Page 48 - SMITE Magazine Issue 33

ESPORTS
Team Allegiance vs Team Eager
Throughout the season, these were the first
and second place teams, but Team Eager slumped
at the end of the split and came to the tournament
as the bottom seed while Team Allegiance was
on a hot streak, winning multiple LANs.
We saw a dichotomy between the drafts in the first
game. Allegiance created a more aggressive composition
backed up by a Zeus while Eager chose a lineup that
was more defensive and relied on He Bo to scale to
the late game with an Awilix for early pressure. Both
teams adjusted to the European PC meta, starting some
characters with full boots. Eager quickly amassed a
lead, but were not able to close out until the late game,
finally killing the Titan after 50 minutes of play.
The second game was similar to the first. Allegiance
drafted a lineup with even more early game aggression
with Ravana and Camazotz. Their goal was to get an early
lead and snowball. Eager responded with a Nike pick and
kept the Awilix. Allegiance obtained a sizable lead early on,
but Delta Marine played great and Eager took the game,
winning the set 2-0 and securing their place in the finals.
FINALS
SoaR Gaming vs Team Eager
This set was spicy even before the games started.
When asked which team would win during the pregame,
Soar’s ElBr0chacho implied that his team destroyed
Eager in scrims and that the beatings would continue.
The first two games of the finals were very similar to
each other. Three bans from the first banning stage
48 The Official SMITE Magazine Issue #33
were consistent, Ra and Geb from Soar, and Ao Kuang
by Eager. Eager managed to draft Chronos, Nike, and
Zeus in both games while Uzzy played Odin. Eager’s Delta
Marine dominated on Zeus both games. One highlight of
his play was one of his triple kills, where he got the last
two kills from chain lightning bounces after he had died.
Soar changed up their team comp in game two, bringing
in Shaiber’s famed Zhong Kui and StormyRay’s pocket
Cupid pick, but they were unable to match the strength
of Delta Marine’s Zeus backed up by the rest of Eager.
In game three, Soar immediately banned Zeus and
removed Nike and Chronos in the second round of bans.
They first picked Hun Batz for Chapo and kept the Odin and
Cupid picks. The Zeus ban opened Ra up for Eager. They
also picked up the Awilix and Sylvanus combo that worked
well for them in game 1. In the first two games, Soar picked
up an early lead but lost their advantages and eventually
the game. In game three, however, Soar again managed an
early lead but maintained it. They achieved victory mostly
off of Chapo playing out of his mind, displaying near perfect
mechanics and racking up a 10/1 K/D for the game.
Chapo’s performance in game 3 would lead to Eager
banning out Hun Batz at the start of game 4. Soar kept
the Zeus ban and picked Uzzy’s Odin for the sixth time
in a row this tournament and Shaliber’s Scylla that was
great in the previous game. Eager picked up the Nike and
Chronos that they performed great on earlier this set. They
also last picked Delta Marine’s He Bo. The combination
of Myflin and Delta Marine paved way for Eager to
acquire and keep a lead, securing a win and solidifying
themselves as the console SMITE world champions.
By Zachary McFarland
The GameOn Magazine