AD2L s44 Challenger Round-Up (Week 4)

Week 4/8 down and boy has the table shaped up to expectations mostly! But man there are surprises as well!

**Sharkhorse 1–1 Savage Sabres**

SS vs SHORK Series Snapshot

Game 1: Draft analysis: Sabres got their Witch Doctor in the first phase, a Graphix special. Lifestealer pick by Sharkhorse was way too early given they didn’t know any of the core matchups before picking it (also, even if the Natures Prophet had been core, its not a good matchup for Lifestealer cause of sprout alone throughout the game). Drow and Axe were picked up after to counter and then Sharkhorse made the mistake of picking Sniper for mid on 23 without knowing his matchup again. Gets matched up up against Tiny and the draft is basically won by Sabres here. Game stats: Sharkhorse win lanes but barely, with the Sniper losing his lane to Tiny and the networth lead for them being only 1k at 10 min. 13 min Vessel on NP and 13 min blink on Tiny mean that the tempo ramped up hard and Sabres never looked like losing.

Game MVP: Space Cowboy (Natures Prophet)

Nice bounce back in game 1 from Sabres, playing without Megatron this week, with Wademaster standing in on offlane and chirs moving to mid for the games.

Game 2: Draft analysis: WD stolen by Sharkhorse (smart move). Clockwerk pickup by Sharkhorse after Sabres reveal their support duo was a very good move as well, paired with the Dark Seer nicely for some lane and intiation pressure. Very winning lane duo. Sabres pick up the Axe and Drow again and Sharkhorse with their carry’s specialty Spectre. Last pick Pangolier to try and salvage the draft meant that Sabres had to somehow win their lanes and then snowball the midgame off of Pango to have a game.

Game stats: Sharkhorse won their Dark Seer+Clockwerk lane and drew all other lanes. Snowballed the hell out of the game off of the back of the game and never looked like losing. Strong Idea, Strong Execution. EZ.

Game MVP: Alca (Clockwerk)

**Disciples of Synderen 1–1 Whatnots**

DoS v Whatnots Series Snapshot

Game 1: Draft Analysis: Pos 5 Nyx was an interesting opener from Whatnots: next to no synergy with Juggernaut in lane and weak against both Phoenix and Axe (both in lane and in the game). AA pick from DoS was smart, blocking the Io from frostykitten without sacrificing a ban. Centaur+Hoodwink is a classic strong offlane duo from Whatnots. Ember comfort pick for milkshake on 18 into Huskar and DP bans is solid and Jugg vs Lifestealer matchup is playable for both sides depending on execution. The Razor last pick for Whatnots in theory is good against the cores on DoS (beats Ember in lane and makes the game miserable for Axe and Lifestealer) but based on their mid’s performance over the past few weeks, might not be enough.

Game Stats: Razor lost lane to Ember…I repeat, Razor lost lane to Ember. Welp. Ember proceeded to shit on everyone and that was all she wrote…

Game MVP: idrinkyourmilkshake (Ember Spirit)

Performance anxiety for Whatnots? Or DoS really did not come to play around this week? Game 1 was long but it was not close really so maybe the dragging out of games would come back to bite DoS in game 2…

Game 2: Draft Analysis: AA+Jugg is definitely a much more manageable combo from Whatnots here. Magnus+Techies is both a meme classic and an actually devastating combo. Void Spirit mid pick was early in the draft but makes sense given Ursa and Clockwork, plus his versatility in builds and play and comfort for the mid. Lycan mid and Batrider offlane picks were once again DoS overcooking in the draft and the last pick Jugg from Whatnots while risky against an Ursa was very good for the lane against Batrider and Clock (should literally never die in the lane and even kill a few times).

Game Stats: Jugg+AA lane went decently well, with Jugg never dying in lane (as expected). All other lanes went even and Whatnots superior teamfighting lineup had a better time of the game this time. Jugg got to Butterfly and Swift Blink before Ursa even finished MKB and the Jugg won this game hard, finishing 10k networth ahead of the nearest hero in the game. (and I just KNOW frostykitten got off some sick Ice Blasts this game)

Game MVP: Toy Story 2 was OK (Juggernaut)

**Derailed Gaming 1–1 Jackson 5**

DRLD v J5 Series Snapshot

Game 1: Draft Analysis: 8 picking and OD is wild. That’s all I’ll say about that. Invoker+Axe offlane combo is interesting between Urn+Battle Hunger+Cold Snap. Ember pick against OD is painful for Lane but if you can make it past that and get to Mage Slayer timing its playable. Drow pick was very good for Derailed and should have a good game regardless of the outcome of lanes. Bristle last phase is pretty bad here given Axe Call, Undying Decay, Invoker Spirit Vessel, Ice Wall and EMP, Ember Mage Slayer and not knowing the last pick that you’re gonna be matched up against. J5 punish super hard with Monkey King, a Mercy comfort too.

Game stats: J5 win lanes, but not by a massive margin (1k), game stays relatively close with a few kills traded back and forth, then the game enters a few clashes between 20 and 35 minutes and suddenly…silence for like 20 minutes (4 kills between 35 and 55 minutes is insane). Then suddenly BIG FIGHT around 58 minutes (at which point J5 were already 26k networth ahead anyway, must have been a rosh fight). Everyone farms a bit more for about 7 minutes and suddenly a game ending series of clashes happens from then until J5 close out the game winning with a 53k (!) gold lead.

Game MVP: Mercy (Monkey King)

J5 were on a mission to show Derailed that even though they were below them on the table, they were no pushovers and they’d need to bring their A-Game to have a chance. Did Derailed take them too lightly?

Game 2 Draft Analysis: 8 pick Rubick without knowing any enemy heroes is a bit…bold (especially with WD, Jakiro and Undying all banned. All great Rubick heroes). Dawnbreaker and OD picks after seeing only supports on Derailed is not ideal, especially when one of the picks is Vengeful Spirit, who is super inconvenient to play against for both those heroes once she has aghs (and even before cause of swap). Sniper and Doom pickups counter the OD and Dawn respectively. Weird as it may sound, I think it would have been better to pick the pos 1 on 18 pick for J5 and protect it while assessing what kind of pos 5 they would want for Mango in the last phase to tie things together (lowkey a Treant Protector or Oracle would have been sick here). Arc Warden 23 pick is effectively matched up against by the last pick Gyro for Derailed.

Game Stats: Sniper somehow lost lane to OD (without dying), meanwhile each safelane duo stomped their offlane matchup. Sniper suddenly picks up the slack from lane and turns into a walking death machine, while Arc strangely picks up a first item gleipnir after maelstrom. Derailed synchronize BKB pickup timings and proceed to run over J5 from that point on. Dawn does not get to have a game and the rest is history.

Game MVP: Sharkie (Gyrocopter) (welcome to the MVP club king)

**Nameless 0–2 Island in the Sun**

IITS v Nameless Series Snapshot

Game 1: Draft Analysis: Axe+Silencer combo comes out once again (nice). Veno to pair with the Axe against a potential Safelane DK+Ringmaster duo for extra pain. Lo and behold Abaddon+Venge offlane duo for a run at you lane. 18 pick OD deters a potential DK mid, forcing it either Safelane or Offlane with Abaddon to take the other. Terrorblade 23 pick matches up especially well against DK and Abbadon in game but has to be careful about Ringmaster shard later in the game. DP last pick from Nameless is a good lane matchup against OD (takes is tower pretty easily, tanks his “aggression” in lane decently and is an INT hero who doesn’t care as much about Sanity’s) and combos smartly with the Abaddon passive for pushing when she gets aghs. Creative combination.

Game stats: DP wins mid and starts running around the map taking towers whenever her ult was off cooldown (after taking mid tower first). IITS initially back off the tower pressure and instead trade objectives and farm into the game, but also take some silly fights between 10 and 22 minutes, losing heroes and time on the map. IITS lock in and take one huge fight around 23 minutes with a godlike DP giving up her streak to the Terrorblade, pulling the game back to about even. Game goes back to trading objectives with a few picks on the map between 26 and 35 minutes. Suddenly an epic base race seems to break out around 36 minutes and seeing they might lose the trade, IITS go back to take the fight and kick Nameless out of their base, killing 4. Eventually both teams take a series of big fights from 39 minutes onwards, trading buybacks. When the dust settles, IITS are in Nameless’s base, hitting the ancient and Nameless GG out.

Game MVP: USDanny (Outworld Destroyer)

Whew! What a game (and it was casted! https://www.twitch.tv/bitemetwitch). Now, would this top of the table clash show Nameless to be the force that we all expect them to be or would IITS close it out and 2–0 for a second week?

Game 2 Draft Analysis: Jakiro+Jugg combo by Nameless is a strong duo, given they don’t know the offlane pick. Ogre+Veno support duo is incredibly obnoxious to deal with and matches up well against the Jakiro+WR support duo on Nameless. Tiny pick for mid is a solid pick as it shouldn’t lose lane to many things and early picking it means that a Huskar pick would be suicide in the 16–17 slots. Nameless run back the DP pick earlier in the draft this time, feeling that it would be banned if not and it instantly gets countered by a Drow Ranger pick. IITS ban out the potential DP+Abbadon combo this time and Nameless ban out Bristle and Dawnbreaker, anticipating these would be strong matchups against the Jugg+Jakiro duo with the Veno. IITS snap up the Centaur Warrunner on 23, stealing it from Nameless and tying their lineup together in the process with frontline, secondary initiation, disengage and an Aura buyer. Nameless have to settle for a Tidehunter as a result on 24, not exactly the best pick for the game or lane but a workable solution.

Game Stats: Veno and Centaur eat the Jugg+Jakiro lane alive, with Jakiro alone dying 5 times before 10 minutes. Centaur gets a 9 minute Blademail and follows up with a 12 minute Blink Dagger (matching Tiny getting a 12 minute Blink too). Drow progressively gets bigger and bigger off the back of the strong frontline on the team and proceeds to mow down towers and heroes as a result. This game gets out of control for Nameless quickly and ends in 32 minutes.

Game MVP: dyl (Centaur Warrunner)

Week 4 Power Rankings

Predictions for this week: IITS vs Derailed — 2–0 Savage Sabres vs DoS — 1–1 DC vs Whatnots — 0–2 (HOLY HOT TAKE!!!) J5 vs Nameless — 1–1