RAK beats Goat to set up all-pinoy showdown

The semifinals of the Gosugamers Steelseries HoN World Cup came to an end yesterday as Roam and KiLL [RAK] fought it out with Goat [G] for the remaining finals slot against SEA's most internationally well-known team Never Back Down [NvD]. Goat, as the mysterious quantity brought to the table an element of surprise while RAK boasts a lineup consisting the current top player in Garena's ladder, PH`Laya.

Game 1
Roam and KiLL		Goat
Bans (Legion First)
Picks
Lanes
[RAK]majeGAMING(Top) [RAK]shura(Top) [RAK]aUzTiN(Top) [RAK]VoSraYchard(Mid) [RAK]PH`Laya(Bot)		[G]GoatGirl(Top) [G]Nobie(Top) [G]PrizLaCious(Top) [G]GoatAss(Mid) [G]LeiAiSher(Bot)

Game 1 proved to be very interesting right off the bat as both teams had odd lineups to say the least, with RAK first picking a very MSI-like trilane setup yet continue to pick up 2 very unlikely solo heroes. Goat did not disappoint as well as they picked up Sand Wraith and Warbeast, 2 heroes that have almost never been seen in a competitive game.

The pickups of both Torturer and The Dark Lady as their solo lanes forced some improvising as 2 flying couriers were bought ASAP by RAK to allow constant bottle ferrying. The beginning was not very action packed as both teams were cautious. Despite having a 3v3 lane up top, bloodlust only happened at the 5th minute mark. Warbeast and The Dark Lady on the other hand, were farming non-stop at bottom, with Warbeast rushing an Abyssal Skull at lvl 5 and quickly pushed down the middle tower with Forsaken Archer. He then proceeded to set-up 2 kills at top and grabbed another tower to boot. This however, was the beginning of a huge mistake as Dark Lady was left alone for a significant amount of time at bottom.

The legion team reacted quickly when they realised the threat of a pusher Warbeast, with 4 of them teleporting in to defend top, picking off Sand Wraith and counterpushing the top lane. PH`Laya on the other hand, had gotten so farmed up at bottom he could kill any Hellbourne player who came to the bottom lane within seconds. Things looked grimmer for the Hellbourne team as Torturer grabbed a Quad Kill at top.

Another teamfight soon ensued around the Hellbourne's secret shop. However, Goat's 3-pronged approach to the fight backfired as 2 members were picked off before the fight even started. RAK continued to pursue their 4 top TDL bottom strategy and it yielded results by the 20th minute as 4 hellbourne members were taken out due to them being spread apart. The middle raxes were down by the 24th minute and the gold gap was simply astounding. Everyone from RAK was above 200 GPM while the highest on Goat was 230.

As the game was firmly within their grasp, RAK started to have some fun, base diving for kills instead of pushing towers and even with their overextending style of play a defeat for the Hellbourne team was inevitable by that point. Megacreeps spawned and the game was ended by 30 minutes, the hero kill score 35-13, with PH`Laya living up to his top of the ladder tag with a 734 GPM Dark Lady performance.

Game 2
Goat		Roam and KiLL
Bans (Legion First)
Picks
Lanes
[G]GoatGirl(Top) [G]GoatAss(Top) [G]Nobie(Top) [G]PrizLaCious(Mid) [G]LeiAiSher(Bot)		[RAK]VoSraYchard(Top) [RAK]PH`Laya(Mid) [RAK]aUzTiN(Bot) [RAK]majeGAMING(Bot) [RAK]shura(Bot)

Game 2 started off great for Goat as GoatAss got a 1st minute bloodlust on Dark Lady thanks to an invisible Plague Rider. Both teams seem to be content with leaving a squishy INT hero to solo against their opponents trilane. It worked to a certain extent, with Witch Slayer managing a rather even hero kill score against a very aggressive Magmus-Forsaken Archer-Voodoo Jester trilane while Torturer wasn't doing bad himself, at least outleveling his opponents.

Moon Queen on the other hand, was dominating middle, with RAK again using a dual courier strategy to enable PH`Laya to play super aggressive. Eventhough Arachna actually survived countless attempts to kill her, she was forced to sit out of range / go back to the fountain several times. As a result she was sitting a 80 GPM by the 12th minute mark, the lowest in the game.

The game by this point was The Dark Lady vs Moon Queen + Forsaken Archer. All 3 were getting solid 300 GPM farm but it was really more of a simple matter of 2 is better than 1. The hero kill score was rather even, being 7-10. In terms of map control, all of the legion tier 1 towers had fallen by 15 minutes

Good play was displayed by RAK as good luring of the Legion team into the Jungle led to an easy Hat trick for PH`Laya who had finished his Assassin's Shroud. Hellbourne proceeds to push down all tier 2 towers and manages to get Kongor while the entire Legion team was still up due to them being forced to play defensively.

However, an overplay on Moon Queen's part led to a 5v1 fight at Legion's top tower. Goat finally brought her down eventhough it cost them 1 hero and the remaining 4 of them were on red health. Paranoia of Moon Queen's Shroud set in as the Legion had 7~8 wards of revelation up at most times as Goat set up a turtle defence. Good support play by RAK managed to keep Moon Queen alive during a very aggressive top push and they got the raxes and The Dark Lady's life.

As defeat crept closer, Goat decided to try something different, leaving Plague Rider to defend against the top lane while Dark Lady farmed bottom as bait, with the entire Legion jungle warded and with 3 gankers ready for presumably Moon Queen. The entire plan backfired as Magmus and Torturer took out all 3 gankers in the jungle while Moon Queen took mid. Defeat finally came at 38 minutes, with the final score being 25-34.

As the teams were chatting after the game, a member from Goat mentioned that they were trying out some new stuff, so I figured I would ask their leader for some insight on their picks and some of their decisions regarding the 1st game.

Post game interview with leader of Clan Goat, GoatAss :

Hi, GoatAss. I was wondering if you could explain your reasoning behind the draft for the first game, as it was rumoured that you guys might have something up your sleeve. Was soloing War Beast bottom a decision knowing that he will face a solo Dark Lady?

-Somehow, they knew how we play precisely. We wanted to do War Beast forest, but we used wolves to scout and found Dark Lady bottom, so we sent him to solo bottom.

Was War Beast part of a plan to take fast towers to buy time for Sand Wraith to farm? As these are the picks that stand out.

-A fat War Beast can fight against Dark Lady late game. And also, we have 3 decent pushers except, well, 3 of us just got out of bed, weren't performing well. That's not an excuse but it did affect our performance. Bad sleeping time I guess, haha. But yeah, taking towers is a good thing. Everyone gets gold, it doesn't matter if its andro or spec getting fat. Everybody shares the gold.

Was Sand Wraith the carry you were hoping to use against TDL ultimately during lategame? Or was it more for his global ulti?

-As you know spec lategame is gay. That was the hope, and hopeful is as far as it gets.

Ok then thanks for your time, any final comments to round up this interview?

-Thanks for hosting the event....we need more events. Thanks for watching us lose. Haha!