Curse

alen · Mar 31, 2007, 09:50 PM // 21:50

1. Esoteric Warriors
2. Team Everfrost
3. Listen To
4. Idiot Savants
5. Mostly Harmless

Go Europe ^^

Phelann · Mar 31, 2007, 11:17 PM // 23:17

anyone else noticed how the guildwars.com writers seem to hate europe? they all rate eF so low.

on the brightside, they love us. what buds.

Guillaume De Sonoma · Apr 01, 2007, 02:31 AM // 02:31

Mine was something like:

1. iQ
2. EW
3. eF
4. MH
5. tag
6. iPod

Phelann · Apr 01, 2007, 08:39 PM // 20:39

So, MH has now been in two tournaments.

And we now have the dubious distinction of facing the winners of both tournaments in the second round.

Lame!

Wasteland Squidget · Apr 01, 2007, 10:10 PM // 22:10

In fairness, the tournament organizers have to handicap MH somehow.

Ensign · Apr 01, 2007, 10:34 PM // 22:34

iPod was the only deviation between my bracket and the final results. I had Tag over wR in the round of 8.

Peace,
-CxE

Phelann · Apr 01, 2007, 11:23 PM // 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

iPod was the only deviation between my bracket and the final results. I had Tag over wR in the round of 8.

Peace,
-CxE

you expected to lose to ef? o_0

Vermilion · Apr 02, 2007, 01:20 AM // 01:20

I guess no one told you that iQ was an eF smurf all along.

Ensign · Apr 02, 2007, 04:13 AM // 04:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phelann

you expected to lose to ef? o_0

Yes. They're at a peak right now running the strongest GvG skeleton available. The only way I saw them going down to anyone was via a pair of unfavorable build matchups. It's like EvIL at the first GWWC - they understand the game so much better than anyone else right now that they're in their own league.

Peace,
-CxE

around · Apr 02, 2007, 09:16 AM // 09:16

I liked the way they completely destroyed iQ running sbri on Jade Isle without NR or any direct counters other than their own skill.

I honestly think that if Izzy gets the balances right after this CT then GvG will actually be really good again, due to the sheer variety that's in the metagame at the moment.

yesitsrob · Apr 02, 2007, 10:10 AM // 10:10

I pretty much got everything right except I had tag beating iPod and going to the final vs eF where they'd lose. Still. Top 8 was right though :|

VODA... · Apr 02, 2007, 10:41 AM // 10:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasteland Squidget

In fairness, the tournament organizers have to handicap MH somehow.

Yeah, there must be a global conspiracy against MH

Jim1 · Apr 02, 2007, 11:27 AM // 11:27

Had this on Xunlai:
1. eF
2. EW
3. iQ
4. tag
5. MH
6. Vibe
7. OUT
8. iPod

So expected tag to outbuild iPod, but others right.

Ensign · Apr 02, 2007, 05:11 PM // 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by spawnofebil

I liked the way they completely destroyed iQ running sbri on Jade Isle without NR or any direct counters other than their own skill.

They had actually put in some nasty counters to the build that aren't as obvious as SB/RI. The biggest one was Holy Veil on their Reaper's Mark Necromancer. He was getting supercharged by our spirits as well, and was using that energy to maintain Holy Veil on *everyone*. That particular build choice was amazing, it had the exact same effect as a permanent Nature's Renewal on our hexes without messing with their enchantments, or being vulnerable to being chopped down, at all.

On top of that, their Monks had tweaked their bars to be awesome against SB/RI - Jim had Dwayna's Kiss in his variable heal slot, and Conzpi had brought in Shielding Hands coupled with Divert Hexes. The SB/RI spike is one of the places Shielding Hands shines, neutering the Soul Barbs damage something fierce. The other two were wrecking us something fierce, of course.

eF had been doing that all tournament - running the same general build skeleton, but shifting some individual skill choices around to give them the tools they wanted for particular matchups. In that match, they had guessed SB/RI hexes correctly, and brought tools to turn what might have been a hard match into an utter joke.

The lesson: outbuilding a team isn't a matter of bringing a ridiculous gimmick or overloading on targeted hate. It's about making the right choices when filling out a build skeleton to give you the advantages you want. Hats off to eF for doing that better than anyone this tournament.

Peace,
-CxE

Patccmoi · Apr 02, 2007, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

They had actually put in some nasty counters to the build that aren't as obvious as SB/RI. The biggest one was Holy Veil on their Reaper's Mark Necromancer. He was getting supercharged by our spirits as well, and was using that energy to maintain Holy Veil on *everyone*. That particular build choice was amazing, it had the exact same effect as a permanent Nature's Renewal on our hexes without messing with their enchantments, or being vulnerable to being chopped down, at all.

Wow, that's not something i noticed watching the game. I WAS wondering why the hexes were going so slow all the time, i figured it was just some really good preveiling from their monks somehow.

I was also impressed at how well eF did in their last game against EW. EW had Expel Hexes, Divert Hexes, at least 1 Purge Signet and 1 Veil, and they were still getting pressured under hexes by a good use of SoHumility and Migraine, Daze and interrupts.

The only thing that saddened me a bit watching this tournament was how nearly every top team was picking Jade Isles to fight on which kinda puts the game a little bit RPS. Like how this particular game eF outthought iQ beforehand and then the game was basically decided no matter how iQ played because Jade just doesn't offer any option, it's a 8v8 fight in the middle. There was overall quite gimmicky setups unable to split or anything but it didn't matter because everything was on Jade. Was so refreshing to watch games like iPod vs EW because of that, where it was actually pretty balanced pressure builds in a more regular map that allowed for some other tactics than fighting head on. Watching teams fighting in Jade all the time kinda feels like watching Burial Mounds in HA except you can't kill the priest. I won't blame them, they definitely just played to win and likely thought that this gave them the highest chance of doing it and with real prices at stakes i would've done the same thing, but it made for an overall much less interesting tournament imo. You could appreciate the builds and the player skill, but there was much less tactical depth involved in the actual game (most of the tactics seemed mostly decided before the game with what each team was bringing).

conzpi · Apr 02, 2007, 06:57 PM // 18:57

Unfortunate fact that running jade just gives you so much easier choice of builds, and it seriously needs a fix along with some other maps!

Aera · Apr 02, 2007, 07:53 PM // 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by conzpi

Unfortunate fact that running jade just gives you so much easier choice of builds, and it seriously needs a fix along with some other maps!

Thanks for winning Conzpi, you got me some more transmographic potions

And congrats ofcourse

Ss Executioner · Apr 02, 2007, 08:01 PM // 20:01

My picks were

eF
tag
EW
iQ
MH
OUT
Vibe
wR

Conzpi sign my candycane hammer plx

around · Apr 02, 2007, 08:03 PM // 20:03

The thing is, lots of people bring Divert Hexes and Shielding Hands yet still get rolled by sbri. Obviously, you can't bring Holy Veil on the necro and keep that on everyone in normal play, but the fact of the matter is is that eF manages to make playing SBRI look easy (almost a flawless, I believe).

eF switched in tools; in the end they're no use unless the people wielding them are also good.

Thomas.knbk · Apr 02, 2007, 08:37 PM // 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

They had actually put in some nasty counters to the build that aren't as obvious as SB/RI. The biggest one was Holy Veil on their Reaper's Mark Necromancer. He was getting supercharged by our spirits as well, and was using that energy to maintain Holy Veil on *everyone*. That particular build choice was amazing, it had the exact same effect as a permanent Nature's Renewal on our hexes without messing with their enchantments, or being vulnerable to being chopped down, at all.

Yeah, I noticed that. That was pretty ingenious. Also, a lot of guilds seemed to have 3 or even 4 purge sigs in their build. Looks like they all were afraid to get rolled by SB/RI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by spawnofebil

Obviously, you can't bring Holy Veil on the necro and keep that on everyone in normal play

I think you could bring a N/Mo with Holy Veil in a lot of builds (tainted, reapers, SV), you just don't try to maintain it on everyone if you're not facing SB/RI. Extra hex removal never hurts.