Disclaimer: Originally I was going to be in Mexico during this weeks games but I cam home a bit early and played while being super tired so this is going to be a pretty shitty blog.

Game 1:

Overall Strategy: I hadn’t been able to do any prep work since I was in Mexico so I didn’t actually have a strategy. Panda’s team is somewhat unique in that they have two “star players” with Atran and Aeos so I knew this had potential to be a tough series.

Phase 1

Panda Bans: Legion Commander/Kunkka

These are heroes we can and have played so I guess Panda just didn’t want to deal with them. The legion may have also been in preparation for their first pick Bristle.

Clare Bans: Clockwork/Spirit Breaker

Panda is a very good clock player so their was no way I was going to let him play it. Spirit breaker is annoying and very common pick in SEAL so he had to go too.

Panda Pick: Bristleback

I’m not convinced this hero is first pick worthy but apparantly they did.

Clare Picks: Nightstalker/Razor

I asked my team who the cool heroes were this week and was recommended Nightstalker so I picked it. Safelane Razor has been good for us so I snagged him up too. It is worth noting here that ButterGreg was playing safelane instead of Derpy this game due to scheduling issues.

Panda Pick: Sand King

I am also a fan of Sand King so this pick seemed reasonable, although I do think SK can have issues channeling epicenter once NS has an aghs.

Phase 2

Panda Bans: Rubik/Axe

Greg’s Rubik getting some respect, unfortunately for them I put him on carry. Axe was a smart ban here as he is not only a very strong hero but a counter to Bristleback

Clare Bans: Lina/Queen of Pain

More bans directed to making Ryrk’s midlane easier. Atran may not typically play mid but his overall DoTA skill shouldn’t be underestimated; we couldn’t let him have a good start over ryrk.

Clare Picks: Shadow Shaman/Necrophos

The Shadow Shaman was too add some had hard lock down to our team since Nightstalker and Razor don’t have any. The Necrophos was Toes’ preference for dealing with Bristleback.

Panda Picks: Pugna/Oracle

The Pugna pick was puzzling I assume it was just a comfort pick for Bolt. The Oracle was the last pick of this phase and was a very good pick in my opinion. He not only synergizes well with the Bristleback but counters our Necrophos. Their overall draft was looking really weird at this point though.

Phase 3

Clare Ban: Sniper

We thought Atran’s mid hero would be their last pick so I decided sniper was the most likely and annoying hero to face.

Panda Ban: Centaur

If we needed an offlane hero this would definitely have been a good ban but in reality we needed a mid hero. Swing and a miss.

Panda Pick: Drow Ranger

Extremely confused what they were doing with their draft at this point.

Clare Pick: Phantom Lancer

Ryrk decided this was the perfect game for Phantom Lancer so that’s what I picked.

Game Analysis

They ended up dual offlaning the Pugna and SK and putting the Bristle Mid. Ryrk destroyed Bristleback and I fed hard in our safelane which led to Xtra and Greg also dying. Luckily rotations from both Toes and Ryrk got our team back on track and we continued to take the rest of the game by storm as Panda’s team had no way to deal with Ryrk’s Phantom Lancer.

Game 2:

Overall Strategy: I didn’t play this game since I was still tired and rusty after house building in mexico for a week so I’m just going to give the game analysis and end-game picture.

Game Analysis

The game started of very well as Xtra’s roaming riki was killing people right and left while all three of our cores farmed well. Our dominance continued through the midgame and soon the boys were ready to push high ground. Unfortunately things went down hill here as after a couple lost fights the OD became incredibly powerful with the massive gold influx. The hero was already strong against our team, our cores in particular, and with no burst to kill him or the weaver Panda took the victory.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think we did very well this week. Despite Derpy being gone game one and Toes being unable to communicate properly due to a party going on his house our team still did well. Game one we won in a stompy manner and game two was a very close loss. Throughout all our games and scrims our earlier laning and movements still remain unstoppable. I am very excited to see what we can do next week with everyone in prime condition against the only undefeated team in SEAL, Crap’s team.