Athena base update smite series#

The rest of the game followed from there. As St3alth fled a teamfight in the right-hand jungle, Ataraxia (in the left lane) used Rama's ult to take to the skies and land a blind arrow from half-way across the map. The very beginning of the match looked tense and relatively even, but a clutch snipe on St3alth's Scylla by Ataraxia set the tone for the match to follow and stands as one of the tournament's best single kills. With Thor, Repikas was able to do for Titan what Andinster did for Prime. Titan matched that with a first-pick Thor of their own, along with Nox, and the difference was - pun not intended - night and day. Prime targeted KanyeLife with an Ymir ban in every game, forcing him onto Athena (admittedly a strong pick) and Hercules (which did not work.) Going into game three, they kept up the pressure on Ymir - but undervalued Ares enough to let it get through. However, he's less comfortable with more traditional picks like Sylvanus and Geb. He is arguably the best in the world on a number of support gods who are out of favour in North America, specifically Ares and Ymir. Prime's drafting strategy exploited Titan support player KanyeLife's strengths and weaknesses.

Athena base update smite series#

The game ended before the 25 minute mark, and almost everybody outside of Titan's locker room anticipated the series to end 3-0. Titan struggled to get a single kill on the board, being twelve down before that was a possibility. Ah Muzen Cab, an unusual pick in other circumstances, maintained steady pressure while the rest of Prime harried Titan across the map. Prime got Thor again, a major roadblock in the path of that plan, and Nox for themselves in this instance. Titan once again chose Serqet in the belief that they'd be able to dominate in the lategame. In the end, that was enough to cinch the first game. Every time Titan managed to rebuff Prime's assault, the American team would simply regroup, take another map objective, and push again. Zhong Kui, played by tournament MVP MLCst3alth, dominated teamfights despite opposition from PrettyPrime's Nox. Thor, in the hands of Andinster, gave them control in the early and midgame that allowed them to rule the jungle and, through the jungle, the pace of the game.

Titan overcommited to a first blood attempt in the jungle and ended up trading disastrously - 4-1 in favour of Prime, who expanded their advantage steadily from there. Allowing Titan to pick up Serqet in the draft encouraged a lategame mindset in the Europeans that Prime took advantage of. In the first game, they demonstrated how that might happen. Prime's Barraccudda - the hometown favourite, being from Georgia - told the press yesterday that his team would take the final 3-0. Titan, from Europe, represented the impossible dream of every amateur team everywhere: that somehow, within in the space of a year, you can go from the play-in leagues to the scene's biggest stage.Īt the outset, however, Titan's fairytale looked doomed to curtailment. Representing North America, Cognitive Prime arrived as the veteran second seed, the former kings ascendant once again. Fairytales in sport are rare, and today stopped just short of Cool Runnings, but where it ended up - in the hinterlands of Rocky 1 - made it an incredible, emotional experience. This was, by some distance, the best contest I've seen since 2013's Dota 2 International grand final. I'm going to be thinking about this series for a long time. A delighted crowd welcomed COG Red into third place. SK wouldn't get onto the kill board until they managed to down Snoopy while defending their own Phoenixes, and even that small success preceded a total wipe that lead to the end of their tournament hopes. Red didn't let that happen with a series of convincing rotations that built them a formidable lead - 7-0 by the 15 minute mark. Once again, Divios had the time of his life with Hercules despite SK's early efforts to keep him bored and potentially force a mistake. Whatever the truth, the weakness in SK's plan going into the game was that their strategy could be taken apart with a single ban. Afterwards, in the press conference, he would suggest that somebody leaked the strategy to Red beforehand. SK attempted to hold off the Bakasura ban by picking Aphrodite with the intent of running it mid rather than solo, but Red didn't bite - effectively locking Maniakk out of the match. The draft for game 2 was interesting, with a lot of similar picks. Red had the momentum and were able to take the fights they needed to take, extending a kill lead that eventually became insurmountable.

SK's fighting spirit was visible in a run of pick-off kills enabled by Zyrhoes and Badgah, and - like Prime - they took advantage of Red's aversion to map objectives with a quick early Gold Fury.