Tag Archives: Nocturns

SMITE World Championship Day 3 – Quarterfinal Round Part 1

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Well, we’re back here once again for some more SMITE World Championship 2018 action. Its Quarterfinals today, and this decides who goes to Semifinals. Great action here as Nocturns Gaming and Rival begin their set. And then its The Rematch, the epic showdown of Luminosity Gaming and NRG eSports begins once again. Who shall be the ultimate champion?

Quarterfinal #1 Nocturns Gaming Vs. Team Rival

Nocturns vs Rival

Game 1

Nocturns Picks: Osiris (Beltway), Ah Muzen Cab (Zaionsix), Sobek (Noitulover), Da Ji (Sm1tero), Discordia (Nozq) – Bans: Odin, Ullr, Hachiman, Ratatoskr

Rival Picks: Raijin (Wlfy), Fafnir (KaLaS), Erlang Shen (Deathwalker), Ravana (iceicebaby), Medusa (Vote) – Bans: Artio, Sylvanus, Serqet, Isis

Action is slow for the first 5 minutes, however, after a busted gank by Nocturns on Deathwalker, Rival turns on Nocturns’ Sm1tero for first blood, another 3 kills, and a tower in a solo lane teamfight at 5:45. Rival would turn up the pressure and continue the slow bleed with objective takes and pick off kills. Rival would take all of Nocturns’ tier 1 towers by 13:10. Rival would then secure an early Fire Giant at 15:50 because their massive lead prevented Nocturns from stopping their pressure. Wlfy’s enormous damage would lead to a triple kill and a 8/0/6 KDA for his Raijin, this would secure a dominant victory for Team Rival in Game 1. Nocturns simply could not handle the constant pressure applied by Rival and sadly fell.

Game 2

Nocturns Picks: Erlang Shen (Beltway), Ravana (Sm1tero), Raijin (Nozq), Terra (Noitulover), Hou Yi (Zaionsix) – Bans: Odin, Ah Muzen Cab, Poseidon

Rival Picks: Osiris (Deathwalker), Artio (iceicebaby), Hachiman (Wlfy), Fafnir (KaLaS), Thoth (Vote) – Bans: Ullr, Sylvanus, Ganesha, Ares

Slow action for most of the game, most fights were even trades. Positioning was a key factor in this slow paced game. Clutch plays from Vote and Wlfy gave Rival great objective control. Rival consistently got more off of their kills than Nocturns. Superior control from Rival leads to an important Fire Giant at 47:15. Good defense led by Beltway keeps Nocturns in it for a bit longer. Rival takes second Fire Giant at 52:20. Rival’s incredible damage leads to a victory and they take Game 2, Vote was a crucial part of this win for Rival. Once again Wlfy’s damage and positioning was incredible, giving his Hachiman a Game 2 KDA of 8/6/4. Set MVP goes to Wlfy. Vote was almost perfect this game, but Wlfy’s overall impact was greater. Rival advances to Semifinals.

Quarterfinal #2  Luminosity Gaming VS. NRG eSports – The Rematch

LGvsNRG

Game 1

LG Picks: Cu Chulainn (Aquarius), Ne Zha (Mask), Hachiman (BaRRaCCuDDa), Ganesha (JeffHindla), Janus (Baskin) – Bans: Serqet, Ullr, Cabrakan, Hou Yi

NRG Picks: Sylvanus (iRaffer), Ravana (Adapting), Raijin (Yammyn), Artio (maniaKK), Rama (emilitoo) – Bans: Fafnir, Ah Muzen Cab, The Morrigan, Geb

It was the usual farming and counter invading for the early game, but Adapting of NRG found a crucial first blood on Aquarius, giving maniaKK’s Artio a lead. This wouldn’t slow down LG when Baskin of shows his skills as a hyper carry early with a huge triple kill at 11:00. NRG shows off their veteran skills at 14:30 by getting 2 picks on LG, plus a Gold Fury and Portal Demon. The slug fest would continue with LG and NRG trading blows and players, with both teams finding 6 kills from 16:30-18:30. An early Fire Giant is taken by NRG thanks to Adapting’s positioning and triple kill. NRG would maintain their objective control by taking all of LG’s towers, establishing a 10k gold lead. A great engage by NRG leads to 3 kills, a phoenix, and a Fire Giant at 25:00. A carefully planned siege afterward would secure a Game 1 victory for NRG eSports. Adapting showed his genius as usual and led his team for the win with a 7/2/9 KDA.

Game 2

LG Picks: Cabrakan (Aquarius), Cu Chulainn (Mask), Hachiman (BaRRaCCuDDa), Xing Tian (JeffHindla), Discordia (Baskin) – Bans: Ullr, Ah Muzen Cab, Hou Yi, Geb

NRG Picks: Ravana (Adapting), Erlang Shen (maniaKK), Raijin (Yammyn), Athena (iRaffer), Rama (emilitoo)  – Bans: Fafnir, Sylvanus, The Morrigan, Ganesha

Blood is spilled early in Game 2 at 1:00, emilitoo and BaRRa trade shots and Yammyn gets the finish for the first blood. Mask of LG quickly follows with Cu Chulainn’s transformation by killing maniaKK in solo. The game would have a slow pace after the early action, with NRG slowly controlling the game by way of consistent kills (1 kill per 2 minutes) and buff steals. Better positioning and awareness from NRG leads to a Fire Giant secure at 15:50, and a 12k gold lead. LG, however, was able to mount a base defense with a huge ultimate from JeffHindla’s Xing Tian at 20:00 despite the gold deficit. NRG prepares for another siege with a Fire Giant secure at 21:45, which leads to a Deicide and a resounding victory in Game 2 for NRG eSports. The Athena pick caught LG off guard and this allowed Yammyn to dominate the second game. The set MVP is of course Adapting, his high level play and team presence with Ravana was the most critical part of NRG’s strategy. NRG advances to Semifinals.

Those were some epic games so far. Stay tuned, two more quarterfinal matches are still to come, I’ll see you all again for EUnited vs. Black Dragons and Elevate vs. Obey.

Any thoughts or opinions expressed are mine alone. I am not affiliated with any SMITE organizations mentioned or Hi-Rez Studios. Images credited to SMITE eSports and Hi-Rez Studios.

SMITE World Championship Day 2: Knockout Round

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Its that time of year once again, old man winter creeps on our doors and brings with him the SMITE World Championship at HRX. We have a great field of teams this year, including the dominant NRG and EUNITED, who could end up in the epic finale to this series of games. Before we get into that though, I’ll give you all some coverage on today’s knockout matches. International teams Entity Gaming and Black Dragons, and Scylla Esports and NocturnsGaming faced off today in two great best of three matches to determine which two teams will receive the remaining Quarterfinal spots.

Knockout Match #1: Entity Gaming VS. Black Dragons

EntityvBlackdragons

Game 1 – Entity Picks: Picks: Raijin (SirEclipse), Ravana (iApex), Hachiman (Kamiru), Ganesha (MashuPoi), Cabrakan (Parad1ddle) – Bans: Erlang Shen, Sylvanus, Ah Muzen Cab, Cu Chulainn

Black Dragons Picks: Fafnir (PIBE), Serqet (oShip), Rama (MarcelZ), Artio (Kliz), Ra (Nann) – Bans: Ullr, Osiris, Geb, Xing Tian

Our first game saw some great early action with Cabrakan and Ravana combining with great crowd control on Artio for a first blood by Entity. Early pressure from Cabrakan and Ravana would continue. Black Dragons were able to start a comeback beginning with sneaking the first Gold Fury. Later, thanks to great play from MarcelZ on his Rama, Black dragons finds a kill on Kamiru followed by a quick Gold Fury Secure. MarcelZ would continue his top notch play and bring Black Dragons back from its early deficit. Thanks to oShip and his incredible Serqet play, the team was able to steal a Fire Giant that Entity attempted to snatch from under Black Dragons. After some picks and posturing, Black Dragons would secure another Fire Giant and begin a final siege with MarcelZ at the helm with his massive hunter damage. Black Dragons was able to come back from Entity’s dominant early game and win Game 1. Huge props to oShip with his Serqet rotations and teamfight presence, which gave him 95% kill participation at 18 Kills+Assists.

Game 2 – Entity Picks: Erlang Shen(Parad1ddle), Anhur (Kamiru), Nox (SirEclipse), Xing Tian (MashuPoi), Awilix (iApex) – Bans: Ullr, Serqet, Ra, Artio  

Black Dragons Picks: Sylvanus (PIBE), Odin (oShip), Hachiman (MarcelZ), Amaterasu (Kliz), Vulcan (Nann) – Bans: Osiris, Ah Muzen Cab, Fafnir, Ravana 

Game 2 would have a similar starting pace, Entity would find a big first blood once players hit level 5 and focused their ultimates on Naan’s Vulcan at Black Dragon’s speed buff. Entity would get a few more kills and an early Gold Fury, getting great early pressure once again. Black Dragons once again starts to find cracks in the armor and finds two return kills and a Mid Tower after the Gold Fury. MarcelZ would once again keep the team afloat with a massive 3 level lead and full devourer’s gloves ahead of Kamiru. Black Dragons continued to show better objective control with oShip zoning with his Odin. That and the Odin, Vulcan combo allowed Black Dragons to get a Portal Demon and Gold Fury. This leads to a huge teamfight at the Fire Giant, which Black Dragons wins and secures the FG. At this point MarcelZ and Naan’s damage was simply too much and Black Dragons storms the gates for a Game 2 victory. oShip and MarcelZ both had 100% kill participation. oShip was incredible in this set, his great plays on both his Serqet and Odin along with his rotations and teamfight presence led the charge to Black Dragons moving to Quarterfinals.

Knockout Match #2: NocturnsGaming VS. Scylla Esports

NocturnsvScylla

Game 1 – Nocturns Picks: Osiris (Beltway), Sylvanus (Noitulover), Hachiman (Zaionsix), Erlang Shen (Sm1tero), Isis (Nozq) – Bans: Odin, Raijin, Fafnir, Geb

Scylla Picks: Xing Tian (Kayo), Ravana (Envisionise), Medusa (MingyuSeo), Vulcan (xShred), Sobek (Torreyskiez) – Bans: Ullr, AMC, Serqet, Cabrakan

This game would open up with epic action at the Fire Giant pit before minion spawns with Scylla finding a first blood on Noitulover. After a bit of lane phase, Scylla attempts to take their blue buff, but instead loses 3 team members because of a great engage by Osiris and rotation by Isis. Beltway would continue to control the pace of this game with his massive solo lane lead. Scylla responds later by sneaking a risky fire giant despite Nocturns’ lead and map control. Nocturns is able to prevent Scylla from utilizing its FG and thanks to Beltway’s presence and zoning, secures the FG on respawn. By this point Sm1tero and Zaionsix are massive and have high damage and pen, tearing through Scylla’s phoenixes and the Titan. This game was the Beltway show, his rotations and pressure along with the same from Sm1tero make it an easy win for Nocturns once they reached mid game.

Game 2 – Nocturns Picks: Fafnir (Noitulover), Erlang Shen (Beltway), Hachiman (Zaionsix), Thoth (Nozq), Serqet (Sm1tero) – Bans: Osiris, Ah Muzen Cab, Geb, Hou Yi

Scylla Picks: Raijin (xShred), Ravana (Envisionise), Artio (Kayo), Cernunnos (MingyuSeo), Odin (Torreyskiez) – Bans: Sylvanus, Ullr, Ra, Isis

The early game was slower in Game 2, eventually Scylla attempts a blue buff steal and is met with Beltway and Sm1tero and the latter finds first blood and another kill on Artio and Ravana. Much like Game 1, Beltway and Sm1tero continue their pressure and domination across the map. A great gank onto MingyuSeo and Torreyskiez leads to an easy Gold Fury for Nocturns. Nocturns continues to show great play and team chemistry, particularly between Beltway and Sm1tero, who’s Serqet ultimates proved critical to most fights. After a free Fire Giant, Nocturn’s superb synergy leads to a dominate Game 2 victory. This set was really a collective MVP between Beltway and Sm1tero who both played like seasoned veterans and controlled the set at all stages.

And with that I will see you all tomorrow for Quarterfinals. Get ready for epic action and incredible plays.

Any thoughts or opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. I am not affiliated with any SMITE organization mentioned or Hi-Rez Studios. Photos credited to SMITE eSports and Hi-Rez Studios.