about 1 year ago - Legends of Runeterra - Direct link

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841s thank you
847s good morning everybody and welcome to
849s the first world championship qualifier
851s of the American chart here on the 2023
853s road to World season my name is Bolivar
856s joining me once again is the immaculate
858s scarsig how you doing today buddy
860s fantastic Boulevard so happy to be here
864s so excited to see what these players
865s have cooked up we just had a balance
867s patch very recently the Met has
869s continued to develop and I want to see
871s how n a is going to perform compared to
873s the other regions that have already
874s happened yeah we've already seen some
877s big Regional discrepancies between APAC
879s and emea as far as like deck selection
881s goes but before we get into that we kind
882s of have to walk you through what we're
883s doing today a little bit of housekeeping
886s show you what we're working with so this
888s is what we are doing 64 players we have
891s whittled it down to a single elimination
893s bracket with best of Threes players are
895s playing standard Riot lock that means
897s they're bringing three different decks
898s no duplicated Champions region
900s combination and no more than one deck
902s without any Champions at all not that we
904s really expect that to come up right
905s scarsick the players band one of their
907s opponent's decks before the matches
908s begin players can't use the deck after
910s winning a game with it and each
911s tournament round lasts for 65 minutes at
914s maximum
915s should be plenty of time to complete
917s that best of three the bands are going
918s to be incredibly important and the
920s rewards that these players are going for
923s here in the championship qualifier first
925s place going to take them five thousand
927s dollars second place 2500 34 750 and
931s fifth through ain't gonna get 250
933s dollars not too bad but I think they're
935s mostly worried about these runetera
937s points to continue their climb towards
939s the other parts of our world
941s championship circuit yeah if you don't
944s know how runeterra points works it's up
946s on the official website basically second
948s place at this event more or less should
951s be going through to the world
952s championship as well obviously there are
954s some caveats to that you can get
955s overtaken on points but if you can get
957s second in a tournament like this you
959s would hope that you can pick up some
960s runeterra points elsewhere but of course
962s what everyone is really looking forward
963s to is that first place direct
965s qualification into the world
967s championship to join the last seasonals
969s champion floppy Mudkip who is also
971s already secure that invite the only
973s America's player to do so so far yeah
975s floppy Mudkip we already know for those
978s of you who have followed the scene for a
980s long time he's a monstrous player he's
982s always at the Forefront of the meta game
984s so to see him qualified for worlds is
987s almost a given and I want to see the
989s next player take that step here today
991s and it might be another teammate of
994s floppies right scars are going to be a
995s lot when we look at the last couple of
996s events you have the previous runeterra
998s open one by card gamer a member of red
999s pup games before that was floppy Mudkip
1001s a member of red Puff Games and before
1002s that oh yeah it was floppy Mudkip again
1004s and who got second place at the last
1006s rentera open oh that's right it was
1008s floppy Mudkip again now I don't know if
1011s he's in the top 64 of this event we'll
1012s figure that out when we take a look at
1014s the bracket but if he is you have to
1016s imagine he might have looked at that
1018s second place as a blip on the radar and
1019s said I'm coming back for the win I don't
1021s care if I'm already worlds qualified I
1023s want to do it again yeah the players
1025s love to pad their records They want it's
1028s not just about getting qualified once
1029s and then sitting back on your laurels
1031s they want to widen the Gap they still
1034s want to get this high level intense
1036s practice these are the best players in
1039s the world whittled down to top 64 like
1042s you said Boulevard we've got one quarter
1044s of the bracket here and I'm sure our
1046s viewers at home can see some very
1047s notable names here
1049s yeah I know immediately off the bat I
1051s recognize vengevine actually as a rather
1054s high profile ladder player of course Dr
1056s Chekhov 42 another member of red pup
1058s games so we know that at least floppy's
1060s team is present here just in the first
1062s quarter of the top 64 bracket and of
1065s course ichiran Ramen down there in the
1067s corner he is real ikedo is well coming
1071s up on this next part of the bracket
1072s stolen conch and rattling bones to
1075s massive Heavy Hitters gonna be going up
1077s against it here in round number one and
1079s sheilu going up against Thai Guy these
1081s are names that we've seen time and time
1083s again filthy gamerweave also making his
1086s appearance here also I want to shout out
1088s rattling bones you know bones hasn't
1091s really been at the Forefront of
1092s conversations for a very long time but
1094s every season that he does want to play
1096s usually ending at least top 20 top 30 in
1098s latter he's gotten a couple of seasonal
1100s top Cuts before but it's never really
1101s gone for a Deep Run yeah we've got donut
1104s against emotionals while drizz off top
1107s of the ladder right now on an a if
1109s that's still holding true an elder
1111s senior from the world from last World if
1114s y'all remember that so these names if
1117s you're going up against this qualifier
1119s you're already playing world-class
1121s talent in the next quarter of the
1123s bracket we've got pitash coming through
1124s a player who consistently does well you
1128s know has a few top fours for seasonal
1130s tournaments recently won a uh fun
1132s charity tournament looking to lock it
1134s and let everybody know he's real the
1136s All-Star the people's Champion 4lw also
1138s showing up on this part of the bracket
1140s and I want to talk about 4lw for a
1142s second here because Brazil has not been
1146s as dominant as we usually as we're kind
1148s of used to them being over the last
1149s couple of months you know red pup games
1151s that America's team has really come out
1153s on top and I'm seeing some very big name
1156s BR Heavy Hitters in the top 64 and I'm
1158s thinking skarzig that this might just be
1160s the event where that region reclaims
1162s dominance over the Americas yeah BR is
1165s known for their uh you know steadfast
1167s backing of their players and their
1170s willingness to innovate on the metagame
1172s with the recent Advent of the standard
1174s format and the balance patch they maybe
1176s haven't had that luxury of that deep
1179s card pool to kind of iterate on the
1181s metagame so we'll see if just clean play
1183s can make them work Majin Bay also
1186s popping out to my eyes as we round out
1189s this uh bracket Boulevard uh Grandpa
1191s roji as well you know sort of the
1193s people's Champion very much you know
1195s never could make it into a seasonal Top
1197s Cut but then all the sudden he's in the
1198s top 16 of the world championship
1199s immediately after that actually does get
1202s into the top cut of a seasonal and Talia
1204s malphite his signature deck it's not in
1206s a terrible spot it was putting up some
1208s good numbers it's really whittled down
1210s over the last couple of weeks since the
1211s balance patch since the bandal Gunners
1213s meta has really taken over but we did
1215s still see a Tilia malphite in the top
1217s cut of emea I believe it was and that's
1220s a deck that really shines in a
1221s tournament format where you can
1222s manipulate your match up just a little
1224s bit better and set yourself up for
1226s success and Grandpa roji he demonstrated
1229s this in Spades during worlds that he
1232s understands his role in the matchup when
1235s he's on to Liam out fight he'll just
1236s immediately go aggressive you think that
1238s this is a slower to Leah late game
1240s malphite build and suddenly we've got
1242s the rock bear beat down rock bear
1243s Shepherd showed up heavy in the world
1245s championships and it's just been a
1247s staple card ever since and it's going to
1249s show up heavy today right I mean last
1250s week nasus popped up out of nowhere with
1253s this rock Shepherd vaults of heliolis
1255s like all these different sort of meme
1257s tier cards and it's not the first time
1259s we've seen this happen I think the most
1260s famous example of a bunch of meme cards
1262s put together in a pile was Twisted Fate
1264s fizz
1268s uh you know we had oh stress testing
1270s that was another meal like it was just
1272s so mind meld uh so I am really curious
1275s to see how the impact of nasus comes in
1277s because it really took over ladder but
1279s when you look at the stats from APAC and
1280s emea's top 64. left a little bit wanting
1284s in terms of presence
1285s the nasus deck it's so bizarre because
1289s it is a list that to my mind was just
1292s kind of exploiting a pocket in the
1294s metagame oh there's not a lot of Shadow
1296s owls not a lot of Vengeance to deal with
1297s the nasus some decks may be being a
1300s little bit more dirtily the shadow
1302s aisles early game package got buffed
1304s recently so they can hold down that
1306s early game as long as they hit that
1308s vaults on curve a lot of lists that
1310s aren't incredibly aggressive do struggle
1312s to close out before it's too late yeah
1315s and when you're looking at sort of the
1317s meta around it there's there's a lot of
1318s demacia right let me tell you demacia's
1320s Landmark interaction
1322s not great scarsig it's borderline
1325s non-existent it's really just like the
1326s pilto versions on After Shock decks you
1328s have to worry about which are you know
1330s they're still present but we'll kind of
1332s see how it goes but even if nasus
1333s doesn't show up in Spades I think that
1334s point you made about vengeance being a
1337s non-factor in The Meta that that is
1340s shifted right as we've seen NASA's come
1341s back we've suddenly seen a meteoric rise
1343s in Vengeance to deal with it so even if
1345s we're not seeing the NASA stack
1347s specifically the effects of that deck
1349s will certain that would be so
1351s unfortunate to have the tech for the
1353s meta and then it shifts one more time
1355s takes that sharp left turn right before
1357s the big tournament comes up and then
1358s you've got tech for a matchup that's
1360s actually completely evaporated Vengeance
1363s still a great card mind you you know if
1365s somebody gets a big threat in play
1367s especially a lot of these mid-range
1369s decks you know you're thinking about
1371s saving Vengeance for your opponent's Big
1373s Win condition but sometimes if you can
1375s just you know clear a four four or five
1377s five at the right moment and break your
1379s opponent's Tempo their Stranglehold on
1381s the board then it's just cruising to
1384s your late game as the shadow aisles deck
1386s and you'll just win it yeah I mean even
1388s some of the other Decks that we've seen
1390s you know take up like top three top five
1391s spots and these other top 64s are weak
1393s to Vengeance but we're gonna go ahead
1395s and take a look at our first featured
1397s matchup of the day here as we get a look
1399s at the lineups we have seasonal Champion
1401s 4lw up against always be gaming dresbo
1406s this is a Titanic match I'm super
1409s excited for it when we look across the
1412s decks we've got the NASA showing up and
1414s then we've got the the fork the Samira
1417s Fizz and the karma set what do you think
1419s about this band lineup Boulevard
1421s I am very unfamiliar with sort of the
1423s match-up tables of the allowie Swain
1425s it's it's a very Fringe deck a very
1428s latim deck so we're really not seeing it
1430s too much in like when we look at the
1431s United States matter like the American
1433s open tournaments as BR has kind of
1435s retreated back into their own localized
1437s tournaments so I know it did very well
1439s in the European top 64. but I'm really
1444s not sure where the bands are gonna go I
1445s mean it's really easy to just look at a
1447s Samira deck and go that's the BAM right
1449s you have to respect it I think Samira
1452s Fizz especially
1453s um when we look at the pantheon build it
1455s has the same residual weaknesses that
1457s Pantheon has had again like dresbo's
1460s packing that Vengeance potentially in
1463s the in the NASA stack the but when the
1466s stats begin to scale you're getting out
1467s of range of the quietest and the Soul
1469s Harvest it might be too difficult to
1471s trust that your deck is going to give
1473s you the cards you need at any given time
1475s meanwhile we've got this Vandal
1477s seraphine list so that's where things
1481s get too wild we've seen this from time
1483s to time where players get spooked by a
1485s deck that they don't have a proper read
1487s on and they don't want to take the
1489s chance they're going to stick to the
1491s list that they already have a reckoning
1492s of something they tested against I
1494s personally and you probably already know
1496s this Boulevard the the bilgewater noxus
1499s mid-range heat control I love it to
1502s death allow he swings putting up big
1503s numbers it was like two weeks ago is
1505s when it started to kind of show up on
1507s everyone's radar and this because of the
1510s allowie package also has that potential
1512s to hit a strong board on board curve
1514s that these Swain decks haven't been
1516s known for previously so it opens up
1519s additional angles for this style of deck
1522s to explore in The Meta game but I also
1525s want to call attention to dresbo's
1527s lineup running the azir in this NASA
1530s stack just to have a little bit more
1532s early mid-game development potential
1534s well there's a great point I want to
1536s make about this NASA so there's three
1537s different kinds of NASA's we're seeing
1538s right we're seeing mono we're seeing
1540s vigar and we're seeing as here at the
1542s mono it's it's very straightforward
1543s you're not doing anything fancy the
1545s vigar is actually to buff up your
1546s destinator that is the top end of your
1548s vaults of Helia for a more impactful
1550s board wipe and what you're getting out
1552s of azir is actually Glory's call you
1554s know you are playing two ascended
1556s Champions so get you know paying two
1558s Mana to manifest a card from the
1560s emperor's deck that cost nine or less
1561s can be a huge swing point we know how
1564s powerful that deck can be we've seen Sun
1566s disc before right scars like we know
1568s it's nice that we get to skip the movies
1570s though and go straight to the Emperors
1572s that are like pirating the emperor's
1574s deck at this point Marie manuno is going
1576s to be so disappointed in us the Glory's
1578s call was recently buffed this was a card
1582s that Reuben Zoo himself had a lot of
1584s faith in felt that it was a very
1586s impactful list and even if you low roll
1589s off the Glory's call almost all of those
1592s Emperors that cards do draw another
1595s cards you can fish for one more thing
1598s that can save you in a tight spot so
1601s when we explore both sides of this
1604s lineup the the band could be literally
1607s anything and you could make a solid case
1609s for that being the the proper band for
1611s these matchups it's so hard when you're
1613s looking at something like Vandal City
1615s seraphine on the other side right
1616s because you can come in like you
1617s mentioned with this expected okay yeah
1619s here's all my stats these are how the
1620s matchups go you don't have any stats on
1622s how you fare into battle City Nar Canon
1625s seraphine right that's that's not the
1627s standard seraphine build that we've been
1629s seeing over the course of the meta in
1630s fact we really don't have one Jack
1632s seraphine came out of the gate swinging
1634s but has taken a hard fall off since a
1635s couple of the Nerfs and now it sort of
1638s feels like everyone knows that there is
1640s a seraphine deck but no one can really
1641s agree on what it is and that different
1643s flavor can really impact the match-ups
1646s and and you gotta remember too usually
1649s when you're playing seraphine you're in
1650s you're back into the Back Alley Bar
1652s styles of of deck and with vaults of
1654s Helia running around maybe you're
1656s getting caught in the crossfire of a lot
1658s more Landmark interaction a lot more
1661s aftershocks in general and then of
1664s course just raw aggro that are trying to
1667s just beat down on these value decks
1669s Karma set got toned down a little bit
1671s and it's opened up the floodgates for
1673s these greedier ideas to flourish
1675s Boulevard I myself have been getting
1677s away with uh and I do say getting away
1680s with
1681s irelia and Saul lately just oh no of the
1685s greed so I know that the hunger is
1688s certainly there for players to just go
1690s almost infinite
1692s that's fair and there is you know we
1695s gotta look at the decklist here me and
1696s scarsick did you guys don't but we do
1698s trust me we'll transcribe the per the
1700s important information but there's a tech
1701s card I want to shout out in the NASA
1703s stack specifically and that is a one of
1705s Terror of the tides as the top I love it
1708s I had a previous seasonal Champion DM me
1711s about this a couple days ago to explain
1712s it to me and it's essentially with a
1714s level two nasus in play and a terror of
1716s the tides your opponent will not have
1718s any fearsome blockers it's it's near
1721s impossible this is a card I've advocated
1724s for in deep if you're like putting that
1726s one shipwreck quarter in your deck no
1728s put in Terror of the tides I've had this
1731s card get randomly generated off of
1732s things before and it completely blows
1734s you out of the water I think this is
1735s probably the debt the card that has
1738s gotten more wins without being in the
1739s main deck than any other card in the
1741s game I swear to you and already jumping
1743s into game number one we've got dressbo
1745s on the nasus 4lw on this Back Alley Bar
1749s seraphim it's infinite scaling versus
1752s infinite value and I gotta say infinite
1755s scaling looks like it's got the better
1757s part of these early hands only one
1759s Aftershock in the deck for 4lw so that
1762s vaults of Helia pretty likely to calm
1765s down and be impactful we've also Got
1766s That Rock bear Shepherd that we talked
1767s about you know really hyper accelerating
1769s into this this mid-range Hefty mid game
1773s and when you look across at Vandal city
1776s right they specialize in generating a
1778s lot of small units blocking down that
1781s fearsome weakness is incredibly
1782s pronounced and they're just providing
1784s fodder for nasus to scale
1788s and there's so much sort of like
1790s residual fearsome right like that cam of
1792s orange Dragon this card has never seen
1794s play before but now as a 4-4 fearsome
1797s it's one of the much scarier cards of
1799s the format and you know we mentioned
1800s lack of Aftershock on the side of 4lw
1802s feeling like they are forced to prank
1804s the vaults of Helia so that dresbo does
1807s not get an immediate Advantage off of
1809s this rock bear Shepard oh it's just
1811s rebalancing here live on the stream
1815s Boulevard Vault of Helia delayed one
1817s turn is actually massive it stops the
1820s scaling and the summoning when you get
1822s to the rekindler to get that second
1823s nasus might buy 4lw that clutch window
1826s of opportunity to safely play The Back
1828s Alley Bar
1830s and it's gonna be so that Back Alley Bar
1832s really is the Crux of this matchup can
1834s 4lw find a position where they can get
1837s it down kind of safely you know we see I
1839s mentioned there was no Aftershock in it
1840s I do want to point out there is a pilt
1842s overtail Stones as well as a bandel city
1843s tell Stone so after shock is available
1845s but it's going to come at a bit of a
1848s cost right a dresbo might be aware of
1850s that might not even be planning on
1852s playing out the vaults of philia for
1853s quite some time since they already have
1854s two nasus in hand with a rock bear
1856s that's about to pop out
1858s that could be valid this it dresbo might
1861s be analyzing this matchup and saying I'm
1863s gonna play a standard slay nasus idea
1867s and if I can play my nasus as you know
1870s maybe play one down to the five five
1872s just to bait something out you're
1874s looking for hex bladerator or something
1876s of the like orow has to respect right of
1878s negation dresbo might even underplay
1881s this turn just to save the Mana right
1884s have that open for round seven to have
1887s nasus and right of negation threatening
1889s but the rock bear Shepherd is hatched
1890s the camoform dragon also going to swing
1892s through no fearsome blockers nice chunk
1895s of damage on the Nexus that's the first
1898s of very many times we are going to say
1900s that today scars like no fearsome
1902s blockers and look at this 4lw going for
1904s the development again no fearsome
1905s blockers and you have to think that even
1907s if dresbo does take the turn off quote
1910s unquote to run out this Falls of Helia
1912s looking at their hand they didn't have
1913s any other plays they're not really
1914s losing any Tempo here because their
1916s other play was do nothing and then once
1919s that's done once that Aftershock is gone
1920s here comes nasus and Vandal city as a
1924s supplementary region to pilto friends on
1925s does not deal with large units very well
1928s and there's the snap Aftershock to clear
1932s that vaults of Helia and this is after
1934s it was pranked forcing dresbo to spend
1936s all five mana on that 4lw did pick up
1939s that crowd pleaser from the conchologist
1941s has a buff now to get an emergency
1944s fearsome blocker hopefully
1947s um just a small bit of Chip coming from
1949s the augmented clock link this elusive
1950s unit that can't be blocked and then one
1953s more turn before 4lw starts to play
1957s these back to back back alley bars and
1960s the bar keeps do have three attacks so
1962s this is where I think the stabilization
1964s might begin nasus only a 4-4 pop
1968s and this is so scary for 4lw the nasus
1971s comes down as a 4-4 and when you look at
1973s your hand you still don't even have a
1975s way to deal with that you've got two
1977s damage actually hold on if you run out
1980s of unit and no you're not gonna have
1981s Mana for like Darkness with the dog
1982s assembly
1985s hextech anomaly is the ultimate greed
1988s where you think the game is going to go
1990s incredibly long but he took the line oh
1993s my God what a hero because not because
1997s we have the chump lump and we have the
1999s uh the uh dark bulb acolyte potential
2002s for a lot of fearsome blockers here in
2003s the hand 4lw is going to take this
2006s Silver Bullet keep it in his pocket for
2009s later
2010s it's so important that eventually this
2013s anomaly finds a hex obliterator though
2014s right scars like you need to be able to
2016s get this nasus completely removed from
2018s the game because we know that these new
2019s builds very heavy into rekindlers we
2022s even see that one in dresbo's hands so
2024s dresbo throwing out the first nasus
2025s almost as a bait and saying yeah I might
2027s actually just trade this for your chump
2029s lump if it means none of my other units
2031s are getting traded off so that I'm not
2033s growing you can effectively trade with
2034s me and then that's gonna grow the nasus
2036s Here Comes her a Kindler that one's a
2037s terror of the tides this is going to be
2040s so massive for blowing out 4lw you think
2043s you were safe you think you have the
2045s Fearsome blockers and it doesn't matter
2047s even if he had taken assembly line to
2049s get some three threes down tear of the
2051s tides will will negate this in two turns
2054s when dresbo gets the attack token back
2057s the question now Boulevard is do we
2060s greed do we just go for the siphoning
2063s strike take out this 4-4 try to swing
2065s through with a lot of damage this turn I
2068s think the answer is yes because 4lw does
2072s not main deck hex bladerator if there is
2075s a chance that it was gotten off of the
2076s Reggie but I think that it's a line that
2078s is still
2080s I I'm so the one thing that I am a
2082s little worried about is I don't know if
2083s you lose two nasus if that doesn't work
2084s out I think siphoning strike still
2086s shuffles into the deck but I wouldn't be
2087s surprised if it doesn't and that's
2089s that's such a big risk right knowing
2090s that there is a randomly generated
2092s potential removal spell
2094s and dresbo just gonna swing here the
2097s NASA's scales based on the earlier
2100s trades in combat is not going to trade
2102s down against the chump lump recognizes
2104s that 4lw wants to put another spell on
2106s the stack to make sure that this damage
2108s goes through and this activates dresbo's
2111s rekindler there is a couple very
2113s aggressive lines right with scrying
2115s Sands open attack trying to just push
2117s through damage but it's not lethal I
2120s think that dresbo is very much afraid of
2124s the
2125s Back Alley Bar
2127s I want to see dresbo do what they can to
2130s try and get some additional Mana out of
2133s 4lw I don't really care what card I'm
2134s getting out of their hand I just want to
2136s make sure they don't get to play a Back
2137s Alley Bar this turn because that is a
2139s lost condition for dresbo if they feel
2141s like they're in if 4lw's in a safe
2143s enough position to run out far after bar
2145s that's gonna be an issue very very
2147s quickly and now with dresbo putting the
2150s scrying Sands after committing to combat
2152s was hoping 4lw would spend a little bit
2154s more Mana one more card trying to fish
2158s out the kill on the nasus but now dresbo
2160s gets to have his cake he need it too if
2162s you kill the nasus I get rekindler if
2164s you don't it's in Play It's scaling
2166s siphoning strike hits true when 4lw Taps
2170s down we've got a 5-5 dragon and a nine
2173s five nasus this is horrifying absolutely
2176s and a 4lw does develop second Back Alley
2179s Bar next turn I think dressbo is going
2180s to feel kinda safe to just run out this
2182s Terror of the tides and then it doesn't
2184s matter that nasus isn't giving that
2185s minus one or a terror of the tide is
2187s going to clean it up and we might see a
2189s quick lethal
2191s the value just was not enough there was
2194s no seraphine no Canon maybe trying to
2197s get some stuns the anomaly has ruination
2200s I don't know if it's possible for it to
2202s morph into the same spell twice in a row
2204s uh that was harrowing right there so it
2207s could still turn into ruination but
2208s instead we get the kale spell I believe
2210s that's Divine judgment not gonna be
2212s useful here
2214s it's just a little AOE buff not the
2217s right card
2219s inal next turn but even then you know we
2221s mentioned Tara's gonna minus two so even
2223s that wouldn't be enough but
2225s if you're a 4lw my second bar
2228s do you have to pass
2232s ah you know scar
2234s Ed that might be the line and I mean
2236s tiny spear is basically a pass right oh
2238s never mind yeah immediately dropping a
2240s bar we're just making it space first
2242s trying to double discount trying to find
2244s something
2246s oh my God
2251s there is
2253s sand in dresbo's hand as well as this uh
2257s this other kill spell so they can still
2259s take out a bunch of fearsome blockers
2261s but you know there is that attack buff
2262s that crowd pleaser m4lw's hand as well
2264s as the Vandal City tell Stone to get
2266s things back up I don't think dresbo's
2268s looking at lethal next turn without a
2270s mighty top deck I'm trying to recall
2273s what's in the bandal tell Stones they
2275s reworked it recently I know it doesn't
2277s have Keepers verdict anymore it still
2280s gets to keep the heroic refrain however
2285s no it does not anymore oh I was I'm
2288s thinking of whatever the plus two plus
2290s one spell is for two yeah heroic refrain
2292s okay that's gone
2294s it's in there I believe oh okay okay
2296s so we do potentially hold down the fort
2299s thanks to this purify
2302s dresbo does not have vaults of Helia
2304s still has one rekindler in hand that is
2307s currently inactive and no card draw
2311s if 4lw wins this it's going to be by the
2315s Skin of Their Teeth stabilizing right
2318s here right now yeah at the moment 4lw
2321s doesn't have a win condition they have
2323s the cat in hand but I do not know how
2326s close we are to that I imagine if 40w
2329s wants to they probably can cast it but
2332s there is of course the Vengeance in
2333s dresbo's hand to deal with that and with
2337s because of double bar the board is full
2340s and when you cast a spell you can't
2342s overwrite a unit so one of these does
2345s have to go down I normally it's going
2347s down here with an ice
2349s how does he do it this is this is the
2352s this is the annihilation of a seasonal
2355s champion
2356s he saw the future took the greedy card
2360s we assembly line was the other choice
2363s offered to get two three threes to get
2365s two fearsome blockers and 40w said but
2368s what's in the box it could be anything
2371s it could even be a board wipe and lo and
2373s behold a board wipe we have found and
2375s again very important to note that buried
2378s tonight specifically Refuge
2381s very delicious
2382s kill the NASA so rekindler's not going
2385s to be online
2387s it's still alive it's still scaling it
2390s will strike to level up this turn
2394s and all dresbo needs to do is maybe run
2396s the quicksand to deny the lifesteal here
2398s is it even that important I don't think
2401s you have any other quicksand use other
2403s than trying to push through your
2405s fearsome attackers which I could see
2407s dresbo still wanting to hang on to that
2408s but yeah deciding that the life steal is
2410s something that you cannot abide
2412s and takes away the augment as well to
2414s drop the attack
2416s all the way down to a 1-2 and with no
2420s augment you can't cheekily spam out a
2422s bunch of spells to rebuff this to get
2424s the knock
2426s so now nasus is going to level here and
2428s this is important with the spell shield
2430s it will be able to tank through the
2433s buried in ice and stay alive as another
2436s additional threat
2440s if 4lw wants to try and play something
2443s in combat here I think they're taking
2445s themselves off of buried and ice and 4lw
2446s continues to make the correct call you
2449s know has something to pop the spell
2450s shield so this nasus will still get
2451s gobbled up but if that even is the line
2454s for 4lw you know kind of where do they
2456s go from there hear you son seraphine
2459s gonna try to make a miracle happen if
2462s you gotta find somewhere to go when
2463s you're backed into a corner this is
2465s exactly the sort of deck that can find a
2467s way Boulevard Soul Harvest going to find
2471s a nice Target here on the seraphine
2472s really nothing in the hand worth
2474s doubling goes for crowd pleaser to boost
2478s your attack so she survives the soul
2480s Harvest and this will generate two cards
2481s we've got heavy metal and now the uh
2485s runic blade gonna get a buff here and a
2488s little bit of a braid fragment and all
2490s of this to say that you know buried a
2492s nice man is still online for 4lw still
2495s has that ping available to take out the
2496s spell shield they can push through if
2498s they want to but is it lethal next turn
2501s with this runic blade in hand scarsig it
2504s might actually be
2507s doubled by seraphine if you get the
2510s right blade fragments those will also be
2512s discounted and doubled heroic refrain
2516s off the bandel tell Stones being doubled
2518s it's a tall order I think the numbers
2521s are there if there was one more unit on
2524s this board I think that 40w would feel
2527s more confident taking the line possibly
2530s and I think teresbo the decision they're
2531s gonna have to make when they see this
2533s very nice come out is do I want to hate
2535s Spike My nasus to get it into the
2537s rekindler pool to try and develop an
2539s additional blocker next turn because if
2541s you see buried in ice coming out from
2542s 4lw you know they've got to be taking a
2544s shot at lethal next turn yeah taking the
2547s spell shield off of the nasus you gotta
2549s remember dresbo's still fearing the
2552s potential of just a hex literator
2556s we still haven't seen that Reggie card
2558s because it is the buried nice 4w
2559s hovering something else though
2563s looking actually look at the progress I
2566s think that was our spectator checking
2567s the progress on the cat unfortunately
2569s because it is the second hand we can't
2571s see it but I I assume the cat will be
2573s available next turn
2576s every mystery the mystery the suspense
2580s is killing me Boulevard okay it's
2581s activated we got confirmation we assumed
2583s it was we also assumed that's going to
2585s be where the vengeance is put next turn
2586s so it's a matter of can you find lethal
2588s around that and I think the answer is
2590s still just yes
2593s just slowly chipping away at this nasus
2596s trying to find that little bit of damage
2598s we've got heavy metal plus Electro
2599s Harpoon to get over the hump
2603s and 40w says okay now that I know you
2606s don't have rekindler Mana I can safely
2609s take out the nasus this turn probably
2611s develop this cat and now dresbo Taps
2614s under the vengeance
2617s that's fine I mean 4lw doesn't have the
2619s attack token right now right we can
2620s Vengeance next turn it's we're not in
2622s that much danger but it is
2625s you know as long as we Bank the spell
2626s Mana I think dresbo's gonna survive if
2630s this buried in ice doesn't come out
2631s which it's really looking like it's not
2632s going to
2634s another Electro Harpoon somehow 4lw down
2638s to four cards in hand after everything
2641s is said and done managing to throw out
2643s so many spells and clear this board down
2645s dress well even keeping the hate Spike
2647s up just for one more emergency block
2652s yeah
2654s looks like this should be the end of the
2657s action here no we're gonna catch this
2659s turn that makes sense as well you know
2661s with five Mana there's nothing drezbo
2663s can do to threaten the life of this it
2664s would have to be the Vengeance so the
2666s Mana efficiency not quite there for
2667s dresbo because they did run out the
2669s additional blocker but now
2676s and the song spitter if 4lw can find the
2680s overwhelm blade off of this runic blade
2683s we might be looking at lethal once again
2686s answered prayer drop the bomb
2694s not the greatest picks nothing that's
2697s going to influence the board immensely
2699s but double drop the bomb does open one
2702s more slot by taking a slow action here
2705s does give drezbo the means to play this
2708s rekindler down there is also Mana to
2711s back up with right of negation
2712s yeah the scary part though is that
2714s dresbo is sort of already hard committed
2716s into playing the Vengeance this turn so
2718s rekindler Vengeance would be all of
2720s their mana and with the hate Spike
2721s coming down that would mean you can't
2723s play that rekindler but even if the
2727s Vengeance and the writer held up I think
2728s this battle Fury if we can pull an
2731s overwhelm blade will still just be
2733s lethal and you get two shots at doing it
2735s right 66 chance
2738s yeah it's it's looking good for a 4lw
2741s victory right here for Kindler does come
2744s down ebb will be duplicated you get to
2747s double flow right and then have a couple
2749s shots of hitting the Nexus oh yeah you
2751s might be clearing out a lot of blockers
2753s wait a minute dress boat just can't keep
2756s the board wide enough NASA is big but
2759s still not big enough to stop this cat
2762s yeah Vengeance still has to be committed
2764s onto the cat one way or another and then
2766s whatever isn't blocked by nasus could be
2769s getting pushed through this double
2771s discount from the bar is so ridiculous
2776s ebb flow ebb and flow these are all
2779s unique spells and therefore their unique
2782s discounts we've got more healing and
2784s another clear
2786s yeah this is kind of what put seraphine
2789s bilgewater on the map initially was this
2791s sort of interaction between ebb and flow
2793s it obviously wasn't the only thing but
2795s it was definitely a consideration in
2796s those earlier days and now I you have to
2799s imagine 4lw is going to be able to oh
2802s we're spending money on this so battle
2803s Theory no longer on the table actually
2805s just popping the spell shield on the
2809s nasus instead rlw just saying I don't
2813s think that there's a way for me to get
2814s lethal this turn with the debuff aura on
2817s the nasus with still Mana open for
2820s vengeance I'd rather just take the spell
2822s shield off the nasus and then and then
2824s have a way to potentially remove it
2826s later on finally after 40w is tapped
2830s down the vengeance is pulled for that
2833s Pursuit I believe this is still going to
2835s be lethal the unanswered prayer
2838s 4lw I am 90 sure had two to three
2843s different kinds of lethal this turn
2845s actually I believe still has it with the
2847s runic blade or he's gonna be one shy
2850s weapon Hill plus two plus two and hits
2854s the plus two the glitching fragment but
2856s it's Focus speed we can't play it in
2858s combat
2859s I forgot about that yeah yeah go for
2862s answered prayer and call for help only
2865s works on damaged units I don't know why
2867s 4lw didn't play the answered prayer but
2870s now finds Celestial trifecta
2873s another
2875s another lease on life before LW dresbo 1
2879s HP one nasus versus the world can hit
2883s for 15 but is that all you can do
2887s all that healing out of 4lw means they
2889s can just tank the nasus to the face and
2891s now we find lethal off of the wild
2894s stance to get the boar stance to deal
2897s one to everything
2899s this has been a journey Boulevard this
2902s is the first game of the top 64 of this
2907s first best of three and it's been a
2910s banger Ram stance that's still one to
2913s all right of negation has to be used
2917s here but there's a second
2921s oh that is gonna be for LW taking game
2924s one it might not have been the cleanest
2926s I think on the previous turn you know
2928s when we were talking about yeah you know
2929s you're looking at six Mana obviously
2931s it's Vengeance I think 4lw maybe just
2932s had the second quicksand in mind but
2934s yeah and then shaking the rust off a
2937s little bit the tentacle would have been
2939s debuffed by nasus that would have been
2942s lethal but you know it's yeah it gets
2944s game one gets game one either way
2947s super impressive to say the least I
2950s think that even though the hex tech
2952s anomalies didn't end up coming through
2954s the the foresight to take that card and
2957s recognize that in a matchup like this
2959s where I need to take advantage of every
2962s possibility
2964s um was certainly correct and the the
2967s game certainly went longer than I
2969s thought it would we're going to look at
2971s the bands now as well Boulevard Samira
2974s was indeed the band for both sides yeah
2977s with Vandal Gunners not being present in
2979s either of these lineups I think Samir is
2981s kind of the next default band but now we
2983s get to see how allowie Swain is going to
2985s fare against this NASA deck and once
2987s again I don't think there's much in the
2990s way of landmark removal outside of
2992s potentially a one of scorched Earth and
2994s that is exactly what we are on for 4lw
2997s one scorched Earth between Victory and
2999s defeat dressbo had the vaults of Helia
3002s before it got pranked but still played
3004s it on curve and then it was immediately
3006s removed and forged and unfortunately did
3008s not have a second one to keep that chain
3010s of nasus rekindler going
3013s 4lw is going to be out ravenous flock
3016s has a really hard time answering these
3018s big mid-tier bodies and Vengeance has
3021s always been the bane of these Swain
3023s Leviathan decks and that's sort of one
3026s of the interesting points about rotation
3028s right is like ravenous flock might be
3029s gone but Swain's ravenous flock is not
3032s gone so if you can get that titular
3034s Champion online you do once again have
3036s access to one of the most powerful
3038s removal spells in the history of Legends
3040s of runeterra but on the side of jerezbo
3042s not seeing a lot of action but honestly
3044s I don't think it matters the power of
3045s this deck is like rock bear Shepherd and
3047s devaults of helium randomly turns into a
3049s four drop and just really accelerates
3051s you really quickly
3053s Mirai Warden finding a little bit of
3056s value here dealing one we've got Swindle
3059s and pirouette in this stack I love the
3061s concept of pirouette we can stun one big
3064s fearsome blocker swing in with the swing
3066s if we can get Swain to connect Boulevard
3068s I think it could put 4lw far enough
3071s ahead where dressbone might not not be
3073s able to respond if you only have one or
3076s two units versus a Swain versus an
3078s allowie then it doesn't matter if you
3081s can find the lethal on the next turn
3082s because Swain just steals so much damage
3085s with his effect
3086s and the issue is really going to be
3088s making sure that the board stays under
3090s control before that swing comes down
3092s make sure that you've got a couple of
3093s different blockers for it you know in
3095s nasus plus something else ideally maybe
3098s even two NASA's through the power of a
3100s rekindler but in the meantime dresbo not
3103s a lot of answers in hand for these
3105s larger units you know no siphoning
3106s strike once the nasus is online no
3108s Vengeance and would you see a pass out
3110s of dresbo on for not yet committing that
3112s vaults of helium
3114s there is the potential right to
3117s Bluff say well I've got Vengeance maybe
3120s you don't want to swing maybe you under
3122s attack here
3123s just for the sake of respecting that
3126s Mana but dresbo's gonna just take the
3128s hit see where the blocks line up then
3131s probably play the vaults next turn
3133s because you still need a unit right to
3135s survive for your vaults to activate and
3137s that's where things get muddy is it
3140s going to just be a second Rock bear it
3141s feels so bad in this deck to have your
3144s vaults of Helia turn delayed
3147s and I think that's why we're not going
3148s to see sort of the quote-unquote obvious
3150s jump block with the rock bear Shepherd
3152s respecting the removal potential into
3155s the vaults of Helia and I imagine now
3156s jerezbo is going to slam this card down
3158s on the table get their cam of orange
3160s dragon and get their strategy off the
3161s ground
3162s Rock bear is also going to come out from
3166s its hibernation another five five is
3168s going to be great to be able to attack
3170s freely and block oh right of negation
3173s could get picked up by 4lw but so could
3175s Glory's call
3177s W has shown his propensity for greed
3181s what could be in this glorious golden
3184s box
3186s for it
3190s the Vengeance I'm just gonna hold it you
3193s know the if they've got the Vengeance
3194s for my Swain for my Leviathan it's
3196s whatever but Glory's call this could get
3199s me something delicious
3201s and now the nasus is online for dresbo
3204s thanks to the Rock bear that actually
3206s popped out once the uh
3209s husk was summoned that's how that
3211s interaction plays out so it's not
3212s actually the game of orange Dragon we're
3213s actually much further along and with the
3215s rekindler in hand yeah things looking
3217s pretty good for dresbo yeah and no
3220s fearsome blockers 40w has to take that
3222s chunk a six six But Here Comes Swain not
3226s leveled up yet uh I don't think any
3229s damage has has actually been done any
3230s effect damage maybe one or two points
3232s nothing really gonna register on the
3234s radar typically with this list you want
3236s to hit your watchful idle turn one get a
3239s lot of free progress towards Swain's
3241s level this is going to mostly be I'm
3244s going to pirouette just on the nasus and
3246s hope that swing can swing through get
3248s that special Nexus strike effect feel a
3251s bonus three damage Here Comes rekindler
3253s however this might be too much for 4lw
3256s to handle and there's a desert duel on
3259s the side of dresbo now as well as a
3261s quicksand to ensure that this nasus
3263s cannot get or that the Swain rather
3265s cannot get through but maybe just maybe
3268s gonna be hanging on to that desert duel
3270s for the Leviathan of course if I were
3272s dressbo I would be imagining that 4lw
3275s actually does have my right of negation
3277s and I think that's going to be a big
3278s decision impact for dresbo for the
3280s remainder of this game until they see
3281s that Glory's call
3283s allowie comes through I'm gonna buff up
3286s this tentacle this is the classic I
3289s can't really deal with NASA so I'm just
3291s gonna try to go wider and get damage
3293s through around the sides desert duel
3295s comes out and 4lw doesn't use right of
3298s negation to stop it so does dresbo think
3301s that maybe it wasn't taken or maybe he's
3303s saving it for a vengeance
3306s could be that could also be you know
3308s it's kind of weird because 4lw might
3311s just be if there's any situation where
3312s 4lws 4 Mana left and is thinking about
3314s the red negation you know dresbo knows
3316s that they know they also have a right of
3317s negation because that's how 4lw would
3319s have gotten it in the first place so
3320s it's like ah I can't really just throw
3322s my right out into it right there's
3323s really not a lot of things in this deck
3324s that I think 4lw cares about getting
3326s righted outside of maybe the scorched
3328s Earth onto the vaults but for now it's
3330s just gonna be how many removal spells
3332s can dresbo find OOH andresbo lets the
3335s swains ravenous flock through this
3338s powerful Champion spell that you called
3339s attention to already Boulevard swings
3342s true massive impact to your alongside
3345s pirouette dresbo has no fearsome
3347s blockers that's a lot of damage and a
3349s lot of progress towards Swain's level up
3352s we're gonna get a fantastic hit through
3354s this husk cannot block
3357s and I do want to mention that vaults of
3359s Helia actually will still trigger at the
3361s end of the round because dresbo is
3363s playing the full three copies of
3365s rekindler so even though one is down and
3367s one isn't in hand he's still a copy out
3370s there but Swain I'm gonna take a little
3372s poke at the Nexus here quicksand still
3374s available if dresbo doesn't want to take
3375s the damage
3378s yeah you put that swing all the way down
3380s to zero just doing some quick
3382s calculations to see can I just take this
3384s hit because Swain's not leveled up he's
3386s basically a six six not going to do the
3389s the board wipe that you're truly fearing
3391s but I would respect you know a little
3394s bit of chump blocking here yeah
3395s sometimes you know six damage is a lot
3398s scars especially for a five Mana card to
3400s be doing we don't see them hitting that
3401s hard that often and of course will also
3403s progress the level up of the Swain which
3406s is one of those pressure points for this
3407s deck sometimes it's difficult to level
3409s that champion
3410s [Music]
3412s version is much more board based isn't
3417s reliant on hyper leveling the swains
3419s sometimes your deck offers you that line
3421s but more often than not it's just using
3424s as we've seen the pirouettes to kind of
3427s Brute Force
3429s dresbo floating the three Mana making it
3432s easier to weave in this Rite of negation
3433s if need be Gonna Save this glorious call
3435s for when the moment is right
3438s an 11-11 nasus now augmented by a 4-4
3442s and a 5-5 on his flanks
3446s it's not quite lethal for dresbo yet
3449s even if they actually it I'm trying to
3452s figure out dresbo might actually have
3453s lethal if they quick sand the Swain
3456s because one of these other units is
3458s going to get through and then as the
3459s other units fall to blocking dresbo's
3462s units that might just get nasus big
3465s enough
3466s and it looks like dresbo's run the math
3468s seeing the line
3470s is gonna go for it
3473s you know maybe kind of thinking do I
3475s have to go double yeah I'm gonna say
3477s this I love hitting both to try to play
3480s around right of uh I have Naga caboros a
3482s little bit here that's going to buff
3483s that tentacle up let's focusing the
3486s Block in a very specific is I always
3488s forget about that thank you it's
3489s understandable it's understanding thank
3490s goodness I think trespo's concern is
3492s like can Swain level to block the nasus
3495s and the answer is no not at burst speed
3497s and now we know the glory is called
3499s gonna be useless as I don't actually no
3500s I don't think Glory's call is useless I
3502s think there are fast Mana removal spells
3504s in the emperor's deck yes we do have the
3508s uh
3509s the Sans clutch I believe it's called we
3512s just obliterate a follower this
3514s Leviathan is it's already it's already
3516s gone there's no way for this thing to
3518s ever stick
3519s down to one on the side of 4lw which is
3522s not safe camovore and dragon is in the
3525s list and does have a way to deal direct
3527s burn damage to the enemy Nexus
3530s But Here Comes Leviathan that's gonna
3532s have to be a Vengeance out of jerezbo
3534s you have to think
3536s and that does pull ravenous flock
3539s but there's just nothing to be done here
3542s nasus with spell shield no scorched
3544s Earth for LW might get uh what is it
3548s Sandstorm off the Glory's call
3551s could be Make It Rain to pop the spell
3554s shield but I know there's a right of
3556s negatively oh yeah
3559s so now 4lw back into a corner we know
3562s that the control Shadow aisles has
3565s always been such a difficult matchup for
3567s Swain and even though it was a fantastic
3570s Exchange in the mid game for LW put up a
3573s great fight looks like we're going to be
3574s heading into a game three soon Boulevard
3577s yeah and I think 4lws just kind of got
3579s to go through the motions here you know
3581s looking at a level two Swain as well as
3583s a pirouette and a Make It Rain you gotta
3585s be thinking is there still a way for me
3587s to stun out enough of these units to
3589s push through the Swain damage and find
3591s lethal if I Hyrule the Make It Rain
3593s assuming dresbo never plays this right
3596s of negation because they're wondering
3597s about what comes next but I think Make
3598s It Rain not tagging the Nexus does mean
3601s any hope of lethal for 4lw has been
3603s squashed
3606s pirouette can penguin ping the Nexus and
3610s stun one thing but that's just gonna get
3611s negated 4lw might fish with the Glorious
3614s call here
3616s let's see what these options are
3618s Sandstorm is indeed offered but too
3620s little too late
3622s yeah fully unplayable given the Mana
3625s that 4lw has remaining that is going to
3627s be a surrender in skarzig we are going
3628s to a game number three where we are
3630s going to get to see Karma set up against
3633s allowie Swain
3636s the again it's another value control
3639s idea where you are trying to play this
3642s kind of top heavy mid-range as we like
3644s to call it a Bruiser deck something that
3646s gets on the board in the early mid game
3648s punches through all Karma set needs to
3651s do is save those stuns for Swain keep
3654s that under control if 4lw gets a better
3657s curve though there is the scary the very
3660s very scary optimal curve right watchful
3663s Idol into the Sea's voice into a Lowry
3666s where you suddenly just have so many
3668s incredibly large scaling threats that
3671s Karma set might not be able to deal with
3673s cleanly yeah you know you look at the
3675s removal tools available to Karma set
3677s it's a lot of bouncing it's a lot of
3678s stunning the issue is that eventually
3680s you run out of those and you know 4lw is
3683s going to be pretty safe to just run out
3684s things like a Lowry and Swain on curve
3686s because six health is way too much for
3689s this deck to deal with cleanly and I
3691s don't know that they're going to be able
3692s to actually stall into the mid game
3694s there's just so many threats in this
3696s Swain allowie deck very antithesis to
3698s the the predecessor of Twisted Fate
3700s Swain where it was really just Swain in
3702s Leviathan now nearly every unit has to
3705s be answered
3707s looking closer at dresbo's list we've
3710s got a single copy of hex obliterator
3713s and with a little bit of help that can
3715s clear Leviathan and this is the classic
3719s right the
3721s war of answers versus the war of threats
3724s a 4lw can can establish enough threats
3728s especially because there's that kind of
3729s dead window between round seven and
3732s round ten right where Paul W gets to
3735s have that leeway to develop threats
3737s before karma is online and all you need
3741s is for Leviathan to stick and proc one
3743s good time to stun dresbo's board and
3747s then Swain swings through allow we get
3749s stunned preemptively with because of
3750s palm to prevent the spawning effect and
3752s we're gonna trade in the 3-2 right away
3756s already taking six damage overall and we
3759s can already see that drezbo is heavily
3761s protective of the HP now Seth's gonna
3765s come down but again 6 hp is just so much
3767s to try and answer even if there was a
3769s high note or Mystic shot available for
3771s the backup but for now looks like Swain
3773s might just have to take what he can get
3775s go after something like this Mariah
3777s Warden but again we see you know these
3780s Riptide sermons in the hand of 4lw a
3782s card that 4lw put on the map in those
3786s pirate aggro lists that everybody might
3788s have forgotten about you know I think
3790s everyone loves to forget about Riptide
3792s serving Pirates but that was for LW
3795s the Rip Tide Pirates what that deck was
3799s wild for sure and another card that we
3802s have not seen in a very long time for LW
3805s pudding on the map is Guru Lookout a 4-3
3807s that summons a 3-3 really plays into
3810s this mid-range beat down style that has
3813s allowed this new build of Swain to
3815s flourish in the metagame and it's just
3818s all about throwing just throwing it all
3821s down you're flying by this heat of your
3822s pants in this matchup you aren't trying
3824s to play reactive holding spells trying
3826s to get cheeky with stuns it's all about
3828s just going wide and beating down
3832s and it looks like the decision has been
3834s made set gonna take out the tentacle
3836s finished off by a heavy metal and now
3837s jerezbo probably at the very least
3839s eyeing the tag out and if there is no
3843s tag out you gotta think about Aftershock
3845s onto the guru Lookout there's just so
3847s many things that dresbo needs to answer
3849s is gonna let the set go down does After
3851s Shock come out it does I'm gonna clean
3854s up the board a little bit but still the
3855s advantage feeling very high for orlw
3857s yeah tag out with a hand quality like
3860s this the tag out has to be saved to
3862s recall a Swain or or a leviathan it's
3866s just too much
3869s reactivity
3870s place your bets these are combo pieces
3873s you need in the late game trying to
3875s answer these mid-game threats is just
3876s too difficult second Aftershock comes
3878s through hits the C's voice for LW still
3881s with four Mana up can swing through
3884s dealing another five damage slowly but
3888s surely getting there we know that Karma
3891s set does not have a lot of healing
3893s there's two copies of smooth mixologist
3895s in this list and maybe Karma can random
3899s into something here
3900s and you gotta think that turn feels like
3902s a win for dresbo even though five
3904s damages a quarter of their light total
3906s they could have taken so much more but
3908s they just don't have the tools in hand
3909s to really survive from here on out these
3911s place your bets really not doing any
3914s favors you know before you actually get
3916s into the range and it looks
3919s you don't have Mystic shot you don't
3921s have access to high note you have none
3923s of these removal tools you would have
3925s been using them more aggressively I can
3927s take out your karma with this tentacle
3929s smash I love the sequencing as well
3931s because with tentacle smash coming
3933s through if this gets denied we also
3935s still have Mana open for the riptide
3937s sermon wuju style is the answer to
3941s protect Karma
3943s everything rides on this champion
3947s and I like you mentioned earlier I don't
3949s think tag out can be used to save this
3951s Karma once the riptide sermon comes
3953s through to finish her off I think you
3954s have to be saving that for a bounce onto
3956s a lowy or Swain and that's just one of
3959s the issues of having your protection and
3961s removal all tied into the same card you
3963s end up with these other useless things
3965s in hand like place your bets
3967s and this allows 4lw the luxury of a
3972s fantastic open attack because allowie
3974s has an on attack ability that Buffs the
3976s tentacle
3977s it means that something like a
3979s concussive Palm isn't cleanly responding
3982s to a board like this the prophecy was
3984s true all along Boulevard just pressure
3986s them
3988s and if dresbo only takes out one unit
3991s here they will be dead to Second Riptide
3993s sermon plus Make It Rain tack out comes
3996s out onto the tentacle Palm onto the
3998s allowee dresbo gonna hang on to their
4000s life total as much as possible just as
4003s you know if you throw down a leviathan I
4005s guess you're moving on to the top 32 for
4006s LW but that's a risk I'm gonna have to
4008s take
4009s this lineup from dresbo was very
4013s specifically trying to go over top of a
4016s lot of greedier lists and 4lw found this
4020s lineup that is much scrappier and puts
4023s on way more pressure we had the Back
4025s Alley Bar deck as a hedge versus these
4029s greedier matchups that might that you're
4031s most likely going to find in a high
4032s level tournament setting but having just
4035s this classic beat down does wonders in
4039s this current meta game
4041s I like 4lw picking up the Aftershock
4043s saying hey dresbo if you want to try to
4045s develop a Karma on 9 as a way to get
4047s back into this game I've got an
4049s Aftershock to get through your deny then
4051s I've got a tentacle smash to follow it
4053s up that karma is not allowed to stick
4055s and after that an open attack should be
4058s lethal dresbo gonna have to finally cash
4060s in these place your bets betting it all
4063s on the top deck Karma finds it but 4lw
4065s has the answers
4067s Karma can come through no coins have
4070s been set up pit professional M.I.A
4072s smooth mixologist
4074s M.I.A no way to play down your Champion
4078s have the coins as a backup to then
4080s refill to have deny to save it for LW
4083s Drew not only a fantastic spread of
4087s threats but a clean Suite of removal to
4090s keep this board clear 20 to five
4093s develops Swain he's leveled thanks to
4096s all of alawi's tentacle support
4099s and I like 4lw continuing to develop
4101s your understanding dresbo really only
4104s has one way back into this even if it
4105s was set off the top you're still not in
4108s a position to really take out enough of
4110s 4lw's board to survive given how on the
4113s back foot jresbo has been throughout the
4114s entire course of this game and now you
4117s know that you can't afford to pass if
4119s you're dresbo you have to run out the
4120s karma and hope and that hope will be
4123s snatched from you by 4lw
4127s with aboard this wide even if you go for
4130s place your bets maybe trying to draw one
4134s or two more cards you simply can't stop
4136s everything
4138s now and now we're gonna make it rain to
4140s take out this vestayian disciple just
4142s make sure the board stays clear even
4143s though this unit is so so unimpactful to
4147s the outcome of this game 4lw doesn't
4149s want to give drezbo any sense of
4151s satisfaction
4154s and and this is one of those situations
4156s right where you're like I can use this
4158s card now to just remain ahead or is
4161s there a way to save this Make It Rain to
4164s get a little bit of value later it's
4167s something that I I kind of get in my own
4169s head as well where sometimes you're so
4171s far ahead you don't you feel like you're
4172s tunnel visioning sometimes by just doing
4175s a good play that just is also keeping
4178s you ahead but here it is we refilled the
4181s Mana in order to play Karma
4184s now to back her up
4186s I think that's actually a visual bug I
4188s think dresbo's down to one Mana yeah I
4190s was gonna say like it's probably just
4192s they overlap too much I was gonna say
4194s wait there was way more coins than I was
4195s yeah not only that but that means dresbo
4197s would have had 11 Mana when they played
4199s this Karma which you cannot do
4203s but yeah the just the just the cheeky
4206s little visual bug yeah Riot likes to do
4208s some trolling of me specifically and uh
4211s yeah you can see it there with the one
4213s Spellman of banked if anybody's
4214s wondering why deny wasn't used to
4216s protect the karma it was physically
4218s impossible just like dresbo winning this
4220s game and 4lw one of many seasonal
4223s champions in this top 64 will be choking
4226s on just a little bit further the Swain
4230s allowing a deck that showed up in the
4234s meta game just a little bit after the
4237s recent balance patch and players weren't
4240s entirely sold on it we know from
4242s experience that bilgewater noxus has
4245s always been a a you know a counter deck
4249s you have to find the bright matchups the
4251s right meta game for even when it does
4254s well it does still get written off by a
4256s lot of players simply because well I
4259s haven't really practiced it a lot it can
4260s be very clunky when you get around to
4262s playing it but I think that with allowee
4266s offering the list a more proactive game
4268s plan for its early mid game rather than
4270s saying I'm only good against board based
4274s uh decks and anti-swarm especially you
4277s know rip red card I think that 4lw
4280s showing us that this list might have a
4283s new lease on life maybe I mean you
4285s mentioned players constantly writing off
4286s this archetype it's me skarsik I'm
4288s players I'm the one constantly writing
4290s off this archive every time a Swain deck
4291s comes up in the Met I'm like you're not
4293s gonna bait me again guys I I will
4295s constantly bring up the 20 20 the 2021
4298s World Championship where real key
4301s brought TF Swain and went oh and seven
4303s with the deck
4307s I will never fall for that one again but
4310s we've got a Bonus game three here
4312s Boulevard each ran Ramen on a
4315s Teemo Echo
4319s we saw and duckling actually topped the
4322s last runeterra open with Teemo Echo I
4325s don't know what the Teemo is doing for
4327s you over the Jinx I think I guess just
4331s when you really think about it having
4333s Jinx and Echo and voice of the Risen all
4336s on four can end up being clunky Teemo
4338s being an extra fear uh elusive attacker
4341s it's buffed by voice of the Risen it's
4344s just putting the deck in a more low to
4346s the ground position I guess you know he
4348s does well where did this rock bear come
4350s from there is no standard Echo card
4353s that's gonna get you a rock bear
4360s hibernating Rock bear came off of the uh
4363s yeah just got it somewhere yeah I guess
4366s the Shepherds in here nasus
4369s wait a minute oh my we got baited no one
4373s told us nastus was in this deck and
4374s there's a second team hold on what what
4376s kind of deck are you running where like
4378s you're running nasus and Echo and you
4379s show me two teemos Teemo is a hundred
4381s percent the one of champion in my mind
4383s in a situation like that and now Chrono
4387s break comes through you're Reviving The
4389s the teemos their Nexus striking multiple
4392s times potentially doubling mushrooms
4396s ichiran ramen's done it again Boulevard
4398s this is a player that has risen a
4401s prominence in recent times as the
4403s boogeyman of Master tier running just
4406s these Decks that seem completely
4410s unreasonable on paper yet have been
4414s catching a lot of players off guard and
4417s that style of innovation has brought
4419s them here to top 64. game number three
4423s swinging for a juicy hit on the back of
4427s these elusive units once more and now
4430s that I've got the paper in front of me
4431s of exactly what we have from each Iran
4434s Ramen it's it's three Echo two Teemo and
4436s one nasus not as many of the predict
4438s spells as you're kind of used to in
4440s these Echo lists a little bit of formula
4442s you know running the triple high note
4443s triple Mystic shot that we've come to
4445s expect out of pilt over and Zone control
4446s this is definitely what the experts
4449s refer to as a pile but as you mentioned
4452s this is a player that is known for their
4453s piles
4456s and when we look across the table at
4459s methodicals list you know this is the
4462s new noxus Pantheon the players who
4465s wanted to use the bilgewater elsewhere
4467s with Tristana you then were able to
4470s employ Samira in that noxus package with
4473s targon and Pantheon we've got the brutal
4475s scrimmage here having a little bit of
4477s interaction with these strike spells
4479s trying to stay alive trying to stay
4481s afloat and scale
4483s Ramen putting on a lot of pressure but
4485s all we need is Daddy Pantheon to come
4487s through to steal one more game like he's
4489s been known to do
4491s see Teemo level up thanks to the teemos
4495s poisonous tough caps as well as I
4497s believe that's a high note on the stack
4498s to try and save the teemo's life and it
4501s is going to get countered by his spell
4503s shield potentially
4506s I think that now there's even more value
4509s and threat put onto this Teemo we
4512s absolutely have to protect and let this
4514s go through
4515s yeah but this does mean echo's not gonna
4517s strike in the hand of ichiron ramen is
4519s so so weak at this stage of the game
4521s really wanted to get that predict and
4523s draw off we'll see what comes off the
4525s ancient preparations this has to be big
4527s I was hoping for formula you mentioned
4529s it was in the deck and that is a card
4532s that is so next level because when you
4535s play these Echo lists this is where you
4538s start to run dry if you can't just win
4540s off of the back of one or two Chrono
4542s breaks especially with no voice of the
4543s Risen in play your Threat Level is
4546s incredibly diminished we need the extra
4549s card draw the extra resources methodical
4552s denying the strike from Echo therefore
4555s denying the time trick to search for
4557s another meaningful card is so huge here
4561s we've got a scout weapon
4563s got a scout weapon but no real like
4565s quick attack or Challenger to try to
4567s take advantage of it especially given
4570s the quicksand in each Iran ramen's hand
4571s that no possible way to make them tap
4573s below I mean methodical definitely going
4576s to be on the back foot as there are at
4577s least yeah there's still more shrooms in
4579s the deck methodical I don't know if you
4580s forgot about those but you gotta do what
4582s you gotta do you gotta draw the cards
4583s you gotta heal your unit and now
4586s can you actually survive this Mystic
4589s shot plus elusive combo that are almost
4590s certainly pointed at your Nexus at the
4593s stage of the game knowing that that
4594s means ichiran Ramen is one shroom away
4596s from moving on to the top 32.
4599s and when we look back
4602s into the historical records Boulevard
4606s one of the ways that players first
4608s figured out how to beat Pantheon when he
4611s rose to prominence
4613s was Elusive and just being able to swing
4617s through go wide and fight it where it
4620s cannot block is so important The Saga
4624s Seeker all the way up to a 13-6 now
4627s refilling spell Mana off of the fishing
4630s line I guess it has attached to it now
4632s yep
4633s combat reel combat reel thank you no
4636s problem this yeah he just forces the
4639s block
4641s this means we've got board parody As far
4643s as nanoleuses are concerned so it is
4646s still up to a mushroom four methodical
4649s to die here doesn't all comes through I
4652s was maybe hoping for a voice of the
4653s Risen or again another formula offline
4655s ramen's gonna swing through try to push
4658s through damage we have one Mystic shot
4659s maybe bakai can find a little bit more
4662s burn there's one minute left on the
4664s clock in this round oh well we still got
4667s five minutes of overtime which I imagine
4669s we will be able to find a winner by then
4672s but if ichiran Ramen whiffs on these
4674s next two predicts and this Pantheon
4676s rolls a lifesteal we might see the swing
4678s especially given that there's a scout
4680s weapon for methodical Scout Pantheon was
4682s so powerful skarsik they had to remove
4684s the keyword from the random generation
4686s pool
4687s and methodical just gonna put
4690s one more rock onto the Saga seeker and
4693s here comes Pantheon
4695s striking down is a meteor trying to
4697s steal one more game and keep methodical
4699s in this tournament let's look at these
4701s keywords if I see Life steal
4706s I see spell shield
4708s this is a giga predict finds high note
4711s finds another Makai
4713s it's not enough ichiran Ramen I think
4715s that I don't need I actually
4717s yes a rally would still be enough here
4720s because of the quicksand
4722s maybe not actually if there's spell
4723s shield on that Pantheon you can't get
4725s through that I it might have just
4727s happened you've got to find the burn all
4730s right a negation that's not it there's
4733s another predicto for ichiran Robin we
4735s still have more opportunities okay so
4737s Boulevard do you Mystic shot the
4740s pantheon right now to take the spell
4742s shield off so you can quick stand it
4743s next turn or do we hold the Mystic shot
4746s in hopes that we draw a second Mystic
4749s shot to put them both on the stack for
4751s lethal I think you I don't with 10
4753s shrooms in the deck and 24 cards I think
4756s I saved that Mystic shot
4759s ichiron might even be okay they are
4761s gonna pop special I thought they were
4762s preemptively sending it Nexus to play
4764s around a you know a strike spell coming
4766s off the top but they are gonna go for
4768s your line and say I'm gonna quicksand
4770s this
4771s is
4772s the formula was predicted Skirmish off
4776s the top
4778s formula has to get we have that we do
4782s have the quicksand
4784s to stop this Pantheon right
4786s unfortunately it's still gonna kill the
4788s elusive
4790s so the the unavoidable damage you were
4792s relying on not gonna be a factor here
4795s Pantheon be able to block it anyway he
4798s still has Scout so even if you quicksand
4801s from this position Pantheon can still
4803s attack again
4805s formula grabs another quicksand
4809s right I'm scraping the bottom of the
4811s barrel still able to buy a lot of time
4813s from this position
4815s oh and this this Reggie this Pharaoh's
4818s Finance here has so much impact on the
4821s outcome of this game whatever he pulls
4822s is not going to be playable this round
4824s but if you can find some burn
4830s servitude of desolation would have been
4832s so massive if ichiran Ramen had the Mana
4836s for it this turn instead we're gonna
4838s take shifting Sands which will I believe
4840s that's a removal spell that summons sand
4842s soldiers yes it deals four damage and
4845s summons two sand soldiers ramen's so
4848s desperately trying to go wide and swing
4850s through this combined with the quicksand
4852s is massive Nagi NECA hits Echo at the
4855s end of the round so you don't even get
4857s access to the time trick another Reggie
4861s means another shot at lethal potentially
4863s shot blast is found but Pantheon has the
4866s keywords again it doesn't matter in the
4867s face of quicksand though I think ichiron
4870s ramens found it
4871s Ferris financier Reggie the chef
4876s delivered hot and fresh to your door the
4879s answer brutal Skirmish procking
4881s lifesteal on the pantheon but Ramen has
4885s the second quicksand to deny the
4887s lifesteal and takes game three and this
4891s is exactly what people complain about
4893s with Echo deck so many times you lose it
4895s took every single card in their hand to
4899s do it it's almost why some people want
4900s to classify this as an aggro archetype I
4903s took absolutely everything but Ramen
4905s finds the victory methodical going out
4907s in the top 64. what a game three to jump
4912s into Boulevard this new build of echo
4916s kind of taking it away from the well I'm
4919s not pie rolling you because I'm just
4921s predicting very well and just actually
4924s having raw card draw Extra Value
4926s different threats with the nasus and the
4928s Teemo means that anybody who studied the
4931s Echo matchup is really left
4935s unawares and the ramen special takes
4939s another victim and what's so funny to me
4941s is you have to think about the rest of
4943s ramen's lineup right timo's in there so
4945s you know it's not demacio Vandal Gunners
4946s nasus is there so you know there's not
4948s another NASA stack in the lineup and
4949s maybe we'll get to take a look at it
4951s later but for now you're gonna throw it
4953s to a very short break before we are back
4954s with more top 32 action here at the
4957s world's qualifier
4970s thank you
4993s [Music]
5012s thank you
5014s [Music]
5042s foreign
5044s [Music]
5072s [Music]
5086s [Music]
5096s [Music]
5111s foreign
5115s [Music]
5126s foreign
5128s [Music]
5163s [Music]
5171s [Music]
5179s thank you
5195s [Music]
5207s foreign
5209s [Music]
5228s [Music]
5269s [Music]
5277s thank you
5279s the stage has been set the battle lines
5282s have been drawn and mean scars are now
5283s fully aware of the kind of action we are
5286s in for here in our first top 64 of the
5290s first World's qualifier where we will be
5292s trying to Crown our first America's
5294s representative of the season to join
5296s floppy Mudkip at the world championship
5297s later this year but gonna be moving on
5300s to the top 32 very soon here and taking
5302s a look at the decks for our next feature
5304s matchup donut versus drisoft we take a
5307s look at the bracket here again just to
5309s let everything uh sort of play you know
5311s let everyone know how everything played
5312s out who moved on who has been eliminated
5314s yeah Dr Chekhov still in the running uh
5319s Victor Lupine I don't know why but that
5321s name's kind of ringing a bell
5322s flock also in here you know named after
5325s of course ravenous flock everyone's
5327s favorite card and ramen we saw just take
5330s that game three clutch win in the at
5333s right at the end of the last round
5335s and I've been I checked Twitter I know
5337s that there are some high profile players
5339s that have been eliminated here we can
5341s see a couple of them shallow ikedo
5343s jasonsational uh Mr emotional easy to
5347s win a lot of high profile names already
5350s taken out in the top 64 to give you an
5352s idea of how Cutthroat the competition is
5354s and again we're landing on donut versus
5357s drizz off another you know match that
5359s could be you know the finals of any
5361s tournament
5363s P Tash still in the running versus Creos
5366s 4lw who we saw take the win gonna have
5368s to go up against Damian another player
5370s who had really risen to prominence I
5374s think really on the back of Ezreal
5375s Draven way back in the day the tri-beam
5378s deck so this is again another Titanic
5381s matchup Luigi also still in it an unsung
5384s hero of the na scene and in this last
5388s bracket scarsig that we're going to take
5389s a look at here some hearts are going to
5391s break as we find out the fate of crowd
5394s favorite Majin Bay who has been
5396s eliminated in The Top 64.
5399s Majin Bay close to one versus turtle
5402s duck and turtle duck has been known you
5405s know to creep around these Pro Discord
5407s servers helping a lot of players prep
5408s and practice so it's no sh you know it's
5411s no surprise that Turtle duck is very
5413s prepared for anything that all these
5416s players might throw at him and I want to
5418s shout out one name specifically here
5419s that players may not be familiar with
5421s down there at the very bottom we have
5422s nomu Verde Who Rose to prominence
5424s getting top four at the very first
5427s monuments of power seasonal back in I
5431s think it was like November of 2020.
5434s no move bear day this is with the
5437s standard format a lot of these players
5439s that you know played a ton were very
5441s competitive maybe kind of fell off the
5444s radar for a bit focused on some IRL
5446s things they come back and it's a fresh
5448s game for them but that Legacy skill and
5451s that preparation still comes through
5453s and just a moment here before we
5456s actually get into the deckless of our
5458s two players but scarsick what do we what
5460s are we expecting here we know that donut
5461s is you know I say fresh it was six
5463s months ago but fresh off of a top 16
5465s performance the World Championship where
5467s they've become very much like a grandpa
5470s roji style very hard mid-range player
5472s you know we see a lot of vein out of
5474s donut that's I would say his signature
5476s Champion I don't know if he would agree
5477s but that's definitely what I associate
5479s with him I know he's also been a big fan
5481s of deep uh in some of previous metas you
5484s know kind of calling it one of his
5485s pocket picks if that's something he can
5486s break out and deeps
5489s it's there it's on the radar it's not
5493s anywhere near the center of the radar
5494s but it is on the radar it's a deck again
5498s it's a pocket pick because it catches
5501s players by surprise and the fact is if
5504s the meta and the matchups line up for it
5507s well enough it just does wonders we've
5510s seen this in previous seasonal
5511s tournaments we know that deep was
5513s putting up some decent numbers like a
5515s week ago just because again it was
5517s finding those good matchups just trying
5518s to outscale I don't think I like it for
5521s this particular tournament environment
5523s but as we know the vein if you have put
5526s in the Reps and the practice on the
5528s aatrox vein it still works fantastically
5532s now that frostbite's been toned down a
5534s little bit we're playing Decks that want
5536s to fight back and forth on the board and
5539s because of aatrox you have this
5541s beautiful late game scaling
5543s inevitability that I think when you
5546s consider all those factors factors as a
5548s whole HR does make a lot of sense
5550s especially if you are practicing
5552s confident and on the other side of the
5554s table of course we have drisoth the stat
5556s man the burble fish Master it looks like
5559s we're gonna be jumping right into things
5561s here if I heard that correctly so yeah
5563s gameplay might already be underway and
5565s we're gonna top in skip the decklist for
5568s straight into things bilgewater Gunners
5570s for drissoff versus I believe demacia
5573s Gunners for donut I really hope there's
5574s not another bandel city demacia deck
5576s running around
5577s handle city demacia has the power of the
5581s Tristana the power of the Vandal Gunners
5582s you have some strike spells to still
5585s um use it this the same way that drizzle
5588s officeless uses prize fight but the key
5591s card of course is the champion strength
5594s if your opponent does not keep you under
5597s control if you get one half Step Ahead
5600s then the champion strength just
5602s absolutely closes out the game the
5604s bilgewater list here is a little bit
5606s more well-rounded has some late game
5609s with the king's court but doesn't have
5611s the explosive mid game that the demacio
5613s variant is capable of
5615s I want to walk Folks at home through the
5618s timeline here real quick of bandal
5619s Gunners right it got buffed the noxus
5621s version came out everyone's like okay
5622s that's really cool then the bilgewater
5624s version came out and we were like okay
5625s you know forget about Knoxville this is
5627s really cool then demacia came up as a
5630s counter to the other bandal Gunner
5632s variants but over the last week week and
5635s a half the stats are showing that it's
5637s not doing that job anymore that
5639s bilgewater Tristana has actually flipped
5641s the match up back into being favored on
5643s the master ladder
5645s and with the puzzling signposts that
5649s drizzoff has in hand this is going to be
5652s massive Donut's gonna have to play this
5655s in a much more traditional style if you
5656s even if you don't have Champion strength
5658s as your auto win button when it resolves
5661s you can still play this as a good
5663s scaling deck right we've got Tristana
5664s we've got battle Vandal Gunners combat
5667s cook is also fantastic addition to this
5669s list because you have the weapons giving
5671s you extra threat and utility but also a
5674s solid mid-game development that the
5676s bilgewater version kind of Lacks
5678s absolutely and when we talk about the
5680s removal that's open to both players as
5682s well okay well that changes things a
5683s little bit I was going to say a huge
5684s Advantage for being the one with the
5686s Buster shot but now if Donut for
5689s whatever reason decides to take out the
5690s Tristana pre-combat they are going to
5692s lose their Vandal gunner in response but
5694s that weapon to kick things off gives a
5696s huge advantage over to Donut but they're
5698s gonna run out to cook and probably lose
5701s that Commando yeah I think that because
5704s you have the attack token here the
5706s combat cook becomes so enticing the
5709s quick attack now on this uh unit of 5-3
5713s means that Vandal City's ability to
5715s develop chump lockers is a little bit
5717s reduced even though you are getting
5719s blocked you get to kind of swing into it
5721s for free keep that threat level up the
5723s Gunner goes down but we still have some
5725s threat coming through drizzoff might
5727s need to take this damage just to
5728s maintain board and maintain Threat Level
5730s the Vandal Commando must strike the
5733s Nexus in order to give you owl cats to
5736s Discount your Gunners there's one in the
5737s hand right now out and drizzloth has to
5740s sculpt his mat his line of play around
5742s getting this in down as soon as possible
5744s to combo with prize fight this is such
5747s an awkward position for donut or the
5748s Grumble slug actually does help smooth
5750s things out but Donuts not able to throw
5752s down the comp the second combat cook
5753s this turn and still hold Champion
5755s strength going into their own attack
5757s turn there's just no way for that to
5759s work out but Donuts in a position where
5761s I don't think they can really play for
5762s that champion strength as plan H rissoth
5765s is much wider on board you're aware that
5767s the puzzling signpost is an option and
5769s one that would completely blow you out
5770s if it does come out here nard developed
5772s this opens up buster shot for donut but
5775s do you go after Nar Tristana or even the
5777s Vandal Commando
5780s this is a matchup that is not really
5784s based around you know oh my opponent hit
5786s me for lethal it's whoever loses control
5789s of the board you know this this is
5792s purely you know mid-range slash Tempo
5795s beat down goes for the Buster shot now
5796s to clear the Gnar this is gonna deny
5798s access to Pokey stick we still have Mana
5801s develop another combat cook because
5803s donut has you know just weapons and the
5805s double Champion shrink draw has to just
5808s play this slower development style we
5811s know that these Champion strength
5813s demacia decks love to run tons of One
5815s Drops things like silver wound Vanguard
5817s but now it's just 2v3 2v4 and there's
5823s not really a good window of opportunity
5825s to play the champion strength cook
5827s number two finally hits you get a scout
5829s yeah donut completely throwing the
5832s champion strength out the window going
5833s for the Scout weapon instead Tristana
5835s level up on the side of drisov means
5837s that she is going to be impossible to
5839s remove for donut no more they take a
5842s buster shot plus a ping but we know that
5844s the demacia variant of this deck is
5845s lesser known for its removal options
5847s tenor of Terror a nice top deck though
5850s it could go wide option but drissoff
5851s gonna be able to match it with a second
5853s copy of Grandfather Faye grandfather
5855s Faye into owl cats these are
5858s multi-region followers they are going to
5860s get boosted by Tristana boost her in
5862s return these owl cats with spell Shields
5865s so oppressive when they also have impact
5868s get that guaranteed damage in their
5870s fantastic carriers for prize fight
5872s slowly this only one bandal gunner in
5876s the hand getting discounted and this is
5879s going to be a nice cherry on top of
5882s drizzle's board donut goes wide with the
5885s tenor of Terror can block down but needs
5888s to find a window here in the next turn
5890s or two this is exactly the sort of
5892s boards that you want to cast to Champion
5893s strength on but result has to hold up
5896s the puzzling signpost
5898s yeah and no no response was just out
5900s there just lets the band will Commando
5901s die and I'm starting to calculate the
5903s impact damage because it's going to get
5905s very high in an important interaction
5907s for the folks at home that haven't seen
5908s it before once you are declaring your
5911s attackers and your opponent is lining up
5913s blockers prize fight will proc your
5915s impact and that's going to be impact 4
5918s on the bandel Gunners when Tristana gets
5920s her hands on
5922s still got a clean attack here with the
5924s cook
5925s house drizzoth respecting
5928s here just blocking rather than taking
5930s that fine oh I think damage I think this
5932s might be lethal for drissau at the edge
5934s with donut having no removal I think
5936s drishoth has like 16 impact damage here
5939s when we count in the prize fight
5941s and this is the specific interaction
5944s that makes this deck so dangerous impact
5949s procs when you strike in combat and
5952s prize fight lets you do that in Spades I
5956s I've run the math it is 14 in no why
5959s didn't oh bandalgunners isn't a dual
5961s region card it doesn't get the impact
5962s from Tristana never mind we aren't we
5965s are not quite looking at lethal here my
5967s mistake folks it's still only looking at
5969s 11.
5970s and with drizzoff being ahead on Tempo
5973s forcing donut to block down the first
5975s one who looks away in this game of
5978s chicken is the one who loses how much
5981s damage are you willing to take and you
5983s have to as much as burn you have to
5985s imagine Donuts gonna try to take as much
5987s as possible to preserve the board for
5989s the Champion's strength or not I I don't
5991s think you're at a level where you know
5993s you can just run out of champion
5994s strength on one unit and hope that
5996s that's gonna carry you home every time I
5998s see a block I think that number is going
5999s to go down meaningfully and it just does
6001s not yeah impact is a crazy mechanical
6004s one that is very unique to Legends of
6006s runterra and it's always it's always
6008s nice to see something like this happen
6009s but now if okay I was gonna say it lines
6011s up those blocks prize fight is lethal
6014s and so the entire board is traded down
6019s Tristana left standing versus
6023s the tenor of Terror
6026s and when you have this impact unit
6029s coming through that's all you care about
6030s at the very least donut was able to
6032s clean the trade into this Vandal Gunners
6034s and is left with a proper 6 hp so that
6038s is one more rep of Tristana plus Fry's
6041s fight to try to find the lethal here the
6043s quick attack weapon goes onto the tenor
6045s over the Scout weapon because we need to
6047s attack and force some pressure here but
6049s is there anything else to follow up on
6051s this grandfather Faye okay not as
6054s efficient as you would want you're not
6056s going to have an opportunity to get down
6057s the lcat and play Champion strength but
6059s again I think it's such an awkward
6061s position for donut where Champion
6062s strength very early in the game was
6064s conceded as plan a but you're also stuck
6067s on two copies of it while drissot's
6069s entire hand is live because even if
6071s puzzling signpost doesn't get the
6073s champion strength which it will here it
6075s can be used as weapon removal
6078s we send the champion strength back to
6079s the hand and drizzle draws a card oh
6082s takes the big play that Furious fate
6085s folk off of the mayor so we have another
6088s massive impact unit to use on prize
6091s fight I think drizzloth is going to
6093s clean up this first game pretty soon but
6095s we can see how if donut is able to weave
6099s in a champion strength and force blocks
6101s down you can take the board back from a
6103s pretty unwinnable position yeah
6105s unfortunately if drissoth wants to just
6107s I don't think there's any way donut can
6108s come back into this if you play Champion
6110s strength you are dying to the impact
6112s either from the Furious faithfolk or the
6115s brass ship just giving double prize
6116s fight onto Tristana for six direct
6118s damage and I don't think there's a top
6122s deck available for donut to get them out
6124s of that I think this is just gonna be a
6126s nice clean win for drissoff here Furious
6128s fave folk gonna be the option donut can
6131s throw down one blocker but even then
6132s they know they're not wide enough to
6134s survive and they're just gonna surrender
6135s drissoff takes game number one in the
6137s band of Gunner mirror
6139s and that is a fantastic demonstration
6142s you already mentioned Boulevard about
6143s how at high levels of play match-ups
6146s really flex and evolve as players become
6150s more aware of the matchups maybe switch
6152s out one or two cards uh they go from
6155s being favored and unfavored and you just
6158s have to place your bets where they might
6159s fall
6160s surprisingly Samira Fizz was left open
6164s for both places
6168s just just a small bug I was about to say
6170s you just you don't want to leave you
6173s don't want to leave drizzleth on Fizz
6174s absolutely not trisoft is the Fizz
6178s player in the Americas
6181s he is the Fizz player of all time indeed
6184s drizzloth now gonna try to close out
6186s this set by being on Karma set a
6189s monstrous deck from the previous patch
6191s still doing quite well especially in a
6194s tournament environment where you can
6195s find the right matchups for it donut has
6198s Champion strength it's going to be
6200s whether or not drizzloth has the deny at
6202s the right time
6203s and Tristan's gone for kind of a checked
6205s out build here a tentative accountant is
6207s not something you see every single time
6210s you run into Karma's Set uh being able
6212s to strike the Nexus and create a coin in
6214s hand but I think just valuing the
6215s elusive blockers expecting a high
6218s presence of Vandal Commandos and Fizz
6220s across the field
6222s it makes so much sense with the caustic
6225s Rift Nerfs you aren't as resilient
6228s towards these Decks that can go wide
6231s drizzloth taking a block now into the
6233s Bando Commando
6234s and it's just a one two into a one two
6238s so it still stays alive don't it doesn't
6240s need to use the form up just yet Vandal
6242s city mayor comes through over the
6244s Tristana of course you want this thing
6246s to come through get you another
6247s multi-region follower wandering shepherd
6250s very tempting tenor of Terror also a
6253s great option shark trainer is also
6255s something that over the last couple of
6256s weeks we've seen steal so many games the
6259s attune plus the short tooth being this
6261s four two overwhelm is insane but I think
6263s it's a little heavy-handed for what
6265s Donuts got going on here actually does
6267s go for the tenor of Terror and you know
6269s the hand is looking pretty clunky but
6271s it's not like it would have been solved
6273s by going for that wandering Shepherd
6274s it's still just a little bit too
6275s expensive uh not gonna be able to run
6277s out multiple units until turn six at the
6279s minimum and for now drizzle's just doing
6282s too good of a job controlling the board
6283s as we're about to Crest into the set
6285s turn
6286s I love the um potential to pass here
6289s augmented clocking also very fun pit
6292s professional is nice too this is what
6295s you like to see when you're on Karma set
6297s you aren't on this clunky oh I'm all in
6299s on a removal strategy something that you
6302s can play towards the board with ever so
6305s slightly maybe save your removal for the
6307s late game or in response to a champion
6309s strength is massive clockling is here
6312s because drizzoth wants to dig for deny
6315s yeah Mystic shot not a bad consolation
6318s prize if it's what you want to take but
6321s I I do understand just maybe hitting
6323s that skip button and really digging for
6325s the deny understanding that champion
6326s strength is still a massive loss
6328s condition but if you keep the board
6330s small enough Champion strength impact is
6333s greatly diminished
6335s Mystic shot on the Vandal Commando
6338s immediately I like versus the form up
6342s donut doesn't take the bait yeah so this
6344s is going to be two Nexus strikes from
6346s drissoff actually Buster shot gonna be
6348s used to stop the coin generation but the
6350s augmented clocking still gonna get
6352s through
6353s and what's nice about this is you're
6355s preserving these elusive units augmented
6358s clocking is going to stifle the next
6361s um the next Vandal Commando no owl cats
6363s are being generated no discounts on
6365s bandel Gunners arriving from this
6367s position and now set comes through to
6370s hold down the mid game stressan is only
6371s a 3-3 yeah and actually I think an
6374s interaction I believe this is what just
6376s happened something that was actually
6377s pointed out to me last weekend while I
6379s was casting is that tender of Terror
6381s doesn't always summon a 3-1 the base of
6383s Burden there are a couple conditions
6385s that have to be met one of them being
6386s you played a created cart this game if
6389s tenor of Terror is a created card it
6392s will always summon the bass of burden
6393s and I believe that's what we just saw I
6395s don't think donut has played any other
6397s created card yet this game
6399s that is a nice call out Boulevard for
6402s that Niche interaction getting it off of
6404s Vandal city mayor is so strong
6406s especially in a position like this where
6409s your owl cats have been denied Combat
6412s coming through once again by donut this
6415s is a repeat of what we saw in game one
6417s where the developments have been a lot
6420s more slow more on curve plays this is
6424s where it's getting dangerous yeah I mean
6426s Champion strength is available for donut
6429s now but drissoth has the answer face
6431s breaker to stun two units plus the
6434s concussive pom to stun another one unit
6436s and I gotta say a six seven Grumble slug
6438s with Scout it's not all that in a bag of
6440s chips you need more value out of this
6442s card and donuts just not going to get it
6445s drisoth is going to survive this turn
6447s with absolutely no problems
6450s and donut recognizes I need to go for it
6453s now the longer I wait the higher the
6455s chance there will be answers drizzed off
6457s with the facebreaker this is such a nice
6460s supplement to the concussive Palm
6462s defensive package if your opponent open
6464s attacks you at the fast speed Sun if
6466s they develop to see what you do or they
6468s have to make an expensive play like this
6470s we have the phase breaker to punish and
6473s we get a coin
6475s drissoff actually stunning the Grumble
6478s slug over the tenor of Terror leaving
6480s the base of burn to attack as well which
6482s leads me to believe that Joseph is
6483s interested in actually double blocking
6485s this 8-5 in order to kill it and taking
6488s a little bit of impact damage for their
6490s trouble but really again trying to
6491s diminish the impact of that second copy
6493s of champion strength that might be
6495s coming down the line clearing out the
6497s board a little bit since there is no
6498s more removal presently in drissot's hand
6500s I love the way the math uh worked out
6503s there there is maybe a small option to
6506s trade away the 3-3 keeping the Tail of
6508s the Dragon alive in case you ever wanted
6510s to bounce it get another stun but I
6512s digress we've got deny now for the next
6514s Champion strength
6518s it is just not his game we saw this
6521s during the World Championships when
6522s Champion strength was first introduced
6524s to the game and it was at Peak power
6526s sometimes it just does not line up when
6529s you need it to and now in the modern era
6532s when we're much more prepared for this
6534s card we can see that it does not always
6538s auto win the way it's developed its
6540s reputation to be
6542s no certainly not especially since it's
6544s been bumped up to nine Mana from the
6546s eight that it was at that world
6547s championship and now
6550s you know just being one man of shy that
6552s Nerf really coming interested doesn't
6553s feel compelled to keep any Mana open and
6555s now even got to develop the karma set
6557s levels and I think this is gonna be a
6560s set spell generated as well to clear out
6563s some of the board
6565s using the coin to refill after your
6568s opponent Taps down to develop the karma
6570s here and then get show stopper is so
6573s strong and set levels to go ahead and
6576s take out the Vandal Commando immediately
6579s that five attack doing work here so
6583s often in legends of rentera just the
6585s plus one plus one from a champion level
6587s up is all it takes to make a huge impact
6589s and no fear from drissoff even sending
6591s in the karma saying I know if you have a
6594s form up you're not using it to trade my
6596s karma you are going to let this go and
6598s preserve your Vandal Commando this is
6600s going to be Champion strength from donut
6602s the deny is there for drissoff but even
6604s if it wasn't you have to imagine they
6606s could survive this no problem
6608s Champion strength number two put on the
6612s stack this is everything that donut
6614s needs to stay in this tournament but the
6616s deny is there donut has been completely
6620s defused and drizz off moves on
6624s donut going out in the top 32 but still
6627s an impressive showing from donut I
6629s definitely want to shout out this player
6630s because I know coming into the world's
6633s top 16 last year nobody really knew who
6635s he was it didn't help that there were a
6637s couple of different donut themed names
6638s near the top of the ladder and people
6640s were like oh is that doughy nut no it's
6642s donut they're different people I promise
6644s but since that world championship
6646s sometimes it's just the confidence that
6647s you need because now Donut's been coming
6649s into his own he's done very well at a
6651s couple of Grassroots tournaments I
6652s believe this is now even his second top
6654s 64 in a row since we've moved to the
6656s runeterra open format so donut just
6659s getting a little bit further along every
6660s time and I'm very excited to see the
6662s future of this young player yes this is
6664s a story that we've seen throughout
6667s runetera's history is the concept of
6670s competitive momentum once you kind of
6672s get into the groove you're practicing it
6674s becomes a bigger part of your day-to-day
6676s you're thinking more about the game and
6678s then those lines appear to you the same
6681s way this game number three is appearing
6684s to us floppy Mudkip versus romance this
6688s is certainly a Scion build or this might
6691s be the new Samira Jinx I've heard rumors
6694s about I believe this is Samira Jinx I
6697s know that they tend to play okay it is
6699s Samira Jinx I was gonna say I know that
6701s they've started to take hold of the
6702s grand physician like you mentioned
6704s previously exclusively a Scion card but
6706s now getting co-opted into the aggro side
6709s of things just a little bit more up
6710s against aatrox on the side of romance
6713s this is the bane of an aggro deck's
6716s existence when aatrox comes down he
6719s heals when he strikes he heals this deck
6722s from floppy Mudkip is trying to channel
6724s some of that forgotten ancient forbidden
6729s discard Agro energy where you're going
6731s incredibly wide incredibly fast buffing
6734s your board and hitting as hard as you
6737s can we've already seen now with great
6739s physician and augmented experimenter
6741s being played that a lot has already
6743s happened from this point Boulevard yeah
6746s and unfortunately not a lot happens for
6748s floppy Mudkip given the hand that the
6750s augmented experimenter refueled into
6752s just a couple of one drops but like you
6755s mentioned nothing that's going to take
6756s out that aatrox Queen comes down you're
6759s gonna help clean up the board while the
6761s aatrox strike spell is still available
6764s we also have the dark in Aegis we can
6767s put a little bit of stats here on Valor
6769s so it gets even more value trades Quinn
6772s got buffed somewhere along the line by
6774s the darkened spear is also massively
6776s tanky the Ranger with tough not wanting
6781s to offer that up yet to get a trade just
6782s going to clear a path for it first
6785s I'm actually curious what it might be
6788s the spear on the ranger because we're
6790s not seeing any keywords on it that it
6791s doesn't already have but now we're gonna
6793s see more attacks from romance gonna you
6796s have to imagine aatrox is going in here
6797s gonna heal up a little bit more but
6799s maybe romance holding it back a little
6801s afraid of the possibility of running it
6802s into the augmented experimenter and then
6804s a three damage follow-up beat a noxian
6807s ferv or something along those lines
6810s I think that even if aatrox were to go
6812s down right
6813s um you have a second one you have the
6815s second one in hand you're you're getting
6817s healing the Saving Grace is that floppy
6820s Mudkip had 20 hp at the start of this
6823s turn so it has a bit of a big buffer to
6825s take a few hits
6827s and try to get into from this point you
6831s need like a jinx or something right yes
6832s exactly and you want Samira working with
6836s such a wide threatening board that when
6838s your opponent takes time off to answer
6840s the Samir to keep her from leveling the
6842s rest of your board just kind of picks up
6843s the slack and continues to do its job
6845s and when we contrast that with this
6848s build and we kind of speculated about
6850s vayne aatrox and its position in the
6852s metagame when you have something that
6854s can not only develop decent stats to the
6857s board but also as Challenger units that
6859s can allow you to select those key
6861s targets from your opponent and dismantle
6863s their game plan
6864s it's a recipe for Success absolutely and
6867s I you know given the attack line up
6869s there from romance it looks like they
6871s were very afraid of aatrox taking that
6873s three damage you know pulling the
6874s experimenter to the side and sacking the
6875s unit but now we see floppy Mudkip just
6878s constantly drawing one drops in the late
6880s stages of the game unable to find the
6883s high impact Jinx or I want to say Samira
6886s but honestly skarsik at this stage of
6887s the game with only one other card in
6889s hand Samira does not do she doesn't take
6892s over the game like you really need her
6893s to absolutely the these Dax want to
6898s snowball they want to be extremely
6900s aggressive and this is similar to how
6904s old discard agar used to function where
6906s they would lose they would do a little
6907s bit of damage in the early game mid game
6909s once they lose control of the board they
6911s try to convert to jinx get excited Etc
6915s in order to close out over the top and
6917s without that extra burn power it's going
6920s to just be a slow grind to a defeat I I
6924s think from this position and it oh we're
6927s just actually gonna see a straight up
6928s surrender from floppy Mudkip
6929s understanding that the world Ender was
6933s actually online that turn and it was
6935s likely to be a lethal but we see yet
6937s another seasonal Champion exiting from
6940s our top 32 Mr emotional Majin Bay floppy
6943s Mudkip have all been eliminated
6946s romance made the correct read finds the
6950s good matchup and continues to advance
6952s even when you are a very skilled player
6955s sometimes you have to take your bet on
6958s okay what are other players going to
6960s bring to this tournament and we've seen
6962s the aggro strats really pay off to find
6965s that really good pocket in the metagame
6967s and sometimes the aggro strats do not
6969s pay off now suddenly a trucks has come
6972s around in the cycle to kind of bully out
6974s these aggressive board-based decks and
6976s also some of these other mid-range
6978s variants that we're seeing and I think
6980s that we're going to continue to see more
6982s aatrox moving forward through the
6984s through the bracket I hope so I've put a
6987s lot of stock in aatrox over the last
6988s couple of weeks I've been singing the
6990s Praises of this deck even though I gotta
6992s admit skarzig when it comes to Casting
6994s it and watching it it's just another
6996s mid-range demacia deck it's not doing
6998s anything particularly flashy and cool
7001s especially now that the world enters up
7002s to like 18 Mana for its starting cost
7005s you know we're not getting that super
7007s immediately end the game impact like we
7010s used to and what do you know it's my
7011s birthday it's an aatrox mirror exactly
7013s what I wanted to see thank you
7015s production
7016s Elder senior from the world championship
7019s still making his presence known hrocks
7022s Kane however for a little bit of spice
7024s yeah Elder Senor might be the newest
7026s seasonal Champion that we see eliminated
7028s as it does not seem to be the day for
7030s the previous winners
7033s aatrox goes down we get the darkened
7035s blade back in hand
7038s but Elder does have 17 HP and World
7041s Ender dioras control the board now but
7044s not too many resources going forward is
7047s going into top deck and H rocks maybe
7048s get a vein or something right now to
7051s start snowballing this lead yeah it's
7053s hard to come into the middle of the game
7055s and understand the positions for each
7056s player we know that we don't know how
7058s far along Dior is into tutoring and
7060s aatrox maybe maybe
7066s yeah
7067s wow and Valor look at this I love
7070s prioritizing taking out these units just
7073s clearing the board and saying yeah I
7074s don't even want you to have any carriers
7076s for darkened weapons they are not going
7078s to get assimilated
7080s yeah you gotta be cognizant of that
7082s world Ender in Elder Senora's hand but
7084s it looks like Furious wielder gonna be
7085s put on the stack and no answer from Dior
7088s just completely dead of answers for the
7090s time being
7091s and you think that that might be an
7093s overreaction right using it to clear the
7095s Valor but Valor plus darken harp yeah is
7098s is too devastating it controls the board
7101s on its own
7105s and the attack token is still there
7107s going to attack and draw two cards and
7109s discount both cards by two Mana this is
7112s exactly the windfall that Dior needed to
7115s keep in this game
7118s forsaken bakai one more predict we need
7121s unforgiving cold doesn't find it utter
7124s Devastation in the main deck for Elder
7127s Senor what an absolute unit
7132s that is a giga Chad card if I've ever
7135s seen one Boulevard Devastation gonna
7137s clear the Quinn gonna can clear the
7139s darkened thrall but stratu is gonna
7141s survive that it's a darken and quid
7144s levels up oh no valor's back with a
7146s vengeance it's just gonna pull an
7148s ephemeral unit Elder Senor did plan for
7151s this but the damage that you push onto
7153s the Quinn doesn't feel like it's going
7154s to be impactful in fact no damage gonna
7156s be pushed onto the Quinn just gonna
7157s trade off onto the dark and they're all
7159s take a chump lock onto seratu and a
7161s couple of low impact top decks for Dior
7163s but like we mentioned that dark and
7165s spear might actually tutor an aatrox
7167s where you can just play the fleet
7169s feather tracker here next turn and
7172s what's so interesting about this matchup
7173s right is that when you're behind on
7174s board you have to take your entire turn
7177s to redevelop you can't be cheeky
7178s floating Mana trying to be reactive to
7181s your opponent's development Dior now
7183s especially since Elder has the first
7185s action you can just play a Naka threaten
7187s the most baller open attack and Elder
7191s what has to go for you can't even utter
7194s Devastation because it's a darkened
7196s mirror yeah I think Elder Senor might be
7198s forced into going for the world Ender
7200s and turning this darken thrall into an
7202s aatrox but that's not lethal by any
7206s stretch of the imagination and I mean
7207s even Dior could just block it with the
7209s fleet feather tracker and not have to
7211s worry about it you're not dealing lethal
7213s damage there's I don't believe there's
7215s over-the-top damage in Kane aatrox
7217s outside of the booru Sentinel or Guru
7220s leader sorry the the one that pings one
7223s on the Nexus when you attack with an
7224s equipped Ally but without that being in
7226s the prediction pool I seriously doubt
7228s that's going to come in and end the game
7229s and Dior should be able to close this
7232s out here in game number three but still
7234s quite a bit of Rune Terror to be played
7236s another Devastation actually was the
7238s prediction
7239s wow and you know a bit of a heads up
7241s play there rather than going for anaka
7243s just equips into the fleet feather
7244s tracker in order to draw the aatrox that
7246s was the final dark and weapon to get
7248s that powerful champion
7250s oh it's world end okay I thought utter
7251s Devastation was being put on the stack
7253s and I was like if scar is correct and
7254s this doesn't kill srirachi that's just
7255s lethal right you there's a Serato and
7257s then anaka just gets played and you have
7259s something that can't block no we are
7261s gonna turn it into aatrox only 10
7263s minutes
7264s trucks leveled up
7267s this also means that all the darken are
7269s discounted we can play Kane here uh we
7273s can start getting some of these other
7274s darken him play perhaps next turn
7276s because of the value of the dark and
7278s spear this this aatrox being a 12 12
7281s base means that there's very few things
7283s that Dior has that is bigger than it
7286s it's going to be a case of can I go wide
7289s enough pull aatrox down to the bottom of
7291s the stack to get around these massive
7293s stats and healing
7294s yeah it is a little awkward if anybody
7296s at home is eyeing that darkened blade in
7298s Elder senor's hand thinking okay what if
7300s you go for zelani here uh that's only 19
7302s overwhelm damage and there are multiple
7304s six Health units on the side of Dior but
7306s maybe it is worth it to force Dior to
7308s block down with those six Health units
7310s since you know your aatrox at the very
7311s least is going to be surviving this
7313s interaction
7315s and with the Serato striking with eight
7319s trucks striking this is going to set
7322s Dior up for a similar play of equipping
7325s the darkened blade and then going for
7328s the world Ender to get the aatrox back
7331s I think I think this is the most
7332s reasonable line from Elder Senor it does
7334s force a double block out of Dior like we
7337s mentioned it's 19 overwhelm damage six
7339s is the highest health unit for Dior so
7340s you've got to block twice try to build
7342s board parity back a little bit and then
7344s with the badger bear being uh set up
7347s Elder senior doesn't have to worry about
7348s Furious wielder from this position
7351s absolutely not and
7353s the question is is it enough you know
7355s Quinn's gonna challenge H or Valor
7357s rather is going to come out of Quinn and
7358s challenge the aatrox next turn but it is
7360s always going to pull it to the end of
7362s the line so the healing might not be
7365s enough
7368s and it looks like
7372s one more as you said Boulevard one more
7374s block has to be put on the sacrificial
7377s altar to stay up oh actually so if you
7380s walk aatrox with aatrox you do get away
7382s with it because your aatrox will heal
7383s you by two
7385s but Dior maybe questioning if I just
7388s block down like this I get my dark and
7391s spear back I can summon a Naka next turn
7393s and try to go wide because I'd have
7397s Valor coming in as part of this equation
7398s as well
7400s yeah on top of the fact that you know
7401s Dior
7402s down to a five Mana World Ender a spear
7405s that can be equipped an Elkin that can
7407s be played to be assimilated
7409s um but utter Devastation Mana will be
7412s available for Elder Senor as well if
7413s Dior takes a little bit too long to try
7415s to set this up
7418s so then the badger bear and Quinn would
7421s lose to the devastation anaka would
7423s survive and that's the important part we
7425s have no interaction in the hand no
7427s Furious wielder no unforgiving cold here
7429s comes the world Ender I have very
7432s important news about utter Devastation
7435s skarsig it only lets Allied darken an
7438s Allied equipped units survive oh my
7441s goodness this is how you know you're
7444s running the spiciest Tech or nobody even
7446s remembers what the card says I was
7448s taking your word for it because it
7450s sounded correct it sounds like that's
7452s what the card would do that's what I
7453s thought it was well I'll be utter
7456s Devastation still held up here at 11
7458s Mana
7460s and anaka goes through Elder senior is
7463s letting Dior walk head first into this
7465s rake
7466s and there's no reason not to fire it off
7469s now right you've got to darken they'll
7470s both survive your clan the entire board
7473s Elder Senor is unwilling to follow in
7477s the footsteps of his fellow seasonal
7478s Champions and does not want to go down
7480s in the top 32. Elder senior says I'm
7484s that guy utter Devastation put on the
7489s stack I thought that this would be a
7491s dead card in the mirror match but Allied
7493s dark and do survive the devastation and
7496s the open attack will come through the
7499s only top deck that Dior will have is
7502s what unforgiving cold to stop this they
7504s can't play it it's not an aatrox card
7506s that's something you only get out of
7507s Kane or freljord so it's it's not even
7509s an option for Dior oh no
7512s I this is this is when you know that
7515s it's a lost Endeavor Boulevard where I
7517s start making up stuff you have to make
7520s up what odor Devastation does you have
7521s to make up cards into yours deck to be
7523s like this is how you get out of it you
7525s switch to Kane in the middle of the game
7526s and that'll do it for you but no Elders
7529s Senor is going to be moving on to the
7531s top 16. we have already eliminated most
7534s of the playing field from the top 64
7536s down to just 16 competitors left
7540s it is a new format now we have our
7543s standard rotation it's a new era of
7545s runeterra and now it seems to be a new
7547s era of competitive players as well a lot
7550s of rising stars and names making their
7553s legacy known here on the world stage
7557s trying to qualify now for the new world
7559s format this qualifier is so interesting
7563s Boulevard because it is a more open way
7566s for these players to jump in and get
7569s this invitation to the world
7570s championships and we can tell these
7572s competitors are incredibly hungry for it
7574s absolutely no longer are you gate kept
7577s by being Masters in order to get into
7579s these tournaments or have to win the
7581s last chance Gauntlet they're they're
7583s very open to your average player no
7586s barrier to entry you have like a 14-hour
7588s window to play your nine rounds most
7589s people get it done in three or four
7591s hours it's definitely something you want
7592s to think about if you're just seeing
7593s this for the first time we're going to
7595s take a look at exactly what we saw this
7596s round or even in some of the other
7598s matches we see 4lw putting it to Damien
7601s 1917 I don't know how this matchup plays
7604s out if it was a win for 4lw if we've got
7606s two seasonal champions from BR in the
7609s top 16 potentially Damien is an underdog
7614s player from a few seasons ago this is
7618s what he was famous you know for piloting
7621s the Ezreal Draven deck in matchups and
7624s situations where lesser skilled players
7626s would have altered and now on this new
7629s Vandal City targon control this is the
7633s epitome of greed as aurelian saw the top
7636s end with Diana to hold down the early
7637s mid game taking advantage of this newly
7640s buffed Moon dreamer I thought this was a
7642s replay I didn't realize we were jumping
7644s into another live game I thought this
7646s had already happened and I was like wow
7647s they put it in a really weird spot I
7649s don't think this is gonna end in the
7650s next two minutes generally you show the
7652s end of a game for a replay but no
7653s instead we are jumping right into the
7655s middle of things in Damien with that
7657s falling comment for the Leviathan is
7659s going to continue to Snowball the board
7661s in their favor
7662s this is game number three and we know
7665s that control Shadow aisles give Swain
7667s Leviathan a really tough time because of
7669s Vengeance and now in this matchup if you
7673s can get enough falling comets to keep
7674s the swing of Leviathan from lining up
7676s it's only a matter of time before this
7679s list is crushed under the value because
7682s Swain's effect goes through spell shield
7684s however it's still 4lw
7687s possibility to stay in this game why is
7689s the moon dreamer so big there's no top
7692s Tech from 4lw it's a lethal open attack
7694s 4lw going to fall here in the top 32
7698s Damien 1917 moving on eliminating yet
7702s another champion
7704s wow the targon list going above and
7709s beyond if you have the greed you can
7712s live against Swain New Moon dreamer big
7715s old stats Cosmic inspiration one or two
7717s of them resolved at one point during
7719s that game Boulevard fantastic display
7722s and we saw the buff from Moon dreamer
7724s come in big discounting that uh you know
7726s Steed in order to come in at zero Mana
7728s at the end of that round to push through
7730s the win on the open attack but
7732s we are whittling it down to our top 16
7734s and we are going to see what they have
7736s in store for us in just a few moments
7738s first we're gonna throw it to a short
7739s break don't go anywhere
7741s stay tuned
7777s [Music]
7824s [Music]
7832s thank you
7832s [Music]
7855s [Music]
7870s [Music]
7880s [Music]
7892s thank you
7899s [Music]
7913s foreign
7914s [Music]
7947s [Music]
7949s foreign
7955s [Music]
7979s [Music]
7985s foreign
7988s [Music]
8012s [Music]
8037s [Music]
8056s foreign
8094s [Music]
8131s foreign
8144s [Music]
8158s [Music]
8208s foreign
8215s [Music]
8221s [Music]
8256s [Music]
8285s [Music]
8291s foreign
8305s [Applause]
8317s [Music]
8328s [Music]
8353s [Music]
8366s foreign
8369s [Music]
8378s [Music]
8389s [Music]
8418s [Music]
8435s foreign
8437s [Music]
8440s [Applause]
8458s [Music]
8470s [Music]
8489s [Music]
8514s foreign
8529s [Music]
8552s [Music]
8561s thank you
8563s awake because we've got a lot of action
8565s left to get through today we are now
8566s cresting into the top 16 of the
8569s inaugural worlds qualifier scarzig we've
8572s already seen so many players eliminated
8574s what has been the highlight of the day
8575s for you so far
8577s the Highlight I think was certainly the
8580s match Back Alley Bar versus nasus that
8583s was you know just value versus scaling
8586s inevitability and somehow you know just
8588s having the Mana discounts having those
8590s randomly generated cards just came
8592s through I thought that NASA's had that
8594s one but that calibar found a way
8596s Back Alley Bar tends to always
8598s unfortunately find a way just when you
8600s think you've got him on the back foot
8602s but we're gonna take a look at the
8603s bracket to remind everyone how we got to
8605s this area of the top 16 who is still in
8608s it who has been eliminated who is still
8610s in the running for that coveted champion
8613s title as well as of course the secondary
8615s spot at the world championship later
8616s this year we've got hobbitses and Doctor
8618s Chekhov and Victor Lupine and flock
8620s making it through this quarter of the
8622s bracket block taking down ichiran ROM
8625s and we see there rattling bones also
8627s advancing to take on Elder senior who we
8629s just saw take the win
8635s he played against one another at some
8638s point in their competitive careers yeah
8641s two burble fish Gamers but I mean
8643s charissot's got to keep ripping through
8644s those if he wants to keep his title as
8646s king though it's been a while I think
8648s since we've seen filthy gamer weeb
8650s around the top 16 of one of these big
8652s events then we move on to Creos and
8654s Damien 1917 up against dusk 2680 and uh
8659s player I'm not even gonna try that one
8662s dusk up against a little bit of an
8664s unknown we know that the players
8666s especially in master cheer they get to
8667s they like to get a little creative with
8669s their with their names they like to
8671s throw their opponents off but we'll get
8673s some translators on that hope yeah
8675s there's a there's a five percent chance
8676s that's yeah winding God
8680s and then on the final part we have
8681s romance 361 who we saw take out floppy
8684s up against Nos and then jabels versus
8686s NBL Fabio 210
8688s these names again we said it before uh
8692s Boulevard the if you don't recognize any
8693s of these names viewers it's okay because
8695s this is what these World qualifiers are
8698s about the players who never really had a
8700s chance to get the spotlight maybe
8702s haven't taken down any Grassroots
8703s tournaments at the moment maybe they
8705s aren't streaming this is where they're
8708s going to put their names right in front
8710s of you and say hey I'm that new player
8714s that you need to pay attention to I
8716s thought you were gonna say hey I'm that
8717s guy it's me I'm him I'm gonna win this
8720s whole tournament if you've never heard
8723s of me before it's my time baby but it's
8726s not actually my time it's time to look
8727s at the matchup that we have featured for
8729s the top 16. Dr Chekhov versus Hobbit
8732s says and here we have Hobbit's lineup a
8735s more traditional Echo Jinx not Echo
8737s Teemo nasus as well as King's Court the
8740s bilgewater version of bambo Gunners and
8741s rounding it out with fizz Samira the
8744s powder pandemonium build has been the
8747s version that took over after the Shelley
8749s package got nerfed this is probably
8752s still dangerous enough to Warrant a ban
8756s and Echo Jinx is a deck that is you know
8760s the third deck it when he does what it
8763s wants to do because of all the predicts
8765s it does it very consistently but I've
8767s said it before Boulevard if your
8768s opponent knows how to handle this deck
8770s knows how to navigate the matchup they
8772s can make it look very underwhelming yeah
8776s and if you're wondering what that
8777s strategy is Folks at home generally the
8779s answer is play disrespectfully play like
8782s they don't have the rally because they
8783s probably don't and if you give them too
8785s much time they will find it but I also
8787s want to point out a couple of jagged
8788s Taskmaster over in that Samira Fizz
8790s really leaning into buffing up these
8793s monkeys we've seen some dedicated
8794s versions and this does look to be that
8797s as we see monkey business alongside the
8799s powder pandemoniums I think that it is
8802s important to lean more heavy into the
8805s powder monkeys because you need that
8807s burn damage to go over top you know the
8810s previous version had elusive damage to
8812s go underneath and now we need to just
8814s hit hard in the early game and trust
8816s that the burn is going to get us there
8818s and we can't really Overlook the of
8822s course bilge water bandel City deck we
8824s saw a little bit of it from drizzloth
8826s earlier has just the price fight the big
8829s impact units to get that damage and
8832s notably I'm not seeing signpost Oh wait
8837s two of them there they are there they
8838s are for a second they hide from you a
8840s little bit but yeah they're gonna take a
8841s look at chekhov's lineup we also see
8842s signpost in his version of the bilge
8845s Water band version what you also see
8848s yeah we also see Samira Jinx and uh this
8851s builds water noxus deck not going to be
8853s some air Fizz it is going to be the
8854s illawi Swain
8857s um so this is an interesting idea right
8858s do you just ban the band of Gunners
8860s because you don't want to play the
8862s mirror how confident are you into a laoi
8864s Swain typically with these decks if
8866s you're playing a board-based swarmy list
8868s you're just living in Mortal fear of
8871s make it rain in heavy metal controlling
8873s your early game and then you don't have
8875s the over-the-top removal that you need
8877s to deal with Swain and Leviathan so that
8880s might be the band and if that's the case
8882s we've got Samira Jinx right a duck that
8885s can develop very aggressively on board
8887s force you to trade down you're playing
8889s powder monkeys or something that just
8891s wants to fight
8893s um you're going to be forced to block
8894s down versus the aggression and then your
8896s late game will suffer
8897s you know scarsick I was really hoping
8900s that we were done with the allowi swains
8902s I was hoping because when we look at the
8903s top 64 of APAC and emea there's been on
8905s average like three or four players
8907s bringing this into the top 64. when 4lw
8909s was eliminated I hope that was the last
8911s we had seen on this deck but I should
8912s have known Dr Chekhov one of the big
8914s early adapters of Nar Swain last season
8918s in a couple of Seasons go way back when
8919s that deck first became prominent I
8921s should have known that he would have
8922s been back on a Swain deck if there was
8923s one in the meta and I it's kind of weird
8926s because this looks like a really
8927s aggressive lineup but it's hard to
8929s classify how aggressive you think olowi
8931s Swain is because it does have those
8933s control tools it's very flexible and
8935s then we look at something like Echo Jinx
8937s usually looking for a very bored based
8939s matchup would love to run into like a
8940s Shen Jarvan or something along those
8942s lines but it's just not here and that
8944s could be a weak point for Hobbits is in
8946s this matchup
8947s the band looks very uh difficult to pin
8951s down if your Hobbit says because of
8954s lawyer Swain having that spot removal
8956s and stuns it means that having the
8958s proper board set up with Echo and voice
8960s the Risen or even finding a smooth
8962s Chrono break for yourself is going to be
8963s difficult but we know that Samira jinx
8966s it didn't look like he was doing too
8967s much in the previous match we caught the
8969s tail end of but when you find the right
8971s match up it goes incredibly wide very
8974s fast and beats down
8976s it's definitely very reminiscent of old
8978s school discard aggro and it looks a lot
8980s like it of course Draven has rotated
8982s there's really not a second Champion to
8984s put in there other than Samira and if
8986s she comes down she can level so
8988s incredibly quickly and start to take
8989s over the game but like we saw that's not
8992s always the case and you don't really
8993s have that late game Steam anymore as I
8996s haven't seen any of the lists but I do
8997s think crowd favorite has rotated I don't
9000s think I saw that in there so your early
9002s snowball potential is also limited by
9005s the removal of one of those key cards
9008s you you just have to rely on going wide
9011s as much as you can and
9013s when we actually look at Hobbit's lineup
9015s right you're looking at doctor check off
9017s you're saying okay I can probably deal
9019s with Echo Jinx I might be able to deal
9020s with Tristana and Samira Fizz is just in
9024s this meta game still a safe band The
9026s Powder monkey version is nowhere near as
9028s strong as a previous one was but it's
9031s still a deck that you have to uh you
9033s have to respect because if you whiff on
9036s your early game answers versus a Samira
9038s she sticks and she snowballs as you
9040s already said Boulevard even if you do
9042s stabilize a couple back to back powder
9044s pandemoniums could deal the remaining
9046s six or ten damage the deck needs to
9048s close out and you also have to wonder
9050s about you know the potential of this
9052s Vandal gun or mirror is that something
9053s you're willing to take Hobbit says has
9055s two puzzling signposts in their list
9056s which is not particularly good in the
9059s mirror match it could be something for
9061s them to clunk into because they haven't
9063s run into the champion strength variant
9064s that we also see running around and I
9067s mean I don't think it's ever necessarily
9069s the wrong choice to look at what is
9071s arguably the best stack in the most
9072s popular deck in the format and be like
9073s yeah you know I'll ban that and I think
9075s that the Samira Jinx at a Chekhov might
9077s even throw things off where maybe you're
9079s fine taking your lineup into Samira Fizz
9081s and bandal Gunners but when it's Samira
9083s Jinx instead of his things start to get
9085s a little funky and that's why players
9087s tend to lean towards decks like this as
9089s well even a small change like that while
9090s it's still a Samira list they play so
9092s incredibly differently that it can
9095s really shake things up and throw off
9096s your opponent's band strategy yeah
9098s Chekhov has really good matchups but
9102s there's no guarantee you're going to
9104s find those matchups and that's that's
9107s just the the x fact factor that comes
9109s into picking the right fan and at the
9111s end of the day even though you have the
9114s matchup sort of under control maybe you
9116s ban Echo Jinx in order to try to force
9119s those better matchups to line up right
9121s the Samira mirror match that Chekhov
9123s wants to play probably the Tristana
9125s mirror match Chekhov might even want to
9127s play that because of the signpost lining
9129s up Hobbit says has the Teemo as well
9133s which gives you a little bit of a faster
9135s scaling for Tristana and bandal Gunners
9137s but outside of that possibility you
9140s might just have a better mid game having
9143s access to Triple Gnar a few more bits of
9146s card draw with Pokey stick
9148s yeah not to mention Wallop uh can
9150s actually do a lot of work in a matchup
9152s like that when you're looking at you
9153s know the potential for like an
9154s overwhelmed weapon to come down onto a
9156s Tristana and that extra point of
9158s interaction from having extra copies of
9160s that champion and being more likely to
9161s draw into the multiple copies like you
9163s mentioned you get the Pokey stick online
9165s earlier you'd start to draw through the
9166s deck a little bit easier and those
9168s Champion spells can come in really big
9170s because Wallop is one of the better
9172s Champion spells available to the Vandal
9175s City region of course Buster shot up
9176s there as well but I don't think we have
9178s a clear idea of what's going to be
9180s banned here on either side per se I
9182s think that there's just a few too many
9184s slight curve balls in the adaptations
9186s the players have made you know if this
9188s was the standard Echo Teemo nasus on the
9192s side of Hobbits is we'd have this no
9193s problem right scars are going to be able
9194s to tell you about that all day because
9195s we are experts in that field but this
9198s this newcomer this Echo jinx this Arcane
9200s deck that I've never seen before so
9202s flavorful coming out of Hobbit's but
9204s it's not something I'm competitively uh
9206s familiar with because it's it's just a
9208s weird one it's so so flavorful and full
9210s but we are getting the bands in here it
9211s is going to be Jinx Samira taken off the
9213s table as well as hobbits's Vandal
9216s Gunners so both players getting one of
9218s the best decks in the format available
9219s Chekhov has that bilgewater Gunners and
9222s hobbitsu still has access to that Samira
9224s Fizz the Samira Fizz being let through
9228s this is a deck that even if you think
9230s the matchup is good can still find a
9233s really aggressive start that you can't
9235s keep up with especially versus allowing
9237s Swain you think that well I've got the
9239s right tools that can line up against
9240s this I'm going to be playing for board
9241s as well I should be fine but you just
9243s never know the strap from doctor check
9245s off here might literally just be trying
9247s to go 2-0 against this Echo Jinx there
9249s is one Secret Keeper in this build so
9252s maybe it does evolve live before our
9255s eyes into Echo Jinx team Teemo nasus
9258s I
9259s have never seen Secret Keeper actually
9262s go off and do its thing I am a little
9264s curious about it I know some players it
9267s feels like Echo Jinx players have really
9268s been looking for that mystical magical
9270s three drop to round out their curve and
9272s a couple of them have been landing on a
9273s couple copies of xenotype researchers we
9275s saw salty Simon do it earlier we even
9278s saw it out of
9279s um ichiran Ramen earlier in their NASA's
9282s Teemo variant and I'm I don't really
9284s have a strong opinion either way I think
9285s if Secret Keeper can pop off and get one
9287s of those Champions to you great but it's
9290s definitely not something you want to
9291s rely on and there are some mediocre
9293s level 2 Champions left in the pool as we
9296s learned the hard way from howling Abyss
9297s yeah and also Secret Keeper uh if you
9302s get Kane he misses his level up timing
9304s which is really hilarious he's level two
9306s but he's just neutral Kane and my secret
9309s keeper story Boulevard is that my
9311s opponent got level two sejuani and just
9314s walled me out of the game with it so we
9316s know the
9318s if you have one slot in your deck and it
9321s might be a wild card a joker for your
9325s deck to try to find something maybe it
9327s should just be Secret Keeper then I mean
9329s you're also rolling the Dyson xenotype
9331s researchers right there's no guarantee
9332s that you're going to actually find the
9334s units that got the plus three plus three
9336s Buffs so either way I I think what Echo
9338s Jinx players would absolutely love is
9340s just a more consistent three cost option
9342s instead of being forced to choose
9344s between two different modes of gambling
9345s am I gonna hit the level two ace and I
9348s love that the Secret Keeper players are
9349s willing to gamble further not only are
9351s you banking on hitting those Champions
9353s at some point you are banking on them
9354s being impactful Champions like a level
9356s two sejuani or a level two aurelian soul
9358s is always I think the high roll that
9360s everyone's gonna be thinking of but yeah
9362s we should be getting into game here any
9363s minute now and I gotta say I'm seeing
9366s weaknesses on both sides I'm not super
9368s confident in Echo Jinx into this lineup
9370s and I'm also just gonna keep dogging
9372s Swain probably until this card gets
9374s rotated
9376s it is a when the meta looks when in the
9380s right situation Swain comes down and it
9382s looks so strong you're like oh my God
9384s look at the HP on this guy it has
9387s overwhelming fearsome I can't Chomp him
9389s he's hitting through and wiping my board
9392s what is going on and then there's other
9395s matchups where you're against targon or
9398s Shadow aisles that have that spot
9401s removal that you despise or have that
9403s over-the-top greed value that you cannot
9405s contest by any stretch of the
9407s imagination that you're like wow why
9409s does anybody play Swain Leviathan and I
9412s think you talked about it as well you
9414s already touched on it Boulevard Dr
9415s Chekhov has been playing Swain for a
9417s while and it's just it's an illness
9420s that you get infected with and you just
9423s have to play suede whenever you see the
9426s somebody's post their numbers online you
9428s go oh wait Swain is back and then you
9430s just you cope a bit but Dr Chekhov here
9432s has coped his way all the way here to
9434s the top 16. I feel like we we run into
9437s this at nearly every major event in
9438s recent memory where you know it's coming
9441s down a new deck has popped up this time
9442s it was nasus everybody's looking they're
9444s running back to their favorite stat site
9446s to check the latter data and then they
9448s see oh yeah let's let's sort by win rate
9450s let's be a little cheeky maybe only two
9452s people are playing it but what's winning
9453s and then you find the Swain deck of the
9455s format and it's like oh no please don't
9457s do it don't fall for it yet again but
9460s Chekhov is one of the players that uh
9461s gets away with it you know checks are
9463s that Swain deck finds it and says okay
9465s we're running it and you know has found
9466s their way to the top 16 previously with
9468s Nars Wayne I believe even maybe all the
9471s way to the top eight uh and is now once
9473s again fighting to prove that this deck
9475s is not a gimmick
9477s when you have a deck of this nature
9480s that's based on a legacy archetype but
9482s is functioning on a completely new axis
9485s you also have to evaluate your matchups
9488s differently and Dr Chekhov might just be
9490s demonstrating some sort of like band
9492s diff maybe just getting rid of those
9494s Decks that the opponent really had built
9496s their lineups around and kind of finding
9498s the weaknesses there but so far just a
9501s great curve grandfather Faye into owl
9503s cat for Hobbit says countering the 3-1
9506s from Dr Chekhov a small unit with high
9510s attack and a spell shield is exactly the
9512s sort of thing that this list does not
9514s want to deal with
9515s and I was a little curious if Chekhov
9517s was gonna go like full aggro and go for
9521s you know parlay plus Make It Rain to
9523s take out the alcat but I think
9525s understanding that you are against the
9526s bilgewater version prize fight was
9527s available if they just fire that off in
9529s response and your C's voice is down to
9531s one HP you're also probably not
9532s attacking in that instance but this is
9534s that monstrous curve you are alluding to
9536s skarsig sees voice into ilawy into Swain
9539s yes the Swain's not going to be leveled
9541s but one of the biggest strengths of
9543s Swain is the ability to play with the
9544s health pool of that champion you've got
9546s six Health block with it
9549s and if I'm Dr Chekhov I'm already
9552s thinking about how to clear a path for
9554s Swain if I can hit the Nexus get that
9557s bonus three damage Judas Wayne's Nexus
9559s strike
9561s um then it's going to be a lot of
9563s progress towards his level up and if I
9565s have a fearsome overwhelm unit versus a
9568s vandal City deck that's all we're going
9572s to need is swing to connect one good
9574s time
9575s yeah and I really like the way Hobbits
9577s has played that attack sending the
9578s Tristana and insane go ahead I have a
9581s copy of prize fight in my hand I double
9583s dog dare you to try to block this with
9584s your allowing I will gobble it up so
9586s quick and check all respects it and now
9589s has a very hard read that a card that
9591s isn't there is there
9594s so now C's voice comes through we get
9597s the tentacle it's a 1-1 now and there is
9599s no block from the Tristana
9602s this might be the death of the Vandal
9604s city mayor as soon as they touch down
9606s there is a tentacle Smash in chekhov's
9608s hand but Tristan is another one of those
9610s Champions where you kind of have to
9612s answer it immediately and Hobbit says
9614s did use a tristana's buster shot on the
9616s previous turn so you know that they are
9618s unlikely to have that third copy in
9620s their hand you probably can permanently
9622s deal with this for the time being
9624s you want intentical smash right now to
9627s deny that discount but actually yeah it
9629s just cleans up the Tristan after seeing
9630s the Buster shot this seems like a really
9632s good Moment In Time get that value we
9635s have we have five Mana open for Swain
9637s yeah I mean well group shots pretty
9639s likely to come out here from Hobbits is
9641s just force another removal piece out of
9643s check off because I don't think group
9644s shot is doing a whole lot oh no actually
9646s let's go I don't think group shot gets
9649s value in this matchup I think using it
9651s to get another removal tool out of your
9652s opponent's hand onto your Tristana is a
9655s worthwhile investment of that card but
9657s Hobbit says wants to take it a different
9658s direction actually save it for the prize
9660s fight that they're gonna have with this
9662s uh this ship a little bit later on
9664s that's a good point save the group shot
9666s to clean up after a prize fight it's the
9668s only way this deck is going to be able
9670s to deal with Swain and or Leviathan and
9673s we're already at six Mana Boulevard this
9676s is where Swain allow these big bombs are
9678s going to start dropping here's the
9680s riptide sermon the Vandal city mayor
9683s gonna get taken to church but oh passes
9686s one good time gives it away that there's
9689s a big spell coming but wants to see one
9692s more play
9694s and this doesn't even have to be the
9696s riptide sermon this could just be a
9697s heavy metal follow it up with you know
9699s the Forbidden Idol but Chekhov says no I
9702s want to get the tentacle online I want
9704s to get some level progression into my
9705s Swain I want to turn this into a threat
9707s that is going to clear your board and at
9709s the moment
9710s I think Chekhov can set up for a Swain
9712s level up on the next turn the issue is I
9714s think it's going down to price fight Pig
9716s ooh
9718s there is a lot I like that Docker
9720s checkoff is kind of running through a
9723s calculation here if I take out the
9725s Vandal city mayor I can get rid of the
9726s discounts but there's no multi-region
9728s followers in hand I don't need to do it
9729s if I take out the Commando then I deny
9732s the owl cats that keeps the bandel
9733s counters under control but if I kill the
9735s blast cone seedling that's their
9736s fearsome blocker gun I can hit with
9738s Swain it's all for naught we have
9740s puzzling signpost into an open attack
9742s but now Chekhov has the option to
9744s actually take out the Fearsome blocker
9746s with a block going for an open with the
9748s Swain of course the unfortunate part no
9751s way that Chekhov is actually going to be
9752s able to level the swing before the
9753s connection happens even with Make It
9755s Rain so unfortunately not going to be
9757s able to wipe the board and it's just so
9758s much less impactful that way and now the
9761s group shot finally going to get used
9763s this time to take out the Sea's voice
9764s despite the king's court coming down
9766s next turn
9768s I'm
9769s sees voice out of the way Hobbits is
9772s just trying to keep the board under
9773s control because Dr Chekhov is down to 10
9776s HP Hobbit says isn't trying to go for
9778s anything flashy is playing this just a
9781s traditional swarm way Dr Chekhov hasn't
9784s played a lot of spells from this
9785s position it's just been developing a
9787s nice solid curve Swain is far from
9789s leveling up and now after fully tapping
9793s out to summon the Leviathan Hobbit says
9796s can Gail for King's Court we can go for
9799s Nar here maybe something really cheeky
9801s just playing the bandal Gunners just to
9802s get the three impact but here it is the
9805s court with brash
9807s now if prize fight works like single
9810s combat which I'm 99 sure it does any
9813s time Hobbit's cast surprise fight that
9815s is going to feed the Swain level up and
9818s I think that's the big reason you don't
9819s see Hobbit's fire off that that spell
9823s right there at the end of the turn to
9824s try to push damage even just using it on
9826s their owl cat to knock the Swain down to
9829s one HP just decides it is absolutely not
9831s worth it
9832s and now the king's court providing
9836s multiple prize fights from this point we
9840s do have swing unleveled it means that
9842s there's no stuns in response to this
9845s wide board Sweeney Leviathan finally hit
9848s the board the duo that you've built your
9851s deck around come through but Swain just
9854s is not here we've got a Riptide sermon
9856s in hand to maybe deal with one thing
9858s level up the Swain and then pray with
9861s Carly but goes wide with Guru Sentinel
9864s instead uru Lookout
9866s yeah still technically has a kill
9868s available with disintegrate plus parlay
9871s if Hobbit says passes over another
9873s priority sequence the awkward part of
9874s course nothing on hobbus's board is
9876s damaged so this ravenous flock in hand
9878s usually a Premiere removal piece not
9880s actually going to be useful and now with
9883s two prize fights in hand you know you're
9885s taking at least six damage off of Just
9888s impact from the bandal Commando this
9890s could be Dr Chekhov going down here they
9892s are not wide enough to handle this
9895s the spell Shields taxing another card
9899s taxing more Mana out of Malawi Swain is
9902s so hard to deal with the disintegrate
9905s combo only answers the king's court
9908s you're gonna try to block down
9909s everywhere else does it come down to
9914s you might have to the the man is just
9916s not there you might have to make it rain
9918s and hope you can ding the king's court
9921s for a flock but instead it's going to be
9923s parlay so probably flock onto Nar of
9925s course with prize fight available
9926s hobbitses can still guarantee a
9930s poke stick ending up in their hand if
9932s Chekhov has mapped out a way to live at
9934s One
9937s yep so goes for the disintegrate on the
9940s Gnar
9942s there's still one man open for this
9943s prize fight once the attack token is
9945s used Hobbit says will be threatening six
9947s damage
9949s Chekhov doesn't seem happy with the way
9952s this played out
9953s throwing out the Darius emote you know I
9955s gotta say
9957s it looks like hobbitses will not be
9959s taking one damage from this which based
9960s on the wording of parlay I feel like
9962s they actually should ding the Nexus
9964s because this card says deal one to
9965s anything if this kills it deal one to
9967s the enemy Nexus and that one damage will
9970s kill the Gnar
9973s yeah I guess the damage is dealt and
9976s then disintegrate checks oh production
9980s is telling me that disintegrate kills it
9982s not parlay which is yeah this is so
9984s great checks through and disintegrate is
9986s the spell that makes the kill happen but
9989s you gotta remember like even if you get
9990s the Ping on the Nexus Swain is still not
9993s leveled up right no absolutely not but
9995s it would have been nice
9998s yeah I think this swing is still quite a
10000s ways off of the level up which is one of
10001s the biggest issues that swains have had
10003s in competitive is even previously in
10006s like the Nora swains that we saw if you
10008s didn't draw ravenous flock you had a
10010s really difficult time leveling the Swain
10011s and now with ravenous flock no longer in
10013s the meta you know it feels like we're
10015s even more critical of these Swain builds
10017s and now we're gonna see if the battle
10018s Gunners can go ahead and take it out I
10020s think there's only seven damage coming
10023s through at maximum from Hobbits is here
10025s if they decide to use the prize fight
10027s for the impact but it would mean Chekhov
10029s is losing their entire border at least
10031s enough of it that a comeback is unlikely
10033s Ah that's so filthy the prize fight just
10036s allowing this uh Leviathan to go down
10041s against the hungry owl cat oh takes out
10044s Leviathan rather than Swain though
10047s saying yeah I'm not even
10049s disrespecting the noxy in general saying
10052s I'm not even whatever you can level them
10053s you can have all this level of
10054s progression I don't care I'm I'll help
10056s you out I'll give you the handicap and
10058s you still can't get it done and there's
10060s the point you were talking about as well
10062s the prize fight does activate Swain he's
10065s just about to level we've got a
10067s beautiful make it rain here to crash
10068s into the king's court hit the bandwid
10071s Commando and the Nexus I think that
10072s might result in the Swain level up and
10074s we have just a little bit more mana on
10076s top besides for this Riptide sermon
10079s maybe to get a another key stun into a
10084s Nexus strike on the Swain
10086s yeah I mean Hobbit says they were aware
10089s that the price you have to move the
10091s king's court now yes because you see
10092s someone a unit they get the prize fight
10094s gotta get the prize fight out of there
10096s um not that it would kill the Swain but
10097s it would continue to keep it at one HP
10098s and vulnerable to a ping you really want
10100s the two Health on this after the top
10101s deck because you you know you're not
10103s aware but there is a Gnar in your
10105s opponent's hand that would be able to
10105s take this out so now you're set up for
10108s the Swain overwhelm combo to wipe the
10111s entire board here but you don't have
10113s enough follow-up for lethal off of that
10117s very surprising there's just there's no
10120s clean plays really for Dr Chekhov to
10123s pass priority I maybe you could have
10125s greeted right go for watchable Idol see
10127s if Hobbit says develops one more thing
10128s that you can hit with the riptide sermon
10130s I was actually I'm very surprised that
10132s Hobbits has even threw down the owl cat
10133s into the Swain like that just all that
10135s thing did was die
10137s and there was no opportunity for it to
10140s do anything but just die
10143s and now what this means is by holding
10147s the heavy metal we have potentially a
10150s way to pop the spell shield on the next
10151s band or Gunner's development
10154s or yeah if Nar comes down we've got
10156s heavy metal flock and I assume that with
10158s no cards in Hobbit's hand check off is
10160s at least gonna be eyeing that
10162s possibility
10164s foreign
10169s I was wondering if you would Heavy Metal
10171s the 2-2 just to avoid the one damage
10173s from the impact on the blast cone
10174s seedling I guess either like if you let
10177s Nar live then you're taking the one
10179s damage from the Pokey stick potentially
10180s or it could go on to one of your units
10182s and take that out and get your opponent
10184s you know what it is is yeah Hobbit says
10185s has top deck bandel Gunners you just
10187s Riptide sermon the seedling and Swain's
10189s ability goes through spell shield to
10191s keep that under wraps and somehow Dr
10194s Chekhov has done it Swain gets off the
10197s Leviathan crosses the Gangplank onto the
10200s king's court wins the prize fight takes
10203s over the ship and goes in for an open
10206s attack lethal oh there is still pie toss
10209s though hobbitses could still take out
10210s the Swain with a timely top deck but
10212s that's not gonna be the pace it's a
10214s piltoven Castaway there's nothing
10217s that thing yeah nothing's gonna get you
10219s through that Riptide sermon Hobbits is
10220s gonna fall in game number one here check
10223s off picking it up and I gotta wonder
10225s about that hungry Alcott that was just
10227s sacrificed to the Swain you know if
10229s hobbitses could have gone wider
10231s um you were down to two on the side of
10233s Chekhov you would have at least forced a
10235s block from the Swain and that might have
10236s been enough to actually keep you alive
10238s and end the game but it's not the way it
10240s played out and so we're gonna be moving
10241s on to game number two with another
10243s chance at a comeback for that builds
10246s water bandel gun is now on to the last
10247s deck from Chekhov a mirror match
10250s the mirror match is where things are
10253s going to be really made or broken we
10255s know that the decks are checked out in
10257s different ways but it comes down to if
10260s you even draw those tech cards right
10261s sometimes they're at the bottom of the
10263s deck so the mirror match plays out in a
10265s more traditional fashion and maybe this
10267s was Hobbit sis Strat all along I'm just
10270s going to 2-0 this list instead Echo Jinx
10274s Hobbits is actually going to swap off
10276s after that loss gonna kind of throw in a
10279s clean list just some players do this
10282s from time to time rather than sticking
10284s with the deck they lost on they will
10286s switch just to kind of shake things up
10288s keep their mental fresh by focusing on a
10290s new and different deck and match up
10293s yeah it's just you know nice to you know
10295s you're eventually gonna have to win the
10296s mirror match but it is a little mentally
10299s taxing to take that one on first so
10301s perhaps even just trying to save the
10303s mental energy a little bit you know
10304s that's something that we talk about a
10305s lot in these longer tournaments you know
10306s we're a couple hours deep at this point
10308s you just got done playing at least nine
10311s rounds yesterday probably more as a lot
10313s of players qualify at nine and one or
10314s nine and two plus all the prep leading
10317s up to this so yeah I'll take the more
10318s straightforward Echo Jinx where I'm not
10321s trying to worry about both of us playing
10322s the same cards at the same times
10323s leveraging these Buster shots I'm just
10325s gonna predict into an echo try to rally
10327s my face off yeah this opening hand is
10330s fantastic for shaking bakai on turn one
10332s with the attack token we've got a couple
10334s scrying Sands and the time trick this is
10337s going to result in Echo leveled up and
10339s we have four shots at really
10340s manipulating this curve to be as strong
10342s as possible if obvious can get a couple
10345s drop borders that's going to be a
10346s beautiful amount of tempo
10348s it's always funny to talk about the hand
10350s state of an echo Jinx player like you
10351s look at the opener and you're like yeah
10352s this is a great hand and you look at it
10353s and all the cards kind of suck but it's
10355s like no no these cards need to suck and
10357s the good cards are going to come later
10359s when we predict into them so far not
10361s finding any of them but you do need to
10363s go through the motions to actually draw
10364s the echo at level two get those Chrono
10367s breaks in the deck even if he dies he's
10368s done his job you can still find the
10370s voices to get up but when we look at the
10372s actual win conditions for Hobbits is
10373s absolutely none of them are in the hand
10375s you've just got to go through the
10377s motions and find them first
10380s and with the chronomancer picking up
10383s another Mystic shot Hobbit says knows if
10386s I can keep the Vandal Commandos under
10388s control keep these allocats from hitting
10391s the board this is going to really delay
10394s again the Tristana and the Vandal
10395s Gunners check off fighting back gonna
10397s try to go wide with tenor of Terror and
10399s Grumble slug
10400s I like the block here honestly
10402s there's not a lot of reason not to if
10404s your opponent is Mystic shotting your
10405s Vandal city mayor I think that's
10406s something that's going to be relatively
10408s happy with at the end of the day but I
10409s guess really wanting to keep that safe
10411s to get down the Grumble Slug and
10412s Tristana after you get Tristana down
10415s first I don't think that really matters
10416s in a situation like this though but I'm
10418s gonna see another project out of Hobbits
10419s is finally finding a little bit of gas
10421s curious if it was a chance I thought the
10423s Mystic shot was coming maybe he skipped
10426s Hobbits is looking for the echo I think
10428s trying to just pivot into an aggressive
10430s position
10432s Jinx picked up for hobbitses and is
10435s currently answers for that from Chekhov
10437s that's one of the issues with Echo
10439s jinx's you know level one Jinx and level
10441s two Echo both you know dying to just a
10443s buster shot but nothing nothing survives
10446s prize fight ping
10449s and Dr Chekhov has to make that decision
10452s do I develop a threat do I focus on
10454s forwarding my win condition or do I try
10457s to sniff out my opponent on their turn
10460s for development this is where it gets
10462s pretty predictable pretty clunky you
10464s know your opponent wants to play Echo or
10466s Jinx or even voice of the Risen
10468s depending on what the rest of the board
10469s state looks like
10471s this is an awkward attack from Chekhov
10473s as well you'd like to send in the
10474s Tristan and go oh yeah go ahead and
10475s block I'll just pie toss it but that
10477s scrying sand is gonna make a mess of
10478s things
10479s the Grumble slug is inspired here it's a
10483s 3-3 now because of Tristana you get to
10485s develop an additional body while also
10487s maintaining enough Mana for your prize
10489s fight and ping
10490s oh drop order also makes its entrance
10492s yeah not only that but Echo was the
10494s prediction a huge impact scoring Sans
10497s out of Hobbits is finding that
10498s additional unit finding the titular
10500s Champion that you were hoping for
10504s immediately comes down
10508s Chrono breaks three of them now in the
10511s deck we've got Echo leveled up as a five
10513s three check off has and heavy metal has
10517s the pings has a way to deal with Echo
10518s and what's great here is that if you can
10520s get rid of echo before he strikes you
10523s don't get that zero Mana time trick very
10525s unlikely to be able to find that Chrono
10528s break he goes in Solo
10531s brings a drop order with them says let
10533s me bring a friend and this is one of the
10535s big issues that I think a lot of players
10537s have with Echo Jinx the rotation of
10539s absolver means that there is no Health
10541s buff available in the deck you know for
10543s a fact this pie toss is going to take
10545s out the Echo and deny the strike Hobbit
10547s says knows it Chekhov knows it I know it
10549s you know it scars like the viewers at
10550s home know it now tell your grandparents
10551s everybody knows it Echo can't survive it
10553s there's no buff available and checkoff's
10556s just going to continue to go wide but
10557s you gotta like I gotta say that this
10559s band look owners are still very
10561s expensive for this stage of the game
10563s after the main deck time trick Chrono
10566s break is found but the board isn't in a
10569s really good state to use it properly
10571s picks it up anyway because you've got
10573s the board trade coming down here this
10577s turn and you can use Chrono break to
10579s refill and Strike Back Dr Chekhov isn't
10581s going to give Hobbits as a time to
10583s develop one more unit into this Chrono
10586s break instead just goes for eye of Naga
10588s caboros off of the top beautiful wide
10590s swing coming through at least three
10592s damage gonna hit the Nexus and it's such
10594s an awkward position for hobbitses
10596s because if you lose your entire board
10597s then the rally doesn't do much for you
10600s in the future you kind of need a lot of
10602s things to die in one turn but if you
10603s Chrono break now
10605s you're not really Reviving much your
10607s scarcity you're getting a couple of
10608s dinky little tutus there's no voices to
10611s buff them up you don't know if there's
10612s one coming we'll see what we can find
10614s off the scrying Sans voice is in the
10616s pool and suddenly the rally looks a lot
10619s more effective but you're not trading
10621s off that many units at least not many
10623s impactful trades and this is the
10627s awkwardness I spoke on Boulevard where
10630s your opponent kind of puts you on this
10632s off Cadence of having a good threatening
10635s board but also being able to safely
10637s develop get your Chrono breaks there is
10640s a forbidden line where hobbitses cuts
10643s his losses starts to build something up
10646s from scratch here rather than Reviving
10648s now with the Chrono break but has to
10650s play it wants to keep up on the board
10653s oh but if if Hobbit says plays the Jinx
10656s now it's gonna be a little bit of a
10657s disaster there is a buster shot in the
10659s hand of Chekhov and Hobbits is gonna go
10662s for it that is not a feral presence
10666s Jinx goes down voices on top of the deck
10669s but voices just gets you back forward
10671s parody how do you deal with this Vandal
10673s Commando or this Vandal Gunners down the
10675s line
10676s I think with your hand in this state you
10678s almost want to take Echo over the voices
10680s right yes Echo once picked it was so
10684s there is a little bit of Hope here to
10685s get the time trick to draw some cards
10688s but the pastry is there he's getting hit
10690s with a cartoon anvil he might get Triple
10694s pastry skarsik because if you prize
10696s fight you give over the Chrono break and
10698s I mean prize fight also Varnell road to
10700s the last card and hand the scrying sense
10701s yeah it looks like Chekhov is just
10703s lining up the double ping
10705s you it's it feels so bad to put all
10707s three on the stack because you're like
10709s what if that last card's reputation but
10711s and they magically get a fourth Mana
10714s but yeah just take out the Echo and this
10718s is exactly how you keep Echo jinx under
10719s control you make sure the Champions are
10722s not on board you deny these Echo strikes
10724s kill on site no time tricks no Chrono
10729s breaks and we just have a nice swarm
10733s board-based matchup where Vandal City in
10736s bilgewater are massively favored we're
10738s gonna see Vandal Gunners played for
10741s seven Mana
10742s there's really not much other choice
10744s right unless you can top deck a one or
10746s two Mana multi-region follower off the
10748s top but even that doesn't feel super
10750s impactful and now we're gonna get to see
10751s the final card of Hobbits is on Chekhov
10753s site it looks like Drop order actually
10755s hitting in a choice between Echo and
10756s Jinx and you have to imagine it's the
10759s Jinx at this stage of the game she's
10760s gonna be leveled she's immune to the
10762s Buster shot you just saw so many pings
10764s come out but prize fight ping is still
10766s there for Chekhov
10768s yeah just swings in with these units to
10772s force some value trades set up for the
10774s super mega Death rocket to clear
10778s because with everything that we've seen
10781s so far Dr Chekhov isn't actually
10783s presenting a big threat on that side
10786s either until this bandal Gunners comes
10788s down and we have double prize fight to
10790s deal nine damage to the Nexus
10793s I can't imagine a way for hobbites to
10795s come back into this especially given the
10798s very high likelihood that Jinx does not
10800s live to see the end of the turn but it
10802s does depend on how Chekhov plays this
10804s you know if they go into combat first or
10805s if they I'm I'm really reaching here but
10808s I am actually not finding a way where
10809s Chekhov manages to tap a low price fight
10812s thing
10813s will cheer us on yeah and even with the
10816s top deck of the Vandal city mayor is no
10818s longer locked into the Vandal Gunner's
10820s line Jinx the final predict from scrying
10824s Sands coming through is finally leveled
10827s up hits the board doctor check off
10830s developing any further is only throwing
10832s more fuel on the fire for super mega
10834s Death rocket this is an interesting
10836s position though does Chekhov send his
10839s one HP units into combat now or do you
10842s develop something like the grandfather
10843s Faye or even just prize fight ping the
10846s Jinx first to try and get Hobbits as a
10847s priority sequence to play the rocket out
10849s and then continue to develop with the
10851s grandfather Fey in the hungry owl cat
10854s with Tristana still being part of the
10857s equation those units are a little bit
10859s more devastating than you would think
10861s and this would discount the Vandal
10863s Gunners the this prize fight combo
10866s that's been cooking in the hand the
10868s entire game Boulevard is only going to
10869s be active with the attack token
10872s well it's awkward right now because you
10874s also need to prize fight Tristana to
10876s actually take the Jinx down to one HP
10878s and that would also set Tristana at one
10880s HP set her up for the rocket and I think
10882s that's why Chekhov is about to develop
10884s this hungry owl cat so he has a
10885s secondary sacrificial fodder to actually
10888s take out the jinx
10890s and Hobbits is also being presented with
10892s an interesting line what if I just wait
10895s what if I let you develop a little bit
10897s more before I pop the rocket maybe I
10900s think you're so scared of this rocket I
10901s can get a cheeky end round and draw two
10904s cards I think this was a little
10905s preemptive on the side of Hobbit says I
10907s think hobbitses would be very happy if
10910s they were actually presented with an
10911s opportunity to just not play the rocket
10913s this year because Chekhov stops
10915s developing or doesn't Attack Just forego
10917s the three damage in the board wipe draw
10919s your two cards rocket them on the next
10920s turn
10923s hobbitses is still pretty healthy at 14
10926s HP here comes the prize fight ping and
10930s this is on a spell shielded unit Jinx
10932s will go down so the card draw is further
10935s denied I think we could have fished much
10937s harder Boulevard to try to just get
10938s around and draw two and you know Ronin
10942s solved this issue by running formula
10944s getting a little bit more resources here
10946s but Hobbit says has missed the window of
10948s opportunity with the Chrono brakes the
10950s voice of the Risen all the Champions
10952s going down there's really no way to
10953s stand up to this Onslaught anymore no
10956s wait you know there's no there's like
10958s one Echo there's one Jinx it's two
10961s Chrono breaks but your board is so dinky
10963s that no matter what Hobbits his draws
10965s they they need a two to three card combo
10967s to come back into this game and with
10968s formula not in the deck there's just no
10970s way to make that happen it would have to
10973s be Echo to kick things off so that you
10975s get the free time trick but even then I
10977s don't think you are establishing things
10979s fast enough to just not die to check off
10981s on the following turn
10983s all right I've got it Boulevard lay it
10985s on me Secret Keeper Secret Keeper and
10988s then doesn't it put it at the bottom you
10990s can't even like draw the Champions
10992s I don't know after shock off the top
10995s hits Tristana but we've got eye of Naga
10999s boros and Vandal Gunners still in the
11001s hand going to be developed here into a
11003s beautiful open attack but King's courts
11005s also
11006s and that's gonna be able to give Brash
11009s over to the grandfather Faye so that
11011s you've got nine unblockable damage
11013s coming at the Nexus but Chekhov doesn't
11014s even have to do that they're gonna have
11016s plenty of time to run out their entire
11018s hand next turn get the Commando out get
11020s the Gunners out hold up this prize fight
11022s for whatever Hobbits his imagines could
11025s come off the top of the deck to try and
11027s bring them back into this one but it's
11028s not gonna be enough no matter what it is
11030s well actually hold up hold up clock hey
11034s God wait a minute here Shepherd's
11036s Authority yes go go ham
11040s another prize fight added to the hand
11043s augmented clock Ling what can it even
11045s find another Chrono break the final Jing
11049s it feels like it doesn't matter Chekov
11052s you know having these double prize
11053s fights means that he can throw Brash
11055s onto all of his units if he wants to and
11056s we're going to see another development
11058s here
11060s yeah this is just terrifying Jinx comes
11062s through we have super mega Death rocket
11064s clear's grandfather Faye but not much
11066s else
11068s triple Fry's fight means that we've got
11071s lethal yeah Chekhov just has lethal with
11073s the Vandal Gunners by uh you know prize
11076s fighting the entire board
11079s Vandal Gunners the scrappiest yordles
11083s we've ever seen going to take on all
11085s Challengers here with the prize fight
11088s this looks absolutely disgusting
11090s Boulevard and I can definitely see why
11093s this is the reason
11096s this is a deck like this is the only way
11099s you would get players to swap off of
11100s Samira Fizz right absolutely and you
11103s know I'm glad that you called it Scrappy
11105s because looking at the actual symbol for
11107s the Brash keyword that's exactly what I
11109s think of is Scrappy and Hobbit says you
11112s know gonna be able to line up the
11114s blockers but there's no way to survive
11115s this once chekhovs gets priority back
11117s and we fire off all these prize fights
11119s that's super mega Death rocket going to
11121s remain in the hand here at the end of
11123s Hobbit's top 16 run at the world
11125s qualifier
11126s Ripple prize fight puts the lethal down
11131s 13 damage check off with a clean 2-0
11136s there was so much riding on properly
11138s Banning for this matchup and the doctor
11142s had exactly what he needed
11145s just what the doctor ordered well put
11148s scarzig well played Dr Chekhov our first
11151s competitor that we are aware of that is
11153s locked in for our top eight now
11156s remember things are a little bit
11157s different than previously it used to be
11159s in a seasonal you make it to the top
11160s four that gets you into the world's
11162s qualifier doing things a little
11163s differently this year there is a World's
11165s qualifier happening but we don't have
11166s any details on it the thing that
11167s everybody is eyeing is just that
11169s champion spot in order to get that
11171s direct qualification of course the
11172s runetera points to Second and the top
11174s four I mean they are also likely to
11176s qualify but only one is guaranteed now
11178s we're gonna jump into another matchup I
11181s believe uh as soon as we get that set up
11183s here on the back end and scarzig I gotta
11185s say we are finally getting down to the
11187s wire I think we're gonna try to hop into
11188s the bones match up if that is still
11190s available but 100 sure bones is a name
11194s that has been around for a while
11196s yeah a player that was a force to be
11200s reckoned with I think in the infancy of
11202s runetera's competitive scene and has
11205s kind of just been uh working in the
11206s background but we've actually got
11207s another one Boulevard
11209s filthy gamer weed versus drizzoff I
11212s think the most Titanic players that
11214s still remain in the bracket have to
11216s tango here to see who advances this is
11220s game two we are at the threshold and
11222s we've got Karma set versus yordles oh
11225s man this is a pretty good attack from
11228s gamerweb they've still got some weapons
11230s they can play the stagehand attack that
11233s these Karma players are throwing in is a
11234s one of to punish the developments that
11236s traditionally don't exist in Ionia pilot
11239s over in zon I'm actually going to throw
11240s it down onto the Vandal Commando to stop
11242s that Scout weapon from getting maximum
11244s value
11245s denying the uh you know we have even
11248s though we have an elusive blocker
11249s drizzloth does recognize that if I can
11253s just negate the Vandal Commando
11254s altogether I won't have to worry about
11256s it prize fight actually is a KO here on
11260s the stagehand because it's ephemeral
11262s when a femoral units strike they
11263s disappear and with that sequence on the
11267s stack we get an open attack to avoid the
11269s show stopper
11270s yeah and it's so awkward for drissoff
11272s because the one HP units that are going
11274s to die to the showstopper are the ones
11276s with the most attack the ones that you
11278s feel the most compelled to block and
11280s build a gamer weed rather still has the
11282s option to commit this poke stick on the
11284s stack and get a second one when Nar
11287s strikes on the set here
11290s beautifully done you can cycle yeah I
11294s like that cycling the Pokey sticks you
11295s give a second one you don't care about
11296s the discount you just want to draw
11298s multiple cards especially in a deck like
11301s this
11302s we down to go wide we need to go with
11304s resources down to two on the side of
11307s drissoth with a perilous pastry
11310s available to Filthy gamerweave to try
11312s and find the lethal can't do it all this
11314s turn though is too Mana shy so deny will
11317s be available for drissoff but will it be
11320s enough there's still impact that you
11322s need to worry about as well and in an
11324s impact weapon in the hand of filthy
11326s gamer weeb to make sure every unit is a
11328s certified threat
11330s there's a couple tag outs here to get
11333s some coins where in incredible need of
11336s karma we have to spend 12 Mana with set
11339s in order to get anything done but these
11341s are all reactive cards we can't just
11343s Spam it out to get another showstopper
11345s gamerweave meanwhile has Vandal city
11348s mayor as Shepherd has Tristana now
11352s you mayor gonna come down see what we
11354s can find Terror of Terror my God tenor's
11358s gotta be lethal here scars like only one
11360s HP left for drissoff no karma in play
11362s couple of tag outs but like you
11365s mentioned not gonna well I think cursive
11368s can get showstop they'd have to like tag
11371s out set replay set play the coin for no
11374s value Karma off the top but not not a
11376s lot of high impact doubles here
11379s deny all the perilous pastry that's step
11382s one we've got karma in hand but no coins
11386s yeah and if you play Karma you're you're
11388s lining yourself up for a double up high
11390s note but you're taking yourself off of
11392s tag out high note which could be more
11395s impactful and the big Difference Maker
11397s here Tanner of Terror takes the stage
11399s wants to sing the swan song in game two
11402s but karma comes down in response I don't
11406s think Karma I don't think it matters
11408s scars I think Philly gamerweed can slam
11410s down goes to combat
11413s but you there's no coins you you just
11416s attack you you developed Tristana and
11418s and Nar is there too yeah that's that's
11421s what I'm thinking you throw down
11423s Tristana you throw down Gnar are you
11429s I'm speechless I'm speechless what we're
11433s seeing here is a little bit of trauma
11435s the car the karma set that forces you to
11439s respect completely Unholy amounts of
11442s Mana is there is is gamer weeb is I
11446s think saying I'm at 17 HP if I don't
11450s develop bored then showstopper can't
11452s hurt me I'm just gonna play Gnar I I'm
11455s just going to roll out on just purely
11456s pings and impact prize fight rather than
11459s going super wide and getting my board
11461s wipe by double stopper I guess if one of
11464s those cards was place your bets then
11466s there was almost no way that a wide
11468s everything would work there was only
11469s four Mana for drissoth place your bets
11471s wasn't available oh my God
11474s gamer weeb has somehow opened up a
11478s window for drizz off to fight back now
11481s leveled Karma and leveled set she gets
11483s up
11485s oh and the another ping in the hand of
11488s filthy gamer you have to imagine there's
11490s got to be a way for filthy gamerweave to
11492s establish the lethal here now with a
11494s prize fight with a Tristana you know has
11496s the perilous Pastry as well
11498s drisoth can you find the answer
11502s gonna tag out to start make sure there's
11504s no second prize fight but still Pokey
11507s stick would be lethal as well
11509s prize fight does let you proc Nar get
11512s that Pokey stick you can just you can
11515s just freely attack here
11517s 16 damage on the Tristana we have a
11520s scout weapon we have the pot of pain
11525s a little surprised not to see formula
11528s out of durasoth it is oh no sorry it is
11530s not Mana neutral I am never mind throw
11533s that out the window
11535s yeah because it refills just spell
11537s madness yeah it doesn't it doesn't
11538s overlap properly we only have we have
11541s two coins I think on that stack yeah so
11544s seven Mana available for drissoth which
11546s means this is likely a block into a tag
11548s out followed by a deny on the prize
11550s fight and then filthy gamerweb doesn't
11553s have the Mana for okay never mind we
11555s give him the Poke stick
11557s yeah so then
11559s we've got the double coin coming through
11561s going all the way back up to nine
11563s minutes
11564s pero's pastry is slow speed which means
11567s when this
11569s when the Poke stick is denied and the
11571s showstopper wipes the board filthy gamer
11573s weave's not gonna have fast speed lethal
11576s and here comes the showstopper after
11579s that sequence we get it doubled up
11581s against the Gnar here comes the Poke
11584s stick second deny is in the hand
11589s couldn't attack there is no impact to go
11592s along with the prize fight
11594s goes for it anyway to try to get one
11596s more poke stick out of the Gnar ah
11598s that'll do it but there's a tag out but
11600s and then on the set
11603s North throws a Haymaker but whiffs on
11606s the air I don't know if it's enough I
11610s think filthy gamer weave still gets a
11613s chance to play this perilous pastry for
11615s lethal drisoft just doesn't have it on
11617s the open
11620s because there's no there's no Mana now
11623s to replay the set this dragonlings oh my
11626s good dreams off
11628s like this double perilous pastry does
11631s nothing in the face of double
11633s dragonlings drizz sauce going back to
11635s five and with set coming that should be
11638s enough drissoff gets the GG set and he's
11640s moving on to the top eight
11645s filthy gamer weeb had a window of
11649s opportunity to extend with that wide
11652s swing the Tristana and the Gnar but was
11655s respecting something in the hand didn't
11658s want to go for that extension that wide
11660s swing and if you let off the gas pedal
11664s at all versus Karma set we saw how many
11668s cards get drawn Boulevard how much
11670s interaction in the hand to stop every
11672s possibility you have Karma working in
11675s the background working her feminine
11677s wiles giving you these random spells
11680s Dragon ambush in devastating coup de
11684s gras I got it wondering about what
11687s you're actually afraid of it for Mana I
11688s think the obvious answer is kind of
11690s concussive Palm this is the only reason
11692s that you wouldn't develop right if
11693s you're worried about double high note
11694s that's happening whether you develop or
11696s not so concussive Palm is the only
11698s punish for developing but because you're
11700s running out Tristana and Nar I'm pretty
11702s sure those are the units you care about
11704s attacking I think it was wildly
11706s incorrect for floppy to go for filthy
11708s gamer wee brother sorry sorry floppy uh
11711s to go for that attack there instead of
11712s developing more and gets hard punished
11714s for it and this is something we've seen
11715s out of players before playing way too
11717s respectfully of the karma
11719s facebreaker is five right it's four but
11723s it stuns two units so even if you run
11726s out like Karma or if you run out Tristan
11728s and R and they end up getting
11729s facebreaker then you're still in the
11730s same position you were before you played
11732s the units
11734s and this is looking like a pretty rough
11736s position as well as we jump into the
11738s tail end of this game we've got to
11739s condemn coming through in this aatrox
11742s mirror match
11744s and it looks like that is going to be oh
11746s my God and it's a 1-1 oof yeah because
11749s this is a one-sided strike that's just
11751s gonna take out the aatrox and dusk has
11752s the option to h-rox spell back to trade
11755s but is just gonna let it happen five
11757s life now on the side of their opponent a
11760s little bit of development they can throw
11762s down
11767s here I know that they are revealed I
11769s think one of them's a weapon
11771s one of them's the world Ender and a and
11774s a tumble that'll do it
11777s great deduction Boulevard the open
11779s attack isn't really that uh spectacular
11782s here we've only got one Challenger with
11784s the fleet feather tracker as quick
11786s attack thanks to dark and harp no great
11789s attacks with vayne being only a 3-3 and
11792s because you have a seven seven maybe
11793s you're feeling a little bit better
11794s versus the aatrox you just Chomp down
11796s the health almost doesn't matter it's
11798s whoever gets access to the ultimate uh
11802s board State yeah at the moment though we
11805s actually are eyeing lethal for dusk they
11808s have
11809s a cataclysm plus a 7-7 overwhelm with a
11813s one HP unit sitting on the other side of
11814s the board it is counterable in a couple
11817s of different ways though you can catch
11819s in the spear and then it's only four
11821s damage you could use the ahrock spell to
11823s gain a little bit of life back you could
11824s even catch an HR spell to take out the
11826s zelani entirely
11828s and the open attack is put through not
11832s pulling the salon into the side wants
11835s this damage to go through with wage
11837s rocks instead setting the zelani down
11839s and aatrox just to heal for two more
11843s vain potentially coming in as well but
11845s ultimately gonna be held back now dusk
11848s gonna take the damage playing
11850s respectfully of a form up
11855s lets it through survives at 5 HP there's
11857s another hrox in hand now with that
11861s sequence done
11863s dusk's opponent has access to World
11866s Ender here
11868s and if you don't go for cataclysm now
11870s the fleet feather tracker will
11872s assimilate and transform into stratu
11875s yeah so instead dusk Oh I thought dusk
11876s was about to run out their own Serato
11878s but instead gonna give quick attack over
11879s to the zelani and like you mentioned
11881s here comes the world Ender dusk might
11883s have missed their opportunity to even
11885s take the shot at lethal
11889s so this is going to result in a 1010
11891s aatrox and a straw to in play we have
11893s this vein as well threatening the
11895s discounted tumble to cycle and overwhelm
11899s with this gigantic aatrox
11902s yeah now it almost feels oh this this
11904s might just be lethal for the opponent if
11907s you try to categize it wasn't a harp
11910s oh wait no it's after the spell resolves
11912s yeah yeah I thought it was maybe like a
11914s fix em up or whatever though nothing
11916s like that but hook I think now dusk like
11919s dusk just loses there's no way to beat
11921s the tumble because if you don't
11922s cataclysm the Serato they tumble Serato
11925s you have to block that you lose your
11926s zolani they draw two cards but if you
11929s sacrifice your zelani here they just
11930s tumble in aatrox
11932s so zelani does have quick attack he's
11934s going to survive this exchange deals
11936s three damage to the Nexus and the attack
11938s token is coming over to dusk but there's
11941s just not a good attack on top of this
11945s the open attack would need to be
11950s um accompanied with a lot probably too
11955s much
11957s and then we're just gonna overwrite the
11958s zelani with the dark and blade we're
11960s just gonna put another aatrox into the
11963s equation
11966s I don't think zelani turns into aatrox I
11968s don't think darken assimilate
11974s um
11976s a lot of Niche interactions and we're
11979s not gonna find out being revealed here
11980s unfortunately the the aatrox was going
11984s to assimilate there but
11986s the the strike spell is there the death
11989s bringer slash
11990s comes through and now dusk is completely
11994s tapped out no playable cards in hand
11996s here comes the tumble and this
11999s mysterious player will advance
12003s we see the GG Shen on one side dusk just
12005s gonna accept their fate and go down here
12008s and that means we have I believe at this
12011s point most if not all of our top eight
12013s locked in scarsick we saw drisov we move
12016s on we saw Dr Chekhov move on and now we
12019s have seen this mystery player because
12021s both of us I believe only speak English
12023s so we're not even going to We're not
12025s gonna make attempts at that one but
12026s screenshot feed into Google computer
12028s zoom and enhance exactly but with our
12031s top eight on the horizon as we press the
12033s halfway point of the top cut of this
12034s world's qualifier we're going to throw
12036s it to a quick break before we get into
12038s the final stages of this event don't go
12042s anywhere
12061s thank you
12077s foreign
12078s [Music]
12142s foreign
12149s foreign
12155s [Music]
12172s [Music]
12180s [Music]
12199s [Music]
12214s [Music]
12221s foreign
12227s [Music]
12247s [Music]
12255s [Music]
12261s [Music]
12262s foreign
12278s [Music]
12297s foreign
12311s [Music]
12330s [Music]
12336s [Music]
12380s foreign
12394s [Music]
12428s [Applause]
12444s [Music]
12456s [Music]
12479s [Music]
12486s thank you
12490s did you miss us you didn't think we'd
12492s leave you hanging we still have so much
12494s more action left to go skarsik we have
12496s finally made it to the top eight
12498s cresting onto the back half nearly 80
12501s percent of our Top Cut has been
12503s eliminated if I did that math right
12505s which I'm pretty sure I did and so we
12507s are we are finally getting into the wire
12509s here you know previously this is where
12511s players would be lining up for their
12513s worlds qualification spot into the last
12516s chance qualifier because that previously
12517s a top four would get you there now we
12519s have reworked that system in a way that
12521s we're not totally sure how yet more
12522s information on that to come because we
12524s are months away from a wcq
12526s um for now though we are just looking to
12528s Crown our champion and move them on to
12530s the world championship later this year
12531s we know Dr Chekhov drisov and according
12534s to Google Translate princess Buttercup
12536s are already on to the top eight skarzig
12539s how we feel and are is there any
12540s particular player you're on the lookout
12542s for as we get down to the wire
12544s these I mean these players we know that
12548s they are here to compete I really like
12551s that we're seeing some unfamiliar names
12553s and on a tournament like this where
12557s there's so much on the line uh this is
12560s where I want these new names to shine so
12561s I'm gonna just be back in Princess
12563s Buttercup here I think I want them to go
12565s far even if they don't take down the
12566s whole thing you know putting in a nice
12568s you know finalist run or even a top four
12571s finish will put you on all these viewers
12573s Radars at home yeah I gotta say I think
12576s the story for drisov here is one of the
12578s biggest ones because currently being
12579s rank one on ladder means that a top four
12582s or a second place finish probably push
12586s him through to the world championship as
12587s well on runeterra points at the end of
12589s the season assuming there's no huge
12591s offset later on maybe he needs another
12593s top 64 or something along those lines at
12596s one of the next couple of opens but I
12598s don't think drisov has to win the entire
12600s thing in order to move on but he is
12602s gonna be up against rattling bones here
12604s in in the top eight in fact you can see
12606s all of our top eight players that are
12608s remaining a lot of new names
12610s Chekhov and flock you know two players
12613s that we know rattling bones a grizzled
12615s veteran versus drizzoth the master of
12617s burble fish Creos and dusk the Nos and
12620s Fabio
12624s was it Buttercup that upbeat dusk I
12627s thought so but I guess dusk beat butter
12628s I must be misremembering it was it was
12632s the vein mirror so either yeah it looks
12635s like dusk is on at least that's what the
12637s bracket says that's what I'm willing to
12638s believe we have an excellent production
12639s team there's no way
12642s yeah yeah Boulevard so
12646s uh but what we will not be making up is
12648s the winner of the match that we are
12650s about to see now I don't have word on
12652s who it is just yet there are a couple of
12654s bangers in there maybe we'll watch Bones
12655s dress off maybe we'll watch block
12657s Chekhov or we'll hop down to the other
12659s side of the bracket like you mentioned
12660s with some of our lesser known players
12662s and go ahead and put the spotlight on
12664s them because we know that with the way
12666s that bracket is is sort of put out right
12668s top half bottom half a lot of a lot of
12671s known factors at the top half not a lot
12672s of known factors at the bottom half that
12674s means All the known players have to play
12675s each other in top eight and then again
12677s in top four before we move on to the
12678s finals so
12680s we we very well might be drowning a
12683s brand new Champion that no one has ever
12685s heard of before and that is the beauty
12687s of the runeterra open system yeah we
12690s have now these this these players also
12692s being directly qualified to the world
12693s championships and that was also a great
12696s way for some relatively unknown players
12699s to really make a name for themselves you
12700s know Aragorn is also going to be showing
12702s back up at that tournament trying to
12704s defend his title and you know he went
12706s into the tournament at relatively
12707s unknown player and demonstrated just
12710s through the Feats of inventive deck
12712s building that you can prove that you're
12715s you can hang with the best of the best
12717s now as far as Feats of inventive deck
12719s building I'm not sure how much of that
12721s we have left here in the top eight uh it
12724s looks like we are going to do I actually
12725s didn't hear what he said I think we're
12727s going to I thought he said the Flavio
12730s versus Nas I thought he said floppy and
12732s I was like floppy's in the top eight how
12733s did I miss that one the kid's going for
12735s the fourth one in a row but that is not
12737s the case in fact Dr Chekhov I believe is
12740s the only remaining member of red pup
12742s games if they want to continue their
12743s string of dominance that they've run
12745s over the last three events coming into
12747s this fourth one
12749s and this is just how it happens you have
12753s a really good testing group you have a
12754s lot of top players but when everybody is
12758s playing their hearts out and there's so
12760s many different matchups for you to keep
12762s under consideration sometimes you know
12765s only one can survive there probably
12767s might have even been a couple uh you
12769s know team kills on the way up this
12770s bracket almost certainly and I gotta say
12772s I don't I don't know what I'm gonna do
12774s if Chekhov wins this entire event if red
12775s pup games gets a fourth win in a row the
12778s last two seasonals the first runeterra
12780s open into the First wcq with the back to
12782s Backs from floppy I don't know what
12784s we're gonna do with this team we're just
12786s gonna qualify all of them for the world
12787s championship push them all through let
12789s them all go and you know something along
12791s those lines but it's not what we're
12792s gonna be looking at we're gonna be
12793s looking at NOS versus Fabio and first
12795s we're going to take a look at Nas's
12796s lineup as I don't think we've gotten a
12798s chance to look at this today it looks
12799s like it is just going to be Champion
12801s strength Vandal Gunners aatrox vane and
12804s Samira Fizz very standard decks across
12806s the board this is a lineup where you
12809s want your your opponent to ban the
12811s Samira Fizz then you get to play your
12812s demacia decks uh notably you know
12815s Champion strength was a card that we saw
12818s one or two copies work its way into
12820s aatrox Vein from time to time and NOS is
12823s opting not to go that far down the
12825s rabbit hole once just the champion
12827s strength plus swarm package in Vandal
12830s City to do the carrying there and trust
12832s that the aatrox deck is going to hold on
12835s to its mid-range dominance to round out
12838s this lineup and it sounds so funny to
12841s look at the curve on Vain hrocks and
12843s call it a mid-range deck because you see
12845s in 75 of this deck is one in two cost
12848s cards it almost looks more like an aggro
12850s deck and then you know you throw in your
12852s Champions plus Ranger Knight Defector
12854s but don't be fooled a lot of those two
12856s cost weapons those are actually eight
12857s and nine Mana cards in their own right
12859s will absolutely be coming down later but
12862s I think you're right I think that you
12863s are just looking to get your Samira band
12865s and then play two similar-ish strategies
12867s going into whatever your opponent has
12870s brought which I'm very curious to see
12871s what we've got on the side of NLB Fabio
12875s but it's not quite ready yet we're gonna
12877s have to stare at these a little bit
12878s longer never mind it is ready and I
12880s triple Plaza Guardian in noxus seraphine
12886s Plaza Guardian has been a card that
12891s saw some play only here and there
12894s marginally there was like some very
12896s specific interactions that it was taking
12899s advantage of to come down very
12901s aggressively now has bandel Gunners
12903s hitting the the Forefront of the
12905s metagame players are reevaluating some
12907s of these other units that discount
12909s themselves pairing this with noxus means
12911s that you have access we can see the Rune
12913s Squire getting an overwhelm fragment you
12915s have a make your own pursuit of
12918s perfection with the plaza guardian and
12920s then even pirouette to get that massive
12922s 1010 quick attack to swing through and
12924s also just a regular pursuit of
12926s perfection in case you don't what was
12927s that sorry I I'm doubting myself with
12930s the stat line of closet Guardian it got
12932s buffed one time a long time ago and I
12934s think it's a six six right now yeah I
12936s think it used to be a five six or
12938s something this is a years ago that this
12939s buff came out but then on top of that
12941s we're seeing you know Nora nor the Lord
12943s broad main control style of deck and
12945s then processing pile we also see one
12947s broad main over in the olawi Swain as
12950s well as the addition of Captain farron
12951s and Riptide Rex for a monstrous top end
12954s I like the idea there we've seen so far
12957s with these a lively swing decks the
12960s matchups where they've been struggling
12961s are the greedier ones where they just
12963s cannot close out so Captain fair and
12966s Riptide Rex gives you that over-the-top
12969s pressure that maybe forces your opponent
12971s to play a little bit more uh directly on
12974s board to close out rather than kicking
12976s back and fully relying on value and when
12978s we compare that as well to the Nora
12981s variant we've got one treasure trash at
12983s the top end this build has fluctuated
12986s between one and three copies of that at
12988s and that ends up just kind of being a
12991s more decisive way to find something to
12992s end the game rather than just fatiguing
12994s your opponent out of resources and you
12996s know scars because we get into the bands
12998s here I gotta say I think this is the
13000s first time that I am near 100 confident
13002s in what the bands are going to be I
13005s think Fabio has to ban the Samira Fizz
13007s and I think NOS has to ban the Nora Gnar
13009s I think Lord broadmain just plays way
13012s too efficiently into these mid-range
13013s demacia decks and then Samira Fizz goes
13016s way too fast for these broad main
13017s control decks and I think Fabio has
13019s found the matchups he was looking for
13021s here in Top Cut
13023s the read that you know aatrox is going
13026s to be the play to run a card like broad
13028s main that can efficiently answer these
13031s massive stat lines repeatedly is going
13035s to be Fabio's key to Victory I love the
13038s idea here where the lineup construction
13041s takes three Oddball Decks that when they
13044s work
13045s in tandem
13046s it forces your opponent into these
13048s awkward situations and even though Fabio
13052s is playing into NASA strategy of kind of
13055s taking the forced ban of Samira Fizz the
13058s two remaining matchups being favored
13060s almost across the board looks to be very
13063s strong for Fabio
13065s but there's a reason we play it out and
13068s Nas might be able to surprise us with
13070s some of the more linear traditional
13072s mid-range demacia style decks but I
13074s gotta say I'm just a little excited to
13076s see Samira seraphine play because I
13078s thought we had finally exhausted our
13080s wealth of resources on how many
13082s champions you can pair with Samira I
13085s thought Samira Jinx would forever and
13087s always be the pilot over and zon noxus
13089s Samira deck but no we've gone a
13091s completely different strategy and taken
13092s two Champions that on the surface don't
13095s necessarily look like they synergize
13096s that well in the heavy one of style
13099s control
13101s value-oriented seraphine up with the
13103s super aggressive comboee style of Samira
13107s and I don't think the style of combo
13109s that these two Champions play
13110s necessarily has a large overlap but
13113s Fabio's made it to the top eight there's
13115s gotta be something there
13117s if I look deep within how this deck
13122s would play out it's probably something
13124s like Samira gives you a spell that
13126s levels seraphine seraphine starts
13128s doubling spells which levels Samira
13131s rallies you very quickly and then you
13133s can just rally with the plaza Guardian
13135s eating your opponent's board and they
13137s just don't have any more blockers
13142s I could see Samira operating almost as a
13145s Diana right in the in those targon
13148s controlled actually would constantly
13149s play Diana as like yeah you know I'm
13150s just gonna get on board early with my
13152s 2-2 Challenger it'll help make sure I
13153s survive the early game Samira is a 2-2
13156s Challenger with quick attack in most
13158s instances so perhaps you're just playing
13160s her as a hard control tool never worried
13163s about getting the level up or the rally
13165s off
13165s your opponent also has to take a turn
13168s off to answer the Samira to stop the
13170s snowball from occurring and that's one
13172s more removal that's not going on your
13173s seraphine one more Aftershock that's not
13176s going to maybe be hitting a Back Alley
13178s Bar because you want to make sure you
13180s cover that additional HP from all out
13183s there's a couple of options here but I
13184s gotta say I I'm just mad that there's a
13187s two allowie Swain in top eight like
13189s there's probably only there can't be
13191s more than four or five of them in the
13192s whole of the top 64. and as I constantly
13194s get up here and back talk this deck it
13196s just continues to perform and I don't
13199s know what I'm gonna do if it wins the
13200s entire events karzig if if Fabio or
13203s Chekhov or any of the other players
13205s whose lineups we haven't looked at yet
13207s are running this and take it to a
13209s victory I don't know what I'm going to
13211s do now chat I'm not making any deals
13213s with you here any bets any one-sided oh
13215s if it wins I'll do this I'm not doing
13217s any of that okay I'll be surprised but
13219s that's the extent of what you're getting
13221s from me
13222s well I'm going to offer you a special
13224s bit of tech here at Boulevard it's what
13226s we like to call an option select
13228s allowing swing wins but only because
13230s it's a good meta call Karma set is very
13233s prominent in tournament play so it kind
13236s of bullies out other greedy Decks that
13238s would normally give this deck issues and
13241s maybe a lot of these allowing Swain
13242s players follow the scarsig mindset that
13245s nasus perhaps is also not real and was
13248s simply putting up some numbers by
13249s exploiting a pocket of the metagame and
13251s we've seen that from time to time as
13253s well a deck does very very well on
13255s ladder in the few days leading up to a
13257s big tournament and then once players
13259s actually try to play it in a really
13261s hardcore tournament setting it falls
13263s flat you know big shout out to all the
13266s people who got baited by uh The Croc
13268s back in the day
13270s and that's not a bad read that you have
13272s there scars like when we look at our
13274s other regions that have already played
13275s out aipac and emea there were only 13
13278s nasus in the top 64 of aipac and we go
13281s down to seven when we look at emea which
13283s is less than kaisa Garen
13286s Kaiser Garrett and again another
13289s surprising deck that put up some very
13292s respectable numbers right before players
13294s uh locked in their lineups and if you
13298s can play on board good big stats some
13300s spell Shields some good keywords you
13302s know Pantheon also running rampant as we
13305s saw earlier in the rounds players just
13308s are very keen on that style of deck to
13311s flesh out their their lineups and as
13314s we've seen I think repeatedly now
13315s Boulevard if you want mid-range Deck
13318s with big stats multitude of utility
13321s effects and keywords aatrox has got your
13324s back
13324s yeah you don't need to roll the dice on
13327s Pantheon anymore right it's kind of a
13328s relic of the past it's been phased out
13330s players aren't totally on board with
13332s that sentiment yet but we'll get them
13333s there skarsik we'll show them the truth
13334s that aatrox is the next step in the
13336s evolution of mid-range and I gotta say I
13339s when it comes to Kai sagaran I got
13340s baited I got baited by that one I
13342s thought that was gonna be a good deck
13343s but we are finally getting into the game
13345s here NBL Fabio up against Nas starting
13347s off with that seraphine Samira up
13349s against demacia bandal gunners
13352s this deck because it is noxus running
13356s Samira is trying to play something
13358s that's a little bit more
13361s um responsive in the early game and so
13364s might not have the Spells and Mana up to
13366s directly counter a champion strength
13368s like you know ping ping a few units down
13370s before it resolves you want to be on the
13373s Forefront of stopping that from being a
13374s possibility to begin with
13377s and I do want to point out you know you
13379s don't have to counter Champion strength
13380s you can wipe the board in response and
13382s as far as the options available to Fabio
13385s in that regard caustic riff is in here
13387s as a one of but a card that has not
13389s gotten a lot of love over the years
13391s rocket barrage one of the first cards
13394s introduced when we were doing a balance
13396s patch and they were like hey we can
13398s actually just release a few cards at
13399s this time deal three to an enemy and one
13401s to all others could be devastating in
13404s this matchup
13405s if you can line up the numbers it makes
13408s a lot of sense in the current meta game
13410s there are a lot of decks right that play
13412s Barry dinky swarm that's supporting a
13415s pillar of one decently static unit you
13418s know Tristana comes to mind lining up
13420s perfectly into the rocket garage
13421s wandering Shepherd also coming through
13424s alongside Grumble slug two great options
13427s being offered up to be honest I kind of
13429s like the pot of pain Scout is the greed
13432s it's the Hyrule it's really what you
13434s want to see but I think versus a you
13436s know
13437s classic noxus pnz Suite of cards it's
13442s kind of difficult to get the repeated
13444s value from this position and if Fabio
13446s wants to play Greedy as well they can go
13448s yeah it's going to be the pirouette here
13450s take out one of the units get a stun
13451s onto the Grumble slug it's a it's a
13453s little low value for the stun especially
13455s given that this is the single pirouette
13457s in the deck but you know this just gives
13460s them more time to find that mid game
13461s stride and I I love the snap open pass
13463s from Fabio go ahead have a Grumble slick
13466s I'm not gonna do anything I'll block
13467s with this seraphine I'll double block
13469s with this seraphine I don't care and now
13470s I'm gonna get maximum value out of their
13472s Challenger taking out the battle
13474s Commando of course NOS does have a
13476s second copy but you can do what you can
13480s got a gun yeah and being able to
13482s challenge down take down a bando
13484s Commando is absolutely huge here the
13485s Grumble slug will put on a lot of decent
13487s pressure as a 3-3 with Scout with a high
13490s note we've got the you want to hear a
13492s song it looks like sonic wave might be
13494s committed onto therapy to take out the
13496s second Vandal Commando I like this from
13497s Fabio keep those elusives out of there
13499s the spell shield owls are one of the
13501s biggest pain points for these board
13503s wipes like the aforementioned rocket
13505s barrage that we see in Fabio's hand yeah
13508s getting the sonic wave resonating strike
13509s is also two spells for seraphine crumble
13512s slug now solo on the board trying to
13515s fight through could see a tenor of
13517s Terror uh Tristana is not leveled up as
13519s well a lot of great options here but
13521s nausea is going to go for the open
13522s attack right now to see if pavio's gonna
13525s tap down a little bit and maintain the
13527s attack token for a wider development
13531s it's a nice open from NOS That's The
13533s Power of hitting this scout weapon right
13535s it's just forcing priority back onto
13537s your opponent if they want to pass you
13539s know that you've got the option to
13540s develop and that is exactly what Fabio
13542s is going to do I imagine Fabio it's
13543s gonna be a while before Fabio takes a
13545s first action that isn't passing we might
13547s not see it for two turns when we go for
13549s that Back Alley Bar if that's what's on
13551s their radar but for now she's gonna be
13552s an Aftershock onto the mayor to stunt
13554s further development from Nas and it is
13556s going to take the piltoven Castaway out
13558s of the pool
13560s I was wondering if another Grumble slug
13562s would be chosen there just trying to
13564s float Mana working towards maintaining
13566s the curve while also keeping three up to
13569s play towards Champion strength this hand
13571s would absolutely come alive with the
13573s champion strength top deck
13575s it's definitely on the table and Fabio
13577s doesn't have really many clean answers
13580s for it it depends on what Nas is
13582s developing but with the tenor of Terrors
13584s coming down you know you get a little
13586s bit of Rocket barrage value but that's
13587s really the only place that rocket
13589s barrage would be finding value currently
13591s you know of course before the Teemo top
13593s deck but Tristan is about to get online
13595s and Fabio would have to commit a double
13597s high note into that which is a lot of
13599s resources these are in the I gotta tell
13603s you these passes are so specific saying
13606s yeah
13607s board's not good enough you've got to
13609s develop more not even taking an
13610s in-between play of the advanced Intel to
13613s just draw one to keep the rocket barrage
13615s open is saying if you want to be cheeky
13618s and in the round you think you're gonna
13620s make me burn Mana that's exactly what I
13622s want you to do here comes the Castaway
13624s another H1 HP unit augmented with the
13628s sand worn amulet to get another point of
13630s HP to survive the rocket barrage now
13632s this is where Fabio's getting a little
13633s spooked with the owl cat surviving the
13636s spell shield with a fearsome unit also
13638s surviving with that extra point of HP
13640s the rocket barrage has to happen
13643s yeah I think Fabio should be very close
13645s to turning on these high notes if
13646s they're not turned on already so while
13648s we don't get to see an insane sweep out
13650s of the rocket barrage it does set up for
13652s high note value down the line even if
13654s NOS goes for Teemo development here
13656s probably throw the Scout weapon back
13657s onto something but Fabio shouldn't have
13660s too much of an issue and I I feel like
13662s Fabio is almost playing like an AI here
13664s starzig just the parameters for me to
13666s take in action have not been yet not yet
13668s I'm hitting the pass button
13669s and there's the potential round end
13672s Fabio likes it
13678s off the top
13682s interest on is leveled there's also
13684s tenor of Terror this is a fantastic
13685s sequence when you have Tristana leveled
13687s and you get to play tenor of Terror they
13690s get further boosted thanks to level two
13692s tristana's effect they become even more
13695s devastating with that extra point of
13697s attack and impact
13698s and that form up drawn from nas is super
13701s important here otherwise Fabio likely
13703s would have had the ability to double
13704s high note take out Tristana as well as
13706s two other units but with the Tristana
13708s surviving and the ten are coming down
13710s like you mentioned that's a lot of
13712s impact damage coming in at you while you
13713s are just at a seraphine on board now
13716s Samir can come down as an additional
13718s blocker but it looks like first Fabio's
13720s going for something a little different
13722s if you can level seraphine and then play
13725s the high note then you get through the
13726s form up anyway but tenor has already
13728s come down damage has been done
13732s so much impact damage being presented
13735s high note is used levels up the
13739s seraphine to cut off some of this damage
13742s what that means that the high note will
13745s not be doubled up cannot be doubled up
13747s it does mean
13749s it doesn't even mean Fabio can get down
13751s a blocker actually they they're not
13753s gonna have the priority sequence they
13754s just opened with a high note so NOS
13756s might actually have lethal here or if
13758s not lethal they're getting very close to
13760s it
13762s because there's no way you safety block
13763s the Tristana
13766s oh you do safety block a Tristana heads
13768s up Fabio
13772s 12 damage here high note comes through
13775s answered by forma
13778s Fabio just barely alive
13781s just
13783s just form up onto the Castaway Spell
13785s lethal here
13786s let me see
13788s it looks like it
13790s I think it is exact lethal yes
13796s with burst Speed Spells you can't like
13798s put it on the stack and check the eye
13799s you've got to do the math yeah the math
13802s has been done
13804s Intel
13807s without bar in play all these cards cost
13810s Mana I know I'm so sorry seraphine
13812s players sometimes you do have to play
13814s like the rest of us and spend Mana but
13816s that is gonna be a lethal NOS going up
13817s one game here with that exact season
13820s against NBL Fabio I despite the end of
13825s that game I did like the way that Fabio
13827s was approaching that matchup just saying
13829s yeah the board's not really that
13830s threatening I'm just going to develop I
13832s I don't even need to do anything I'll
13834s just pass pass was hoping to find some
13838s big late game thing some sort of answer
13840s to that board state but when you have
13842s christana already leveled coming out of
13844s the deck then tenor of terror you're
13846s suddenly putting on so much
13849s pressure with only a couple plays that
13852s just weren't within Fabio's calculations
13855s and speaking of late game answers you
13857s know hats off to NAS who didn't find any
13859s of their late game and threats right we
13860s didn't find Champion strength we didn't
13862s find Vandal Gunners that was just good
13863s honest Tristana did a lot of heavy
13865s lifting here and that is the power of
13867s that deck but now we're gonna see Fabio
13869s stick onto the seraphine's mirror I
13871s almost said switch decks because I saw a
13873s Samira and was like obviously that's not
13874s the seraphine deck we just watched but
13876s no it is Fabio has paired the two
13878s together
13881s opening up here we're already on turn
13884s two has the stylish shot into two
13887s plunder units a nice open attack
13889s fearsome
13891s and no mystic shot by Fabio so we get to
13894s attack and get that stylish shot right
13896s back I mentioned in the deck selection
13899s screen that I was finally very confident
13901s in the bands and I was very confident
13902s that Fabio was going to ban this Samira
13905s Fizz but it seems that is just not the
13908s case and I think if I saw correctly this
13910s is one of the yeah this is a very Monkey
13912s heavy version there's the three Monkey
13914s Business alongside the powder
13916s pandemonium Jagged task master making an
13918s appearance as well I'm I'm a little
13920s curious if Fabio might have misbanned
13923s here but again that's not one of those
13925s things you can really check for even if
13926s Avio does lose here yeah the the when
13930s you're playing a deck like this when you
13931s have pnz you've got the rocket barrage
13933s you're feeling very confident in your
13935s ability to kind of deal with these
13937s swarmy aggressive decks consistently and
13940s I mentioned it earlier Boulevard that
13942s Samira Fizz is one of those decks even
13944s if you have a good matchup you just
13946s can't take the risk being you know that
13948s tier one deck it can just sometimes
13951s Brute Force its way through matchups
13953s where it's supposed to be unfavored
13955s we've got that stylish shot being used
13958s once more to proc Monkey Business
13960s and then we've got another open attack
13962s coming through and I gotta say
13965s it's kind of a scary Hallmark here where
13967s burble fish was always the deck where
13969s it's like even if you have a good
13970s matchup you know you should probably
13971s still ban it because it can't just blow
13973s you out severifiz isn't even playing the
13975s verbal fish anymore scarsick but because
13977s that package was once in this deck it
13979s still has the power to Brute Force
13981s Through you and say yeah you know the
13983s stats can say whatever they want we're
13985s only playing one game those stats are
13987s based off 10 000 games I'm still taking
13989s that 45 and I'm jamming it home and Nas
13992s is looking to be in a strong position as
13994s they're running a very draw heavy
13996s version with the triple pull shark and
13998s have found two copies already
14001s now with Monkey Business through this is
14003s a five wide swing with the warning shot
14006s we've got Barb chain as well to draw
14008s even more these super Scrappy one drop
14012s infested lists were Theory crafted when
14015s Samira and Inferno were first revealed
14017s and now they've had a chance to come to
14020s the Forefront we can only thank you know
14022s our lucky stars there's been no Jagged
14024s task Masters Masters as part of this
14026s equation Fabio meanwhile has a solo
14029s Samira that has to trade down scorched
14031s Earth the answer is 3-1 the Mystic shot
14035s the clear father Fury and Samira is
14037s going to try to go for a value trade
14039s and it's you know it's gonna work out
14041s there's nothing Nas can do about this
14042s but the little bit of damage still
14044s pushes through and well things don't
14046s look great for Nas you look at the hand
14048s you see cards that do relatively nothing
14050s even if the Barb chain gets a big Hyrule
14052s you know what can actually be done the
14054s answer is it's only gonna take one one
14057s powder pandemonium to really turn things
14059s on their head here even if the board
14061s gets swiped in response that's still
14063s likely at least a decimate
14066s oh that's that's such a shame that the
14069s stylish shot was fleeting and you have
14071s to just use it here when it's not going
14072s to come back to your hand
14074s but with that all being said you know
14076s NASA's list is just trying to be
14078s aggressive punched down hit through
14080s there's nothing in this list that's
14082s going directly answer Fabio's Samira and
14085s with the right sequence of cheap spells
14087s coming out we could see her level up
14089s maybe with Plaza Guardian also being
14091s fully discounted the proper line of play
14095s I speculated about with this deck
14097s Boulevard could ring true she's now at
14099s the d-rank
14101s it very well could the issue still being
14103s Nas is gonna have two fleeting draws on
14105s the next turn and we are just two powder
14107s pandemoniums away from lethal you have
14109s to imagine Nas is already fully stacked
14112s on that but doesn't find any just yet
14114s but the removal continuously getting
14117s used up by Fabio a high note is the only
14119s removal spell remaining as Nas goes for
14122s some big refuel
14124s flare to deal one damage to the Nexus
14126s prox elegant Edge we've got stylish shot
14129s to deal one more and come back to the
14131s hand if Fabio doesn't have a fearsome
14133s blocker NOS might just go in with the
14135s all out here
14137s oh and the fact that the high note is
14139s getting used is a little unfortunate
14141s because it means this elusive will be
14143s touching the Nexus and Fabio can't do
14145s anything about that Fabio could
14147s disintegrate to continue to take out
14149s this unit but is uninterested has you
14151s know probably formula into scorched
14153s Earth but you know with this elusive
14156s coming through jettison a bad roll but
14158s it does mean Fabio will likely be taking
14160s Nexus damage this turn and those stylish
14162s shots are going right back to NASA's
14164s hand
14165s so formula has to be expended here the
14169s elegant Edge is a five one that's Fabio
14173s thinking I'm ass lets the attack be
14176s committed before any other spells are
14178s used doesn't know what these two
14180s remaining spells off of Father Fury are
14184s scorched Earth will be committed but I
14188s believe there's two stylish shots for
14190s Nas this turn I think they had drawn
14192s another copy which means Fabio going
14194s down to five here no it is just one
14197s style of shot but just the one the other
14199s one did happen on the off token
14202s and with that sequence Samira is reset
14204s she's not gonna level Here Comes
14206s seraphine she finds an invitation and
14210s get a board wipe off of this monkey
14212s business for Nas though does mean Fabio
14215s is effectively down to just one HP
14220s and Nas just passing now you've got your
14222s opponent down to five you can keep the
14224s board clear and just hope for powder
14225s pandemonium and this is kind of a
14228s classic board State we've seen right
14230s where you're potentially stabilized
14232s you're scaling into your late game
14234s nicely but the aggro deck has the over
14237s the top burn so if you are too slow at
14240s actually converting your position into
14242s something that ends the game NOS is one
14245s top deck away from Victory one good draw
14249s away from a 2-0 and advancing into the
14252s top four and Nas has been ripping
14255s through their deck up to this point
14256s scars like we already saw two pull shark
14258s come through we saw a Barb chain Nas has
14261s drawn more cards than it might be let on
14263s and you know not just the powder
14266s pandemonium is lethal at this point
14267s Samira will be lethal at this point
14269s Another Monkey Business another warning
14271s shot another stylish shot there are so
14273s many things that Nas could draw that
14275s represent lethal you have to imagine
14277s it's gonna happen soon but Fabio with
14280s the double Plus Guardian is doing what
14282s they can to give Nas as little time as
14284s possible likely only one more attack
14287s token for Nas before the game is over
14290s the plaza Guardians do put on immense
14292s pressure from this position Samira will
14295s attack get another flare but this is
14298s another awkward turn where we just
14300s aren't quite hitting the numbers we need
14301s to flip the Samira next turn certainly
14304s but maybe not even enough cards to get
14307s the rally will it be enough one
14311s dead top deck from NOS is the window of
14314s opportunity that Fabio needs to snatch
14316s to this game by leveling Samira
14319s elegant Edge there's only two damage
14322s being threatened
14324s there is
14326s speed damage from nas warts still a
14329s couple warning shots in the deck but at
14331s the moment Nas does not have lethal and
14333s Fabio has the board to probably take the
14336s victory on the following turn as Samira
14338s can challenge the elegant Edge and then
14340s double Plaza Guardian plus seraphine is
14342s exactly 13 damage to take us to a game
14344s three but it all comes down to what is
14347s on top of Nas's deck
14350s we have to be able to flip
14355s Samira here and threaten a rally I just
14359s don't think it is possible you play The
14361s Back Alley Bar you get another 3-3 here
14364s your board is full the rest of these
14366s cards get discounted but there's really
14368s nothing you want to disintegrate you
14370s could just whip it seraphine is only
14375s not even five out of nine yeah the arrow
14378s is not lighting up means that Fabio is
14379s you know eight cards away from a Samira
14383s rally and definitely not going to be
14385s able to get the seraphine level up here
14388s and wow NOS just going to cycle the
14391s stylish shot right now and says powder
14394s monkey is gonna go down and deal one
14396s more and I have a lot of top Decks that
14399s can solve my problem back all the bar
14402s meanwhile opens up the Salvage scrap you
14405s discard two cards from your hand and
14407s then you generate units that are that
14409s cost one more than the cost of that
14411s spell
14414s and I got so we made a couple two drops
14415s here
14416s these Plaza Guardians are doing work
14419s skarsik if not for these we might
14422s actually be looking like a bad position
14424s for Fabio but not only are these
14425s constantly threatening lethal and giving
14427s Nas less time putting them on a clock it
14430s also means that we've got effective
14431s blockers
14433s so we can stop the elegant Edge NOS low
14437s rolled with double jettison
14439s if any of if these cards were almost any
14442s other card in that one Mana spell pool I
14447s think that NOS certainly would have this
14449s game Samira finally levels up thanks to
14451s that played fragment and after six more
14454s cards are played we will have a rally it
14457s just comes down to whether NOS is going
14460s to draw a ping
14463s and there's not a lot of ping like the
14465s options are very limited by the fact
14467s that NOS has to find the Ping at first
14469s speed the flare from Samira means we
14471s have lethal on the open attack and Fabio
14473s looks like I'm trying to dig for the
14475s rally but they're still not going to be
14477s able to find it still way too many cards
14479s away and only one Mana remaining
14482s the the invitation was a spell to get
14486s the Shady character discarded with a
14488s salvage scrap and then because you
14490s discarded those cheap cards they are
14493s discounted because of Salvage scrap but
14495s also discounted by Back Alley Bar
14497s because they're new we can override our
14499s three three with a peddler it's still
14501s not enough
14504s here we go top deck from nas is it
14507s warning shot
14509s Samira we've got two we've got two
14512s actions to flare and win this one
14515s I don't think it happens though I think
14517s you just flare the anything on the side
14519s of Fabio going for the open attack and
14521s that is the end of it you don't even
14522s give them the opportunity to run out the
14524s Samira and if Nas lets that champion
14526s touch the board we are getting a2o but
14529s scars like you have to imagine we're
14531s going to game three Fabio has the open
14533s attack lethal no reason not to go for it
14537s and the plaza Guardians come through
14541s just a few dead draws a few bad car
14546s Generations opens up the window for
14550s Fabio to fight back in this game we have
14553s the attack we have the rally from Samira
14557s into the open 18 damage and Nas just
14561s barely tasting defeat from the jaws of
14564s Victory and Fabio just a little bit
14567s continuing to plow Through the Motions
14568s rallied before the attack token was
14570s committed and is still just going
14572s through and drawing cards luckily not
14574s gonna have enough Mana to play out that
14576s stuttering song spinner otherwise they
14577s surely would have and Nas is gonna go
14580s down we're going to a game three scars
14582s like Samira Fizz gets another
14584s opportunity to pull this one back and
14586s that is a salty position for Fabio
14589s that matchup definitely showed that
14592s Samira Fizz is
14594s uh forced to be reckoned with Father
14596s Fury literally gets one more stylish
14598s shot or or something and that's
14600s completely different game if you draw
14602s literally anything other than elegant
14604s Edge there something that can or powder
14606s pandemonium for crying out loud
14609s I mean I was completely wrong on the
14611s bands I thought the two decks left or
14613s the two I was near sure were gonna be
14615s banned from these players but Samira
14617s Fizz left open now gonna be up against a
14619s broad main a very ping heavy kind of
14621s deck so Nas's unit damage likely to be
14624s pretty limited from here on out
14627s and now we have powder pandemonium in
14630s the opening hand and what this allows
14632s NOS to do is rather than just kind of
14634s throwing everything down and just hoping
14636s that you draw it you can now play it
14638s around it and play towards it in a much
14641s more guaranteed fashion NOS blessed with
14644s the attack token on turn one has warning
14647s shot Jagged butcher to get that
14648s beautiful free damage on the opener
14650s Fabio meanwhile on Nora Gnar has some
14653s blockers has some portals but we'll have
14656s to see if it'll be enough both of these
14657s lists lack healing and that's all that
14659s matters
14660s yeah and so far Fabio has been able to
14662s get on board a little bit Nas likely to
14665s summon out an elusive here and meet it
14666s with a teammaker but Fabio has not drawn
14668s the removal spells that are sort of the
14670s Hallmark here the pie toss one drop the
14672s bomb available no pirouette Fabio's got
14675s to find some nice top decks quick
14678s flare is used on Samir to pull the junk
14680s construct to the side there's no way to
14683s chip damage this Jagged butcher maybe
14685s ping it down this these portals have to
14688s do a lot of heavy lifting I think for
14690s Fabio the tempo is real we've got father
14692s Fury double allowed to protect against
14694s any pings and oh when you're in a
14697s position like this right Boulevard where
14699s you need to develop the board but you
14701s also need to use your spells to clear
14702s the board because your opponent can just
14704s kind of sidestep your ideas and just
14707s punch through you need the portals to
14709s come through to give you those
14710s developments and allow you to keep your
14712s spell Mana available
14713s absolutely and what I'm really curious
14715s about here is you know is Nas gonna be
14717s inclined to sort of force an all out
14719s here just to get more plunder procs
14722s going because you got three copies of
14723s all out in hand you know Fabio will
14726s probably finish off the Samira after the
14727s fact and then I have to imagine one of
14730s these all-outs is a Samira
14733s so you could just let this go through
14734s reset your Samira
14737s and with all of these spells in the hand
14741s you can play towards an idea of making
14743s it much easier to level her up flare to
14747s get it out of the hand play Samira get
14748s another flare Nas is sticking to this
14751s this Death By A Thousand Cuts strategy
14757s oh a rather nice top deck from Fabio or
14761s a rather portal draw from Fabio getting
14763s the blue Sentinel that's gonna ramp a
14765s little bit you know make it easier to
14767s bank spell Mana while running out the
14768s broadbands unfortunately looking at how
14770s exactly this is gonna play out of broad
14772s main is the line I don't think this blue
14773s Sentinel actually impacts anything but
14775s being a 2-3 still makes it so that
14777s Samira can't challenge that likely to
14779s pull the elusive out of the way to make
14781s room for nases and Fabio just still
14783s hasn't found the pings no Groove shot in
14786s this list worth mentioning
14788s that's a very important point where you
14792s can use your flare to pull the two three
14794s with the dragon butcher to keep Samira
14795s up or you pull the elusive because you
14797s want to hit with fotler fury because
14798s there's no stylish shot maybe that isn't
14801s the play but at the end of the day maybe
14803s you just want to punch through we're
14804s getting into the mid game here just play
14806s Barb chain see some more cards we've
14809s also got that bilge water tell Stone
14811s generator from father Fury can result in
14813s a playful trickster here throughout the
14814s mid game
14817s Waters
14819s it's a bilgewater telephone gonna grab
14821s Chum the waters and I gotta say I Nas
14823s has to smell the blood in the chum in
14825s the waters and really put their foot on
14827s the gas have the read that Fabio's hand
14829s is way too heavy triple broad main is
14832s not the ideal situation for this matchup
14835s you've got a junk construct available as
14837s well portal palooza hitting another
14839s blocker another 2-3
14843s but this opens up the flare elsewhere
14845s Samira doesn't have to challenge the 2-1
14847s as long tooth will take care of that one
14849s as well as Pusha decimates worth of
14851s damage onto the Nexus might be tea maker
14854s going down to Samira with the flare here
14856s oh but Nas gonna hold it open gonna look
14859s for that all out value
14862s can keep the flare this is just one more
14866s damage in the hand baits in the block
14869s with the two three
14871s you could just let the Samira go down I
14874s wonder if Nas is playing towards that
14876s this is the part of the game right where
14878s you've got the powder pandemonium and
14880s you're saying okay I want my board to
14882s kind of get cleared so that way I get
14884s tons of powder monkeys we might even see
14887s all out on long tooth
14891s possibly my only concern I like the idea
14894s usually of letting the smear go down but
14896s I think currently this powder
14897s pandemonium is only at two maybe three
14900s monkeys you have to get more plunder
14902s procs in and I feel like you're almost
14904s forced to use the all-out in this turn
14905s not necessarily to protect anything and
14908s I I almost like the pushing of the
14910s damage here on to the grandfather but
14912s you just need to make sure you're
14913s getting six monkeys when's the spell
14915s resolves
14916s and that's two samiras down for NOS not
14920s trying to go for the snowball not trying
14922s to go for this value play this is purely
14925s chip damage all the way down we've got
14927s three monkeys in the powder pandemonium
14930s so this is setting up a lethal that is a
14933s lethal amount of monkeys and not able to
14935s find a lifesteal unit off of the portal
14938s does mean Nas should be taking this one
14941s two to one Lord broadmaine the titular
14944s card of the deck showing up in Spades
14946s and just not the matchup you wanted to
14948s find that in and that is the issue with
14951s these decks sometimes you just draw the
14953s wrong half Nas falling asleep on the
14955s pass button until it's their turn to
14957s play the powder pandemonium gonna Fizz
14958s first a little bit of payback for Fabio
14961s running out so many spells on the lethal
14963s swig on the previous turn but you have
14964s to Imagine This Is the End skarzig
14969s I wonder if NOS wants to see a tap down
14973s to play around signpost
14975s but I think then I don't think it
14977s matters yeah because then we're going
14978s into NASA's attack turn you just replay
14980s the powder pandemonium there's only one
14981s signpost so that trick doesn't work
14983s twice and that is going to do it three
14986s monkeys equals a fervor and NOS is
14989s moving on to the top four
14991s Samira Fizz left unbanned and reminds us
14995s all why that is playing with fire the
14999s powder pandemonium comes through to
15002s finish the game and this was just
15004s chewing through tons of One Drops tons
15007s of samira's continuous ship damage and
15010s pressure even when you're playing a list
15011s that has
15012s oodles and noodles of removal you can't
15014s keep up with that pressure
15016s especially when you don't draw that
15018s removal not a single pie toss not a
15020s single pirouette no Wallops it was
15022s definitely unfortunate draws on the side
15025s of Fabio you know no conchologists
15028s earlier either to you know get on board
15030s get those ping spells because there are
15031s so many in the Vandal City Pool and that
15034s is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes
15036s oodles and noodles cookies we're making
15037s all food puns out here don't worry about
15038s it it's getting late but we are gonna
15040s hop into the next match we've got
15042s another Banger coming up for you we are
15044s still in the top eight don't forget that
15046s Dr Chekhov taking on flock and we've got
15048s a bilgewater bandel gunner beat down
15051s this mirror match is incredibly exciting
15054s because you have so much decision making
15057s and pressure of when and where to Buster
15060s shot trying to keep these tristanas
15062s under control heavy metal comes through
15064s along with a prize fight to make sure
15066s the stresana goes down Dr Chekhov
15068s keeping advantage in this
15071s exchange plays a Tristana of his own and
15075s is about to receive the attack token but
15077s flock responds with the exact same play
15080s I love mirror matches where you get to
15082s say man that was a really cool move do
15083s you mind if I try it and the Tristana
15085s goes down but when all is said and done
15087s and the dust settles I am actually not
15090s sure who his Advantage so look at the
15091s bandwagunners in the hand of Chekhov and
15093s say yes obviously that's the best car in
15094s the deck but there is a yordles in arms
15097s in flock's hand along with a bandal city
15101s tell Stones you know this can fish out
15103s more resources with yordal contraption
15106s and if doctor check off you know because
15110s you don't have that big AOE Buff when
15113s you swing in and give your opponent a
15115s chance to find the right trades they can
15117s take the wind out of your sales with one
15118s good top deck and check off here has to
15121s ask the question do I play Gnar try to
15123s just use pokey stick to fight for
15125s dominance do I go for eye of Naga boros
15127s and just push through a six wide versus
15131s four wide board draw two cards try to
15134s look for something this is the part of
15136s the game where Vandal Gunners in King's
15137s Court have massive snowball potential to
15140s seal the opponent out of the game and
15142s that could be a reason we see Chekhov go
15144s for the eye of Naga caboros saying hey
15147s you know this still makes for a good
15148s open attack it potentially digs me a
15150s little bit deeper towards the king's
15151s court and as long as flock isn't forced
15154s to use the yordles and arms on this turn
15156s which I imagine they won't be then I
15158s think chekhov's board is about to be in
15160s for a very rude awakening
15165s you still get some card draw and some
15167s ping with the Pokey stick we're going to
15170s be leveling up Nar as well because this
15172s board is so wide this gives flock a
15174s chance to play Vandal city mayor and
15176s finds tenor of Terror to redevelop after
15179s this exchange this is so good for flock
15181s now has the way the ability rather to
15184s throw out a blocker and remain Six Wide
15186s for the yordles in arms unfortunately
15189s though I believe the orders in arms I
15190s know it was nerfed a while ago I believe
15192s it now only gives plus three plus three
15196s um I thought it was plus two plus two I
15198s thought let's have a look closer until
15199s you activate it because I know at some
15200s point it activates once you played a
15202s certain amount of multi-region followers
15204s and I think that's what it goes up to
15206s plus three plus three but even then like
15207s it's you don't have safe attacks into
15209s the bandel gunners
15212s so I think this is going to be the case
15213s we know that heavy metal plus prize
15216s fight was already used here comes
15218s yordles and arms and Dr shekhov top
15221s decks prize fight to combo with the
15223s Pokey stick we can take out one unit
15225s before this resolves
15227s and one unit shall be taken out prize
15230s fight gonna help make sure that the
15231s board parody stays a little bit more
15233s even when things are all said and done
15235s but still a group shot available for
15237s flock if things go on to the wrong
15238s targets maybe a little bit of Miss
15240s sequencing but I don't think Chekhov is
15242s in too much danger here and having that
15245s Vandal Gunner as the big you know
15247s Boogeyman once the dust settles here
15249s plus that eye of Naga caboros to try and
15251s find more I don't think this Euros in
15253s arms is the comeback button that flock
15254s needed
15256s normally we see these board-based decks
15259s go head to head and whoever forces the
15261s opponent to block down uh the most does
15265s end up winning but because this deck
15268s takes that formula and adds in so much
15271s over-the-top impact damage you aren't
15274s out of the game once you take a trade
15276s down like this
15278s and once I mean assuming checkoff is
15281s still rearranging the blockers but even
15282s if they decide to lose five units you
15285s know they've still got a vandal city
15287s mayor they run out the Gunner they draw
15288s a couple cards next turn what does flock
15290s have after that couple of two attack
15292s units no Tristana no big threats no way
15294s to clean up the board from Chekhov
15296s outside of what a group shot can do it's
15299s not uh it's not like cut and dry yeah
15301s chekhov's still in this but Chekhov will
15303s have a lot more opportunity to get back
15305s into it than you might expect at first
15306s glance and check off right now really
15309s struggling to find the right blocks how
15311s much damage am I willing to take from
15313s this position do I want to double dip on
15315s Gnar with this poke stick do I need to
15318s sacrifice Vandal city mayor to get one
15320s more block because I'm going wide anyway
15322s Here Comes Fry's uh prize fight to make
15325s sure that flocks mayor goes down
15329s and that is going to not be a lot of
15332s damage pushed into Dr Chekhov either
15334s just falling down to 10 here while the
15335s life advantage and the board Advantage
15337s solely on the side of flock the threat
15340s Advantage way way in the favor of Dr
15343s Chekhov and once again I find myself
15345s having to check the Vandal City tell
15347s Stone and what cards do end up coming
15349s out of this because yortle Contraption
15351s is something I have to look up I think
15353s it like top decks unit or kills a
15355s landmark
15358s yeah the oral Contraption you can get
15360s two multi-region followers added to hand
15362s or destroy a landmark it's you can get
15365s Electro Harpoon for a little bit more
15366s burn
15367s it's got a lot of utility especially
15369s with heroic refrain but check off thanks
15372s to tuner of Terror gets the discounts
15374s needed on the Vandal Gunners Tristana a
15377s god-like top deck even has I have Naga
15379s caboros for a focus speed development
15381s into an Open Swing 6b4
15384s and if Chekhov runs out the Tristana
15387s here once again prize fight ping just
15389s comes out does its thing but if Chekhov
15391s can go into combat first then maybe you
15394s can bait flock into using it elsewhere
15395s though I think it's very likely Chekhov
15397s runs out the Tristana there's really not
15399s a lot of developments you're worried
15400s about and you'd really have to have a
15402s specific read on prize fight ping and
15404s trying to bait your opponent into it if
15406s you're not going to use this Champion
15407s here yeah I do like the prize fight ping
15410s baited onto the Tristana
15412s and then you still have Mana open for
15415s the I've knocked gaboros to basically
15417s have your cake and eat it too bite and
15420s then tax your opponent for two cards
15423s now I think it's up to the yortle
15425s contraption for flock to try to find a
15426s way back in you can get some Heavy
15428s Hitters
15429s you know maybe find some of those top
15431s end of furious Fae a long tooth
15434s or shark trainer rather yeah that was
15437s the one you mentioned before Boulevard
15438s it's a fantastic late game option
15442s and now flock is the one that's forced
15445s to find the blocks here
15448s got a three one into the one three we
15450s can take some value trades but you're
15452s also taking a lot of damage in general
15455s and still a lot of draw available for
15457s Chekhov as well and even this value
15458s trade from the Blasco not not gonna look
15462s as good in the face of a pie toss and a
15464s a pokey stick really going to be able to
15466s devalue a lot of these value traits
15469s and flock now just asking the question
15471s do I want to block the five damage
15474s directly from the Vandal Gunner or is it
15476s better to just stop the three damage
15478s from the base of Burden
15481s and at the moment I know that our
15483s overlay covers the the sort of
15484s pre-committed damage so that we can see
15486s how much it is but at the moment is a oh
15488s minus 14 thank you to our wonderful
15491s spectators
15492s and this is dangerous right you've got
15494s the Vandal Gunners in play you're going
15497s down to a multiple of three for your
15499s remaining HP and you just have to trust
15502s right that maybe off that I have Naga
15504s gaboro's doctor check off didn't get
15506s anything too devastating
15509s brutal Contraption create two random
15512s multi-region followers in hand
15517s see what we can hit might see pie toss
15520s onto mare in response
15523s or Pokey
15524s yes just to draw one more card and these
15528s uh multi-read followers won't be
15530s discounted oh my god I've never
15536s that's a low roll that's a who's the the
15542s that I was expecting to see you know
15545s something you know a three three
15547s something with decent stats for getting
15549s two one ones off of your uh yeah you
15553s know something investment yeah something
15555s real perhaps not a protoporo and a
15558s fireth in a femoral unit at that insult
15561s to injury here in game number three and
15565s so many pings off the top for Chekhov
15568s and now both group shots active as he
15570s throws down his fourth follower
15572s so we can take wandering Shepherd here
15575s just because it's discounted by mayor
15577s but takes Furious Faith folk just to
15579s have more over-the-top threat potential
15581s and I like this from Chekhov you know
15583s that the hand of flock is two followers
15585s you know that there's not a whole lot
15586s that they can do with this you're fine
15588s to block the Gnar with your spell shield
15590s there's no attack Buffs in hand or
15591s anything like that so next turn you can
15594s just try to end the game with furious
15595s faithfolk plus spandal Gunners for that
15598s seven impact damage and you know line up
15601s a couple of safety blocks here it's not
15603s a lot of reason to take all this damage
15604s you know that there's a poke stick
15605s coming out just play it safe get in
15608s there there's no way check all could
15610s lose here as long as he doesn't get in
15611s his own head
15613s yeah the
15616s there is no good weapons to try to put
15618s on Gnar you know maybe to attack with
15620s just that augmented quick attack so it
15622s doesn't get traded down
15624s just gets the Poke stick is trying to
15626s find something here
15629s throwing it at the Nexus
15632s for the spell shield no and I think the
15636s Pokey stick to answer the spell shield
15637s was the best way to try and come back
15639s into this maybe find a buster shot and
15641s fight from there but either way I think
15643s flock is just so far behind at this
15645s point especially with that Furious fafo
15646s coming down that you know maybe it
15648s doesn't end up mattering after all
15650s especially when checkoff has so many
15651s pings to clear out all of flock's units
15653s getting two one ones off of the
15655s contraption this is just that's the
15657s one-way ticket to tiltville I do not
15660s blame flock at all in a hard fought game
15663s number three here in the corner finals
15666s and then it all comes down to the yordal
15670s contraption giving you abysmal out
15673s Furious faithfolk grabbed off of the
15675s mare so much impact damage being
15679s threatened this is going to be lethal
15680s and flock has to give it up wandering
15683s Shepard gonna make one more action Dr
15686s Chekhov now comes through with that
15689s lethal swing after developing one more
15693s threat I couldn't hear you being like
15696s yeah you know here's the open attack
15697s here it comes and then just check all
15699s pivots on us as these players tend to do
15701s try to keep us on our toes but now that
15703s the shepherd has been taken out maybe
15705s Floyd plays the weapon just slams the
15707s pass button check off going through a
15709s tune from the combat reel coming in no
15711s blocks and Dr Chekhov keeps the red pup
15714s for there's no word for a 4p but the
15717s dreams of red pup games getting four in
15720s a row are still alive check off moving
15722s on to our semi finals we tuned into that
15727s match at the pivotal moment both players
15730s had the heavy metal the prize fight ping
15733s to answer the tristanas and the euros
15737s and arms just wasn't enough you forced
15739s the Vandal City deck to block down but
15741s they always bounce back we can take a
15743s look now at the bracket and see how
15745s everything played out we've got check
15748s off now against drizzoff who is able to
15751s overcome rattling bones and Nas we saw
15754s on the stream versus Creos went two up
15756s against uh buttercup
15760s I'm getting nervous I'm getting nervous
15763s we're getting down to the wire one of
15764s these players will be representing the
15765s Americas at the world championship
15767s historically
15768s we haven't always done our best at the
15771s World Championships karzik I think is
15773s fair to say for the America's server and
15774s I'm really hoping that we can send
15776s through the best of the best this year
15778s and that drisoft check off side of the
15780s bracket is looking very spicy but it's
15782s not our finals it's just our top four
15784s Nas and curios also want to prove that
15786s they are one of the best to move on and
15787s represent America's leader this year but
15789s for now we are going to throw it to a
15791s break and when we get back we will have
15792s the top four
15806s thank you
15829s [Music]
15848s thank you
15849s [Music]
15890s thank you
15907s [Music]
15925s [Music]
15932s [Music]
15940s thank you
15951s [Music]
15963s foreign
15964s [Music]
15999s [Music]
16007s [Music]
16014s thank you
16030s [Music]
16037s foreign
16039s [Music]
16063s [Music]
16088s [Music]
16108s thank you
16146s [Music]
16180s foreign
16196s [Music]
16209s [Music]
16243s [Music]
16263s [Music]
16273s [Music]
16290s foreign
16298s [Music]
16308s [Music]
16313s [Music]
16328s [Music]
16333s [Music]
16347s you guys
16357s [Music]
16357s [Applause]
16369s [Music]
16379s [Music]
16405s [Music]
16418s [Music]
16430s [Music]
16435s come on
16441s [Music]
16464s [Music]
16474s welcome back folks we are heading into
16477s the final rounds of this world's
16479s qualifier we are just moments away from
16482s the top four which again unlike the
16485s seasonals does not qualify you into a
16487s World's qualifier or last chance
16488s qualifier that has changed a little bit
16491s now we're just sending the winner
16492s directly on to the world championship
16494s you can find all about it at
16496s playerunterra.com if you need a little
16498s bit more details on that but we are
16501s going to take a look at what happened
16502s last round remind everyone of how we got
16504s to this point first we saw Nas take out
16507s Fabio
16509s this was a really Dynamic matchup where
16512s Fabio brought an inventive seraphine
16514s Samira deck to the tournament had a lot
16517s of removal had a lot of interesting
16518s ideas going but it didn't quite line up
16521s in game one slapped through in game
16524s number two but it was the fact that
16527s Samira Fizz was unbanned for Nas it just
16530s ended up being too much burn and too
16532s much pressure
16534s and we had that super close game too
16536s where even though not even though it was
16538s a three-game series Nas was one damage
16540s off of lethal in the second game and
16542s then we also popped into flock versus Dr
16544s Chekhov where we came in the midst of a
16547s bilge Gunner's mirror but It ultimately
16549s ended up going the way of Dr Chekhov
16552s even after a strong yordles and arms
16554s from flock
16555s Dr Chekhov picked the greedy option went
16558s for furious Faye went all in on impact
16561s and ascended into the next part of the
16565s bracket overall these players are just
16568s putting everything on the line to get
16570s that instant World qualifier invite the
16573s world championship invite and our top
16575s four still gonna walk away with some
16577s decent Riot points to continue their uh
16580s sort of ascendance throughout the rest
16582s of the season
16584s yeah making it into the top four of a
16586s wcq does Grant more points than a
16588s traditional rinterra opens so many so
16590s that drissoth is now a front runner for
16593s a worlds Championship invite given that
16595s he is currently ranked one on ladder so
16598s assuming that persists until the end of
16600s the season a top four here does at the
16601s very least keep him very much at the
16604s Forefront of the running for the
16605s runeterra points but we got a couple
16608s opens in between now and then we'll deal
16610s with that when it comes to it but for
16611s now just reminding you that our four
16613s remaining players we have doctor check
16615s out 42 of team red pup games who have
16617s won the last three majors in the AM
16620s scene for Lor up against rissoff and on
16623s the other side of the bracket Creos
16624s versus Nas
16627s Rios and NOS have had to take down some
16629s big names and also some up-and-comers in
16632s order to get to this point being in the
16635s top eight nay the top four of this world
16638s qualifiers shows that they do deserve to
16640s be counted amongst the best on this
16643s server drizz off meanwhile the player
16645s that's been yelling at everyone to just
16647s play really good decks is maybe
16649s regretting giving out that advice
16651s because this journey has been very
16653s difficult and take down rattling boats
16657s and we will be following the remainder
16659s of drissot's Journey we're going to be
16661s going into the drisoft Chekhov matchup
16663s and of course whoever wins that we will
16664s see again in the finals and of course if
16667s there is time left we will pop in with
16669s nas in Korea's but we're going to take a
16670s look at the decklist again I know we've
16671s spectated both of these players before
16672s but just to remind you what we're
16674s dealing with here Dr Chekhov hopefully
16677s the only Swain allowie player remaining
16679s in the tournament also on that Samira
16681s Jinx kind of new new age discard aggro
16685s and then the standard bilgewater bandel
16687s gunners yeah this list has proven strong
16691s enough to make players not run Samira
16695s Fizz if you're gonna employ your bilge
16697s water elsewhere then you know combining
16700s this over with the Tristan is fantastic
16702s and it opens up Samira right we've
16704s already seen throughout the today's
16705s broadcast and just through the latter
16707s data that she's incredibly versatile
16709s you'll be paired with so many different
16710s Champions and players that want to
16712s explore that power and combine it with
16715s some other Champions work on some other
16717s ideas can still you know explore that
16720s while maintaining this great matchup
16722s notably Dr Chekhov only on the one
16724s puzzling signpost version playing
16726s something that's going to be a little
16728s bit more aggressive and low to the
16729s ground yeah and in this case that Jinx
16732s Samira like you mentioned not as much
16733s about opening up the Fizz as it is about
16736s opening up the bilgewater noxus region
16738s combination so that you can run that
16740s allowing Swain yeah and I'm curious if
16742s this is something that all of RPG was on
16744s or if Chekhov was like look guys you can
16746s theorize all you want but I'm a smart
16747s main player at heart and that's what's
16749s going to take me to the world
16750s championship I'm running that in today
16752s all of our testing throw it out the
16754s window it's fine trust me on this one
16756s and has pushed him all the way to a top
16758s four finish now we're going to take a
16759s look at drisoft's deck list we've also
16761s expected to drift off before a little
16763s bit of familiarity here again bilgewater
16765s bandel Gunners you're not going to be
16767s able to get away from this deck Samira
16769s Fizz the classic and Karma set
16772s this is the play good decks lineup this
16777s is drizzoth's trademark and this also
16780s presents a very devastating fork for the
16783s opponent where maybe their lineup is not
16785s really equipped to deal with Karma set
16787s but they also don't want to deal with
16789s Samira Fizz either and if you are
16791s playing the sort of very aggressive deck
16794s that can beat down versus Karma set you
16797s still have to kind of roll the dice
16798s versus Samira Fizz just getting early
16800s Tempo into powder pandemonium it's
16802s incredibly devastating we've seen
16804s drizzloth falter a little bit on Karma
16806s set and the tail ends of some matches
16809s where we were able to drop in and
16811s spectate so that might end up being the
16813s weak link but I am fully convinced in
16816s the power of this bilgewater bandel city
16818s deck and if we do come down to a mirror
16821s of bilgewater bandel City decks I Gotta
16823s Give the favor to Dr Chekhov only on one
16826s copy of puzzling signpost which is
16828s mostly a useless card in the matchup but
16831s also having that eye of Naga for the
16833s refuel that is unavailable to drissoff
16836s you know you gotta find those small
16837s advantages where you can and I mean also
16839s a Proto poro in the main for drissoth
16842s just such a weak unit when it comes to
16844s fighting for board
16845s yeah this because you're running the
16847s protoporo it's kind of how players would
16850s run Teemo in this deck right having the
16852s Dual region one drop to kind of kick
16854s start your curve get your Tristana
16855s powered up play towards the Gunners and
16858s drizzoth opting for the consistency and
16860s extra resource generation of just three
16862s Nar getting those Pokey sticks and I
16865s think
16866s when we evaluate rizoff's take on
16869s Tristana it is a playing more towards
16874s what we've actually seen play out in
16876s practice where the decks kind of become
16880s this grind Fest where you're scraping
16882s the bottom of the barrel for resources
16883s and rather than drawing into those outs
16885s you're just going to trust that your
16887s Vandal Gunners is going to be
16888s sufficiently discounted and your
16890s Tristana is going to be sufficiently
16891s stacked because you are playing just a
16893s little bit more dual region early game
16895s and when we look at the head-to-head and
16897s talk about band strategy there's a
16899s couple of different ways that this can
16900s go like you mentioned skarzig you know
16902s do you think some like you look at Karma
16905s set and you're like okay that probably
16906s does really well into something like a
16908s Lowry Swain I can easily manage the
16911s tentacle I have these recalls then you
16913s look at it into something like Samira
16915s Jinx and you're like that's way too fast
16916s for me probably have to ban the Samira
16918s Jinx but then does Chekhov want to ban
16922s the karma set because they think that
16923s it'll take out their allowing Swain or
16925s do they want to ban your Fizz Samira
16927s because you are drissoth you are the
16929s selfie of his player rank one on ladder
16932s currently over 2 000 LP
16936s you ban Samira Fizz you try to just come
16940s out on top in the band In The bilgewater
16942s Mirror match maybe you've got two shots
16945s at taking out Karma set with Samira Jinx
16948s if you just get on board so aggressively
16950s and drizzloth has to whiff on the proper
16953s removal right if this that's a matchup
16955s where like if you draw a bunch of stuns
16956s it's not as good you need the actual
16959s Mystic shots and caustic riffs and
16961s removals to come through and save you
16964s but
16965s this just kind of leaves a Lowry Swain
16968s out in the Lurch this Oddball deck that
16971s doesn't seem to do particularly well
16972s into any of these three Decks that
16975s drizzloth might leave unbanned and see
16977s if he can uh exploit it there Chekhov
16981s has been doing a good job of throwing
16983s the stats out the window and winning
16985s despite what they say with this allowing
16986s swing though he's been running very hot
16988s on this deck hasn't really run into too
16991s many of the clunky hands that you know
16992s can be the Hallmark of a Swain deck he's
16995s shown a little bit of difficulty in
16996s getting that champion leveled and I also
16998s don't think we've ever seen an allowie
17000s level out of him but the amount of
17003s pressure that Swain puts on even on the
17005s level one side has proven to be enough
17007s the Leviathan combo just the threat of
17010s the level up and the established combo
17012s has really kept players on the back foot
17015s I think what Chekhov might need to do is
17020s Ban Karma set take the L versus Samir
17023s Fizz and then 2o Tristana
17026s a tall task yeah I think that the Samira
17030s Jinx is kind of looking to be incredibly
17032s aggressive versus yortles you've got
17034s Flair and other challenge units that can
17037s really dismantle the Vandal Commandos
17039s and Mayors before they start to Snowball
17041s the game we know that alawi Swain has a
17044s bit of an edge there thanks to fearsome
17046s and overwhelm or just removal like heavy
17049s metal that can kind of do a similar idea
17051s and then the Wild Card matchup becomes
17054s the potential of the shrasana Nar mirror
17058s match once more you're putting the onus
17060s on what is a more proven high power deck
17063s to play in a mirror rather than having
17065s to put everything on a Lowry Swain which
17069s is
17070s a deck that looks good but
17073s can just completely betray you
17076s and so I mean chekhov's lineup is kind
17079s of about that right because we've seen
17080s this like Jinx Samira not work out for I
17083s believe it was floppy Mudkip we saw on
17084s the deck you know resolved an augmented
17086s experimenter drew a bunch of chaff Drew
17089s chaff for the next three turns and all
17090s these one ones and o2s at Jerry Riga
17093s flame Chompers and Chekhov just hasn't
17095s run into that issue is it time for all
17097s of this clunkiness to finally catch up
17099s with him here in the top four or can he
17102s drag himself Kicking and Screaming
17103s across the Finish Line despite having
17106s these potentially clunky hands as he has
17109s done so far all the way from the top 64
17111s down to the top four this is going to be
17113s Dr chekhov's hardest band throughout
17116s this entire tournament I guarantee you
17118s because this isn't just a match-up table
17120s band this is a skill band this is a
17124s comfort pick band you know that drizzoth
17127s is the Samira Fizz of all time and a
17131s player one of the remaining Karma sets
17134s in the tournament the only one if I'm
17136s not mistaken has gotten this far with a
17139s deck that was you know
17143s scarring players psychologically and
17146s emotionally in the previous metagame to
17148s the point where we saw some players
17149s actually maybe forego pressuring
17152s properly just because they start to see
17154s ghosts and jump at their own shadow and
17156s see threats that might not even be there
17159s at Chekhov has done a really good job of
17161s keeping a cool head throughout this
17163s tournament I think if anyone's going to
17164s be immune to the psychological impact of
17166s karma it's going to be him he's very
17168s very confident in his Swain play we've
17171s seen him do it in previous matters
17172s anytime there's a Swain deck anywhere
17174s within Arm's Reach of a meta chekhov's
17177s gonna grab at it and you know pour the
17179s contents out on the table puzzle over it
17181s toil over it figure out the right
17183s combination of cards for the matchups
17185s and it's not like drosoft has brought
17186s anything wholly unexpected right none of
17189s these are as much of a wild card as the
17191s allowi Swain is so well Chekhov I agree
17193s I think he's gonna have a really
17194s difficult time figuring out which deck
17196s to ban this is probably at least
17198s something he's thought about already
17200s mm-hmm you're going into you know a
17204s theory of okay well what if my opponent
17206s brings these three decks and we've seen
17209s it before right players will
17210s intentionally just kind of fall over to
17212s one really horrible matchup in order to
17215s set up an A 2-0 on against the
17217s opponent's remaining deck and that's
17219s gotta be chekhov's play here when we
17221s actually look at drizz off these are
17223s just three solid decks they have
17225s potential into most everything the most
17228s lopsided one most likely would be
17230s Tristana Nar lining up into Karma set
17233s you know where you have a wide board
17235s you've got spell shield you've got very
17237s very awkward stats that might be
17239s difficult for the pnz uh damage removal
17242s to keep up with and that's where you
17244s know Chekhov is starting to find a
17247s pretty decent angle where Karma set can
17250s come up empty I definitely think one of
17252s the exploitable points of dressage
17254s lineup is sort of this uh it's a greedy
17257s Karma set list and a little bit too safe
17259s of a bilgewater Tristana list where
17262s you're not running any any caustic riffs
17264s or rocket barrages any additional pings
17266s in your karma set instead of your own
17267s like double formula with the triple
17269s place your bets just an insane amount of
17271s draw power and maybe at the price of the
17273s amount of units that you are running to
17275s get on board and then when we look at
17276s the bilgewater Tristana you're seeing
17278s double uh double puzzling signpost
17281s you're not seeing any copies of I have
17282s Naga caboros and it overall from a
17285s lineup perspective you're kind of
17287s playing the middle of the line but when
17289s we look at each individual deck there
17291s are certainly some exploitable
17293s weaknesses yeah drizzloth is
17295s anticipating players to be more value
17297s oriented and a little bit greedier in
17300s such a high stakes high level tournament
17303s and has adapted as such I want to go
17306s even further down that road and come out
17309s on top I want to one-up my opponent and
17312s when we look when we contrast that idea
17314s again I come back around to this
17316s allowing Swain it's a deck that because
17320s it has been gifted a more proactive kit
17324s to hit the board with
17327s it is more threatening than we realize
17329s Samira Fizz now being blocked in as the
17332s band and Tristana narr being locked in
17336s as the ban this means okay dress off
17341s has dodged the matchup I think one of
17344s the big things that's about to happen
17345s here is drissoth needs to be able to
17348s pick up a win with Karma set versus
17350s alawi Swain does not bring it in on the
17353s first game is going to be able to dodge
17355s this deck with it and we've got
17357s bilgewater bandel Gunners up against
17359s Jinx Samira in a very aggressive opener
17362s on the side of Chekhov
17363s we've got the grave physician we can D
17366s we can discard the reborn Grenadier we
17369s can discard the jury rig we can just
17371s simply play Samira here and that
17375s pressure is the result to be unable to
17376s develop the Vandal Commando we could see
17379s check off pass to see if drizzat does
17381s anything to try to bait the Samira plus
17384s the Challenger or classic play but no
17385s option for the aggressive line five
17388s damage developed immediately and I
17390s imagine this is going to be a
17392s grandfather Faye out of drissoth you
17394s know it sort of does the same things in
17396s terms of uh getting that owl cat but no
17398s actually I would imagine going to
17400s sacrifice the Vandal Commando I think
17402s five yeah
17404s he wants the owl cats all right drisoft
17409s says give me the smoke might end up
17410s eating a Mystic shot for his troubles
17412s but
17417s is saying I know that this deck doesn't
17420s have over the top burn I just have to
17423s keep it something that deals with Jinx
17424s and I'll stabilize in the mid game I'll
17426s take all the damage in the world early
17428s as long as I can fight for Value check
17430s off now has the Mystic shot to punish
17432s the Spandau Commando drizzloth might be
17434s driven into a corner from this early
17436s sequence and I'm really curious if
17438s Chekhov does fire off this Mystic shot
17441s you know can develop smear after the
17442s fact but it would really slow down your
17444s development of these sump Treasures
17445s being able to really fight for the board
17447s take it into the mid game and go from
17449s there but the Mystic shot will get
17451s committed and oh no gonna get pulled
17453s back actually
17455s the question becomes Dr Chekhov thinks
17459s that he can just bulldoze through owl
17460s cats some dredger comes through I think
17463s the siren song of getting a jury rig as
17465s a bonus on top of this is too big to
17467s ignore
17469s and drisoft actually holds back the
17471s mayor going for grandfather Faye instead
17473s to get a nice trade onto the sump
17475s dredger like this line a lot gonna be
17479s able to keep the board nice and clear
17480s Vandal Vision on the side to check off
17484s we've got sump dredger to discard the
17488s jury rig and two Mana up for rummage to
17492s discard vision
17494s this is going to be a big swing
17496s unfortunately when you're up against
17498s Vandal City it's not just about going
17500s wide or going tall you need something
17502s that gives you the evasion something
17504s like overwhelm
17506s yeah
17507s you know talking about why this deck
17510s isn't as popular as some other variants
17511s I think it is crowd favorite like turn
17513s four crowd favorite gives you that big
17515s overwhelm threat that you are just
17516s lacking in a list like this
17519s you also would have you know in the past
17521s trave and it's just a solid development
17523s that attacks gives you more fodder to
17525s enable your synergies or maybe forces
17527s your opponent to trade one card down
17529s check off puts the Samira down and now
17532s with flair granting Challenger we can
17535s actually start setting up some board
17537s control rather than punching through
17539s we're gonna start picking our bites
17542s and vision
17544s jury Riggs still available with Rummage
17547s after Flair comes down Mystic shot also
17549s on the table but check off taking the
17551s time to think about it understanding
17553s this is one of the hardest games of his
17556s tournament yet has to sequence properly
17558s does manage to discard the jury rig
17560s before the vision that is something that
17562s you have control over and still has the
17564s option to go in for the attack before
17565s drosoft develops this is all happening
17567s at first speed
17569s and now we have Flair we can put
17572s Challenger on the sump dredger or the
17576s great physician
17578s thing on two Mana
17581s as the prize fights
17583s and a pie toss through the jury rig
17586s gonna come in for the challenge on to
17588s the owl cat
17589s rissoff can take out Samira here but
17592s that sump dredger is going to push a
17595s fair amount of damage and right now
17596s drissot still poised to take three with
17599s double Mystic shot plus fair in the hand
17601s to check off with a jinx on backup could
17603s spell disaster for drusoft very soon who
17606s has not managed to touch the life total
17608s just yet and no spells coming out of
17610s Joseph gonna let all of this resolve as
17612s is
17613s let's a little bit of damage through in
17616s order to establish the Bando Commando in
17619s a more stable spot and now with a
17623s devastating Vision play from Dr Chekhov
17626s drizzloth is under so much pressure is
17628s forced to block down vision is permanent
17631s by the way so these units are augmented
17633s now and samira's at d rank all we need
17637s to do is cast three more spells this
17639s turn and she will flip drizzoth just a
17643s half step behind this devastating opener
17646s actually Four spells need to be played
17648s because you need to go CBA all the way
17650s to S right which I only mentioned
17652s because like double Mystic shot on the
17654s Gnar plus flare does get you all the way
17656s to a rank but unfortunately is just shy
17658s of being able to flip her and these
17661s Mystic shots are now a little awkward
17662s with the Jinx in hand where do you
17664s pre-commit them onto the Nexus you just
17666s keep cleaning up the board push through
17668s that damage a little bit later on but at
17670s the moment things seem to be very nice
17671s Dr Chekhov I love this play Just discard
17676s the vision get these things even bigger
17679s try to stay wide try to stay active on
17682s the board we still have flare we can uh
17686s if you really want to you can ping the
17688s Nexus chump with the Samira if they try
17691s to go wide get another flare but no it's
17694s just gonna be Gnar going in Solo getting
17695s a poke stick everything here survives
17697s that double Mystic is just eyeballing
17699s the Nexus I would say
17701s double jinx draw also results in get
17704s excited so now we have
17706s eight damage right now in the hand
17708s that is a lot and dress off just
17711s continuing to draw too many four drops
17713s and none of them named tenor of Terror
17715s to try and get on board to match this
17717s double Tristana looking really awkward
17720s Buster shot still not active for drizz
17723s sauce while Chekhov picks up an
17724s augmented experimenter
17727s so now we can simply play Jinx start
17730s discarding drizz off slow answers with
17734s the Buster shot and the perilous pastry
17736s beautiful open attack from Chekhov
17738s saying yes I want you to trade this down
17741s I want you to take the risk of trying to
17742s Value trade with this Gnar
17747s and durasoft really can't afford to take
17749s that much damage here actually it looks
17751s like some treasure is going to trade
17753s with the Gnar as well drissoth likely to
17755s just take these jump blocks
17759s if we put the Pokey stick on the stack
17762s you only get the Pokey stick from level
17764s one Gnar now that this thing is grown up
17766s in his Mega Gnar it's if you keep this
17769s alive you're just trying to push through
17770s impact damage and overwhelm damage but
17773s that's not really what drizzleth can
17774s focus on from this position this is just
17776s all about trying to survive and hope
17779s that Vandal Gunners and prize fight or
17780s king's court or something will stabilize
17782s you but Dr Chekhov has way too much burn
17785s in hand and losing the mare means
17787s drisoft can only cut down one unit this
17789s turn unable to run out the cook plus the
17791s Tristana you know could play Tristana
17794s and try to clean up the board with
17796s tristana's Buster shot as well as this
17797s other Buster shot which does cost too if
17799s you have a Tristana in play instead some
17803s mediocre weapons given the situation
17805s from dress off probably gonna take the
17807s Scout you really can't afford to take
17808s any blockers off the table at this point
17810s but it continues to look rough and now
17813s check off what do you want to do get
17814s down the Jinx fire off those Mystic
17817s shots I doubt it's experimenter but you
17819s never know with these players
17821s so it is going to be Jinx after all
17823s ideally Dr Chekhov would love to just
17826s float I think here
17832s go for the get excited it does get
17834s really awkward with price fight paying
17835s on to the Jinx and all of a sudden
17836s you're out two jinx as well as a fair
17838s amount of burn it is just gonna be
17839s Buster shot instead
17841s I do like the the idea here now that
17844s it's been discounted get rid of jinx
17846s there's really no realistic way for
17848s check off The Flipper on the stack that
17850s could have been the breathing room that
17851s drizz off needed be set up an early game
17854s idea trying to open up the howl cat
17856s Factory but that had to be thrown to the
17858s Wayside because of that Vision play
17861s just continuing not to find units in
17864s this matchup really struggling to get on
17866s board as he finds yet another prize
17868s fight a card that has already been
17870s sitting in hand that he hasn't been able
17871s to get value from check out gonna fire
17873s off the flare to get another one and
17875s Samira has finally been dealt with but
17878s how many flares came out first uh
17881s scarzig yeah that's like flare number
17883s five Samir has just been printing them
17885s drizzoth now is on some incredibly
17888s awkward line of
17891s Vandal Gunners double triple prize fight
17894s trying to steal this game with a lot of
17899s over top damage Tristana now at 4 HP
17902s safe from get excited safe from
17903s augmented experimenter
17906s actually
17909s I'm kind of seeing with that shimmering
17912s Mirage with that Scout and fighting back
17916s into this game
17919s now the Scout attack has already been
17921s used so the Scout weapon does not
17923s actually give dress off two attacks if
17924s anyone had any Illusions about that
17926s being aligned towards lethal
17928s but it is a very good start to a
17931s comeback and now I'm wondering if
17932s durasoth is going to be tempted to just
17933s hit that pass button and stunt all
17935s development from Chekhov at an exchange
17937s of eight damage I think you take the
17939s damn you you take your damage here you
17942s put your opponent down to eight and then
17944s we just hope for Gunner's double prize
17947s fight if you can survive for your next
17949s attack token yeah because here Chekhov I
17951s would imagine chekhov's gonna throw down
17953s the Jinx maybe even throw a Mystic shot
17954s at the Nexus and then try to set up an
17956s augmented experimenter next turn
17957s otherwise I don't think chekhov's
17959s playing anything here
17961s yeah in which case that damage was free
17963s yeah Jinx Mystic shout out to the
17966s rummage Nerf now too
17968s shout out
17973s and yeah it's just it's gonna be a
17975s Mystic shot just nice passive play you
17977s called it Boulevard
17979s not putting anything on the board
17981s because if you don't have anything
17982s developed your opponent can't prize
17984s fight you to triple dip on the impact
17986s what is Chekhov doing here because
17988s you're not going to be able to get down
17989s Jinx and the other card next year this
17992s is gonna just be a jinx rummage angle
17998s and the thing about Jinx is super mega
18001s Death rocket got nerfed it only deals
18003s three damage now but you're still a
18005s couple actions in one more slow Speed
18007s play from actually closing yeah for
18010s check off to get a rocket here they
18012s would have to Rummage in response and
18014s then also empty their hand with the two
18016s cards they drew which is lethal if those
18020s two cards are get excited and literally
18022s any other card
18024s all right we all know that when your
18026s opponent levels up a jinx their next top
18028s deck is always a jinx
18031s so we'll see it right here live in 4k
18036s a bit of a whiff and now drishoth can
18039s just line up the Poke stick to get the
18041s kill onto the Jinx anyway and then you
18044s know still not out of the wood actually
18046s no I think drissoth might actually be
18048s out of the woods because get excited is
18049s it rotated it's just jinxes get excited
18052s at this point
18054s and that's what we were hoping to see
18057s was what was one of these cards to be
18059s the get excited instead it's just going
18061s to be reborn Grenadier coming through we
18064s can pull Tristana to the side to try to
18065s hit for three and this is just asking
18068s drizzloth do you have another blocker
18071s here or not and drizzloth has Vandal
18073s city mayor yeah dress up finally drawing
18075s into those units and skarsik I cannot
18078s believe that drissoff was actually able
18080s to come back into this one it looked so
18081s doomed from that early Vision pressure
18083s coming out of Dr Chekhov but the removal
18086s spell is finally lining up with targets
18088s and I think drissoth now just debating
18090s which unit do I play here you've got
18092s full information of Chekhov you're
18094s trying to figure out what's your best
18095s bet at lethal is here and if you throw
18098s down the bandal Gunners check out very
18099s likely to just not attack here but once
18102s that Scout weapon comes down onto
18104s Tristana I don't think it's gonna matter
18106s I think we are just finally looking at
18108s the end of the game here for drisoth we
18112s take the block we have a beautiful open
18115s attack double prize fight and the
18118s upcycled rake
18121s and doctor check off feeling a little
18123s bit defeated after seeing that great
18126s opener fizzle out at the 11th Hour we've
18129s got super mega Death rocket now coming
18131s through healing only three damage if
18135s this was four we had hope for a Mystic
18137s shot top deck but no longer
18142s yeah I know looking at the cards from
18144s Chekhov it's just a matter of does
18145s drisoft get baited into going for an
18147s open attack and potentially losing to a
18148s jury rig the answer was yes but it
18150s doesn't matter what double prize fight
18151s on backup but drissoff manages to claw
18154s back through game number one but now
18157s it's down to the karma set and I think
18159s chekhov's looking to beat up on that
18161s Karma set and drisoth is looking to beat
18163s up on that allowee Swain so with the
18166s game number one of the non-targetable
18168s decks so to speak going to drissot that
18170s is a significant advantage in this
18172s matchup
18174s Karma set we've seen it before is a list
18177s that can pull off Miracles if you give
18179s it the
18180s if you give it the right moment if you
18182s get enough removals with Samira Jinx
18185s maybe you can't make it work allowie
18187s Swain can fight in this matchup right
18191s druzov has to hard Mulligan for things
18194s like concussive Palm in order to keep up
18196s with the massive stats of the stack you
18198s can't just use your shrimpy removal to
18200s get there but once set and Karma hit the
18204s board we've got tons of showstoppers to
18206s stop Swain and allowie and Leviathan
18210s great curve so far you've got a 3-3
18212s you've got Aftershock these are the
18214s sorts of things you need for the matchup
18215s and set Dr Chekhov meanwhile has a
18219s beautiful tentacle focused curve
18220s watchful Idol on one activating Swain
18223s which is something that is very rare
18225s from this list we haven't seen yet so
18226s far
18228s yeah check out with a very strong
18229s tentacle line here a second voices if
18231s they want to dress off the course has
18233s the Aftershock for the C's voice but no
18235s answer for the allowie just yet and with
18238s the pirouette you know things there's
18240s gonna be a lot of questions about how
18241s much value set can get early on
18244s this is the incredibly devastating curve
18248s that when you play against allowing
18250s Swain this happens to you and you go
18252s wait this deck is awesome and Dr Chekhov
18255s has been kind of failing been avoiding
18258s showing us this line has been kind of
18261s just making do with some of the other
18263s parts but now finally when you have a
18266s deck like this comprised of two
18267s disparate packages you draw the half
18270s that synergizes with itself and now you
18273s quadruple down on it allowie on curve
18276s with the attack token oh stay tuned
18279s actually going on the tentacle rather
18281s than the allowie this means check off
18284s has the option to get in big damage with
18287s the Lowry but would be trading a lot of
18289s the damage into the stagehand and
18290s drisoft says I don't think you want to
18292s do that
18292s well it still needs to find a tag out to
18294s eventually deal with that tentacle
18296s otherwise things are going to get really
18298s hairy yeah there was one in the opening
18301s hand and drizzloth had to kick it you
18303s can't just rely on Purely tag out for
18305s your early game another Aftershock being
18307s offered up that's kind of nice
18309s discounted now
18312s and actually going for the experimenter
18314s rather than set
18318s rip tied sermon dealing three damage
18321s growing this tentacle even further
18323s pinging the Nexus Swain's got to be
18326s leveled up at this point yeah we might
18327s actually just be looking at very close
18330s to lethal on the next turn here skarsik
18332s that's going to be 12 attack plus
18334s overwhelm on the allow he couldn't cost
18336s him Palm off the top will save the
18338s damage but will still Level the allow we
18340s I imagine
18343s Dr Chekhov might try to take a
18346s in-between play this is where things get
18348s dicey right you if you're open attack
18350s you're like okay do you have percussive
18351s Palm do you have tag out if you develop
18353s you're worried about facebreaker but it
18355s maybe lets you try to fish with this
18358s tentacle smash but Dr Chekhov is just
18360s going to go through with it say you can
18362s only stop one or the other the tentacle
18363s still getting really big
18366s and dress off looks like they might
18368s actually be debating taking the damage
18369s actually just gonna fire off a formula
18371s first see if we can find anything else
18372s and then line up the Palm onto the
18374s allowing this stops the set development
18376s but with the tentacle that big you've
18378s got to be cognizant of tentacle smash I
18380s don't think drosoft was going to develop
18381s anyway
18383s but then
18385s it's gonna be so hard for yourself to
18387s get on board from here on out because of
18388s that tentacle smash still being
18390s available for Chekov
18392s the other problematic aspect as well
18394s because drizzloth has been under so much
18396s pressure can't really get these coins
18398s down can't really play place your bets
18400s in order to get these cards allowie is
18404s still massive this tentacle is beyond
18407s the ability to actually be dealt with we
18410s need tag out right now double Aftershock
18414s onto the allowie the concern is that if
18417s Chekhov has the read that a second
18419s Aftershock is coming can tentacle Smash
18421s 2 level the allowie and make things even
18423s more Awkward for drissoff but of course
18426s that would open up the opportunity for
18427s sets come down so not gonna do that but
18429s now maybe it just is set coming down
18431s actually there's only one mana on the
18433s side of Chekhov
18434s Ops for Leviathan sees now we're at
18439s round seven even though I have a lot of
18441s threat in play my opponent is still at
18444s 18 HP I have to start pivoting for
18447s something that's going to give me
18448s long-term value something that can maybe
18450s activate Swain's ability to stun lock
18452s drizz off out and let me swing through
18455s allow he's gonna go down once more we
18458s are not going to see her level up
18459s Boulevard
18461s no and I think Swain as you had
18463s mentioned is leveled I believe two
18465s forbidden Idols will do that which we
18467s did see now knoxy and fervor as well and
18468s chekhov's gonna have double pirouette as
18471s well as the Swain this could just be the
18474s end here scarsig
18477s not enough defensive Tools in hand we
18481s have place your bets that can maybe get
18484s a tag out or another concussive Palm to
18487s just barely hang on from this position
18489s but Swain as a 4-7 with fierceman
18493s overwhelm means that he is going to deal
18495s some damage to the Nexus in completely
18497s wipe drizz off the board without a
18499s little bit of help yeah
18502s one of the big issues is even if you
18504s find a tag out what are you putting back
18505s there's still two pirouettes that are
18507s active for Chekhov to try and push
18509s through a leviathan and a tentacle and
18511s now we're gonna get Piro at number one
18513s for two stuns
18515s pirouette is a god-like card for noxus
18520s if you are running noxus you have to be
18521s on at least two copies of this thing I
18523s swear to God and now by double
18525s activating Swain's effect this is uh
18530s Leviathan right you're just activating
18532s it proactively on your turn we have
18534s three Mana left right now
18537s and drizzloth has to go for place your
18539s bets draw two into the coin refills now
18543s up to four to deny pirouette number one
18545s fully Taps out set will level but we
18548s have yet another pirouette to come
18550s through
18552s yeah and I think this actually is a
18554s showstopper it is enough for showstopper
18556s and now we've got a little bit of uh
18558s something interesting on our hands
18560s Chekhov though can still go for like a
18562s fast speed noxian fervor here but I mean
18566s priority is going to go back to drissoff
18567s before Chekhov can get an attack and
18569s that is a guaranteed because pirouette
18571s was a play from Chekhov but you know if
18573s you if you pass here and you try to play
18576s the second pirouette you open up the
18577s possibility that Swain gets it with a
18579s showstopper
18581s show stopper this is the part of the
18585s match where Swain starts to lose his
18587s iron grip on things once you get rid of
18590s this big threat you get rid of the stuns
18592s it's just continuous chip damage from a
18594s leviathan you're still at almost full HP
18597s I think that drizzloth has finally
18600s weathered the storm and set has come
18602s through with this crashing elbow to
18605s smash through game number two possibly
18608s there's still a lot of game left to be
18610s played even if it is dress-offs Chekhov
18613s can line up a tentacle smash here to
18615s make sure that the set is completely
18616s removed and then Still Force blocks out
18618s of drisoth
18620s there is finally no Mana for drizzloth
18624s this is important to note so Seth's
18626s gonna go down no more showstoppers the
18628s cynical is absolutely ridiculous and
18631s when we attack with both of these it's
18632s gonna Force some blocks
18634s yeah oh no attacks from Chekhov not
18637s willing not even the blind anything up
18639s to the Aftershock
18641s just respecting saying I'm just gonna
18643s try to draw this game out now without
18645s you're not at 10 Mana yet right no
18647s threat of karma no set in play no more
18650s coins in hand you're down to deny Dr
18653s Chekhov still does have some play
18655s Boulevard you're right and but the tag
18658s out from drissoth is huge though finally
18660s a way to reset this tentacle recalls
18663s versus this are so huge for those of you
18665s at home that don't know the tentacles
18667s are one one and when you put it back in
18669s hand it's a 1-1
18672s so it will get reset this 14-6 tentacle
18677s um I have not gaboros coming through
18679s just to draw a couple more cards see
18681s some resources here
18683s and drizzloth gonna get a coin this was
18685s a tech that you talked about Boulevard
18686s just a little bit of early game an
18688s elusive blocker also massive here in the
18691s late game when you've been forced and
18692s pressured into spending your coin before
18694s you can actually pop up with Karma
18696s having an additional source to generate
18698s them is massive and with drissoth having
18700s two karma in hand I wouldn't be
18703s surprised to see one of them come down
18705s here and try to bait out the noxian
18706s fervor or the tentacle smash but your
18708s ass off is just gonna hit end round says
18710s I don't want to do anything with this
18711s Karma until she is completely online and
18714s chekhov's open attack is not impactful
18716s enough to push stressoff over the edge
18719s we're gonna get to see Karma come down
18721s tentacle likely to go back to the hand
18723s after the fact and maybe just maybe
18725s drissoth has finally found the way the
18727s stabilize actually gonna pump the
18728s tentacle back before anything else get
18730s those coins in hand before you play out
18732s Karma I love this idea even if you
18736s replay the tentacle and it attacks with
18738s the C's voice it's just a 2-2 with
18739s overwhelm that you can very easily Chomp
18741s down well Leviathan is a little bit
18743s spooky but we have a 3-4 to stop that
18745s we're only taking two
18747s uh one damage rather and then Leviathan
18751s number one Leviathan number two if I'm
18753s check off I'm very tempted to play the
18755s second Leviathan here
18759s I'm not gonna lie
18761s you might be honest on the next guards
18763s like I want to see the second Leviathan
18765s come down because uh we used to joke way
18766s back in the day about like whenever
18767s three of a card would show up I'd always
18769s be like oh yeah you know it's this I
18771s made a joke three years ago about what I
18773s would call Triple Leviathan on board and
18774s I have never seen it happen so I have
18776s never been able to make this joke
18779s I don't think it's gonna happen today
18781s especially with Chekhov not developing
18783s one there
18785s but this is this is the big turn for
18787s Chekhov this is where you really have to
18788s put enough pressure on jerusal's life
18790s total to try to finish things off with
18791s the noxian fervor with the Leviathan
18793s burn with the pirouette and knowing that
18795s drissoff has coins and very likely a
18798s Karma you can understand the hesitation
18800s coming out of the doctor
18802s and
18804s it's also important to note this is the
18806s first time I've actually seen this
18807s interaction potentially be presented
18809s when you have a tentacle in play an
18810s identical in hand your spawns don't get
18813s doubled under both tentacles one that
18814s was in play first just greedily eats
18817s them all up it's funny because there was
18819s actually a lot of confusion when
18820s tentacles were spoiled because it
18821s specifically says it only spawns the
18823s largest tentacle and we thought there
18825s was a way to naturally get multiple
18827s tentacles and it was very confusing for
18828s the community and it's like no if one
18830s ever gets balanced then you replay it
18831s it's just put it on the biggest one and
18833s we're like oh okay that's not as
18834s exciting but whatever
18835s and now karma comes down
18837s drizzoth is not tapped out however we
18840s now have doubled up Aftershock to answer
18841s Leviathan I think that having the second
18844s one in play here would have been
18845s beautiful but identical smash comes
18847s through besides
18848s and I imagine oh yeah kind of Mystic
18850s shot still is the manner for the coins
18851s so also still has the option to take out
18855s the Leviathan here before combat even
18859s complete disaster for Chekhov
18862s armor survives we have a pirouette no
18865s ravenous flock of course we have even
18867s heavy metal to answer this Karma but
18869s she's gonna need a lot of value here
18870s despite the fact there's a second one
18872s still in hand so after shot can still
18874s come through to answer Leviathan and
18876s when you're drizz off this is all you
18877s care about one swaying down one allow we
18880s down Leviathan also done and every
18883s threat that Dr Chekhov can make from
18885s this position is going to take almost
18886s the entire turn yeah that's such result
18889s does need to find a bit of refuel here
18890s you know you've got the karma but the
18892s only thing actually left for it is a
18894s Mystic shot so you really need to get
18896s down this augmented clocking and find a
18898s formula or explicits
18902s off the top
18904s this is this is exactly the setup you
18907s want to see these three cards can carry
18910s the entire game clockwise place your
18913s bets we now have resources ladies and
18916s gents for the karma set engine and all
18919s Dr Chekhov can do is play Leviathan I
18924s mean you can go why you can go Mariah
18925s Warden Malawi et cetera Etc but here
18928s we've got to play Leviathan so we can
18930s draw Swain re-establish our threats and
18933s now that set has also shown up at just
18935s the right moment to start getting
18936s showstoppers down doctor Chekhov can no
18939s longer set up from this point
18942s now it's this might even be a pirouette
18944s out of Dr Chekhov to try and stop this
18946s set from cleaning up more of the board
18948s you need to keep this Leviathan Health
18950s you need to keep this C's voice alive
18952s and I gotta commend check off for how
18955s well he's been able to stay in this but
18956s we'll see how all of that turns out once
18959s Chekhov goes for the Swain the karma
18961s comes down and then the place your bets
18963s comes back in especially since a coin is
18966s now already in the hand of drissoth
18968s meaning you're going to have 10 Mana
18970s back after these coins resolve with the
18972s karma
18973s and because Swain is also not in play
18975s with the Leviathan we don't get stuns
18977s with this effect drizzloth just going to
18980s use the effect right now showstopper
18984s oh my Lord I wasn't even counting the
18987s amount of Mana that was spent
18988s showstopper to answer Leviathan number
18990s two and it clears the Sea's voice with
18992s the Mystic shot drizzoth is doing a math
18994s seminar if if Chekhov can come back into
18998s this one he's the greatest player in the
19000s world but things are looking so doomed
19002s for allowee Swain right now as drissoff
19004s has the draw for Time Walk combo
19010s I think that the only line was the
19014s utmost greed of the double Leviathan
19017s trying to set up some sort of completely
19019s Bonkers four-turn clock
19022s to burn drizzloth out but now it's it's
19025s it's it's curtains
19027s even hit the Nexus
19032s and here we go drizzleth gonna take four
19034s turns in a row
19036s Mystic shot available for the double up
19038s Karma available for the refuel eight
19040s mana on the side of drissau thanks to
19042s this and show stopper or sorry face
19044s breaker available drisson's gonna fire
19047s it off and go for the stuns as well that
19049s should make a show stopper that'll get
19051s doubled up and that should be dressed
19053s off with hard securing the victory at
19055s this point overwriting the one two it
19057s did so much work ggs from Chekhov
19059s surrender drizzoff is moving on to the
19063s finals the RPG has been stopped red Pub
19068s games has been eliminated from the
19070s tournament in the top four for the first
19072s time in nearly six months
19075s and drizzoth is the only player that we
19079s could say that had the ability to do it
19083s he's been running the ladder on his own
19086s for such a long time has been The
19089s Mastermind behind I think the last
19092s several handfuls of tier one Decks that
19094s we've all been terrorized by is sitting
19096s as you mentioned Boulevard at a
19098s gargantuan 2000 LP and is now here to
19102s pick up what he is rightfully owed moves
19104s on to the finals versus Creos
19107s and I don't think we've actually had a
19109s chance to take a look at creos's lineup
19111s just yet so that will be a little bit of
19113s a surprise for us skarsig on exactly
19116s what drisoth is going to be going up
19118s against in the finals here obviously we
19120s have some guesses you assume that
19122s Tristana and Samira will be making an
19124s appearance in some capacity as they have
19127s for every other player in the semifinals
19131s the last head to head when we saw that
19135s band lineup there was so much running on
19137s the line and so now Creos is going to be
19140s the next player that has to calculate
19143s every single line in every possible
19145s matchup in permutation do not go
19148s anywhere viewers when we get back we're
19150s going to Crown our next qualifier for
19152s the World Championships stay tuned
19161s laughs
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20331s thank you
20333s foreign
20337s good evening and welcome back to the
20340s America's worlds qualifier I am
20342s Boulevard joining me has been scars
20344s again of course all of you lovely people
20346s but we have come to the end of the day
20348s 64 players entered only two remains
20352s rissoth and Creos but first we're going
20354s to take a look at what happened last
20356s round to remind you how they all got
20358s here just in case you're just tuning in
20359s for the finals uh check off this is
20361s actually from the quarterfinals we have
20363s Chekhov taking out flock we went a
20365s little bit further back than that and
20366s have a couple of players that aren't
20367s even in the tournament anymore here we
20369s go
20370s to take on drizz off this was a Titanic
20374s matchup but drizzoth manages to take
20376s game one after a grind the Samira Jinx
20379s just lost control of the board and
20381s Vandal city did what it does best and
20383s then the penultimate match up here
20386s drizzoth ended up getting to play Karma
20388s set into Swain allowee a matchup that we
20391s knew would be very unwinnable if the
20394s matchup went too long that's exactly
20396s what came to happen Swain and Leviathan
20399s hit the board but with the key deny here
20402s on the pirouette swing can't swing
20404s through and set gets a showstopper the
20406s leviathan's just there's no way for them
20408s to ever stick to the board and after a
20411s clutch draw place your bets drizzoth
20413s manages to take it all
20414s and that that was one of the tensest
20417s matches I've ever had to cast scars like
20419s even though it was a 2-0 don't let that
20421s fool you this one was a nail biter and
20424s of course grios took out Nas although I
20427s don't believe we have any replays from
20429s that one as it was not on stream so
20431s heading forward into this finals we
20434s haven't actually gotten to highlight
20435s krios just yet we're unaware of what
20437s decks they are running but this is the
20440s bracket just in case you need a quick
20441s reminder on the high profile players
20444s these two had to take down to get to
20445s this stage
20447s going up Creos you know went up against
20449s an unknown player Buttercup took down uh
20452s NOS as well these rising stars are
20454s trying to make a name for themselves
20456s only one can have the spotlight and
20459s Creos has been that player now going up
20463s against
20464s the ridiculous final boss of drizzoff
20469s and Charizard you know I feel like a lot
20471s of people have been waiting for him to
20473s get this shot he's been a very high
20475s ladder performer his seasonal
20477s performances have not always been as up
20479s to Snuff as you would expect from a
20480s player of his caliber and it's nice to
20482s see that on one of the biggest stages
20484s possible he is finally getting his shot
20487s if he wins this he will be advancing
20489s straight through to the world
20490s championship later this year in December
20492s but Creos is not going to make it easy
20495s and by the way we are finally going to
20497s get a chance to look at creos's decks
20499s because it is not exactly what you may
20501s have expected We've Got Annie jyn Samira
20504s Jinx and Shen Jarvan
20508s if you ask me to just pull three Decks
20512s that you think would be part of the
20515s finals of the world championship
20517s qualifier I would not have selected any
20519s of these three
20521s that's that's you know that's a good way
20524s to put it short gen sharpen or sorry
20526s Shen j4 was on my radar but I thought it
20530s was one of those like safer you take
20532s this through the open rounds in Top Cut
20534s you're probably gonna have to Pivot off
20536s of it but krios has taken it all the way
20538s to the finals and Annie jyn was pretty
20541s much completely off my radar
20543s I would love to just see like a map some
20546s sort of web of what creos's matchups
20549s were looking like up through the bracket
20551s because we look at this list and it's
20553s like oh why aren't why don't we see
20555s demacia bilge water and I think that
20557s having this sort of barrier focused
20561s Ionia build right you can still fight on
20563s board very aggressively with the barrier
20565s and then with your Challengers and your
20568s threats with petrocyte broad Wing you're
20570s maybe dismantling dismantling a lot of
20572s these swarmier ideas Samira Jinx we've
20575s already seen in inkling of how powerful
20577s this deck can be and perhaps Creos is
20580s just the chosen one that really can draw
20582s to get excited at the final hour and you
20584s know this is a big throwback lineup for
20586s mitrus or scars again sorry uh you know
20589s when you and I have been here since day
20591s one I know you recognized Shen Fiora you
20593s remember discard aggro right like these
20595s are just the facelifts on some of the
20597s more classic archetypes of Legends of
20599s rentera and it's really cool to see that
20600s post rotation a lot of Hallmark Park you
20604s know established lineups are still up
20606s here competing with the big boys and
20608s then you know Annie Jin's thrown in
20609s there but any gin has been around for at
20611s least a year at this point
20613s it's it has been you know the final at
20617s true aggro deck remaining after the
20619s ashes have cleared channeling that
20621s classic style of hitting the board very
20625s wide very high damage and Stat lines
20627s early on with a lot of over top burn
20630s damage threat this version has adapted
20633s the witness manisol student pirouette
20636s gonna be playing much more like a Tempo
20638s deck and I think that if the board stay
20640s and the attack token lines up the
20643s stagehand can be an absolutely
20645s back-breaking play in so many uh
20647s matchups and we remember right stagehand
20649s was a 4-4 originally and this is the
20652s reason why it's a 4-2 now but even with
20654s that you combine that with sun Hawk with
20657s pirouette you're stripping away your
20658s opponent's blockers and you can
20661s definitely push through way more damage
20663s in your opponent is comfortable dealing
20664s with and when we compare this to again
20667s drizzos lineup the only truly defensive
20670s deck that drizzoff has is Karma's set
20673s and you talked about this already
20675s Boulevard this is a list that's designed
20677s to be just a smidgen more greedy we only
20679s have Mystic shot and Aftershock and high
20682s note but without caustic riff if things
20685s get too out of control it's going to be
20687s very difficult to keep up with that race
20690s and you know Creos is going to be
20692s hungrily eyeing that Karma set as the
20695s weak point of trisoft's lineup Shen
20697s Jarvan can get on board a little bit too
20699s easily for karma set to you know kind of
20702s float through the early game with these
20704s Mystic shots in high notes and then of
20705s course two hyper aggressive decks in
20708s Annie jyn and Jinx Samira are going to
20711s make fish food out of this and you know
20714s we saw dress off beat Jinx Samira
20717s earlier with the karma set but it was it
20719s was not or no actually we never even saw
20721s that matchup Chekhov said I know this is
20723s coming down to a Lowry Swain versus
20724s Karma set I'm Gonna Save that guaranteed
20726s win for game three should we get there
20728s and ultimately I gotta say from a line
20731s of perspective jarisoth is very heavily
20733s on the back foot coming into this yeah
20735s when we analyzed Samira Fizz this is a
20738s matchup that you know how do you beat
20741s this aggressive deck I have to be even
20743s more aggressive and this is what the
20745s deck fears something that's just hitting
20747s it below for blow and because Annie Jin
20750s specifically has a lot of stuns you can
20753s get around some of these wider swings or
20755s some of these more specific developments
20758s in the early mid game where drizzoth is
20760s trying to pull ahead
20762s um it is going to be what I like to call
20764s it it's a knife fight it's just going to
20766s be swinging open attacks no blocks
20769s powder pandemonium is going to be the
20771s key factor there and if I'm looking for
20775s a band
20776s right if I'm Creo so I'm going into this
20778s lineup but I'm looking for a band
20780s it I think that Tristan and R is
20783s probably safe because of all the pings
20785s potential for stuns but maybe krios is
20789s finally the player that respects drizzos
20791s Samira fizz
20793s maybe but I gotta say Baseline it does
20795s seem like that Tristana Nar is gonna be
20797s the band like you mentioned Fizz Samira
20799s is something that you are capable of out
20802s at growing with the slightly faster uh
20805s Jinx Samira and Annie jyn is a little
20807s bit of a question right this is a deck
20808s that historically hasn't had the
20811s performance of a you know lockdown tight
20815s aggro deck like pirate aggro was for so
20817s long Annie gin always kind of felt like
20819s the third deck even in those lineups and
20822s I think what kind of brought this back
20823s to people's minds this meta was when
20825s Samira released and Samira Leona was
20827s going on to me that deck very much felt
20830s like what Annie jyn always wanted to be
20832s that stun based aggro deck and since
20834s Leona took quite a few nurse players
20836s have looked back at any gin like you
20838s know how bad was it how much did we lose
20839s to rotation and it wasn't nothing right
20842s they lost Legion rear guard they lost
20843s boom crew rookie they lost arachnoid
20845s Sentry they lost decimate but they were
20847s kind of phasing that one out anyway and
20849s they really didn't gain too much from it
20851s something people have been asking about
20853s for a while is you know jyn was the
20855s first runeterra Champion anything with a
20858s skill you can play in the Gin deck since
20860s his release I think like six or seven
20863s units have come out with skills that
20866s sort of get an addition into this deck
20868s but scars like you mentioned it earlier
20870s in the day pirouette pirouette might
20872s have just been enough to revive this
20874s aggroarchetype we get a ping we get a
20877s stun we try to swing through this deck
20879s is also running triple Mana Soul student
20881s a card that got very quickly phased out
20885s of the base shell of Annie gin when it
20887s was first being concocted and slowly but
20890s surely it's crept up one copy here two
20893s copies there now all in on three Mana
20896s Soul student and I think that in a
20899s slower matchup where your opponent is
20901s trying to play Pure defense pure blocks
20904s Mana Soul student you just set it up on
20906s the board and it just becomes this ping
20908s engine against the opponent we'll have
20910s to see if it does play out that way
20913s because Andy gin is a deck we have yet
20915s to see today along with Shen j4
20920s and I'm curious where dress off is gonna
20922s ban right because we didn't actually get
20925s to see him play Karma set into Jinx
20927s Samira so that's definitely a matchup
20928s that you gotta know he's gonna be
20930s worried about and you know that drissoth
20932s is thinking the same thing we are krios
20934s is looking to too oh my karma set which
20936s of these decks can I ban to try and
20939s sneak out my win here I think the gen
20941s shark Shen Jarvan has to stay open I
20944s think the two aggro decks are just like
20946s you mentioned it's a knife fight but
20948s karma set feels like I gave you some
20950s steel and a forge and said good luck
20952s while your opponent already has a knife
20956s and while Creos is trying to 2-0 Karma
20959s set drizzath would very like uh very
20961s much like the tuo the Shen right because
20964s karma set can just out value it you've
20966s got your stuns your you don't really
20968s care about this deck with the stuns and
20970s recalls
20971s um taking it just a quick look closer
20974s there's two deny in Shen Jarvan which is
20977s pretty classic right for Ionia demacia
20979s having a little bit of a way to maybe
20981s sidestep your opponents like key removal
20983s or key stabilization piece while just
20985s forwarding your own win condition
20987s with sacred protector as the top end I
20991s just don't see this deck being
20992s threatening enough it's just big stats
20996s and maybe we might get there because we
21000s even saw like a lowish Swain another
21002s deck that's just kind of big stats can
21005s be difficult for karma set to deal with
21006s if they don't draw properly overall
21010s this is another very tough decision to
21012s say the least that's for sure and I
21015s gotta say I I think
21016s level two set or even level one set can
21019s be very difficult for demacio decks to
21021s deal with it's not uncommon to even see
21023s one set thrown into the Shen Jarvan just
21026s respecting his place in The Meta kind of
21028s as the new VI is how a lot of players
21030s are seeing him and just going for that
21032s other Champion but Shen Jarvan lost
21035s concerted strike their ability to deal
21038s with big units is gone and while they're
21040s not gonna see too many big units out of
21042s any of the Dexter yourself has presented
21044s a four or five or a five six is big
21047s enough for a single combat to not get
21049s the job done more often than not
21051s and by not bringing the set I think
21054s Creos just says I want to very
21057s consistently hit my curve I want Shen on
21060s four with this barrier I want to open
21062s attack with Jarvan on six to pull your
21064s big fret to the side and maybe you know
21067s this Shen Dragon when you take a look at
21068s the list it has that kind of standard
21071s heavier curve that we've come to know
21073s and love but there are shades of
21076s aggression shades of tempo here you know
21079s to to use a muddy term but I think that
21082s if you underestimate this deck and think
21085s that it's just gonna be playing like a
21086s dirtly mid-range a game maybe trying to
21088s outscale you it can develop some pretty
21091s aggressive lines that you might not have
21093s Mulligan correctly for
21096s I 100 agree and when we look at some of
21099s the stats on these units like blocking
21100s Badger bear is a meat Shield screeching
21103s dragon has even returned to The Fault
21105s when was the last time you saw a
21106s screeching Dragon skarzig oh my God it
21109s has been a minute screeching dragon has
21111s you know Fallen to the bottom of good
21114s five drops I think the last time I
21116s actually saw it in a deck was in a
21118s permutation of civil auction
21121s that sounds right to me I mean you look
21122s at it and then you look at set and
21124s you're like
21125s you know it's really not comparable here
21130s uh but that is of course not the only
21132s matchup we're gonna have to run into is
21134s there any chance looking at this
21135s decklist from dress up that you actually
21137s can find the win against this Annie gin
21140s or this Jinx Samira and you know what
21141s would that look like even
21144s Samira Fizz versus Annie gin I think
21148s would be drizzoth just drawing
21151s all the burn maybe open up with like
21153s double Jagged butchers where three
21155s threes can kind of do a good job of
21157s holding down the early-ish game and then
21160s you just maybe want to cycle stylish
21162s shots on the back of a father Fury
21165s is maybe the only way I could see it
21167s happening we know that Annie jyn can't
21169s stop Samira so maybe drizzleth plays
21171s Samira on turn two and just pops off
21173s and we finally see the bands coming in
21175s Jinx Samira band bilge water bandel
21177s Gunners band and scars like I gotta say
21179s I think that's about what we expected
21180s but we're heading into game number one
21181s drissoth has dodged the Annie Jinn 4 now
21184s with the karma set but is gonna have to
21186s play against Shen Jarvan krios versus
21188s drissoth Grand finals folks of the first
21191s world championship qualifier
21193s Prius on this devastating mid-range deck
21197s a lot of strong stats on curve he's
21199s already counting has a three a four a
21202s five drizzoff meanwhile can win the late
21205s game but has to get there classically
21207s this matchup breaks down to the
21209s mid-range deck being forced to Rally
21211s somewhere in the mid game to find that
21213s damage output but that is no longer off
21215s the table this is going to just be a
21217s classic numbers game up against rizoff's
21220s draw quality and usually drizzle's three
21224s threes and three fours do a very good
21226s job of feeding up on the meadow or at
21227s least staying parody with it but here
21230s against four fours and three fives and
21232s Jarvan it's gonna be incredibly
21235s difficult but with krios not having any
21237s spells at least drosoft currently has
21239s the option to you know safely find a set
21242s Karma might even have to come down
21244s earlier than you would like as a blocker
21246s but once this screeching Dragon Shen
21248s combo is established it's gonna get
21250s rough
21251s that is you know it's Lulu flame
21254s Chompers but bigger it just rules the
21257s roost it completely walls you out of
21259s developing in the game and this is
21262s probably exactly the sort of curve that
21264s has brought krios to the finals you get
21267s Shen Screech and dragon up in any other
21269s board-based deck in the game just is no
21272s longer allowed to play meanwhile
21274s drizzoth does stun the Shen doesn't want
21276s the barrier to come through on this
21278s Fleet feather tracker is chipping away
21280s at this board lines up Mystic shot to
21283s leave Shen solo meanwhile the
21285s one-of-stage hand technology also
21288s looking very nice for the mid late game
21291s Metro South currently debating you know
21293s am I willing to trade a Mystic shot for
21295s a forum up do I think I can get them to
21297s commit this Mana elsewhere is single
21299s combat something I have to worry about
21300s or maybe even you know maybe I play The
21303s Mystic shot later and hope to bait krios
21305s into using a higher priority protection
21307s spell onto this Badger bear like repost
21309s or spirit's Refuge
21311s and trizzoth takes the hit says if I'm
21314s not going to clear this Badger bear
21316s there's no reason for me to give it this
21318s much value now the attack token goes
21320s back over to drizzoff and we can kind of
21323s re-establish you know what's going on
21325s the luxury forger is off is the fact
21328s that krios has to hit the Nexus to win
21332s the game there's no burn there's no
21334s elusive it's going to be purely bore
21338s dominance and this is exactly where
21340s Karma set wants to be
21341s well things are looking a little rough
21343s for drift off at the moment though we
21345s know Jarvan can come down on the open
21347s attack and pull this unit out of the way
21348s and if that happens then we are looking
21350s at 12 damage pumped into the Nexus as
21353s well as four wide against the clear
21355s board from drissoth stagehand is so hard
21357s to get good value against Shan Jarvan
21361s when they have the attacks on evens
21364s with Jarvan in hand no set right you
21367s know if this was a set this next attack
21370s would look way less beautiful but now
21373s that you've got your champion on curve
21375s Here Comes Jarvan to pull this 3-3 and
21378s we're still getting nine damage on the
21381s Nexus drizzoff leading out here there's
21383s double Mystic shot maybe if you want to
21385s try to take out the Jarvan
21388s and this is the issue that we were
21389s anticipating and this is the issue that
21391s you really run into in a matchup like
21393s this if demacia just curves out and
21396s slams big stats on board your triple
21398s Mystic shot triple high note deck is not
21400s very well equipped to deal with that
21403s we needed one more recall one more stun
21407s here to really take the sting out of
21409s this mid-game swing to carry us in a eat
21414s more even fashion to the late game so
21416s that just comes down on curve no
21419s response so far but we've seen drizz off
21422s before be on the edge of demise and try
21425s to claw back set now coming in to scoop
21429s up Jarvan Creos has the one of Prismatic
21433s barrier in hand to try to respond to
21435s this and this is the best value to
21437s rissoth could really hope to get out of
21439s Mystic shots and high notes is popping a
21441s barrier but the Mana commitment from
21443s Kratos who doesn't even go for it says
21445s yeah that's fine that's okay I'm just
21446s gonna run out a couple of units here I
21447s hope you don't mind and they can go as
21450s wide as five here with the bright steel
21452s protector and the green Glade caretaker
21454s and putting Shen back into play with
21456s Prismatic barrier back up still to
21458s protect against a high note where
21460s drissoth probably has to try and play
21462s Karma as a block Walker normally we see
21466s these decks have way more spells but
21469s Creos is on 23 units is going all in on
21473s the just overall strength of demacia's
21476s curve and look at this Aftershock this
21479s is now a 4-1 still surviving trying to
21482s set something up and look at this three
21484s rounds away from hitting 10 Mana hitting
21486s enlightened and as the karma set player
21489s this is an eternity
21491s yeah luckily for drissau this is we are
21495s going into creos's last attack turn
21499s pre-karma level
21501s so if drosoft can weather this storm and
21504s then play Karma on nine they will have
21506s things like double Mystic shot double
21508s high note available for the turn 10 open
21510s attack and it looks like drizzoth has
21511s actually found a way to activate a show
21515s stopper not quite not gonna level the
21517s Shen just or the set just yet maybe
21519s Mystic shot needs to be committed as
21521s well
21522s and by putting down the high note we get
21525s two damage to one one damage to another
21527s sequence the Spells beautifully which
21530s has been has been doing this entire
21532s broadcast
21533s absolutely and if krios gets baited into
21536s the Prismatic barrier here and the
21537s Mystic shot does level set and give
21540s this show stopper then this could be the
21543s big swing that drissoth needed
21546s and the Mystic shot to counter the
21549s barrier that is the one increase in the
21552s deck
21554s set does not level
21557s so no show stopper this turn seven Mana
21559s left to hit that big 40. and now we've
21562s got Creos on the attack no Jarvan to
21565s open winch no in stagehand from drissoff
21571s we've gotten denied for this stun button
21574s does still get to keep
21576s a uh does still get to keep a attacker
21579s here
21580s is also a blocker if jarisoth would deny
21584s the deny
21587s against this deck right there's no
21588s concerted strike there's no rally I
21590s think that denying it denies exactly
21592s what you want to see that's also going
21594s to level your set ideally drizz off with
21596s like nothing else to happen and maybe
21598s try to play Karma here
21600s now it looks like this is going to be
21602s good enough the question now for Creos
21604s blocking Badger bear or bright steel
21606s protector either way you're likely only
21609s going to attack with your barriered up
21612s unit or actually I think you're
21614s perfectly fine to jam something into the
21616s set to prevent that level up because it
21618s will be happening on the falling turn in
21620s fact I think it's going to happen as
21621s soon as this Mystic shot is committed I
21622s believe set is at 39 out of 40 currently
21625s I am so good at math
21627s and so with set leveling up it becomes
21631s the Shen screeching Dragon board control
21633s monstrosity all in one I don't take
21636s damage or die when I'm attacking and
21639s that's exactly what we want to see Creos
21641s puts the barrier on the combat cook and
21644s is going to swing in
21646s and drissoth has the Mystic shot to pop
21649s the barrier but will still have to trade
21651s off set and the stagehand Creo is going
21653s to get a little bit of damage in on the
21655s Nexus and drisoth is very quickly
21657s falling into a stage where they can only
21658s take one more hit and we know karma's
21661s gonna get to come out you know get that
21662s turn 10 flip into creos's next attack
21665s turn but krios is probably still gonna
21667s be four wide going into their next
21668s attack so it's stage hand chump block
21671s the barrier Mystic shot the 3-2 take two
21674s damage here and go down to three and set
21676s has to claw back two cards versus two
21679s but when you go into a top deck War
21682s versus Karma set I think your fate is
21685s already sealed we'll see how it goes I
21688s mean Creos is gonna be five wide going
21690s into their attack on the karma turn and
21692s drissoff currently has no other cards
21694s available needs to draw a place your
21696s bets are a formula
21698s smooth mixologist is not bad we're gonna
21701s get to take out Shen here oh but the
21704s Shen boat from Creos
21706s sacred protector draws Shen to your hand
21710s and whenever a unit gains barrier it
21712s also gains double attack
21714s still very devastating here drizzoff has
21718s smooth mixologist
21719s look at the way these numbers line up
21721s Boulevard we have Mana for karma we've
21724s got a coin now in the hand or healing
21726s yeah
21728s this is not gonna be lethal on the open
21730s attack from Creos either it's only going
21732s to be two dress off the question then
21734s becomes are you oh a hex tech anomaly in
21738s the scrap shot
21740s is the protagonist of this tournament
21742s another Karma generating another wild
21746s spell oh it turns left again
21748s but it still actually kind of slaps yeah
21751s and it goes on to the protector
21753s Reckoning can come out and clear half of
21756s the board for Creos
21759s and there's no Mana to play the Shen
21761s that was just drawn and because
21763s drizzloth has two five attack units this
21766s single combat won't prevent the
21767s Reckoning from resolving now we gotta
21770s calm down Boulevard smooth mixologist
21772s does go down to the Reckoning is there
21774s still going to be enough blocking
21776s Potential from here
21777s durasoft will live at One assuming
21781s single combat takes out one of these
21782s other Champions but a high note is found
21785s as well
21788s very very enticing to take smooth
21790s mixologists but you just don't have that
21793s extra action to develop it to get
21794s another coin on this stack for doubling
21796s if we double double the high note we're
21799s dealing four to one and two to another
21802s beautifully puts guys the double double
21804s on the okay we're lining up the attacks
21806s for Creos what does screeching Dragon
21808s pull here probably Karma or set and
21810s Creos thinks about set pulls Karma might
21813s change their mind still
21815s fact remains that dress off with this
21817s high note should be able to take out one
21819s unit and pop the barrier onto the badger
21822s bear so that it no longer has double
21824s strike but you know drissot definitely
21825s going to be thinking about not just form
21828s up to push through lethal in that case
21829s but also a reposters for its Refuge to
21832s give double strike somewhere else
21835s the fortunately the Prismatic barrier
21837s was already used we don't have to play
21839s against that possibility but drizoff has
21842s to make a big bet versus one specific
21844s card once you survive this turn you've
21847s got your second karma in hand and even
21849s with double attack on the 3-1 it needs
21851s to be specifically reposed here to be
21853s lethal yeah and be oh okay no the high
21857s note is one Mana so when drishov plays
21858s the second Karma he is actually safe
21861s against single combat but the high
21862s note's gonna get used here no gonna
21865s think about it for a moment
21868s first
21871s all right going for some doubling
21873s getting some extra Mana just to make
21875s absolutely sure here comes the high note
21877s because this is doubled by Karma this
21880s does cover a post on that empty slot
21887s jury rig
21890s what he he got some sort of cosmic flash
21894s he glimpsed into the future and said I
21896s don't need to play a second Karma the
21897s four spells I'm about to get are
21899s god-like
21900s and jury rig completely flips this on
21903s its head does still have to commit some
21904s things to try and save the set or
21906s develop the showstopper gruesome theater
21908s has no impactful Targets on creo's side
21912s although I believe you could gruesome
21913s theater your own set
21917s it's three or less Health that is
21919s available
21922s play around the single combat and if
21924s that comes out to take out the set
21926s drisov has the save
21929s and just recognizing that in the Ionia
21932s card pool there will be enough things
21935s that I can maybe even save this Karma
21938s the value of having four shots at saving
21940s one Karma rather than just letting it go
21941s through and trying to play a second
21943s Karma versus whatever your opponent's
21945s final card might be
21947s drizzleth wins out on his gamble set
21951s lives we've got a lot of resources in
21954s hand we can take over the board from
21957s here because with set and it's only a
21959s matter of time before he gets a show
21960s stopper is going to try to bounce the
21962s clock Ling and draw one more card
21964s yeah and I I think ghost is going to
21967s activate this thank you Spectators we
21968s know how to read iced tea okay we can
21971s figure out some of this stuff on our own
21972s I do appreciate it though but um also
21974s kinku's call in the hand of dress off is
21976s gonna be a little bit of draw Power
21978s while also getting back on board
21982s and so the single combat is used doesn't
21986s want to stop the clock Ling has to take
21988s out set but we've got ghost to get a
21991s showstopper before it's too late yeah
21993s and that is going to clear the board for
21995s Creo Shen is back down and now things
21998s are so tense on both sides krios does
22001s have the sand worm amulet it is
22003s augmented So currently Shen can't just
22006s go over this augmented clocking never
22009s mind we're gonna lose the weapon here
22010s and I like the idea there because if you
22013s don't equip the weapon on their the
22015s showstoppers one damage would clear it
22017s and so by doing this you save the badger
22019s bear you have an elusive blocker versus
22021s the clock link and now we've got Chen
22024s and the top decks of Destiny against the
22027s world but drizzoth has a hex tech
22029s anomaly a wings of the cryo Phoenix this
22033s will deal three to all units and then
22034s heal your Nexus for three because you
22037s are enlightened but drissoth pretty
22039s likely just to take a couple of draws
22041s from here on out a little awkward that
22042s I'm not gonna be able to play out both
22043s units and it does line things up that
22046s potentially oh no wings actually going
22048s to be played here to make sure that our
22049s post top deck is not lethal for grios
22053s just completely tap down
22056s keep the board under control a solo Shen
22059s is very easy to deal with but drizza
22061s takes another gamble clock Ling into
22065s second augmented clocking reduced by one
22068s we've got another attacker another
22070s blocker another draw as long as drishoth
22074s remembers not to attack into this
22076s blocking Badger bear because we've we've
22078s seen players forget about that with
22080s sharpsite being gone from the meta skips
22081s the predicting to set dress off how do
22083s you do it
22085s he's playing out of his mind Boulevard
22087s utter Devastation everything top deck
22091s came through drissoth needed to find a
22094s playable unit off the first clockwing
22095s and did it this was the one out Creos
22096s had but because of the second clock link
22098s it's off the table and now things
22100s continuing to snowball out of control
22101s for kriosis set is gonna touch down
22103s after the clocking and Creos is not
22105s gonna have anything left very very soon
22108s scarsig with no high no uh with no Karma
22111s the high notes not as good maybe pit
22113s professional is another blocker but no
22114s finds the tag out was that another skip
22117s I think tagout was an option and I
22120s imagine drisoth is going to eventually
22121s use this proactively on set to get a
22123s second showstopper it's like a
22126s collection
22127s it's it's not it's not that good but the
22130s options here are just buck wild it's I
22133s understand you you are never going to
22135s get to say those words with excitement
22136s again because it's never good you're
22138s never gonna see it again so take the
22140s opportunities where you can get them
22142s Creos cannot fight back onto the board
22145s from here set is just going to
22147s continuously try to pull units keep that
22151s pressure up another the one repost in
22154s the deck now used
22157s call draw one
22161s likely just gonna you know sand back the
22163s unit until the next turn Karma off the
22166s top then that could be big with whatever
22167s the anomaly gives us the show the show
22170s stopper dress off has done it in game
22174s number one Creo Scoops it up we are
22176s moving on to a knife fight as you put in
22180s scarsig between Fizz Samira and two very
22184s very well I guess one aggressive deck
22187s and Chen Jarvan
22189s this was a completely ridiculous matchup
22193s we the drizzock was down to the wire
22196s scraping the bottom of the barrel taking
22198s enormous gambles with the inside of Ages
22202s with the clock Ling to find some
22204s additional resources to take over the
22206s game realized I cannot play this thing
22209s as a safe sane player because Creos is
22214s one devastating top deck away from
22215s Victory and now you have the rank one
22219s player on the America Shard over 2000 LP
22223s for potentially one if not the first one
22226s of the first times in history of the
22227s America's ladder on his most comfortable
22230s deck that you have to 2-0
22234s and now is floating you gotta remember
22237s as well drizzloth is comfortable was one
22240s of the original explorers of being able
22242s to play this deck very very slow and
22244s methodically you don't just have to
22245s curve out and swarm take the three
22248s damage we've got Samira coming through
22250s maybe we can ping the Nexus with
22252s something get the jagged butcher with
22253s flair to take out the broad wing
22255s and that said there are no blocking
22257s Badger Bears yet available for krios
22259s which has long been one of the Banes of
22262s this deck you know in the early days of
22263s Samira we were right there on the
22265s Forefront of it at the glory in navori
22267s Brawl we got to see how much damage
22269s blocking Badger bear can do to this list
22271s not even just for the elusives that are
22273s put out but just the stat check that it
22275s does on turn number three
22277s and because of flair we now have the 3-3
22281s going for the full swing father Fury
22283s gifts drizz off with an all-out and
22286s Creos can't take the risk
22290s now other Broadway and developed
22293s yeah broadwing does have Challengers so
22295s we can challenge a Samira and this is
22297s how that gets you I will you overreact
22299s you have to try to take Samira down and
22301s while you're doing that to answer a two
22303s drop dropping all of your resources into
22305s it drizzloth meanwhile activating
22307s plunder Samira going to Frank B going to
22311s a one more card to level up and go to S
22314s and dress off if they want to get cheeky
22316s can actually let the Samira survive with
22318s an all-out thanks to the level up buff
22321s plus the all-out and that is gonna be
22323s the line there's no form up for Creos
22326s this Samira is leveled and honestly
22329s scarsick the one thing we've been
22330s missing from this Top Cut is a Samira
22332s level 2 rally to really start to take
22334s over a game
22335s Samira has been content to just generate
22339s Challenger uh units to fight for the
22342s board or flares to Ping the Nexus and
22344s try to go for that slow grind but now
22347s we have the threat of rallies with
22351s multiple
22352s elusive units and swindle in the deck
22355s giving you even more options giving you
22358s even more plunder procs for monkey
22359s business here comes father fear with an
22361s elixir of Wrath oh man you're he's
22364s picking these cards Boulevard and Creos
22367s can't catch a break has not seen a
22370s single spell this game single combat
22373s form up deny even to give you some
22375s semblance of safety against the future
22377s powder pandemonium Creos cannot find
22380s these answers and the mid-range curve
22383s out style that demacio is known for
22384s might have looked good against Karma set
22386s but here under all of these elusive
22388s threats and actually developing the
22391s screeching Dragon rather than a blocking
22393s Badger bear means Creos is going down to
22396s just five here and that's before elixir
22399s of Wrath comes out drizzloth has the
22402s hand read knows that there is no single
22405s combat has prize fights and drissot's
22409s gonna rally
22412s he's just going to bulldoze through a
22415s triple father Fury Three elusive
22417s attackers swinging through getting
22420s multiple spells here comes flare we've
22423s got the rally Creos is tapped down we've
22426s got the Reed no form up no single combat
22429s no way to stop this here it comes
22431s Swindle you have the badger bear why
22434s didn't you play it drizzle sees it and
22436s takes on it down the world championship
22439s qualifiers drissoff is moving on to the
22443s world championship folks one thing you
22445s love to see is when your rank one player
22447s is able to take it down in skarsik I
22449s don't know if that is something we have
22451s ever seen on the America Shard dominant
22454s on ladder dominant in tournament today
22456s is drissot's day and no one can take
22458s that away from him a commanding 2-0
22461s after not even needing to use the elixir
22463s of raptors off like you said picking
22465s these cards and showing us why Samira is
22468s his wheelhouse
22470s you left that deck unbanned you brought
22475s a lineup that had decent matchups into
22477s it and maybe Creos was finding those
22480s wins up through the open rounds up
22482s through the top 64 to get to this point
22485s but there are two Samira Fizz decks
22489s there's everyone else and then there's
22491s drizzoth playing it and you cannot build
22493s a counter to that lineup no I mean this
22496s used to be a burble fish deck I know
22498s it's not anymore but that is something
22500s that drisov has been experimenting with
22502s since the card was printed back in the
22504s TF Biz Days A couple of years ago it's
22505s what he became known for there are so
22507s many clips of this player on these
22509s styles of decks these low to the ground
22511s combo oriented aggressive things on top
22514s of the fact that he can Flex into
22516s Karma's set the breadth of options that
22518s drizoff is left on the table for himself
22520s with this lineup and this is exactly
22522s what we expected to be a tournament
22525s winning lineup right these are all Decks
22527s that we knew were coming in and it just
22528s takes a different level of pilot to take
22530s it all the way
22532s and speaking of which the karma said
22535s drizzloth every time we saw him play
22537s that deck on stream he had his back
22539s against the wall and managed to just
22541s hang on by a single fingernail he made
22545s it look like crazy card without the
22548s comeback Potential from these piltover
22550s and zondexes the devs are going to be
22552s hearing about this one for a while they
22555s show them they should have lost this
22556s game what are you talking about it's
22557s scraping the bottom of the barrel he's
22558s breaking through the bottom of the
22559s barrel with a shovel and digging another
22560s six feet what do you mean scraping it he
22562s should have been out of options but no
22564s everything comes together and we have
22567s our champion drissoth with floppy Mudkip
22570s will be going to the World Championship
22572s later this year
22574s and again a player that has demonstrated
22577s time and time again that they are worthy
22579s of those accolades are worthy to play
22581s amongst the best in the world and in his
22585s own way drizzloth also improving the
22587s overall quality of the tournament scene
22588s by climbing up to the Mountaintop and
22591s screaming Play Good decks
22594s and he didn't get in his own head today
22596s he did just play good decks and you'll
22599s love to see when it works out for him
22601s especially someone like Joseph who's
22602s constantly helping others up their game
22604s you always love to see uh someone like
22607s that in a pillar of the community come
22609s in and do well of course kudos to Creos
22610s as well don't want to shy over that
22612s because 15 Rune Tara points for second
22615s place is very likely to get you into the
22618s world championship as well you're gonna
22620s need another Strong finish in a
22621s runeterra open or high ladder placement
22623s to make that a reality but with the with
22625s Creos getting as far as they did today
22627s the names that they take down they
22629s should be able to do it but we are going
22630s to throw to a quick break and when we
22631s come back we will have an interview with
22633s our new champion drisoth
22642s thank you
22670s [Music]
22675s foreign
22676s [Music]
22731s all right
22745s [Music]
22751s thank you
22755s I hope you had a chance to run to the
22756s bathroom and you are back in your seat
22758s now because we are here with our new
22760s Champion but first we're going to take a
22761s look at what happened in the previous
22763s round in case you blinked and you missed
22765s it because it was a rather quick one
22767s here we have drisoft very much on the
22769s back foot in one of the first games
22772s this first Jarvan coming down turned six
22775s with the attack token everything lined
22777s up beautifully for Creos and drizzoth
22779s was at his Mercy right one more Jarvan
22782s top deck for a beautiful open attack
22783s would have spelled Doom but karma comes
22785s through with the hex tech anomaly
22787s offering up a plethora of powerful
22789s options and he barely manages to hang on
22793s from here and the discipline displayed
22795s in this game that Reckoning I think you
22797s and I both agreed we would have shipped
22798s that Reckoning every day of the week but
22800s drisov holds it back and finds another
22802s line with the karma spell and is able to
22804s eventually bring it down this as well I
22806s was screaming about the repost top deck
22808s if we didn't find a playable card off
22810s the first clock link but drisov Nails it
22812s out finds the set and is able to
22814s re-establish board control and here we
22816s get to see eventually gets the karma set
22818s re-established in the surrender from
22819s Creos in game one
22821s yeah 17-6 and you can see that's the
22824s weakness if you lose control of the
22826s board and you're on a top deck board you
22827s cannot win meanwhile in game number two
22829s drizzle off level Samira the first time
22832s we'd actually seen it on today's
22833s broadcast if I'm not mistaken definitely
22835s in the first round for a rally yeah yeah
22838s I mean that the read from drizz sauce
22840s just taking saying you know what there's
22841s no form up form up's not real it can't
22842s hurt me single combat's not real it
22844s can't hurt me this this Samir has taken
22845s me to the moon it's taken me to the
22846s world championship and was a hundred
22848s percent right on that call
22850s isn't that right dress off
22855s I mean a great Champion piloted by a
22857s fantastic player drizzoff how are you
22860s feeling let the people know
22867s okay okay all right I saw him I can't go
22870s black but yeah it was not feeling great
22871s at the start of today I was feeling kind
22873s of shaky I mean I think like all the
22874s competitors kind of the same feeling of
22876s like every third deck just seems like
22879s mediocre uh I mean like samir's busted
22883s um Tristan is busted not hard to figure
22885s that one out and then you're just
22886s sitting here with your third deck yeah
22890s it was the third deck was that really
22893s the best was that just something that
22895s you supplemented your lineup with was it
22897s something you were comfortable on or do
22899s you just feel like it was just the best
22901s third deck so it was the third deck that
22904s I found the least offensive by a
22905s considerable margin I played it in like
22907s the open rounds it's pretty good it has
22909s some successful stuff there are some
22911s specific problems if people play like
22913s demacio with um
22916s serious problems I didn't see a whole
22918s lot about that um most of the time that
22920s I saw the mafia they were on like Jinx
22922s Samira and that's like a much more
22923s tolerable mashup
22925s um and most of the times when I saw like
22926s this Samira
22928s weren't on
22932s it was fine it's what I played in the
22933s open rounds
22934s um I actually thought that the best
22937s lineup was demacia trustana
22941s Samira and the nasus vaults of Helio oh
22945s man but
22948s the the nasus was going to just be
22950s finding good matchups did you experiment
22952s with that at all and it just ended up
22954s not coming through for you and you just
22956s went the karmasat so the deck beats a
22958s lot of the stuff that I was expecting to
22960s see so I thought there was gonna be a
22961s good amount of aggro I thought there was
22963s going to be a bit of an echo
22965s um basically there's like people out in
22967s the community that basically like always
22968s play aggro items
22970s um and they can create an aggro lineup
22973s uh so you see this is like drinks a
22975s mirror pretty commonly
22977s um and in those types of lineups nasus
22979s is really good the problem is nasus is
22982s atrocious into both Karma and phys
22986s Samira so if anybody shows up with those
22988s two decks in their lineup you're just
22990s dead in the water it's real bad
22995s are my uh Discord DMS here and I have to
22998s ask you a question because Mo came in to
22999s me and said oh yeah drisoth is part of
23001s my team we made this to take down RPG
23004s guess we've done a good job and I gotta
23006s say most try to take credit for your
23008s victories what it sounds like to me that
23010s that is what that sounds like to me so
23013s do you do you offer Mo a lot of credit
23015s with helping you test and sculpt this
23018s lineup uh so it's kind of weird
23021s um MO is part of a team that I work with
23024s uh no doubt about that there the problem
23026s is I'm like kind of insufferable to work
23028s with because
23030s um I'm basically you're like crazy IST
23032s Uncle when it comes to decks not people
23034s but like I'll just like sit there and be
23037s like this deck is trash and unplayable
23038s and I will refuse to play and you're
23040s like I've been winning on ladder and I'm
23042s like dexbat I will not play that
23046s it's funny because I think on yesterday
23048s on Twitter I saw Mo saying that about
23049s bilgewater Tristana he was like this
23051s deck is overrated I can't believe that I
23053s got baited into playing this
23056s and you know the bait giveth the bait
23058s taketh away but speaking of getting
23060s baited he had the the line I really
23063s wanted to ask you about drizzoth was
23065s when you had your karma pulled by that
23066s screeching Dragon if you have the second
23068s karma in hand you can let combat resolve
23071s you can develop just the second Karma
23073s and just play from there maybe a safe
23075s spot but you went to the inside of Ages
23077s can we talk a little bit about that line
23079s yeah so generally
23082s um there were two things that informed
23084s my decision first of all I expected to
23085s keep set
23087s um it turns out I didn't keep set but I
23089s was expecting that Seth was going to
23092s make it out of the combat alive the
23094s other thing is like if you cast a
23096s doubled Karma spell inside of it is uh
23099s actual gardening
23100s a lot of just random stuff
23102s and random stuff is pretty good at
23104s stalling the game it's not very good at
23106s winning a game but it's pretty good at
23107s just kind of like getting you a few more
23108s turns
23110s the other thing is I'm putting two
23112s karmas into my deck and a lot of the
23115s just random hits draw a card I mean
23118s you're not always going to like place
23119s your bets or something where it's just
23121s like an incredible draw card but you hit
23123s like I don't even remember what the card
23124s name was the one that someone's like
23126s keeper of masks yeah
23130s but it draws you some cards it keeps the
23133s cards flowing you're gonna eventually
23135s find a Karma again and I basically felt
23138s that I could be guaranteed to keep set
23141s or at bare minimum if set dies I can get
23144s a showstopper or I can sacrifice set and
23148s have a second Karma with nothing to do
23150s with it because I didn't have any card
23151s drawing my hand true yourself I did want
23154s to ask we we saw you play some nail
23156s biter series there in in the finals on
23158s the top four you know playing this
23159s having like staring down Jinx Samira on
23162s the other side with Karma set in your
23163s lineup how many points throughout the
23165s day where you're like okay this is it
23167s I'm getting eliminated right here right
23168s now well there were two games that I
23171s distinctly remember that about one of
23173s them was the finals of Carmel vs Shadow
23177s I don't think I think it was like seven
23179s or eight turns but I just could not beat
23181s a j4 I beat the first j4 and I'm just
23183s like they draw j4 I die there's no way
23186s out I don't have a choice
23188s um and then the other one was top eight
23191s I don't remember which round it was but
23193s it's against rattling bugs where there's
23195s a very similar experience he's on Echo
23197s and he
23200s for five or six turns I have to like
23202s look at the VOD to make sure how many
23204s turns it was but like just turn after
23206s turn it's predict and I lose to jinx I
23209s cannot be drinks
23212s and I think seven turns in a rogue
23214s missed it was like
23216s it's definitely more than four I think
23218s it was five or six I it feels like seven
23220s but
23222s um he didn't find it and uh
23225s I progressed so
23227s although bones does have the Accolade of
23230s he is the only person to take a game off
23233s that is true yeah I mean Chekhov kind of
23236s gave up the free win with the Jinx
23237s Samira and the last one he's like ah
23238s whatever we'll play the allow he's
23239s playing versus Karma I know that's what
23240s this is going to come down to anyway but
23242s yeah uh I mean that is incredible then
23244s that you took one game loss in your
23246s entire rift at the top 64 coming from a
23248s player who I know you bubbled out at the
23250s lcq I definitely in the first year I
23253s think in the second year as well you
23254s were just one win off of qualifying now
23256s you are finally pushed through is there
23258s any any shout outs you want to give to
23260s the people that uh kind of helped you
23261s get here before we let you go I mean the
23263s group that I work with I definitely give
23265s them a shout out you mentioned Mo
23266s earlier but it's also one of my shout
23268s outs henneke so
23271s do you guys have a team named mo didn't
23273s mention a team name or other teammates
23275s off against the world I did the deck
23277s building Mo decided to make a uh
23280s anti-rpg name and it is cyan l
23283s games
23285s I do not like that name and there's a
23288s non-zero chance that it will not be that
23290s day you you won the world's invite you
23292s get to name a team memb's the rules yeah
23294s I also get 18 worlds points to qualify
23297s for me for worlds again
23300s that it yeah I don't know why they did
23302s that but you do have those as well on
23303s top of what you're likely to get for
23305s staying in the top ladder until the end
23307s of the season Patricia thank you so much
23309s for coming in and talking with us and
23310s again congratulations and good luck
23312s later this year at the World
23313s Championships I'll definitely be playing
23318s I mean what a great interview couldn't
23321s have happened to a better person we know
23323s that drizzath has been grinding for such
23325s a long time and you can just tell he's
23328s elated but also still very calm and very
23332s you know still analyzing what could I
23334s have done better how could I have built
23335s this matchup better you know was there
23337s something else I could have done he's
23339s already in that world Challenger mindset
23341s you love to see it yeah that's one of
23342s the things about drisoft he's not
23344s monotone but his tone does not change
23346s just despite the emotion as we can see
23348s him he should be elated doing backflips
23350s in his room but instead he's just
23352s talking like it's another day in the
23353s office here despite this being a
23355s Monumental accomplishment but not only
23358s does that open up some worlds points to
23360s other players who were worried about
23361s rank one definitely stealing a World's
23363s invite he has now gotten it in a
23365s different way so that is one more
23367s competitor eliminated from the list of
23369s those top 10 world Point earners so
23371s everybody else is a little bit more of a
23373s shot but scarzig is there anything you
23375s want to say before we let the people go
23376s now that we have crowned our champion I
23379s mean this was a fantastic tournament
23382s every single game every single best of
23384s three that we saw on the broadcast was
23387s just fan was just back and forth very
23390s evenly matched players were super smart
23392s with their bands I think that's what
23394s really stuck out to me Boulevard was
23396s that players were just Banning correctly
23398s and forcing these very good best of
23401s Threes onto the broadcast and I also of
23404s course want to give a shout out to our
23405s viewers for sticking through us for
23407s today's Journey because we wouldn't be
23408s here without y'all at home again thank
23411s you guys so much and again thank you to
23413s our production team spearheaded
23415s primarily by sparkling iced tea but
23416s there are a couple of names out there as
23418s well Greg Benjamin's crock and I'm
23420s really worried I'm forgetting anybody
23421s else which is why I always just say
23423s shout out to Boulevard and nobody else
23424s that I know I'm not forgetting anybody
23426s there's one shout out I Gotta Give I did
23428s it but again thank you to our amazing
23429s production crew and of course you the
23430s viewers at home and of course skarzig I
23432s had one chance to get the right side I
23434s thought I'd get it on flipped a coin and
23436s I lost but thank you all so much for
23438s watching we will see you next time at
23440s the runeterra open next month our first
23443s Eternal format until then good luck in
23446s your tournaments
23459s thank you
23464s foreign
23482s [Music]