Page 64 - SMITE Official Magazine Issue 20

ARTICLE
against Cognitive Gaming, who still had a chance not
to come to Super Regionals during the last week of
the SPL. This series set the tone for Cloud9, since
their Fall Split record does not accurately indicate
their skill level. They won the last SWC, and they
want to win the next one too. Cog focused on early
game strategies and had excellent objective control
until C9 out scaled them and won team fights. The
games lasted longer than the previous set, but Cloud9
were still dominant, sweeping 3-0 and winning
themselves the chance to punch tickets to worlds.
WEDNESDAY: EUROPE DAY 1
Set1: London Conspiracy vs Titan (Bo5)
In a mirror of Tuesday, the fourth and fifth
seeded European teams fought each other. This
was predicted by many as probably the closest set
64 The Official SMITE Magazine Issue #20
of the quarter finals. LDNC has held a middle of
the table ranking all season while Titan has steadily
declined since getting second place at Worlds. The
set was a rollercoaster of emotions with teams going
back and forth the whole series. In every game, the
team with only one frontline tank lost the game vs
a composition of at least one Guardian partnered
with Bellona. In addition, LDNC spammed a Scylla/
Ne Zha combo while Titan favored a Mage in the
solo lane. In the end, London Conspiracy took
the set 3-1, knocking Titan out of the tournament
and proving they deserve their fourth seed spot.
Set 2: Paradigm vs Team Dignitas (Bo5)
Paradigm squaring up against Dignitas was the
final set of the first round. Paradigm had been a top
team all season and ended up second overall in the
Summer Split. On the other hand, Dignitas was still
fighting in the last week of SPL to even attend this
tournament. Similar to C9, the core of Paradigm
won the SMITE Launch Tournament in 2013 and are
hungry for another world championship victory. Seen
by most as the most one-sided set, this matchup
was actually the only first-round series taken all
the way to game five. Bastet proved to be a power
pick this set, winning all four games she was played
in and being banned once. The set started with a
surprise victory by Dig and ended with two back to
back heart-wrenching throws by the lower-seeded
squad. When all the dust cleared, Paradigm found
themselves winning three games and thus advancing
to face their former scrim partners, Fnatic.
THURSDAY: NORTH AMERICA DAY 2
Set 1: Team SoloMid vs Cognitive Gaming (Bo1)
This set was only for prize money and pride.
The pressure was off, so there was a fun picks and
bans phase, with the first Ravana of professional
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