (DK/Lock/Druid): 3 (4)
Complexity (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 1

Two teams from the same sponsor, who will come out ahead as they are both fighting for the fourth and final spot?  Not a good start for Reckful and company as they got ROV on the first map, and still couldn't dish out enough pressure on the druid.  BHMS put a lot of damage pressure into Sodah early and eventually forced Reckful/Venruki to get back on defense, and from there the RMP could never put out any further pressure.  Sodah went out of mana and BHMS wins 1-0.

Game 2 was better for Complexity.  They couldn't do much to pressure the druid but they did get a nice swap on warlock off blind -> fear chain on the druid.  Warlock goes down but Reckful went down to DOT pressure at same time.  Mage/priest at low mana vs DK/Druid was not pretty.  Sodah ran off to get a drink off and even de-summoned the DK pet, but Venruki went down (questionable play there as he stuck in the open for too long while trying to peel for Sodah to get drinks) and BHMS is up 2-0.

The BHMS druid still have very questionable habits of switching to cat form at bad times.  He started the match hiding safely behind line of sight, his DK gripped Reckful away, everything looked good before he got feared into the open space in cat form, caught in a stun lock and killed.  2-1.  This druid cost BHMS at least 3 games this tournament so far.

The difference between S7 and S5 gear is so transparent here as Reckful and company made some valiant efforts.  Pressure on druid to start, followed by even bigger pressure on warlock and go-for-broke attempt back on druid where even Sodah used his penance on offense to take the druid to 2%.  It still wasn't enough as Sodah ran out of mana and Reckful's hope of making it to the second round is probably gone with this loss.

Game 5 was on Ring of Valor again but clearly Complexity is playing with nothing to gain/lose as Sodah once again ran out of mana from overwhelming DOT pressure.  Shadow cleave is almost as overpowered as beast cleave.  BHMS is playing really well third day into the tournament, I am not too sure if Button Basher can beat them later today.  BB had the element of surprise against SK-EU with Korean style swaps but I am not sure if it is enough for them to win another series against this comp.

Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 3
Fnatic (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 1 (2)

This happened off-screen, but Team EG pulled off a stunning upset over Fnatic.  Azael really motivated his teammates and they seem to have got over the LAN jitters of the first two days.  Tenderloin is still the most impressive shaman in this tournament and he really outplayed Douja big time here.  I always thought Douja was soft from his days with Ohnoes/Pandemic, and I believe Fnatic need to find a new anchor if they want to make any real splash.  He was a good sport however, congratulated Azael after the match and wished him luck in making top 4.

Complexity/Fnatic are out of this tournament as far as my math is concerned.

Checksix (Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Paladin): 3
Button Basher (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 2

The match-up we have all been waiting for!  Can BB surprise everyone to take this?

What amazing precision from BB on Ruins!  Hiren went with a super fast sprint -> sap on X6 paladin, quick opener on enhancement shaman with CS -> KS to keep him from the priest.  Enhancement  shaman Flexx trinkets and gets CCed.  Orange rotated sheeps on Twix/Flexx and controlled them amazingly well at the start.  X6 paladin had to bubble eventually to keep up with the CCs, and was killed in a swap by BB after it wore off.

Unfortunately for BB, X6 got a super quick kill on Orange in game 2 before he could block.  Looks like they will just train Orange all game from here on instead of going on the priest.  Orange's CCs was the problem for them earlier, can BB adjust?

Game 3 took place on Blade's Edge again, and X6 went on the priest this time.  Twix dropped a trap at his feet and Hiren the BB rogue got flared out at the start, unable to land his opening stun.  X6 drops BB priest to take game 3.  Everything has to go right for the RMP to win, such an uphill battle!

So much respect for this BB team as Orange spell stole Flexx's freedom to get away from him.  He managed to last long enough to the second ice block and outlasted the initial burst, before assisting his team to burst down Flexx.  Hiren played a gorgeous defensive game as rogue, CS/KS stuns, double dismantle, gouge on every CD, and he really bought Orange time to get to that second block and more importantly, his team time to last through the first 45 seconds.  Can BB pull off the unthinkable?

That was one of the most amazing games I have ever watched in a tournament.  BB played an impeccable game of control at the start, avoided a lot of X6's damage and lasted through the wolves with their priest still having a lot of mana.  But X6 demonstrated why they are the only beast cleave on top of BG9's top 20 ladder and they continued DPS pressure on BB mage Orange and worn him down slowly, preventing damage pressures.  BB worked on Flexx and after both Flexx/Orange were at <10% for I don't know how long, a cross kill happens and it is priest/rogue vs hunter/paladin. 

Hunter hero Twix's BM came back just in time and Hiren the Korean rogue hero was at 10% before he pulled off a beautiful vanish CS KS on Twix with priest assist while blinding the X6 paladin Toez.  Everyone was on their feet as the crowd favorite was able to pull of a huge upset but Toez still had his trinket left and was able to keep Twix up.  Rogue/priest was out of mana and cooldowns, Hiren goes down and X6 survives a 3-2 thriller.

Complexity BHMS (DK/Lock/Druid): 0 (2)
Button Basher (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3

Coming of a 2-3 loss against X6's all-out offense, does BB have enough in the tank to deal with the all-defensive style of DK/Lock/Druid?  Amazing execution from BB as they actually got the opening sap on BHMS DK before opening on the druid, bringing him to 10% before he had to blow NS and travel form away.  Incredibly fast swap on DK, took him to 20% before BHMS druid even topped himself off.  Just went BHMS druid started to roll hots on his DK, Orange deep frooze him and called a swap to score the druid kill.  What incredible swaps, just such amazingly fluid play.  Orange also doing a fabulous job to freeze/sheep the DK to prevent early grip, giving his rogue time to do full damage.

The Koreans proved why they are the best with unpredictable target choices.  In game 2 they started on BHMS warlock because he was very close to his DK, so death grip doesn't do much in term of peels.  Super early blind on druid and massive pressure on the warlock to force him to teleport, as soon as the warlock teleported, swap to DK and having already trinketed blind, BHMS druid couldn't keep up the DK under counterspell + fear.  HON is back and once again they are proving themselves to be far and away the best RMP over all others.

This is like watching a gladiator team wiping the floor with 1500 scrubs!  Once again BB got the opening sap on DK, fast start on warlock and deep freeze -> cheap shot chain on the druid after he trinketed blind.  Just so beautiful to watch this BB team making American RMPs looking like complete jokes, fast, smooth, gorgeous swaps.  It doesn't get better than this.

Unfortunately for BB, BHMs did get used to their lightning fast swaps.  After you lose to the same swaps over and over you start to get used to it.  Brogo started pre-hotting earlier and his team anticipated with grip/fear/coil's better.  BHMS won games 4 and 5 by getting key defensive stops, and simply outlasted BB priest's mana pool.  Will this be a preview of BB's fate in bracket play against SK-EU?  As good as BB looks, I am not sure if they have the margin of error to finish top 2.

Team EG (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 2
Checksix (Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Paladin): 3

Before the tournament Azael said his team actually did very well against X6 on live and he is not kidding!  Tenderloin got off an early hex on Flexx followed by a blind to really shut down X6's momentum.  The RLS managed to survive the initial damage rush during bloodlust and loaded DOTs up on Flexx and worked him down.  Azael dishing out 125K damage despite being the main target all game, what an incredible performance!

Game 2 didn't go so well for EG as they did survive for a very long time thanks to Blade's Edge's Z-Axis teleports from Azael, but X6 made a sudden swap to their rogue.  Even with evasion up all it takes is one hunter pet stun and EG rogue is down.  I am very impressed at EG's ability to stay alive on larger maps, maybe we have a series after all if we don't draw Ring of Valor.

EG is looking like a completely different team as Azael stayed alive once again, outlasting the damage.  And like I predicted in the preview, a warlock actually pulled out a void walker for once, and with good defensive peels from the rogue they outlasted the opening bursts.  Azael is using drain life a lot which is really helping him to stay alive and once it is late game, Azael's massive DOT damage makes it impossible to keep up the shaman.  What an impressive performance for Azael and company!  Can they slay the beast?

EG is once again dragging the game late with Azael being the best warlock against beast cleave so far.  Drain life spams and I believe a more defensive spec is really helping him to stay alive.  Unfortunately X6 went on the rogue again to force evasion's, and was able to drop Smatin after his evasions wore off.  It is all tied up at 2-2.

Unfortunately for EG, rogue's terrible survivability makes it too difficult for them to beat X6 even in a long game.  While Azael did stay a live for a very long time with drain life, his rogue can not.  X6 couldn't kill Azael but with intimidation stun they managed to drop Smatin the rogue after both healers were low on mana.  As a rogue nothing is more frustrating than taking damage from a hunter, which you have ZERO defense against.  A valiant effort by EG but X6 proved you can't hit the #1 spot of BG9 without late game plays.

I do believe this series should give SK-EU and Inflame ideas on how to survive the X6 burst.  Inflame should copy Azael's spec/strat and if he can stay alive as long as Azael did, DK/Druid can go way longer than rogue/shaman and SK-EU remains the team with best chance to beat X6 in bracket play.

SK-EU (DK/Lock/Druid): 3 (4)
Complexity BHMS (DK/Lock/Druid): 1

The best DK/Lock/Druid team in the world, can they teach the BG9 DLD a lesson?  Game 1 saw everything dotted and hotted and the two DKs were the primary targets.  SK-EU has a huge edge at druid slot and it is showing immensely.  Thanks to Inflame's playing making, SK-EU's druid Enigma had free globals to banish/cyclone and slowly but surely the momentum tipped to SK-EU's favor.  Game 1 a DK kill followed by a druid kill in game 2, SK-EU is simply dishing out more overall damage and making all the little plays that gives them the mana edge.

Game 3 was better from BHMS druid Brogo as he survived at 5% health and ran away to get a big drink off.  BHMS took advantage from there and scored a druid kill on SK-EU.  Brogo even had a chance to Cyclone -> Bash SK-EU druid Enigma at 2% for the killing blow.

SK-EU is just the superior team however as they went back to the DK-on-DK dance.  Brogo fell behind on healing a little and spell lock + death coil chain followed by DK/Lock burst finished off Massive and SK-EU scores a series victory 3-1, before taking another win in the fifth match to add more salt to the wound.  Another/Inflame are simply much better at coordinating their bursts to produce spike damage that make healers panic, with a comp known for sustained damage.  And without similar bursts, BHMS was outplayed in every way.

SK-EU is still the team with best chance to beat X6 two series in a row, can't wait to see what Inflame learned from Azael and apply it in this match-up!  If he can stay alive they will win the late game.

Fnatic (Rogue/Lock/Shaman): 0 (1)
Button Basher (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3 (4)

Superb sprint and sap again from Hiren to get the opening sap on Douja, but Fnatic managed to recover with great peels from Woundman/Yog.  Rogue-on-rogue duel continues and with Hiren having an edge over all othe rogues in this tournament, Woundman kept it extremely close and went down with Hiren at 2%.  BB is pretty amazing at holding onto their big CDs.  Hiren hit a very late blind on Douja to open up the kill on Woundman, and his priest still had pain suppression up two minutes into the match.  BB 1-0.

Game 2 BB once again scored a sap on Douja before opening on Woundman and dumped damage into him, forcing him to blow a ton of defensive CDs early.  Woundman used early blind on Hiren the enemy rogue, which Hiren trinketed and saved his own blind for later use.  Sheep on shaman to force trinket followed by blind, one clean round of burst and Woundman is down again.

Game 3 BB caught Douja in the open, who was so afraid of getting sapped and stretched himself.  Early damage on Yog before immediately swapping to Douja when he was in the middle of the arena with no place to go, Douja goes down and BB wins series 3-0.

It seems like BB doesn't play nearly as well when they have the series in the bag, I just don't see the same aggression/desire to win, and their swap/burst is just not as sharp.  Fnatic went 1-1 in the last two games, but they are out of the tournament and BB takes a very impressive 6-1 record into second round.

Final Four

1) Checksix Beast Cleave
2) BB RMP
3) SK-EU Shadow Cleave
4) Complexity BHMS

Azael told me they CAN make final four, and he almost did.  With 3 wins and 4 losses, he was able to tie Complexity BHMS in records, but BHMS won the head-to-head series so EG is eliminated from the tournament.  We will be seeing X6 most likely making short work of Complexity BHMS, and BB taking on SK-EU in a rematch. 

I have a feeling SK-EU, with more time to get used to the Korean RMP style and having watched the series of BB vs BHMS, should play much better this time around.  This is still S5 gear and it takes flawless coordination for the RMP to win, the DK/Lock/Druid just needs to break 2-3 burst attempts and they have it in the bag.

Predictions:

X6 3-1 Complexity BHMS
SK-EU 3-2 BB

X6 (Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Paladin): 3
Complexity BHMS (DK/Lock/Druid): 0

Dalaran arena, BHMS kept their warlock as long as possible, and with Z-Axys teleport they managed to stay above water, even forcing Toez to blow his bubble.  However, they couldn't dish out much pressure in return, and X6 managed to score a warlock kill after Twix's BM came back up.

Very questionable decision by Brogo to sit through a full hammer of justice in the opening moments.  He may be expecting a felhunter devour but it never came and his warlock went down before he could pop NS.  X6 up 2-0.

Game 3 went the same way, full train on the warlock, who managed to coil enhancement shaman off for a few seconds, even snaring him with curse of exhaution.  Paladin freedom hit however as Flexx the enhance got back on his target, and warlock went down as the paladin arcane torrent silenced BHMS druid for 2 seconds.  X6 cleans it up easily 3-0, and they will be playing the winner of BB and SK-EU.

Button Basher (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3
SK-EU (DK/Lock/Druid): 2

Can BB repeat their amazing feat from round robin play?  SK-EU is still one hell of an obstacle for any RMP to overcome in S5 gear, and I have a feeling as they are more used to BB's clean/crisp swaps, they will be able to take the series this time around.

BB had a great opener on Inflame bringing him to 5%, who had to portal and still very close to dying.  Hiren the BB rogue sprint vanished right back to the DK and brought him low with RMP burst before AMZ came out.  BB went for a third swap on druid but Another/Inflame's DOTs were too much for Numberone the BB priest.  Just a little more damage in even S6 gear and this would be a totally different match.  SK-EU up 1-0.

Unbelievable composure from BB in game 2.  A quick opener on Enigma behind LOS from Hiren, and Orange/Numberone did mage/priest damage to Another the DK in center arena.  Another's anti-magic zone saves himself, Hiren runs away with cloak to restealth behind pillar.  Numberone runs in to fear everyone and Hiren caught Enigma the druid with sprint -> CS mutilate CB evis.  Coupled with mage/priest assist they scored a great kill on a druid who didn't have full hot and caught in caster.

What amazing play from BB in game 3 on ROV.  Opener on Inflame, swap to Another, and finish on Enigma when the druid had to trinket blind earlier.  Numberone dished out 20K damage as priest and they just played flawless.  Dishing out huge pressure throughout.

Game 4 on Ruins saw BB splitting damage again on DK/Druid.  Druid was very low, Another saw the swap coming to him and anti-magic-zoned it before the RMP could swap to him.  BB continued to pressure the druid who was stuck at 10% for a long time, but their own priest was out in the open for too long and a very late pain suppression couldn't save him from Another/Inflame DOTs.

Every RMP in the world can learn from BB's target swaps!  Final map on Blade's Edge, BB opened on druid who jumped of as his DK started to eat frost bolts and holy fires.  Another the DK takes big damage and had to Anti-Magic-Zone right away.  BB swaps right back to druid before swapping back to Another who wasn't topped off.  Another blew anti-magic-shell but under intense pressure, his druid Enigma ate the counterspell and RMP unloaded just enough damage to score the DK kill.  Pure skill, so much fun to watch!  BB moves to winner bracket finals vs X6!   

SK-EU (DK/Lock/Druid): 3
Complexity BHMC (DK/Lock/Druid): 0

SK-EU easily dispatched Complexity in bracket play, and they did it again here. 

Really boring attrition battle for the audience, but SK-EU had complete control start to finish, creating much scarier burst situations for Complexity than the other way around.  A lot of it has to do with superior anticipation from the SK-EU druid, always pre-hotting as swaps occur, but Inflame's CC and Another's superb on-demand burst really created a lot of pressure for BHMC and kept momentum going for his team.

Still a good effort from BHMC, no one thought they would qualify top 4 over Complexity Reckful and Fnatic, but they did just that.  I am not sure if those guys will see another tournament but it says volume about online pre-qualifiers.  Perhaps all sponsors should consider running online tournaments to determine who deserves a sponsorship?

BB (Rogue/Mage/Priest): 3
Checksix (Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Paladin): 2

The re-match everyone is waiting for!  BB was a few seconds away from a 3-2 victory over X6 the last time they met, can they pull it off for good?

There is not a single RMP who can put out anywhere near as much pressure as BB.  Hiren was flared out at the start and I thought it was a very bad situation for them, but again perfect play from Orange/Numberone allowed them to survive the 45 second wolves.  Hiren used every trick in the book to stop enhancement shaman and they swapped to Twix the hunter hero and brought him down.  A critical fear from Numberone that caught both of X6's DPS when tremor totem wasn't down!  Toez was too slow on bubbling and it cost his team the game.

Words can not describe how amazing BB played on Nagrand yet again.  Once again Hiren/Orange played flawlessly to get Orange last through both ice blocks.  And Orange somehow managed to dish out CC/damage when he was under the pressure of three angry pets plus hunter hero Twix on him all game.  He was so close to dying many times but perfect blinks to get behind LOS, just incredible performance from world's finest mage!  Toez the paladin went out of mana and Flexx the shaman went down as BB is one win away from beating X6 in a series!

Checksix won't go away easily, as they put much more pressure on Orange in game 3 and 4 and killed him before the second ice block came up both games.  They know Orange is the best player on the other team, and they know they must stop him to win this series, can they?

Go Orange!  He played yet another perfect game 5, hitting every nova, every sheep, and his teammate Numberone hit his fears at perfect angles stop X6's momentum.  Hiren gouged, dismantled, KSed, and did everything he could.  Orange finally survives the lusted wolves AND the second BM (thank god it is just 10 seconds now!), and the RMP finished off Flexx the enhancement shaman. 

SKILL > ALL!  Gooooooooo BB!

X6 (Enhancement Shaman/BM Hunter/Paladin): 0
SK-EU (DK/Lock/Druid): 3

Having just lost their first series, X6 is in loser bracket for the first time, how will they adapt to the pressure?  First game on Blade's Edge and Inflame took full advantage of the teleports, never got low again after the initial spike.  And long drawn out game favors shadow cleave immensely.  Too much damage for a paladin to keep up and SK-EU drops Twix the hunter hero via sheer DOT pressure.

The second game to X6's dismay is not on Ring of Valor either, Dalaran is another map where warlock portal makes it extremely difficult to drop him, and Inflame took full advantage.  Again not enough damage on Inflame to bring him down, and slowly but surely SK-EU's damage pressure overpowered Paladin healing as Twix the hunter hero went down again.  X6 one loss away from eliminated from the tournament?

The final map is yet again, Dalaran sewers, and once again Inflame is hugging the boxes, dotting people up, and X6 really can't kill him with the whole Z axis portal issue.  2 minutes into the game, SK-EU druid still at high mana, Inflame at full health, the entire team of X6 fully dotted, you can hear the crowd cheering as X6 is eliminated from the tournament.  Get egged on!

BB (Rogue/Mage/Priest): (3), 3
SK-EU (DK/Lock/Druid): (2), 2

The more games SK-EU plays against BB, more they are used to the swaps and pre-hots go a long way stopping it.  Ring of Valor and BB couldn't capitalize on the open LOS as BB/SK-EU worn them down with incredible defensive plays from Enigma.  BB's swap from Enigma to Another back to Enigma was just a second slow and Enigma stayed alive for his team to run Numberone out of mana.

Game 2 happened again on Ring of Valor, and BB was quicker on the swap this time around.  Clean start on druid followed by DK swap and instant swap back to druid before he had a single hot on him.  It sounds easy but it is up to everyone on the RMP to make plays so they can actually get this burst window.  Sheep/fear from mage/priest and perfect LOS from rogue around pillars to avoid grip, the devil is in the details.

Game 3 is yet again on Ring of Valor!  Again druid->Dk->back to druid worked wonders.  Numberone put out tremendous damage as usual, and once again BB forced the issue on SK-EU druid but lost their rogue in the process.  Low mana Mage/Priest vs DK/Lock, Button Basher played with amazing composure and Orange was able to finish off Another's DK.

Game 4 with one game away from sealing the deal, BB managed to do the same Druid to DK to Druid to DK again swap and dropped Another with Enigma complete out of mana.  Amazing how an RMP can outlast a DK/Lock/Druid in mana with sheer damage pressure!  You could hear the Koreans cheer for victory but Inflame/Another said not so fast and managed to drop the rogue as he had too many DOTs and the priest was at low mana too.  Druid is complete dry and pressured but with pillar homping he got back to full.  Long mage/priest vs lock/druid fight for 25 minutes and SK wins by damage.

Game 5 was on Ring of Valor yet again!  How can this map be played four out of five times in the grand finals?  BB's Druid-to-DK-to-Druid swap sealed the deal as they are the team of destiny!  Getting ROV against DK/Lock/Druid, Nagrand against Beast Cleave was huge but you can not deny their impeccable skills.

Stay tuned for post game summary!