Watching Starcraft 2 in a bar and drinking and having fun.

We will be streaming the matches on two big (60 inch HD) TVs plus a large projection screen for those of you who like to watch matches on large screens!

Kalamazoo Michigan, Barcraft event for NASL Finals
March 25th at 4PM.

We are having a Barcraft in Kalamazoo, Michigan at Old Burdicks Wings West 5076 Sports Dr, Kalamazoo, MI 49009-7118

Please post below if you have any questions or comments.

Invite your friends and family to this event!

Sign up at the facebook event page.

http://www.facebook.com/events/277253305685793/

WTr1be LAN Tournament #1

Stacraft 2, Heroes of Newerth, League Of Legends

We have not finalized the rules of specific games yet, but this is a run down of what you can expect for this upcoming tournament. All games will be ran with Fair Rules, and we will be harsh on people who are late, to make this tournament successful we must hold the tournament with very little holdups. Any questions or concerns, or help with rules can be emailed to contactus@wtr1be.com

How to Register:

• Use the paypal button at the bottom of this website to prepay, Please include your ingame NAME and Tournaments you would like to compete in
• If you cannot prepay but are still planning on coming, please send an email to contactus@wtr1be.com and we will put you in the player lists for the tournament. It will cost you $15 to get into the tournament though.

Raffle Prizes

These will decided before the tournament, but we need to know how many people are signed up so we purchase the correct amount of items<

Starcraft 2:

Rules TBA: ( 1v1, Double Elim BO3. 32 Man Bracket )

Starcraft 2 Player List

League Of Leagends:

Rules TBA: 5v5: SR, Draft Mode. Probably double elim bo1.

League of Legends TeamList / Players

Heroes Of Newerth

5v5 Tournament Mode. Depending on the number of players we will decide on double elimination or single elimination. BO3 Finals.

Heroes of Newerth

Tournament Schedule

9AM – 11AM – Open Doors / Set Up

11AM – 5PM SC2 Tournament

4PM – 8PM HoN Tournament

8PM – ? LoL Tournament

Times can vary depending on the situation, but we will not delay anything over an hour.

Game 1: Time Heals All Wounds
Match ID:68790433
Key Match-Ups
VS.
VS.

Game One started off with OK running a Solo Long Lane with Pharaoh, Torturer in the Middle Lane, Plague Rider and Chronos in the Short Lane, and Ophelia in the Legion Jungle. EZ ran a Zephyr and Demented Shaman at the Short Lane, Pebbles in the Middle Lane, and Midas and Corrupted Disciple in the Long Lane.

Eventually, the lanes shifted with Team Ez’s support heroes roaming to aid their losing lanes and Yoda attempting a sort of roaming Pebbles. During the laning phase Chronos and Zephyr were farming very well. Loda’s GPM was significantly higher because he picked up an Alchemist Bones and Team EZ was not able to put pressure on Chronos because Pebbles lost the Middle Lane to Torturer, and Midas, played by Semijew, was relegated to a support role. Thanks to Torturer, Pebbles was not able to make the impact necessary to slow down Chronos; Pebbles had neither the items or levels to make him a presence. Conversely, Torturer became a force in team fights and ganks and was a big factor in the match, H4nn1 even was able to handle Corrupted Disciple, when he took the middle lane, leading to two deaths of Corrupted Disciple.

Semijew’s impressive 320 Actions per Minute didn’t help him have a significant impact on the game, putting more pressure on Chu playing Zephyr. In the early game Chu was nearly impossible to kill because of his Shaman’s Headdress, Helm of the Black Legion, and the combined heals of Midas and Demented Shaman, frustrating Online Kingdom.

It is perhaps confidence in his teammates’ spells to keep him alive that caused him to pick up the Mock of Brilliance. Well, that and bkid not pulling his weight as Corrupted Disciple, he finished the game with only one major item a Shrunken Head. Chronos played by Loda reached AFK Ricer status towards the end of the game, 703 GPM, allowing him to pick up a Savage Mace, Runed Cleaver, and Level 3 Shield Breaker. The Savage Mace and a lucky Double Damage rune allowed Loda to bring down Team EZ’s heroes, in a matter of seconds, ending the game and forcing Team EZ to change their strategies.
__________________________________________
Game 2: The Bane of Mid-Game Teams
Match ID:68797598
Key Match-Ups
VS.
VS.

In game two EZ banned Chronos and picked up the Competitive Scene’s darling, Magebane. EZ’s lane set-up featured Pharoah at the Solo Long Lane, Soulstealer at the Solo Middle Lane, Magebane and Witchslayer at the Short Lane, and Tempest in Legion Jungle. Online Kingdom sent Fayde to the Shortlane, Nomad and Plague Rider as a Dual Middle Lane, and Torturer and Magmus in the Long Lane.

This game was easily the closest of the series, remaining very close until Team EZ picked up Shrunken Heads and was able to negate the stuns and Magic Damage of OK. OK was only able to kill Magebane a total of 3 times over the course of a 37 minute match, despite picking Fayde, one of the best counters to Magebane. Pharaoh won the Top lane, which hindered Fayde’s early game, affecting how well he could gank magebane. Chu also contributed to his farm by escaping team fights and ganks, which allowed him to maintain a high GPM, peaking at 457.

As soon as Chu farmed his Shrunken Head it was game over. In previous fights OK was able to win, sometimes, by stunning Magebane and Soulstealer, preventing them from dealing damage. Once the Shrunken Heads were picked up Team EZ began to push to end the game, a few fights might have gone the other way if Powzilla hadn’t attempted to use Magmus’ ultimate within range of Magebane’s Aura (Master of Mantra deals damage to heroes equal to X% of the manacost of items and/or abilities), disabling Magmus’ Portal key for two major teamfights in a row.

If Powzilla had managed to land those ultimates it would have been very tough for OK to win the team fights, but it would have given them a chance to knockout Team EZ. Although, OK’s positioning in team fights, during the Early Game, was a bit sloppy a times, allowing Tempest to catch 3 heroes or more in his ultimates. Akke on Plague Rider, whom would normally stay out of a fray to launch his ultimate to stop Tempest kept getting caught out, allowing Yoda’s clutch Elemental Voids to buy time for Magebane to pick up the necessary items to demolish the OK team, forcing the series to Game 3.
___________________________________________
Game 3: Get to the Chopper
Match ID:68797598
Key Match-Ups
Vs.
Vs.

Game 3 may have been 41 minutes long but OK was in the driver’s seat for the majority of the match due to a superior lane set-up and Chu making some questionable decisions on Wild Soul. Online Kingdom’s laning set-up had Valkyrie on the Long Lane, Pebbles and Nymphora in a dual middle lane, and Predator and Plague Rider in the Short Lane. Team EZ’s lane set-up was Dampeer and Witch Slayer in the Short Lane, Torturer as a Middle Solo, Pharaoh in the Long Lane, and Wild Soul in the Hellbourne Jungle.

Witch Slayer drifted between the Short Lane and the Middle lane because Torturer and Pharaoh were losing their respective match-ups; Wild Soul was forced to jungle in the Legion side because of a few blocked spawns, slowing down his farm. Bkid matched up against Loda and Mag1x and was shut him down badly, the slow start definitely played a role on Bkid’s ability impact on the game, and he wasn’t able to gank nearly as well, compared to Game 2.

Loda’s experience was very similar to game one, with him picking up a fast Alchemist bones and having free reign to farm, albeit not as high as game one, but still easily out carrying Wild Soul. Once again Team EZ’s was not able to pressure Loda, which allowed him to quickly amass the necessary items to carry his team to victory with a GPM of 630. And because of the ganking ability of Nymphora and Pebbles Team EZ often were picked off, including Chu, whom over extended multiple times by choosing to farm in a pushed up lane, instead of the Jungle.

Team EZ was unable to properly counter Predator, in all fights but one, and in that particular case Loda died for the first and only time in the match. Loda would go on to finish some Luxury items to assure he wouldn’t die so easily and helped Online Kingdom win the series.

Final Thoughts
Throughout the series the team with the more successfully supported hard carry won, as is most often the case, and when each team attempted to counter the pick-up by picking strong ganking heroes they were unable to apply the necessary pressure to shut down that hero. However, based upon the performances of the teams it appears OK had a much more successful attempt at hindering Magebane, Wild Soul, and Zephyr, compared to Team EZ, who made no dent in the farm of Loda when he was playing Chronos and Predator.

In Online Kingdom’s two victories Loda’s score was 16 – 1 – 20 with an average GPM of 666.5. Meanwhile Chu mainted an average GPM of 425.3 over three matches, not by any means bad, but it showed OK was able to slow Chu down. The only time EZ slowed Loda down is when he didn’t pick a Hard Carry! Loda chose Nomad in the second game, dual laned mid, and his GPM was 303. Only a few months ago Melee Hard Carries were rarely picked, if at all, and now they have made a comeback thanks to the changes made to buffs for melee heroes, nerfs to ranged heroes, and HoN teams watching The International (DoTA 2 Tournament, not the Film staring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts). Time will tell if HoN teams continue to pick Melee Hard Carries, or if they will drift back into using ranged carry heroes. In my opinion you will see a mix, some teams will enjoy using Hard Carries from the Beta days (Sandwraith, Magebane, The Dark Lady, Chronos, etc.), other teams might have fallen in love with the ranged heroes they used, during the heavy jungle meta phase of HoN and will see this as an opportunity to utilize them in different ways.

Many of you would tell me yes without a second thought, how could not killing someone be better then killing them? Easy, they were bot lane and your entire team went to gank, and now the enemy has Baron, or killed Dragon, or took a tower. Heck, you getting a kill may have cost you the game, because your team got rolled because YOU got out of position (Tunnel Vision). Kills are a touchy subject, we get ahead when we get them, but they put us at risk.

“Invincibility is defense
Victory is attack”
-Sun Tzu

I’m going to kill this now (no pun intended), there’s no such thing as a “Kill Steal”. I play with a simple idea, “you never know what will happen in a game, even if a last hit looks obvious, go for the kill!”

Oh yeah, there’s rage in vent at times (granted, most of it is me screwing with my buds), but I have yet to see a guaranteed kill slip from our grasp because of it.
On the flip side, I have ended up dying because my teammate didn’t want to “KS” me when I was on cooldown for my abilities (resulting in an enemy double kill, I wasn’t amused). Anyone who complains about getting “Kill Stolen” is a scrub, plain and simple, as it does nothing but give an enemy a chance to escape. Opportunities multiply as they are seized, your enemies have enough of those as it is without you handing them more on a silver platter.
Remember kiddies, KS stands for “Kill Secured!”

“But, but Craixis, Carries need Kills!”

No, Carries need FARM. I mean, is that kill worth it if you’re losing farm? Depends, how many last hits are you giving up to harass an enemy to the point where they’re killable? 300g is about 16 backline minions, which is significantly easier to get then a kill… you’re telling me the extra effort is worth it just for the gold? If you’re hell bent on getting kills for gold, you’re doing it for the wrong reason (Or you’re Xin Chao, because he doesn’t farm minions, he farms champions… old joke).

As a carry, you can’t get what’s called “Tunnel Vision”. You get so focused on that low HP champion that they’re the only thing you see, and you ignore everything else around you. Next thing you know, because you went for that kill without considering where you or your team were, you’re now in the middle of the enemy team. You can’t tell me you never do this, because even the best players get tunnel vision (Phreak is actually a really good player, outside of his tunnel vision. Heck, even I notice I get tunnel vision some days, it’s very easy to fall into that trap).

Getting a hard on for kills can cost you the game, easily. (I can’t count the number of solo queue games I lost because people forget the goal of the game is to kill the Nexus, not get 50 kills). I could go for hours about people who have no idea where they should be standing in teamfights, or missed a champion going by a ward, or walked into the enemy tower, all while going for a kill, but I’ll leave it at that…

Now, I’ve talked about lots of the negative things about a kill (throws you out of position, isn’t as safe or as easy to get as CS, etc) and how little it actually does for you, so why even bother killing someone?

For one, you remove them from the game, and the further in the game you are, the longer they’re gone (in which, getting that kill may end up, indirectly, winning you the game because you turned a 5v5 into a 5v4 for the next minute, which is a very long time in a teamfight). Even in the laning phase, the major benefit of scoring a kill is putting your lane ahead of your enemy; you start gaining an exp lead because an enemy has been effectively removed from the lane for well over a minute. That’s a minute where you get to freely get last hits, which puts you even further ahead (if you can’t safely get a kill, you should never go for it, simple as that).

There are many benefits to removing someone, it allows you to push, free farm other lanes, go for “objectives” (Dragon, Baron), buffs, etc. This is why you should kill someone. Note: Forcing them to back is just as good in the laning phase, and in teamfights if they’re not able to come back in without dying it’s still a 5v4 in your favor, kills are good, winning is better.

Two, there’s the gold gain. Easily why everyone wants a kill, but this really isn’t the main benefit (sure, gold is good, but you can have 20k gold and still lose a game because you lost focus on the game). If you want gold, focus on prioritizing towers or dragon (or even Baron), a tower is worth 750g for your team, dragon is worth 975g, Baron is worth 1,500g. A champion kill is worth 300 base if they’re not screwing up, and quickly descends from there (and slowly raises if they’re playing better, but then you’re not killing them for the gold at that point).

In short, killing an enemy is not done because of the gold gain, it is because it effectively removes an enemy from the game, which shifts the game into your favor allowing you to complete objectives or destroy towers (if you can’t already).

“Of old the skilled first made themselves invincible
to await the enemy’s vincibility.
Invincibility lies in oneself.
Vincibility lies in the enemy.
Thus the skilled can make themselves invincible.
They cannot cause the enemy’s vincibility.
Thus it is said ‘Victory can be known, it cannot
be made’”
-Sun Tzu

Gemini is the most recent addition to the Heroes of Newerth hero pool. Gemini shares a similarity with many recently released S2 agility heroes, capable of dealing burst damage in the early to mid game, but has a skill-set that will allow Gemini to become a force in the late game. Gemini is also another hero, like Forsaken Archer and Master of Arms, which encourages the use of items that are not seen as great pick-ups on carry heroes.

Strengths:

A. Burst Damage. You can nuke an opponent 6 times, in rapid succession, dealing an impressive 1,162.5 (Based upon base magic damage reduction) burst damage at level 16. This requires the player to use Fire and Ice after using their Twin Breath and Twin Fangs, allowing you to nuke with each wolf. It is somewhat difficult to pull of against an opponent but once you get a hang of the hero, you will eat support and low hp heroes for breakfast.

B. Mobility. Twing Fangs acts like an 800 Distance Blink, which stuns, and the ability to split yourself up and after a 3 second channel return to the location of your Twin, gives you the capability to be pushing two lanes at once.

C. Dat Passive. Your passive is amazing! Your passive at level 4 deals 25% of your damage as a second attack. Its synergy with attack modifers and the Nullfire blade make it a powerful skill, and give you the potential to burn mana even faster than Magebane when you attack.

D. Fire and Ice. Your ultimate allows you to send one wolf into fight, dealing damage, and nuking an opponent, while leaving another one safely behind, making attempts on a hero behind enemy lines a strong possibility. Additionally, if you are playing in the middle lane you can send one wolf back to refill your bottle, while you farm and/or harass your lane opponent.

Weaknesses/Things that may turn off players:

A. Average stat growth, in Strength and Intelligence. You will have to worry about your mana when using spell combos and the lack of health makes you an easy target to pick off if the opposing team is on point with its stun rotations in the early game.

B. Not a Frontline Fighter, tied into its stat growth Gemini is not an agility hero capable of tanking hits. If you do not stay mobile, especially while split, you will be in danger. So, if you prefer a hero that can tank hits Gemini will not be the hero for you.

C. Micro Management. Once you use Fire and Ice you now must keep track your mana and health on two units. If either wolf dies, the other will die as well. Also, if you split with full HP and take significant damage with both wolves, your health will be set the the higher value, meaning it will sometimes pay to only send one wolf, so that you do not take a significant loss to health.

D. Limited Carry potential. Gemini’s passive Twin Strike, only available when Fire and Ice is not being used, is a potent ability for proccing orbs or other item effects based on RNG. However, compared to other carry passives it will not always win you the day.

Skill Build: You want to level your Twing Fang and Twin Breath asap, taking your ultimate when available. Twin Strike should be leveled afterwards, because you do not have the damage to make it a worthwhile pickup in the early game.

Item Build (Not meant to be picked up in this order):
1. Steamboots (They increase your attributes, making your split wolves even stronger).
2. Shieldbreaker/FrostBurn (Procs 2 times) -> Frostwolf Skull/Geometer’s Bane
3. Savage Mace/Thunderclaw -> Charged Hammer (Really depends on the hero match-up/seriousness of the game).
4. Daemonic/Wingbow -> The bonus attack speed will make Twin Strike very strong, pick up Daemonic if no one on your team is getting it, because the Aura will apply to your enemies even when your wolves are split.
5. Survival Item based on your enemies (Shrunken Head/Nullstone/Behemoth’s Heart, etc.)
6. Nullfire Blade

General Playstyle: You can play Gemini two ways in the early game, depending on your lane/play-style preference. In the middle lane you will get fast levels, enabling you to become a potent ganker. Generally, you want to land your stun and follow-up with Twin breath if ganking an opponent. But you can also farm in a side lane when paired with a solid partner to become a strong semi-carry. As the game moves on your ultimate becomes a crucial ability because you can be in two places at once! Use Fire and Ice and send one wolf to a lane being pushed by your opponents, while counter pushing with the other wolf. The ability to teleport to the location of the other wolf, after a 3 second channel, makes Gemini a pretty scary hero to face, especially in the late game.

Best Friends:

Any Hero that reduces the Magic Armor and/or Physical Armor of your opponents will make your burst damage deadly. Heroes that can use disables/snares are a great help to making your combo easy to land.

Horrifying Foes:

Heroes that can silence you make your use of spell combinations impossible, leaving you susceptible to a pick-off attemp. Additionally, like Monkey King, heroes that possess long range disables are a danger because if you are not moving as Gemini you are an easy target to your foes.

Final Thoughts: Gemini is a really fun, but challenging hero to use! He fits very well into the current public meta game, using agility ganking heroes that can become a powerful late game carry. Time will tell if he is used in the competitive scene, although I can think of a good amount of Pro HoN players that might enjoy the aggressive micro intensive hero.

I think there will be a split amongst players that choose to use Gemini. Some, will not use his ultimate because of the vulnerability the player faces if a wolf dies, due to failed micro. Additionally, players may choose to prefer the physical DPS provided by Twing Strike. There is nothing absurdly wrong with using Gemini this way, although if you are not using the hero to its potential.

Players competent in their Micro will use Gemini’s split form in fights to deal high burst damage, push multiple lanes at once, execute daring ganks, and in my opinion will be utilizing the hero as intended by the designers.

A non-competitive/troll build you might want to try out is making him into a burst damage hero, using spell shards to bring down pretty much any hero you encounter.

The NASL:
The North American Star League, based off of the extremely popular Korean Star League, is known for Star Craft 2, but in it’s second season Heroes of Newerth has become the next game they have added to their line up. The Heroes of Newerth season is already underway with a ton of magnificent matches so far. You can check out the standings, and schedule, as we are already in week 3.

CES:
The Collegiate Esports Series just announced that they too will be expanding into Newerth this January. Currently plans are to play up until April, where they will hold an international tournament. All North American Universities are allowed to enter, so cheer for your university as they get ready for the war in Newerth.

Itsgosu:
Itsgosu.com, a team for Starcraft 2 and League of Legends is starting their first Heroes of Newerth Series this weekend with their kick off tournament, in conjunction with S2 games. At the end of every month the top 16 teams in the league will match up for some awesome battles. You can register and check out the series here. Zyori and Dawz_ will be shout casting on twitch.tv. Link to their stream for tomorrow’s tournament is here! Semi-Finals and Finals will be held on Saturday.

We here at WTR1BE will be writing and working directly with the guys at itsgosu.com to bring some amazing coverage. Interviews with players, match reviews and top plays are just a few of the things we’ll cover. Maybe they’ll let me shout cast with them sometime…*winkwink*

With the competitive scene of Heroes of Newerth lighting up this winter season we will be busy at WTR1BE. If you’re intrested in writing for WTR1BE, e-mail us at contactus@wtr1be.com!

talk about his experiences behind the scenes. This is his story.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do in the eSports scene?

Well, Im fairly new. As of now I cast whatever games I can get my hands on.

Currently I cast over at playhem.tv and I was lucky enough to get a

chance to cast at the latest MLG. It was such an amazing experience and one

that I hope returns in the future - SC2 for life!

Cool! So what's the story behind your casting at MLG Orlando 2011?

Well, a couple of months ago, Lee from MLG tweeted that he needed some

community casters to cast games that were not shown on stream during

past tournaments. Myself and a few others applied and were lucky

enough to get the job. I met an amazing set of casters there including

Tumba, Frodan, Nerski, Adebisi, and much much more. After MLG became

successful with the online portion of casting games they decided

to bring it to a tournament. They emailed the community caster

pool in hopes that some of us would be interested in going.

I applied and somehow got lucky enough to be thrown in

with some of the best casters in the program. I should

say it was not a job, but a volunteer casting project. I

consider it a job because I put about 20 of hours of casting in a

week on top of my real job where I hit about 50 a week as well, haha.

That's awesome! What was your experience casting the two beta streams 

alongside the rest of the community casters at MLG Orlando like?

It was a learning experience to say the least, I really feel like I learned

so much being around guys that have been casting for over a year. These guys

were so great and were willing to help out so much if I needed anything.

I could not have gotten through the weekend without Tumba.

That guy literally gave me glasses of water in between games and

words of encouragement. That whole stream was basically ran by

ourselves, MLG wanted it to feel home-like and I think we nailed

it after a rocky start on Friday. I honestly could write

a 30-page report on how much of an experience being behind scenes was

like. I finally got to meet faces that I had names for. Also, on top

of that, everyone was so kind and helpful. Honestly, MLG has a family-like

aura around their backstage. I have never felt so welcomed to something

new ever in my life.

That does sound pretty sweet. What was MLG's opinion on the two extra streams 

post-event? Can we expect to see them return in the future?

I have no idea... I know it seemed to be well recieved by everyone. I

hope it does make a return though as it was an amazing opportunity

for small time casters like myself. It also brought games to the

viewers that they could never have seen live before. Ya sure,

casting after the tournament is nice and a way of seeing your

favorite games, but no one can deny the raw power and excitement

of seeing a game live. It is such an amazing feeling

and one that any organization should try to bring to their

viewers. Even if I do not get invited back as a caster, I hope the

program stays, because as a viewer, it's just simply awesome

to have that many games at your fingertips.

What's your best memory from MLG Orlando 2011 then?

Oh geez - the whole thing! Ha, if I had to pick one though it was

casting White-Ra vs Stephano on Friday night. It was the last of the

night so they threw the game on the main stage for the viewers to

watch. I had no idea! So when I finished the cast and put my headset

down an overwhelming roar came from the floor behind me and it was

just such a cool feeling to be able to hear a crowd that I had casted

for. Had they told me prior to the cast that it was on main stage,

I would have bombed it. I was given great feedback on the cast and

its always the moment I reflect back to when thinking about MLG Orlando.

That must be a pretty crazy feeling! Closing up, is there anything you'd 

like to say to other people out there with their own casting aspirations? 

Any advice to give?

Pour your heart into it. These top casters you see care so much about

this game, and that is why they are so successful at casting it.

If you're getting into this scene because you notice that it's big

and want to find a way to make money, then you're not going to make

it. Casters need to be passionate about the games they are watching,

and they need to enjoy it just as much as the viewer. From there,

just keep trying your heart out and do not be afraid to meet new

people. I have been lucky enough to bump into a few people who have

enjoyed my casting and helped me climb the ladder up. Also, anything you

do, casting, playing, or heck anything not related to Starcraft.

If you enjoy it, keep going at it. You'll break through eventually.

The championship match took place between FnaticMSI and SK Gaming, this unfortunately would mean that no American team would make it to the championship match so if you’re a fan of the American teams you’re in for disappointment. To be fair however both of these teams have been doing phenomenally in organized League of Legends play since season 1 and have more than proven themselves worthy of participating in this event against one another. Not to mention the fact that both teams had been undefeated up until the championship matches.

Game 1

Fnatic used first pick to full advantage by building a strong team comp consisting of Janna, Gragas, Lee Sin, Urgot, and Karthus. SK also decided on a fairly solid team comp by choosing Taric, Nasus, Warwick, Cassipoeia, and Caitlyn. Both teams didn’t exactly come out of the gate swinging as neither side was overly aggressive against the other using much of the early laning phase to score as much CS as possible even failing to utilize the junglers for lane ganks on several occasions. Some may argue that this is merely the archetype of play style that the European teams have been well known for in the past but it seemed to be more of a mix of not only utilizing familiar meta but also being understandably cautious with the final championship on the line with the outcome of the entire event being decided by this three game series.

It wouldn’t take long (a mere 6 minutes) for Fnatic to group up for a dragon kill, they would trade giving SK first blood for sealing the dragon kill which didn’t seem to upset Fnatic too much as they would simply return to their lanes to farm some more rather than begin an onslaught of ganks and team fights. This would last until about the 13 minute mark when a 4v4 erupted in bottom lane, when the dust settled it would be Fnatic who would come out on top with one more kill than SK taking 3 for their 2. It wasn’t long however until SK would retaliate by invading top lane and scoring 2 kills for a single death on their side.

Fnatic would again kill dragon unopposed by SK while also catching Taric out of Position for an easy kill followed up immediately by scoring a turret kill. Fnatic would at this point in the match become neigh unstoppable as they began to systematically destroy SK’s defenses and win team fight after team fight. Although SK would attempt to push through Fnatics middle lane for a comeback they were quickly caught with their pants down and dispatched by team Fnatic who killed 4 SK players and giving up only 1 of their own deaths. Fnatic would use this opportunity to take Baron Nashor giving themselves a whopping 8K gold lead and a 16 to 11 kill lead. This of course led to Fnatics final push into SK’s Base where they proceeded unabashedly to destroy SK’s nexus and sealing the first victory of the match.

Game 2:

SK would this time choose a team consisting of Gangplank, Janna, Yorick, Cassiopeia, and Tristana with Fnatic choosing Morgana, Lee Sin, Sona, Ezreal, and Anivia. The early laning phase was once again an uneventful passage of time with both teams carefully and passively farming up their CS attempting to out kill one another’s minion waves in what one could only assume was a race to put their team into position for the first dragon kill. Bottom lane saw a little aggression in the form of a first blood score by Fnatic. It wouldn’t be long before SK would respond by scoring a kill of their own in top lane. Feeling that the pressure was on and confident with game 1 under their belt Fnatic closed in on SK’s Bottom lane grabbing a double kill and taking first dragon. This was a trend that was in no way broken by Fnatic as they continued to dominate every lane and securing every dragon kill of the match at the very moment it spawned.

SK decided to attempt to turtle for the remainder of the match since there was not much of an option left to them at this point in the match. Unfortunately this did not do much to help SK stay in the game as every last team fight would be taken by Fnatic with SK barely being able to even put up any resistance. Many of Fnatic’s kills came under SK’s own turrets without so much as a single accidental turret death on Fnatic’s end. It was not a close match as once again during the final moments of the match Fnatic would score a team fight victory in which they killed 4 SK players losing only 1 of their own in the process. Unable to continue to push for the final victory at that point Fnatic would regroup and take Baron Nashor down. SK could do nothing as Fnatic bore down on them tower diving without fear and putting out insane amounts of burst damage simply devouring their champions.

SK would attempt to prolong the loss by camping their middle inhibitor turret but alas, it was not meant to be as Fnatic continued their trend of ignoring turrets and scored a quick ace once again only losing a single champ to the frey they would push through the rest of the base, destroy the nexus, and taking home the championship without SK so much as even winning a match against them.

In Conclusion

It was a long and hard fought victory for Fnatic as they relentlessly pushed and destroyed SK from the word “go”. Amazing seeing as SK is considered to be one of the best competitive League of Legends teams on the planet, and rightly so; it was a shock to many to see how one sided this final matchup was especially considering that both teams had come into this championship match undefeated. All there really is to say at this point is congratulations to the boys in Fnatic and I hope that we will see SK fair much better in the championship match next year if they make it that far. Perhaps now they are given a chance to analyze what went wrong and plan a better meta game against Fnatic at next year’s event.  Both teams played at professional levels but as we all know only one team can come out on top and indeed this year it was Fnatic. So again, congrats guys and thanks to everyone who supported the tournament and even those who showed up at comicon in New York to support the event. Only through organized events such as this will League of Legends continue to grow into the powerhouse competitive game we know it can be. Thanks for reading, look for coverage on any and all organized events being held in the LOL universe from myself and my compatriots in the future and as always summoners; good luck out there on the fields of justice.

The Empath is one of S2′s Pure Support Heroes, designed with a purpose to synergize with a team’s semi or hard carry in the latter phases of the game. Otherwise, Empath uses her non-ultimate active skills to help in teamfights and her passive grants her team a considerable health regeneration bonus. My problem with Empath is mainly the difficulty of running her in a line-up, due to two of her skills possessing flaws.

Let’s look at her skill-set in a bit more detail.

Essence Link:

Deals 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 Magic Damage per second for 5 seconds to the target, healing Empath for the same amount. The link breaks if the distance between Empath and her target reaches 800 units, and stuns the target for 1 / 1.5 / 2 / 2.5 seconds. While bonded to an ally with As One, Essence Link heals the host instead of Empath.

Clearly, Essence Link is a powerful laning tool, that can be used to harass, or even hinder an opponent’s attempt to harass you out of the lane. However, because of the requirement for a unit to move beyond 800 units in order for the stun to trigger Empath’s strength in line-ups in limited compared to heroes with guaranteed stuns or snares. So, a change to Essence Link, allowing the player to stop the link, stunning the target, at any time.

Illusionary Veil:

Creates a 650 width wall that blocks enemies and grants slight vision. The wall lasts for 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 seconds.

Enemies within 150 units of the wall take 50 damage per second.

Illusionary Veil is a power tool for blocking a unit’s path. However, one of the weaknesses of the skill is your inability to use the spell as an offensive ganking tool, it is always a support tool, which unlike Behemoth’s fissure doesn’t allow time for allies to reach the target. I would propose a change to the skill allow Empath to be used a bit more offensively, and would add a bit more depth to the hero.

Illusionary Veil, would be placed like a trap, not blocking a path, until an enemy unit came and triggered the wall, allowing you to effectively surprise an enemy by blocking off a path, they previously thought was open. Additionally, you would be able to trigger the wall upon a command (Hitting W again), eitherway if a unit comes near the impassible wall their move/attack speed would be reduced for a brief period of time, maybe somewhere between 0.75 – 1.25 seconds. The DoT effect would still exist, making it a bit more effective because the unit(s) are now slowed. However, you could now use the wall in conjunction with your allies. Allies could now bait a few opponents by running down a path, only to have you place place a wall to isolate your enemies.

I’ve only tweaked two out of four abilties, in Illusionary Veil’s case giving Empath a bit more versatility and making her a stronger ganker, which I think corresponds to the game’s current meta game. In the case of Essence Link I changed the skill, so Empath can stun whenever she chooses, which makes the skill much stronger both on its own, and in combination with Illusionary Veil.

Thanks for reading,

CutChemist

Edit: Credit to Decency for Essence Link’s proposed buff.

According to Osen, KeSPA is considering having both Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2 played in the 2011-2012 Season of the Proleague.*

The article states that KeSPA underwent some internal restructuring earlier this month, and though they have not talked to Blizzard or Gretech about the details, they are considering an option to play both Starcraft 1 and 2 in the upcoming season. If Starcraft 2 does happen to be introduced into the Proleague, it may be introduced towards the middle of the 2011-2012 season.

The article also states Pro-gaming teams are starting to think more realistically about Starcraft II, upgrading their computers to be more suitable for Starcraft II, and also testing Starcraft II internally.

When asked for comment, an anonymous KeSPA employee answered that “it is true that we are considering it, but nothing has been confirmed. We will try to meet the expectations of e-Sports fans through continued negotiations with Blizzard.”

*KeSPA is the governing body of the Korean e-Sports, and is in charge of running the Proleague, Brood War’s premiere team level competition that has yearly seasons similar to pro sports leagues around the world.

Source: Osen, translation provided by TeamLiquid.net

This raises a number of implications. Most probably remember the iron grip that KeSPA has held (and still holds) the korean Brood War scene in. While Blizzard has been apprehensive about avoiding a new monopoly situation on StarCraft II, one ponders whether KeSPA has the power to gain any influence in the SC2 scene. Earlier attempts to create a governing body for korean SC2 players have achieved a fairly modest amount of success, with SC2Con recently disbanding.

The news also raises the issue of prominent Brood War players switching to SC2. Numerous players have already switched from game to game with great success (e.g. ZergBong aka IMNesTea, IMMvp, oGsNaDa, SlayerSBoxeR – among others). Numerous speculative writers have pointed out the implications of BW bonjwas such as Jaedong, Bisu or Flash switching to SC2 – and while these players in particular may decide to stay with Brood War for now, others may be less conservative.

In almost any light, the news of KeSPA’s interest in professional StarCraft II is a sign that the game is gaining popularity within Korea. A bright future awaits the SC2 scene if this is the case.