RMP 101: Triangle Offense Vs Paladin Cleaves, The Team That Passed Up A Free Vacation In Germany

Another tournament, another victory for SK-US as Realz improved to 3-0 in tournaments played without Serennia-sama.  I discussed the merit of going on Zilea the paladin vs TSG in my previous experience playing against them, but out of all the teams that tried to go on the paladin vs cleaves like TSG and Emazing Gaming, only SK-US was successful, why?

Pookz is the best anti-cleave mage in the game.  And Enforcer is far and away the most consistent rogue today.  - Venruki (The only other mage to qualify for U.S. regionals)

It is incredible how Pookz was able to get shatter's off when TSG trained him. - Bilian (The #1 player on SK-100)

It is not often you get such glowing reviews from top players like Venruki and Bilian, and Pookz/Enforcer allowed Phil "Realz" Jackson to run his patented triangle offense to perfection.  We tried the same set against lesser paladin cleaves and our win rate against these teams improved dramatically.  If you are struggling with cleave/paladin teams, definitely give the triangle a shot!



When the match starts the mage should be charging toward the enemy cleaves as fast as possible, intercepting them at half court with a frost nova, while your rogue sprints for a backdoor cut to the paladin.  Priest should be moving toward the paladin as well but stay at max distance from the cleaves.

In the matches against TSG, SK mage was able to nova both of TSG's cleaves right in their tracks, while their rogue opened with a cheap shot on the paladin at exact same time.  Kidney shot + blanket counter spell + a couple of instants from the mage, and the paladin already have to consider bubbling.  He simply doesn't have the globals to cleanse or freedom his cleaves, are they really going to trinket a nova?  If they do it is sheep/blind time and the paladin still have to cough up his bubble, and once bubble is out, the next round of CD spam finishes him off.



What TSG Could Have Done To Counter It

Like Emazing Gaming, they entered the series with 100% confidence, was stunned in the opening round and taken out of their comfort zone.  From there, they fell into Realz's mind games and had a lot of hesitations.  Against other RMPs, they get on the priest early and ride the momentum from there, they usually don't have to play too much defense for their paladin because even if the mage/rogue train him, as long as they prevent the priest from landing a mass dispel, they will kill priest first while their paladin sits through a full bubble.  Most RMPs (like Bilian's) go on the warrior, and it allows Veex to show off his entire offense/defense repertoire, eventually landing his blade storm for a priest kill.

Against SK, Veex/Valrath were taken out of their offense for the entire duration of the first nova, plus potential sheep/deep freeze/pet nova's, by the time they can get on Realz the priest, their paladin is already at half health.  This forces them to go on Pookz the mage, which is not their first choice.  They did win game 2 going on Pookz, but the margin of error is clearly on SK's side when a cleave team is forced to train a 51 frost mage or split DPS on mage/rogue, while the RMP gets to train a stationary target like Zilea.

Pre-game preparation is extremely important here as I believe TSG will almost certainly put together an alliance RMP in addition to the horde equivalent for Blizzcon.  Double gnome warrior/DK will allow them to bypass the first nova without coughing up any critical CDs.  Zilea can also consider pre-freedom the warrior (the priest probably won't be in range to dispel) and DK can pre-anti magic shell to prevent the early nova as well. 

But perhaps more importantly, Veex/Valrath are very used to charging in together like brokeback buddies, and this allows Pookz to root them in place with a single nova.  They should consider keeping some space between them, making it much more difficult for Pookz to get the initiative.

Unfortunately, in a short series without MLG-style time-out's, there is very little time to react and adjust, and TSG went down in four games.  I believe with better preparation and a second place finish on their belt for more LAN experience, they will be able to put up a much better fight. 

Venruki-san said both Emazing Gaming and TSG should have stayed with priest trains, and I agree.  You really can't out-control a RMP of SK-US's caliber, split DPS or going on mage most likely won't work in a full series.  I believe both teams should find ways to get to the priest quicker, stick to their bread and butter instead of re-inventing the wheels.

Never Give Up On The RMP

I still don't understand why Ensidia out of all teams went DK/rogue/priest in European regionals.  RMP is a comp that is as strong as your belief in it.  The second you doubt it and try to "mix things up a little", you lose the bleeding edge and that is why Ensidia took a pair of quick losses and went home.

And with Yog joining Complexity (great fit, although I would like to see him on his warrior, Sodah back on his druid, and give warrior/mage/druid a try, I believe it counters cleave, RMP and should beat warlock teams as well), Neilyo-kun's comeback attempt is spoiled.  Enforcer at age 17 has youth on his side, while both Minti-sama and Neilyo-kun have RL responsibilities to fulfill.  Is this the end for video rogues in LAN tournaments?  Is it a coincidence that no video rogue has ever won a championship?  

The Team That Passed Up A Free Vacation In Germany

It is rare to see teams passing up an all expense paid vacation to Germany.  The ret/priest/shaman comp is not what it used to be, but with Blizzard picking up the tabs and handing out spending money, why would anyone NOT go?  Scouts did a little digging and it turned out to be a pretty interesting story behind Holyplay.

The retribution paladin, Euneek wanted to raid 5-6 days a week.  Tenderloin the shaman wanted to take regionals really seriously and practice but Euneek was always raiding.  Rgostic the priest said if Euneek didn't practice, he wasn't going to the regional's as it would be a waste of his and Tenderloin's time.  But Euneek had an over-inflated ego and told Rgostic that they were too good to need to practice, that he was raiding for the benefit of the team's future with his PVE gear. 

Tenderloin was upset, so he transferred back to the home server the team was on before Kil'jaeden of BG9.  Euneek went to the regionals, Rgostic and Tenderloin stayed at home.  They both still received their default last place prize.

Rgostic started a new RMP team with a mage named Trivvium who previously played with Toez/Evilthief.  Trivvium is Merciless/Vengeful/Brutal gladiator and their first night record with Honorless was 100-2, unbelievable record for RMP regardless of which BG you are in, and Trivvium disconnected in one of the two losses. Trivvium according to Rgostic is "the most unbelievable thing playing WoW right now", and Honorless is supposed to be "the Neilyo of WOTLK".  Trivvium's brother is big in E-Sports and he is helping the team with a sponsorship.

They plan to re-make on Dragonmaw and go over a 95% win rate to 2.8+k and #1, then transfer to Cho'gall and "dominate" that BG when they get there. We will see how that goes. 

Diversity Is A Good Thing

The top four teams from the U.S, regionals came from four different BGs and ran four different comps, and that was a big step in the right direction.  A singular BG with all the top players is very detrimental to the overall health of the game.  Every BG has its own flavor of the month comp and you will see a lot less creativity/innovation when you put all the top dogs in one BG.  That is exactly what happened in Europe when six RMPs from Cyclone entered the tournament, and none of them qualified for Blizzcon. 

Not to mention in order to increase overall arena interest, aka putting more money into the prize pool, every BG needs its own superstar team to cheer for.  With the tournament realm for practice, it is time to go back to your roots and carry your village on your shoulders!  Believe it!