Cloud9 Maelstrom and COGnitive gaming participated in an offline showmatch at the AFK Gamer Lounge. The effects of the latest patch are apparent, with at least one melee assassin chosen in each game of the series.
Yesterday Cloud9 Maelstrom and COGnitive Gaming met up at the AFK Gamer lounge in San Jose, California. Both teams were invited for a showmatch, casted by Kevin Knocke/Anna Prosser Robinson and hosted by NVIDIA on their Twitch channel. This showmatch was part of the bootcamp in which both the teams are currently participating, in preparation for the MSI MGA event at PAX Prime as well as the America Championships. Bootcamps are of course abound in traditional sports, and are organized a lot in eSports as well because of their invaluable training intensity. With so many important matches coming up in the Heroes competitive scene, both C9 and COG are taking their remaining time to train seriously.
The first game, played on Dragon Shire, saw the surprising pick of Kerrigan by C9. Kerrigan is one of the heroes that gained the biggest power boost in the latest patch, benefitting from both an increased range on her abilities and the nerf of Cleanse. Previously we reported that Kerrigan could be seeing a lot more play, and the games of yesterday certainly confirmed that. COG responded with a melee assassin of their own, picking up Illidan as a final pick.
COGnitive’s game plan from the start was that of overall presence; focusing on mercenary camps on both sides of the map, as well as flanking C9 through the use of the mobility of Illidan. COG slowly gained a lead, and eventually their first win by distracting Cloud9 while their Dragon Knight took care of the core.
For the second game, we saw COGnitive picking up a hyper-aggressive composition on Cursed Hollow. Another melee assassin saw play in the form of The Butcher, being supported by both Tyrande and Kharazim. Kharazim’s Divine Palm is a mixture of Uther’s Divine Shield and Rehgar’s Ancestral healing, and is therefore a perfect fit for initiators like The Butcher. However, their composition proved to be too squishy with not enough coordination to win the important team fights. After another team wipe from COG, Cloud9 Maelstrom ignored the curse on their team and marched straight to the opponent’s core for the win.
The final game of the best-of-three took place on Sky Temple. With first bans on Zagara and Jaina, Zeratul was playable for the first time in the three games. But this game it was COGnitive Gaming’s turn on Kerrigan, their third different melee assassin in three games. Though having a slow start, and losing in terms of kills, COGnitive won a team fight at C9’s Siege Giant camp which enabled them to take the boss without risk. However, COG extended too far when pushing with the boss and ended up getting wiped by C9. This gave Maelstrom the opportunity to even up on levels again. The game concluded when COG decided to ignore the two active temples, in favor of picking up the boss and pushing for core. Kael’thas’ new chain bomb build proved too much to defend against, and COGnitive won the show match series 2-1.
Although the stream experienced some delays, which will likely remain in the VODS, still check them out if you want to see some interesting Kerrigan and Kharazim play.
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