Hey everyone, I’m happy to share with you all that I’ll be joining Broken Myth as a regular writer mainly for the weekly news round – ups. With that, let’s get right into this week’s latest in Vainglory.
Update 1.20
Update 1.20 is out! (which you probably knew unless you’ve been living under a rock)
As always, Broken Myth has all the stuff you need to keep up to date with the new meta and hero guides. Feel free to check them out so you know exactly which of your mains will bring you that much closer to Vainglorious this patch.
In a surprising change of plans, SEMC has decided to make all skins coming out this patch available on release so Northwind Reim tier 2, Fury Rona tier 3 and Broken Doll Alpha tier 1 are all available for purchase now. They have also extended the period during which you can buy all three tiers of skins with ICE so all these new skins are also available for ICE.
1.21 Hero Tease : Samuel
Following an update with no new hero to put to the test on the fold, SEMC has given a teaser of a new hero for us all to look forward to along with his splash art. Enter Samuel. Samuel is a Dark Mage Laner. That’s all we know for now but be sure to stay tuned for more teasers.
Treant Lore
SugarVenom’s latest lore gives us a closer look at our newest jungle monsters, the Treants, as told by the Fold’s shopkeepers.
Player Interview
The team at Phoenix Gaming has written up an interview with famed player CullTheMeek featuring a guide for Alpha. Be sure to check it out!
The Return of The Dance
Yes, a Dev has confirmed it. The day has come when we can look forward to seeing our favorite heroes dance on the fold when inactive for a short while. Be prepared for players to appear AFK just ‘cause they’re checking out their hero’s groove. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this rather funny video showcasing some heroes dancing.
eSports :
To start off with, we have some news regarding the Summer Live Finals. They will take place alongside the Penny Arcade Expo from September 2 through September 4 at Amazon’s event center. PAX-goers can attend for free while everyone else can buy a ticket for $5.
Gankstars senior member PwntByUkrainian has released a must read article on the recent developments in Gankstars.
EVIL 8 – Split 2; Week 2:
Day 1 EU
Series 1: Snow Avalanche vs Snow Tsunami
The first series of the day saw sister teams, Snow Avalanche and Snow Tsunami battling it out against each other. Their knowledge of each other’s play styles was very apparent with two of three matches going beyond the twenty minute mark. The first game was pretty flawless from both sides with Avalanche’s only downfall being their squishy Skaarf going down too quick to Tsunami’s fully fed Skye. The second match saw mistakes from both sides towards the mid game and Avalanche were able to take the win with Lookatme making very bold plays that did not go well for him. The third match was pretty much Avalanche’s for the taking and they didn’t even concede one turret.
Series 2: Mousesports vs Team Supremacy
The first match was not streamed, but Team Supremacy took home the victory. The second match was Mousesports’ to win. They were completely in control throughout with the CP Saw pick from Team Supremacy not working out that well. After watching the third game, I’m sure @VaingloriousSAW is going to have a lot to say seeing how CP Saw did not work out well for MrKcool either. Vulnerable while channeling suppressing fire and having only a Reflex Block to negate the poke damage coming from Celeste and Kestrel, he found himself dying too early in team fights to make an impact. The match and the series went to Team Supremacy.
Series 3: G2 eSports vs SK Gaming
The first game wasn’t streamed but went to the hands of G2 eSports. In the second game, SK Gaming had a very strong early game with a Double WP comp against a Double CP comp and were able to build up a pretty large lead of 8k gold and 5 kills by the 15th minute and closed the game out soon after with Helga on their side. The final game of the best of 3 Saw the early game going over to G2 but soon became a very close game with only about a 500 gold difference at the 25th minute. G2 were able to bait SK back to their base tricking them into thinking they were going to backdoor and in the process singled out Cr3am, on Ardan, and forced him to use his Gauntlet to escape. Following this they unleashed the Kraken and brought the long game to an end.
Series 4: Gankstars Cerberus vs Team Secret
Team Secret has been making its name in EU for being an immensely coordinated team with players who have some of the best mechanics out there and have made themselves out to be an unbeatable force on the EU side. This was very apparent in the second match (the first match wasn’t streamed but went to TS) where Palmatoro and KValafar both got to show off their VERY well recognized Taka and Saw respectively. They broke the ‘3 – game curse’ of the day finishing the series with a clean 2 wins.
Day 1 NA
Series 1: Hammer Velocity vs Phoenix Reborn
The first game seemed to be going very much in Phoenix Reborn’s favor. Shortly into the match, Xeno’s Krul became bugged. Visually, it appeared that Krul’s heroic perk was active throughout the entire game. After the game, it was confirmed this bug is purely visual, meaning it provides no advantage. SEMC paused game 2 early to review the bug, but deciding it was visual allowed the series to continue. Xeno only realized what was going on while the second game was paused, and instead of continuing the series, he requested the entire series to restart. Good guy Xeno! All of this resulted in Krul being globally banned from Evil 8 until the issue is resolved.
Series 2: Ardent Arora vs Phoenix Reign:
In their first game as Ardent Arora, former team Sweet n’ Sour was pretty much destroyed by Phoenix Reign. They gave up a near perfect match with WizardSibs on Kestrel not being able to contribute very much at all and CP Saw also did not seem to work out very well. It was a very similar story for the second match as well with another near perfect game going over to Phoenix Reign who were really showing us why they are named ‘Reign.’
Series 3: Hammers Kinetic vs Necrolyte
Hammers Kinetic started off the first game with a quick lead of 3 kills as you would expect from a WP Taka. Necrolyte caught up quick though, a major part of this being a very good glaive to counter Taka and a rather squishy Skaarf. Hammers Kinetic, though took the win anyways with a strong late game transition. They really kept it up with an absolutely perfect game to take the next win and the series.
Series 4: Nemesis Hydra vs Team Solomid
By the 15th minute in the first game, Nemesis Hydra had a 1 turret and 5 kill lead but the gold difference was only about 2k. No matter though, since Hydra game TSM a taste of their own medicine pulling off a TSM special against TSM. In a bout to save their chances in the second match, BestChuckNA really showed up with a very strong CP Adagio and a strong CP Catherine as well from VONC. This easily translated to a dominant win. They kept this up and brought the CP Adagio over to the third match and took the series with yet another dominating win.
Day 2: EU
Series 1: Team Secret vs Team Supremacy
The first match yet again saw KValafar’s signature Saw and showed Team Supremacy that as long as Team Secret foothold, that they will not be able to keep up to their name. TS won in dominant fashion with a huge 21 kill lead in only 14 minutes. The second match too went similarly with yet another 21 kill lead win in 17 minutes for the series moving on to the finals.
Series 2: Snow Avalanche vs G2 eSports
Snow Avalanche really showed G2 what they were made of. In the first game, D1ngo on Ardan was forced to use Gauntlet defensively nearly every time due to a very strong WP Vox and CP Ozo from Avalanche. They took the first game with ease. The second game was way more close with G2 even having the lead both in kills and gold at the 24th minute owing largely to a strong, fed late game Skaarf. They closed out the game with a win at the 27th minute with Kraken pushing on their side. The third game was very much in G2’s favor and they had an 11 kill lead at the 20th minute. They really gave viewers and fans a scare, losing a fight late and handing kraken over to SK Gaming, but were able to come back from it with a good fight of their own. G2 was able to send their own Kraken down the Lane and took the final win in the Series, securing their spot in the finals.
Series 3: Team Supremacy vs Snow Avalanche (Third Place Match)
Snow Avalance won 2-1.
Series 4: Team Secret vs G2 eSports (Finals)
It’s really become the name of the game down over in EU with Team Secret dominating nearly every game they find themselves in. This Series was no different with 2 dominating 15-ish minute games winning the finals for the week and really begging the question: Can Team Secret be dethroned for the title of EU Champions?
Day 2 NA
Series 1: Hammers Kinetic vs Phoenix Reborn
The first game was slightly in Kinetic’s favour pretty much throughout the game but a clean ace in the 25th minute gave Reborn more than enough time to clean up the game, shattering the exposed crystal. The second match saw an impressive run of a Double CP comp and a very strong CP Adagio from StartingAllOver giving Reborn the win and the series securing their spot in the finals
Series 2: Phoenix Reign vs Team Solomid
The first match was very slow with only 8 kills to 5 in favour of Phoenix Reign by the end of it at the 21st minute. The second match too was very close but following a really close ace for TSM by VONC, and another two kills to follow, they were able to secure the Kraken and the win. The final game was way more in Reign’s favor with them pretty much dominating and finishing the game with an 11 kill lead at the 17th minute putting them in the finals.
Series 3: Team Solomid vs Hammers Kinetic (3rd Place Match)
Kinetic was able to pick up an early lead in the first game and really kept it up for an absolutely perfect game and the win with a 16-0 kill advantage and a 10k kill lead with ‘Carry Cath’ not working out that well for TSM. The second and third matches weren’t streamed but TSM won both for third place.
Series 4: Phoenix Reign vs Phoenix Reborn
In another bout between two sister teams, Reign and Reborn, the first game was expectedly even to start out until about the 10th minute when Reign really started to pick it up. They pushed to a rather hefty 5k gold lead by the 17th minute with Oldkool and Statusbaked showing an impressive Celeste and WP skye respectively. Reborn really did not have nearly enough armor to hold up against Statusbaked, which lead to their downfall and gave Reign the win. The second win was in Reign’s hands right up from around the 7th minute of the second game. The WP Jungle Lance really worked out for them and was paired beautifully with a Roam Lyra. They finally closed out the game at the 18th minute and won the championship for week 2 in NA.
Brackets and Point Standings
The past week saw a lot of things to look forward to in 1.21 even though we are just learning the ropes of 1.20. Be sure to keep checking in for more hype for the update. EVIL 8 saw a bunch of exciting matches and really kept us on the edge of our seats. Hope you liked this round up and be sure to check back in next week for the next one!