Normally what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas… but not with the WGLNA season 2 finals as we’re going to recap what happened.
Also; the European ProLeague is wrapping up, one team resigned, lots of players moved around
and we get a visit from our old pals from Odem Mortis.
I’m Luke Kneller and this is the International eSports show.
So Vegas, the city that never sleeps.
Bright Lights, loud music and gaming.
Although usually another sort of gaming, this time it’s all about Tanks!
At the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino last weekend, eight of the best North American teams battled it out for the fifty thousand dollar grand prize.
Every team wanted a pop at the reigning champions, Fulcrum gaming, to stop their near undefeated rampage throughout the two seasons.
First up was River of Blood who forced Fulcrum to use every last second to secure the win.
The last reset attempt is a doozy, so if you missed the opening game, the link will be in the description for you to check out.
Unfortunately for them; that seemed to awaken the dragon in Fulcrum who then proceeded to clean up the next three games,
taking the set and moving onto the semi-finals.
Simple Tankers and Pub Stars were so evenly matched that they ended up going to a shootout, not once, but twice!
Again, in the description you’ll find the link, you _have_ to see it.
In the Semi’s however, Simple Tankers faced the falcons of America; Fulcrum Gaming.
Let’s just say it wasn’t as close as Simple Tankers quarter final games…
SIMP, a name to remember, did great in the quarters by annihilating Nerve.
In the Semi’s they started just as strong against the Cunninghams.
However, the Cunninghams were not about to be made into bacon without a fight and clawed back to draw 2-2.
In the end however, SIMP took charge to earn their chance to defeat Fulcrum in the finals.
I don’t want to spoil the finals for you if you don’t want to know what happens… well you better click on this notation to skip ahead.
Clear! OK!
It was like a Ping-Pong game; Fulcrum, SIMP, Fulcrum, SIMP, Fulcrum, SIMP!
The championship rode on the last battle,
but there’s a reason that the reigning champions are also representing North American in the World Cyber Games,
as Fulcrum Gaming shut the door on SIMPs _glorious_ attempt to take them down.
Congratulations Fulcrum, and better luck to all the other North American teams in season 3.
In Europe the last season of the year will conclude tomorrow so let’s go over what’s happened so far.
Near the start, the Polish team Seven Sins had to voluntarily drop from the league due to commitment issues.
You have to respect that decision must’ve been hard.
We saw the winners of Ural Steel, Team Dignitas, stumble on their first game against Odem Mortis.
Unexpected but Team Dignitas wouldn’t take that lying down.
Getting angry, they proceeded to dominate only dropping one more match against Mousesports for the rest of the season!
Talking about Mousesports; these guys were the only other team alongside Dignitas, to be able to defeat season 2 champions Virtus.Pro!
However, this amazing team dropped a few games you’d arguably say they should’ve won.
However I’m pretty certain they’ll end in the top three.
The only threat to Mousesports 3rd place would’ve been DeNova.
With a massive roster change, that I’ll go through later, they’ve increasingly performed better as the season progressed.
If there’s a massive upset in the offline tournament, it’s going to come from here, just you watch and see.
SPALE, Playing-Ducks, the Evil Panda’s, Odem Mortis and Kazna Kru are all placed super tight in the middle of the league
with barely a point between them!
It’s going to go down to the last match-day so tune in to wotproleague dot com
to see the conclusion of this epic struggle to get into the offline finals.
So, about those transfers: The old commander of the Russian team NewStar, RestInPeace and A-Gaming’s FC_DYNAMO
and International have gone to DeNova.
Puzzling and Kaswob were dropped from Mousesports.
Dr_Tuer left Odem Mortis to form WUSA, the current top team in A-Series, and Crux went to Kazna Kru.
Odem Mortis replaced them with Devil, and dj-re-deep.
I should also mention that moreWoT were signed to Playing Ducks.
However I saved the best gem for last;
Odem Mortis has been playing the new Team Battle mode on their twitch channel; twitch dot tv slash magus83
and have decided to spare a little time to give you some tips and tricks on how to dominate in this mode.
Hey, I’m Uncrow from Odem Mortis and I’m going to help you with some basic setups and advice that will help in the current Team Battle mode.
First of all; when the Team Battle mode has been fleshed out with more features,
like choosing a map type, more specialized lineups will be reasonable.
Currently however, you’ll need more generic lineups to cover both open and city maps to do well.
When deciding what tanks to take with you into battle, the basic design should be something like 3 autoloaders
and two single shot tanks, supported with two tier 1’s of your choice.
An example!
Let’s say two AMX 50 100s, one 13 90, two IS-3s and two T1s is a good place to start.
The basic idea is to send your T1s into spotting positions, spread out with your main force to cover the important parts of the map
and use the 13 90 as an active scout to get great early vision.
Remember: map control through knowledge is always vital in 7vs7.
Then regroup the main force to engage or defend verses the enemy, depending on what you see with your scouts.
Some other general tips for improving your performance:
Stay close enough so you can support each other but not so close as to not cover the map.
Try not to get into positions where you cannot retreat from.
Don’t lose map control by digging in too deep.
Get 6th sense!
If you get spotted, move!
A smart enemy will take advantage of this knowledge.
Keep track of your enemy’s positions with good scouting.
Treat the T1s with respect; they’re important!
Don’t lose them without gaining something in return.
And lastly; when engaging the enemy, try to make it hard for the enemy team to focus on one of your tanks at a time.
Five guns are better than four, and your tank performs just as good with 1hp as it does with 1000!
These tips will be expanded upon in other episodes, but that’s all I have for today.
I’m Uncrow from Odem Mortis, come watch us in action in the ProLeague!
Good luck, have fun!
If you have a question or comment we’re on facebook and twitter or in the comments below.
And if you want to keep yourself in the loop you can go to youtube dot com slash wgesports and subscribe.