World of Warcraft
As the days pass we are preparing ourselves for one of the biggest tournaments World of Warcraft has seen. BlizzCon is right around the corner so with that in mind let's see how our World of Warcraft team battled through the group stage to finish as the highest seed in Group A.
In the first game and opening match we were facing Original Gangstarr, a team from China that many of the players feared for their dangerous WLS (Warrior, Warlock & Restoration Shaman) comp. Despite that, our European champions remained confident in their TurboCleave (Warrior, Shaman & Druid).
In the pregame interviews Original Gangstarr had the following to say about SK Gaming:
On the other hand, our very own Swapzy said:
SK.FabsS added:
Once the draft was completed the first game, which was to be played on Nagrand Arena, turned out to be WMS (Warrior, Mage & Shaman) vs the TurboCleave and while the commentators were surprised that Original Gangstarr would swap out the Restoration Druid for a Restoration Shaman, their biggest problem was that the Shaman wouldn't provide to their crowd control as much as the Druid.
While the commentators were worried Original Gangstarr might catch SK off guard and burst down one of their members in the latter stage of the match, we were sure that our team was in the highest form they can be.
Once the Nagrand gates opened all hell broke lose. Joefernandes, one of the best warriors in the game, immediately started turning up the heat with his swaps from HanBaiChuan to YiYang and as one of the commentators mentioned the pressure that SK can put out between 2 targets is one of the deciding factors in their wins. The whole match Original Gangstarr looked like they were pushed with their backs up against a wall with XiaoJie struggling to land those heals to top his teammates off to full health.
Minutes later Joefernandes swapped to XiaoJie and stunned him at a very low HP. Boetar ran in to help out his teammate with Mighty Bash and stunned XiaoJie which allowed Joe to score the kill and lead his team to a 1-0 victory.
Before the start of the game commentator Sid Compston teased "If they can take a game from SK Gaming they deserve a prize" but once the draft was complete Original Gangstarr reverted back to their original composition (Warrior, Warlock & Shaman) and chose to go to Tiger's Peak arena. This pick had the commentators baffled and probably most of the audience as well as that map choice wouldn't give them a significant advantage over SK Gaming which later proved to be correct.
Once the gates opened SK Gaming charged in and started with the pressure, immediately forcing the trinkets from both Darkarchonyo and HanBaiChuan. The Chinese team would not give up without a fight though and they started pressuring Swapzy. However Joefernandes is not considered one of the best warriors in the world for nothing. He knew exactly what to do and forced the trinkets again. Seconds later he shockwaved XiaoJie and finished him off, leading SK Gaming to victory.
In the postgame interview Joefernandes said "It feels really good to play on the BlizzCon stage, we just wanted to get our match out of the way and we are so happy to finally be at BlizzCon." and when asked if there are any teams they are eager to face he responded that they "are looking forward to fight Tempo Storm if they go through".
He quickly got his wish granted as in the second match we went up against Tempo Storm, a team that is feared for their RMD (Rogue, Mage & Druid) but was defeated by Cloud9 in a mirror match in the finals of the North American regionals.
Once the draft was completed everyone saw that Tempo Storm won't be running RMD but instead swapped the Druid for a Paladin. While most of the audience was surprised by the choice Tempo Storm made, the commentators were quick to explain that the Spellsteal that Jahmilli will provide would be crucial. On the other side SK Gaming decided to keep using their most practiced comp, the TurboCleave.
As per Blizzard rules the first map to be played on was Nagrand Arena and once the gates were open Tempo Storm charged in and tried to make the best of their opener. They used Sap on Swapxy but were not able to do anything more as Joefernandes immediately charged Jahmilli. Seconds later, Pikaboo landed 2 Cheap Shots and stunned up both Joefernandes and Swapxy while Elite landed a Hammer Of Justice on Boetar. Fortunately, Joe immediately used a damage reduction on Swapxy and avoided any more pressure.
After a lot of back and forth aggression from both sides, Joefernandes landed a beautiful stun on Pikaboo and Jahmilli, forcing the trinket out of the former. The pressure continued, with precise crowd control effects piling on Elite that eventually netted our team the 1-0 lead over the North American #2 seed Tempo Storm.
In the second draft Tempo Storm made no changes and were feeling confident that the Arcane Mage, Rogue & Paladin can work versus a TurboCleave with their map of choice being Tiger's Peak Arena.
Once the gates opened we saw the same opener by Tempo Storm. They used Sap on Swapxy and stunned Joefernandes, immediately following it with a Polymorph from Jahmilli but with no crowd control landing on Boetar, SK knew they would be fine and started pressuring Pikaboo in return.
After a long drawn out battle, Joefernandes landed a triple Shockwave stun and demolished Pikaboo in the ground defeating Tempo Storm with a clean 2-0, securing the #1 spot in Group A and a place in the semi-finals.
The games continue tonight at 20:45 CET, with our semi-final scheduled for 22:45 CET. Check the full schedule and results so far here and tune in at Twitch TV later today to give your support to the team as they continue their fight for the title of Arena World Champions!
In the first game and opening match we were facing Original Gangstarr, a team from China that many of the players feared for their dangerous WLS (Warrior, Warlock & Restoration Shaman) comp. Despite that, our European champions remained confident in their TurboCleave (Warrior, Shaman & Druid).
In the pregame interviews Original Gangstarr had the following to say about SK Gaming:
"We are very confident about playing SK Gaming. Their main team composition is TurboCleave, but we are even more worried about their LSD (Warlock, Shaman & Druid)."
On the other hand, our very own Swapzy said:
"I know that we will beat Original Gangstarr 2-0. The fact that they are unknown and we didn't initially know what they are going to run gave them a bit of an advantage but since the day we know that they are most likely going to run WLS it's not really a scary setup for us so we should be okay against them. We can punish any team on the spot for any mistake they do, so there is not much time for them to react."
SK.FabsS added:
"We practice a lot and we are the best players here. Winning BlizzCon is the only thing that matters, that's the main goal."
Once the draft was completed the first game, which was to be played on Nagrand Arena, turned out to be WMS (Warrior, Mage & Shaman) vs the TurboCleave and while the commentators were surprised that Original Gangstarr would swap out the Restoration Druid for a Restoration Shaman, their biggest problem was that the Shaman wouldn't provide to their crowd control as much as the Druid.
While the commentators were worried Original Gangstarr might catch SK off guard and burst down one of their members in the latter stage of the match, we were sure that our team was in the highest form they can be.
Once the Nagrand gates opened all hell broke lose. Joefernandes, one of the best warriors in the game, immediately started turning up the heat with his swaps from HanBaiChuan to YiYang and as one of the commentators mentioned the pressure that SK can put out between 2 targets is one of the deciding factors in their wins. The whole match Original Gangstarr looked like they were pushed with their backs up against a wall with XiaoJie struggling to land those heals to top his teammates off to full health.
Minutes later Joefernandes swapped to XiaoJie and stunned him at a very low HP. Boetar ran in to help out his teammate with Mighty Bash and stunned XiaoJie which allowed Joe to score the kill and lead his team to a 1-0 victory.
Before the start of the game commentator Sid Compston teased "If they can take a game from SK Gaming they deserve a prize" but once the draft was complete Original Gangstarr reverted back to their original composition (Warrior, Warlock & Shaman) and chose to go to Tiger's Peak arena. This pick had the commentators baffled and probably most of the audience as well as that map choice wouldn't give them a significant advantage over SK Gaming which later proved to be correct.
Once the gates opened SK Gaming charged in and started with the pressure, immediately forcing the trinkets from both Darkarchonyo and HanBaiChuan. The Chinese team would not give up without a fight though and they started pressuring Swapzy. However Joefernandes is not considered one of the best warriors in the world for nothing. He knew exactly what to do and forced the trinkets again. Seconds later he shockwaved XiaoJie and finished him off, leading SK Gaming to victory.
In the postgame interview Joefernandes said "It feels really good to play on the BlizzCon stage, we just wanted to get our match out of the way and we are so happy to finally be at BlizzCon." and when asked if there are any teams they are eager to face he responded that they "are looking forward to fight Tempo Storm if they go through".
He quickly got his wish granted as in the second match we went up against Tempo Storm, a team that is feared for their RMD (Rogue, Mage & Druid) but was defeated by Cloud9 in a mirror match in the finals of the North American regionals.
Once the draft was completed everyone saw that Tempo Storm won't be running RMD but instead swapped the Druid for a Paladin. While most of the audience was surprised by the choice Tempo Storm made, the commentators were quick to explain that the Spellsteal that Jahmilli will provide would be crucial. On the other side SK Gaming decided to keep using their most practiced comp, the TurboCleave.
As per Blizzard rules the first map to be played on was Nagrand Arena and once the gates were open Tempo Storm charged in and tried to make the best of their opener. They used Sap on Swapxy but were not able to do anything more as Joefernandes immediately charged Jahmilli. Seconds later, Pikaboo landed 2 Cheap Shots and stunned up both Joefernandes and Swapxy while Elite landed a Hammer Of Justice on Boetar. Fortunately, Joe immediately used a damage reduction on Swapxy and avoided any more pressure.
After a lot of back and forth aggression from both sides, Joefernandes landed a beautiful stun on Pikaboo and Jahmilli, forcing the trinket out of the former. The pressure continued, with precise crowd control effects piling on Elite that eventually netted our team the 1-0 lead over the North American #2 seed Tempo Storm.
In the second draft Tempo Storm made no changes and were feeling confident that the Arcane Mage, Rogue & Paladin can work versus a TurboCleave with their map of choice being Tiger's Peak Arena.
Once the gates opened we saw the same opener by Tempo Storm. They used Sap on Swapxy and stunned Joefernandes, immediately following it with a Polymorph from Jahmilli but with no crowd control landing on Boetar, SK knew they would be fine and started pressuring Pikaboo in return.
After a long drawn out battle, Joefernandes landed a triple Shockwave stun and demolished Pikaboo in the ground defeating Tempo Storm with a clean 2-0, securing the #1 spot in Group A and a place in the semi-finals.
The games continue tonight at 20:45 CET, with our semi-final scheduled for 22:45 CET. Check the full schedule and results so far here and tune in at Twitch TV later today to give your support to the team as they continue their fight for the title of Arena World Champions!
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