The GCWC playoffs kicked off with two superb series that pushed all four teams to show their very best. We saw teams level up their play from the group stage, new hero picks and old comforts resurface. The matches were truly spectacular, and there's no point in delaying. Today, we're going to try something a little different by breaking down every single game from each series. I likely won't be able to do this for the remaining days, but let me know your feedback on the format, perhaps we'll find a way to work it in during the regular season. Now, to the games!







Game 1 - Battlefield of Eternity

Every support has been nerfed to try and deal with the rampant double support issue, so naturally Fnatic start out with one of their first games of traditional double support. We've seen the team flex BadBenny onto Rehgar, but in this first game it was Mene bringing out his Uther. This proved to be a great decision for both players.



BadBenny had by far his best showing on Sonya to date, constantly splitpushing, landing clutch spears to set up kills, and initiating well with flanks. Likewise, Mene was on point with his stuns, with the surprise Divine Storm pick ultimately leading to the team's rapid victory.



The early game was all Fnatic, as the team found two picks in order to secure a solid first immortal. Outside of these objective fights, the game was fairly passive, but KSV returned the favor with an excellent fight during the second immortal phase. However, as the Korean team retreated from their immortal push, Mene caught Kharazim with a perfect layering of stuns, and the team was able to secure a pick. This kept experience fairly even, and allowed Fnatic to reset the lanes to neutral in anticipation of the next immortal.



From then on, the story was all about Fnatic's teamfight--BadBenny's superior positioning, and the timing of Mene's heroic. Fnatic lost a fight, but kept enough people alive to stall until the respawns were up. Then, they charged into KSV, forcing them to fight and picking up the final immortal. With a fairly healthy immortal, Fnatic safely walked into KSV's base and sieged the keep. As it fell, Mene moved forward to land a sudden Divine Storm netting more kills for the EU squad. With their defense heroics still up, Fnatic had enough health and survivability to walk right up to the core and end the game in surprising fashion. Quite a way to kick off the knockout stage of the tournament.



Game 2 - Cursed Hollow

Game 3 - Infernal Shrines

Game 4 - Dragon Shire

Dignitas vs Ballistix

Game 1 - Dragon Shire

Game 2 - Sky Temple

Game 3 - Infernal Shrines

Game 4 - Cursed Hollow

Game 5 - Battlefield of Eternity

Going into Game 2, Fnatic try to capitalize on their momentum by taking their opponents to the EU squad's strongest map. Channeling the spirit of Fnatic, KSV try their hand at the multi-global strategy. Early game this strategy bailed them out of a potential Fnatic snowball. Brightwing went down right as the first tribute spawned. The low death timers and Bwing's teleport allowed KSV to reposition quickly as claim the first tribute.Ordinarily, taking multiple globals on a map like Cursed would mean a slower, more methodical game where you take advantage of lane pressure to get an XP and structure advantage. Instead, KSV committed hard to a fight around their cure-point tribute. Fnatic were unable to make their poke stick into a double support composition. With no damage prepped, an excellent 2-man mosh by Tsst secured two kills for the Koreans which were followed up by a curse and boss eventually leading to a keep and a two level lead.However, Fnatic were not ready to give up yet. They mounted a solid defense of their mid keep, catching back up in experience. Around the next tribute, BadBenny charged his team forward with excellent positioning and aggressive Q's deep into the enemy backline. Slowly Fnatic were able to gain a position and damage advantage, and then collapsed in for the kills. With their advantage they took the tribute as well as both bosses. An excellent jump and stun by Breez secured Fnatic a pick onto Li-Ming, and it seemed as though Fnatic had made the comeback and were in position to go up two games over the strongest team in the tournament.Unfortunately, the final tribute of the game spawned just a bit too quickly as Fnatic still needed about half a level to match KSV at level 20. All they needed were a few stalls of the tribute in order to trickle in the experience. Mene went for the first interrupt--and disaster struck. KSV had been waiting for someone to step up, and they jumped onto Mene, blowing him up in a moment. Poor coordination in their interrupt attempt lead Mene to his death, and from there KSV were able to slowly walk a few creeps into the core, catch a few more kills, and tie up the series 1-1.Where Game 2 saw Fnatic nearly complete a superb comeback, Game 3 saw KSV put their boot on the throat of Fnatic in the first minute and never let up. In the level 1 mid-lane skirmish KSV traded a death for two kills, and snowballed from there. They won every shrine, controlled nearly every mercenary camp, and did not even lose a tower.At the second shrine, Fnatic tried to get aggressive and secure a similar comeback to their Cursed Hollow game by forcing a 4v5 fight while KSV's Sonya farmed top lane. KSV managed to escape the assault, and in their turnaround were able to take BadBenny so low that Fnatic were forced to give up the objective. Fnatic then continued to give ground until KSV threatened their top fort. With 13 on the way, the EU team prepared their engagement. Right as 13 hit, they took their fight, and subsequently lost the game.Apocalypse got no value as a follow up to a solid horrify by Mene, and that lack of control allowed KSV's healing to kick in. The big story of these last moments was Rich's staunch unwillingness to die. In the teamfight, he stayed low enough to encourage Fnatic members out of postion, but was able to whirlwind himself up just enough to never fully go down. Then, with their top keep destroyed, Fnatic tried a desperate engagement to pick off the tantalizingly-low Sonya. Once again the healing, whirlwind, and peel from KSV saved Rich, and the Koreans re-engaged, picking up kill after kill as the core was slowly drained to nothing.One game away from the loser's bracket, Fnatic pull out something new--Mene's Ana. This was a game all about Fnatic making really cool, flashy plays that ultimately resulted in nothing. If you ever want to show your friends why kills don't win games in HOTS, play this game for them.The early game was a tale of two team compositions. Fnatic rotate around the map picking up kills off of stellar Sleeping Darts from Mene. BadBenny even secures an impressive solo kill on KSV's Reset on Genji. However, through all their rotations and eliminations, Fnatic had no answer for KSV's push in the top lane. Over and over Fnatic traded kills for structures and map pressure. KSV's experience lead slowly widened until they finally had the opportunity to grab the Dragon Knight, opening up Fnatic's keep in the bottom lane. Again, Fnatic tried to make plays, engaging aggressively into the enemy team and finding pick after pick. They executed their comp well, but simply had no way to create enough map pressure to challenge KSV's structures. With the map constantly pushing against them, KSV slowly secured the last Dragon Knight, marched it through bottom lane, and with Sanctification were able to stall long enough to slowly whack Fnatic's core to death, knocking the EU squad out of the winner's side of the tournament.Throughout these matches, we saw Fnatic display their coordination and playmaking potential, but get consistently out-macroed by KSV. It appeared as if KSV woke up after the first game and suddenly remembered that they were the best team in the world. The control shown by the Korean squad in the last two games was suffocating--Fnatic had no answer whatsoever. Is Fnatic struggling to adapt to the patch, or is KSV so hot that they can barely be touched? We won't know until the next round later this week. For now, Fnatic have an opportunity to use their playmaking and coordination to simply outplay the teams in the lower bracket and get a rematch against a higher caliber team, but will have to tighten up their control of the macro game before they can hope to challenge KSV again.Dignitas secured themselves an early draft to control the macro on Dragon Shire with Dehaka in the top lane and Lucio to help with rotations. However, they seemed to not be quite prepared for just how hard Ballistix would commit to a kill comp. Ballistix did not necessarily have a stronger composition for the early game, and indeed we saw Dignitas leap out to an early structure lead.However, a few early picks allowed Ballistix to stay even in experience until their composition fully came online with heroics. From there, it was all Ballistix.The Korean squad had so much damage on their side of the field that even the combined healing of Lucio and Kharazim couldn't keep Dignitas alive long enough. Without a larger early lead, Dignitas were unable to play the slow macro game and control the offense of Ballistix. They sort of backed themselves into a corner in the draft by picking Greymane into an open Arthas. This not only gave Ballistix a solid counter to what would be Dig's only damage threat, but also provided a top laner to contest Dehaka and set up for ganks. With their last pick Li-Ming, the Korean squad gave themselves a terrifying teamfight which caused Dignitas to backpedal into a second support. This may be a game we look back on to highlight how much weaker double support has become in the new patch. With less healing to sustain through the engagement and less damage/staying power, Kharazim had little impact in the teamfights on this map. Ultimately, the double resets and sustained threat of Arthas were too much for Dignitas' composition, and they fell to a big Dragon Knight walking into their core and thwacking it to death.As well as Ballistix controlled the first game, Dignitas displayed that same level of mastery in Game 2. This time Dignitas were able to secure a comfortable draft that outclassed their opponent.What was especially interesting in this game was the passive nature of Ballistix throughout. They were willing to give ground at every turn, quickly conceding temple shots and small advantages. Ultimately they never had an opportunity to execute their blow-up gameplan, and without that early pick to start a fight, they had no way to deal with POILK's Tracer.Huge credit also goes to Zaelia for superb heads-up play. In a fight in the bottom lane, he landed a well-timed pre-cleanse to allow ETC to reposition. When JayPL went in, he was quickly pounced upon by the damage of Ballistix, but a perfect Ancestral kept him up. With all their resources expended, and an ETC keeping them constantly displaced, Tracer and Sonya went to work eliminating Tyrael and sending Ballistix running yet again.After that fight, The Korean squad had little recourse but to frantically farm to 16 and try to force a fight around the boss. However, Dignitas saw perfectly through this gameplan and went to work on the boss when Ballistix were only halfway through level 15. With 16 approaching, Hooligan went to check the status of the boss, and showed himself just as Dig were finishing up, allowing them to land all the CC needed to blow up Ballistix's tank and march their boss onto the core. With their tank down, Ballistix could not get the boss low enough to discourage the final push from Dignitas, who marched right in to secure the victory.This game came down to a single word--playmaking. Needing to turn around the momentum in the series after a crushing defeat in Game 2, Ballistix lean on ScSc to pull them back ahead in the series. With their Zeratul locked in, the entire game hinges on the all star's ability to create opportunities.The early game was fairly even, with Dignitas picking up a few early kills. Once level 10 hit, we saw Zeratul utilize Void Prison to counteract Sanctification. However, in that first fight, Dignitas came fully prepared. With some surprise aggression, they forced out Sound Barrier and then backed off until it went away. Then, Dig pulled Ballistix into a fight and dropped their Sanctification. Immediately the VP went down to counreract it and Ballistix prepared to collapse. This was when Dig's redundancy kicked in. Snitch still had plenty of Dragon Blade left to work with, and an immediate Divine Shield from Uther allowed Dig's double reset comp to pop off.However, that would be the last moment of control for Dignitas in this game. Wubby's Leoric lacked it's signature unyielding control over the battlefield, falling quickly again and again. As Dignitas slowly lost ground, Snitch engaged ScSc in a 1v1 engagement to try and create an opening. This outplay by the Korean squad will be replayed for years to come as a testament to the level of playmaking ability that exists in Heroes of the Storm. With a pixel of health remaining, Zeratul drops Void Prison, leaving Genji exposed in a choke near the center of the battleground. This allows just enough time for Dehaka to join the fight and quickly clean up. It was a perfect bait, keeping Zeratul low enough to encourage Genji to keep aggressing, teasing him to overextend. From there, Dignitas fell behind, were faced with a level 20 disparity, and gave ground until ultimately the lockdown of Ballistix proved too much and Zaelia stood alone watching his core crumble.On the game's most straightforward map, we see the most even game of the series. This was ultimately a game of macro level misplays that resulted in a sudden victory.The early game was relatively standard fair. With globals on both sides, neither team overcommitted to the tributes, and Ballistix were happy to concede the first two. Then came the fight for the third. The teamfight from Dignitas was excellent, locking down threats and negating Zeratul's ability to pressure the backline. With only Muradin left to contest, Dignitas made a greedy play, trying to take down their boss before securing the third tribute. Unfortunately, their boss rush was just a bit too slow. By the time the boss was claimed, Muradin was able to stall the tribute twice, and all of Ballistix were back up and ready to throw down. Snitch was caught out of position and a perfect Rain of Vengance gave Ballistix the kill and the tribute, effectively nullifying the impact of Dig's early boss.The Korean squad would find a few more picks, but ultimately the teamfighting of Dignitas would prove too strong. Where last game Dignitas did not have enough control to slow down the raw damage output of Ballistix, this time they backed up their Tyrael with an Anub'arak. The cocoon combined with his basic stuns allowed Dignitas to dictate the flow of fights. That's to say nothing of the incredible playmaking of POILK. In a fight in the Ballistix jungle, Zaelia's Brightwing fell early, which should have spelled doom for Dig. Instead, POILK dove deep into the enemy backline securing a double kill on the enemy Valla and Lucio. With their frontline still intact, Dignitas were able to clean up the fight and secure a heavy lane push. With all their mercenary pressure and structural advantage, Ballistix were left playing lane janitor at the most crucial moment. Dignitas started their boss, and Ballistix made no effort to contest. Just as the boss was nearing completion, Ballistix moved in, but JayPL had positioned perfectly to delay. The late game boss was threatening to end the game, which forced the Koreans to create an engagement in the lane behind the boss. Once again, Dignitas simply had too many tools at their disposal. Void Prison got absolutely no value, and all the control of Dignitas enabled them to pick up a few kills, march through the keep, and confidently end the game.It just wouldn't be a great series without a late game core throw.This is a map where Dignitas somehow continues to make historic comebacks. The first immortal sets Dignitas in an almost unwinnable position, so much so that Ballistix commit to Haymaker and Sindragosa as heroics for their warriors. Not only had Ballistix won the first immortal, but the teamfight beforehand had given them a two level lead and heroics over Dignitas. However, Snitch gets caught out in the bottom lane as the Immortal begins its march down the top lane. Ballistix commits so many members bottom to secure the kill on Tassadar that it actually gives time for Dignitas to start safely damaging the immortal. With that little bit of leeway, Dig are able to defend their keep. This is a massive win for Dignitas. Not only do they still have both keeps alive despite a massive disadvantage, but now Ballistix have made their frontline significantly less tanky in every teamfight for the rest of the game.As a result, the remainder of the game is incredibly close. Dignitas are able to secure immortals and win teamfights, but they are still behind in experience. Using their level advantage, Ballistix slow-play an immortal allowing their Genji to split push with a camp all the way through bottom lane getting a keep for free. Having already weakened the top keep, this puts Ballistix in a position where any meaningful advantage, be it a won teamfight or an immortal, will win the game. However, they still cannot find a way to overcome their teamfight disadvantage against the powerful heroics of Dignitas. Grabbing pick after pick Dignitas march their immortal through top fort and keep. Then, good fortune turns into utter disaster.With their immortal nearly gone, Dignitas manage to catch out Hooligan and kill the enemy tank. This is a big win, but Dignitas see a Game 5 come-from-behind victory within their grasp and go for the win. They leap onto the core burning all their heroics and exhausting every resource to try and kill it. Once Sanctification and Sound Barrier fade away, the core splash damage combined with Dragon Blade are simply too much. Dignitas melt away before even getting the core to half health. With no keep left alive and 50 second death timers, Ballistix cheer as they march safely into Dignitas' base and take the game, and the series.Overall, this was a fantastic series to watch. It was back and forth with both teams displaying mastery over comfort picks, and domination in multiple games. Europe came all the way back from quite literally an unwinnable final game and put themselves in position to claim victory. However, that early advantage from Ballistix lead to desperation from Dignitas at the worst possible moment, and gave Korea its second series over EU for the day.