MLG Anaheim Post Game Wrap: BG9 Got Egged On, Blizzard Still Knows Their Game Better Than Anyone, Button Basher: Skill > All

An apology on missing the last a few games of the BB vs SK-EU grand finals.  I waited and waited but I simply had to go escort my father-in-law back to his hotel to catch an early morning flight.  Estel watched the matches and told me exactly what happened, and I am glad the best team won.

Serennia-sama was supposed to take over bracket play, but I got this message at 6PM:

I have an excrutiatingly painful toothe ache, had to call a doctor and im leaving soon for it i think... hurts so bad its unreal - Serennia-sama

BG9 Got Egged On

At the end of season 6, Americans took 1st and 4th spots of the Blizzcon world finals.  Global champion Zilea and TSG steam rolled the competition with their innovative triple plate style (it was honestly the Button Basher of triple plate's).  American RMPs defeated Korean/European RMPs with ease at MLG's.  We were at the time, unquestionably top of the food chain in WOW competition.

Then at the start of season 7, everyone transferred to BG9, thinking it would actually improve the quality of play in America, and I was the only one against this move.  The strength of America is not built upon centralized power, it is built upon our vibrant diversity.  White bread Humans, taco eating orcs, big black taurens and number crunching gnomes all contribute to the success of our country. 

Likewise, American arena is at its best when we have quality teams from every BG, arena interest growing EVERYWHERE and no one really knew who the top team was.  This creates passion across a greater population, and desire to get better because any BG can produce a superstar team that ends up taking home the world title.  It is the American dream.  And it is what makes us strong.

BG9 has never won a world title, and it was embarrassing to watch six BG9 teams, playing at home in an All-American tournament, none of them make top two against the two foreign teams.  And we had 3 of BG9's top 10 teams there, 2 from top 3.  Watching BHMC vs SK-EU, or Complexity's performance against X6/SK-EU compared to Button Basher, the BG9 teams were simply not in the same league. 

Even with Flexx connecting a power slam on the guy who egged him on Friday, sending him through a table at TGI Friday's that required five stitches, he did not have enough strength to carry the Checksix beast cleave into the grand finals.  Button Basher is an incredible team, but Checksix made crucial mistakes compared to the Koreans, who played with surgical precision.

Fortunately, end of season is coming.  You will see top teams transfer off BG9 and play on other BGs for titles.  Arena interest will be rejuvenated across the board, and you will see the next wave of top American teams, home grown from their native BGs.  Friendship from native BGs still produce all-organic teams with lasting chemistry, just ask Numberone/Orangemamalade who went through so many tournaments together.

American teams play best when they feel like the underdogs, when they have nothing to lose.  Anytime they think they are the best BG, that they know everything there is to know about arena comp balance, they stop improving their executions and get embarrassed by teams like BB/SK-EU, who truly believe in their comp regardless of what they are up against.  With BB showing everyone the way RMP is meant to be played yet again, I believe it will make every American player a student of the game again, instead of crying about imbalances.

Blizzard Still Knows Their Game Better Than Anyone

It is amazing how everyone cried murder on beast cleave, yet Blizzard only nerfed the comp slightly and said "it is sufficient, we are sticking to our guns because this is not a popular comp on live".  And yes, it was sufficient, I am not sure how you can make this comp less scrub friendly without completely gutting it for high level play.

And it is not a popular comp for a good reason.  While beast cleave is extremely accessible to players trying to score low end gladiator titles in the 2400-2500 range, to get anywhere near top of the BG as this comp still requires a lot of work.  In fact, while there are shaman/hunter/paladin teams on SK-100 3v3, very few of the shamans are actually enhancement!

The beast cleave comp reminds me of my own rogue/ret/priest team.  For our team to beat any of the SK-100 3v3 comps, we get a good opener on a healer, blow all of our CDs into him and score a kill in seconds.  It looks like we just zerged someone down when in reality there is a lot of little things that separate say, Furious Gladiator Euneek's team and ours.  For most people, they see "too much damage" in a few seconds and call it a scrub comp, when the truth is, we simply don't have enough options to play differently, and every global counts during the rush down.

Beast cleave is the same way.  Zerging people down with lusted wolves and BM doesn't look as pretty as BB's impeccably clean/crisp target swaps, but again, if they fail, more often than not they lost already.  I have no idea why didn't warlocks abuse Z-axis more often against that team, but after watching SK-EU finally playing it properly, I actually don't think beast cleave can beat shadow cleave on Blade's Edge / Dalaran at all.  Jump down, teleport up, I really don't see how beast cleave can score the early warlock kill they need to win.

If you watch the replays and follow Twix closely, you will see the little plays he made to differentiate his beast cleave from others.  He uses disengage offensively with great precision and has excellent frost trap placement when the target is trying to hide behind pillars.  Flexx actually gets a lot of focus hex/shocks and has really good anticipation on his totems.  Toez had late bubble a few games but for the most part he played solid under pressure as well in some of their 3-2 wins.

Yes, we can pick on all the little mistakes they made, but the reality is this comp's clock ticks almost as fast as the RMP.  If it is easy to consistently rush down a top team during the 45 seconds (especially against the more defensive teams), others would be running it already.  There is a lot more to it, it is just a lot harder for a BM hunter to show skill compared to a mage, because he simply doesn't have the same number of options.

Button Basher: Skill > All

Watching Button Basher playing RMP is like watching Daigo playing Ryu, the most balanced character that everyone plays, but no one can play like Daigo.  His sheer talent may not be enough to win every tourney, but win or lose, he is the crowd favorite, and he wins enough tournaments to be considered a legend.  When you lose to him, you feel outplayed, not outcomped.

While Reckful-kun has been busy streaming high light reels, launching Reckful.com, the Koreans played thousands of games, often wearing outdated gear to increase the difficulty level, handicapping themselves to perfect their swaps and defensive plays.  When everyone thought S5 gear was too low in damage for RMP to do well, Button Basher scored kill after kill after kill on SK-EU's druid Enigma. 

Hiren is an amazing rogue individually, ahead of any rogue in this tournament, but what made him special was the way he synced up with Orange.  Always a clean cloak vanish CS when Orange made the swap.  Always there to dish out a full bar of energy when Orange got his hard cast off.  Always made the right peels when his team most needed it.  And more importantly, patient enough to land 80% of his openers and vanish CS's.  It is scary to play against BB.  It is almost like going up against three Pain's with three Rinnegans.  It is like the precision of one player with 800 APM micro managing three characters.

I am a big fan of Reckful-kun, but I think he is going down Neilyo-kun's path.  Stop the Reckful.com project for a while, practice and practice some more with your team, you guys can do better, you just have to believe in the strength of RMP again.  Time to stop watching your own streams, and watch the BB replays, you can do it too, believe it!