SK Gaming are the HoNor Tournament Invitational champions after defeating their American rivals Evil Geniuses in the grand finals! We spoke with four members of the winning team immediately after their dominating victory.
Congrats! You guys just pulled off a huge victory, sweeping EG to win 3-1 in the grand finals. Did you expect that you'd be able to win three games straight?
Tralfamadore: I honestly felt pretty confident after our first game. Team morale was high and all of our picks fell into place. Also, they let us pick up Zeus twice in a row, a mistake EG has seemed to make against us in the past ;).
CarDinaL: I excepted it to be a closer series, possibly to five games. We played really well.
Alright, let's get into Game 1, then. You guys got a key pick-off on Moon Queen, which led to a Kongor kill. Did you feel like you had secured the win at that point?
CarDinaL: Definitely not. Even if you get a Kongor kill, EG knows how to play against it, especially with the seven-minute change.
AngryTestie: I don't really think we felt we had it won at that point, if I remember correctly. We needed to pick him off a couple more times, as we were expecting him to have a little more farm and were worried about all the free-farm he got down bottom. But pick-offs like those from Korok really pulled the game into our favor slowly.
Tralfamadore, you went Alchemist Bones on Valkyrie. Were you guys preparing for a long game from the beginning? Why was the game so slow at the start, even though both teams were running fairly aggressive lineups?
Tralfamadore: Yes, I was preparing for a long game right away. I knew I would have free-farm top and that it would be a slow, boring, farming game. I also knew that Moon Queen probably wouldn't go Alchemist Bones and I could probably outfarm her.
AngryTestie: It was an excellent way to counter-act the free-farm Moon Queen was getting, too. She clears the jungle faster, so the Alchemist Bones really help him keep even or pull ahead. The reason it's such a slow paced game in those instances is because both teams are so good at locking down their side of the map. It's especially difficult for our team with YoDa's creeps running around rampant and Pyro generally needing a Portal Key against better teams, making for a slower start.
CarDinaL: Well, that's what happens when teams dodge trilanes, especially when it's opposite lanes where the supports can't roam mid solo. We hate to play like that, but that was the only thing we could do against a Hammer trilane.
Ok, on to Game 2. Like you said, EG let you have Thunderbringer; you also picked up Aluna and Doctor Repulsor, who were both banned in Game 1. Did you feel like you had the advantage at the pick screen?
AngryTestie: Definitely. Our team had strong picks this series, and I think we got the heroes we wanted and got to play the way we wanted.
EG conceded rather suddenly at 25 minutes, after they saw the Sheepstick on Doctor Repulsor. Did that surprise you at all?
AngryTestie: Nah, don't think they had a chance in that situation. We had three strong heroes that scale amazingly with pretty much free-farm. If you go back to the CS tabs, I don't even think they were expecting that fast of a Sheep after he was against the tri-lane.
CarDinaL: We were dominating pretty hard Game 2. We knew before the game started that we wanted to pick a gank-heavy lineup because we were Legion and would lose the farm-fest and Aegis.
Korok: FujiApples was playing the only DR counter they had (Witch Slayer). He was sitting on five empty slots and a sentry ward, so I had free reign over the game.
Tralfamadore: I must say, Testie and I tried aimlessly to globally kill Witch instantly, several times.
AngryTestie: I want to look at that replay, could we have got him if I did it instantly? I think so...or did your 'W' hit a creep? I swear we should have gotten him.
Tralfamadore: He lived with 11 HP. I cried.
There were also some epic Cursed Grounds.
Tralfamadore: That was Fogged.
CarDinaL: Before the game, we said, "Go heal. But if we are getting dominated, go curse."
Tralfamadore: He was pretty manly, channeling his ult down bottom at 3 full-HP heroes. We approved.
Ok, so Game 3 was definitely the most exciting game...
AngryTestie: ANNIHILATION!
CarDinaL: Game 3, we messed up bottom so badly, and it snowballed early game. But luckily, Testie was just ricing top and had us on his back.
Yeah, it looked like Pebbles would start to dominate after he finished his Portal Key, and Nymphora hit Level 6 around the same time.
Tralfamadore: I was more annoyed than scared, at that point. I kind of knew in the back of my head that we were going to win.
CarDinaL: You can beat Nymphora/Pebbles because you can bait, guess where you think he will TP, and set up your team to meet them.
You guys took out EG. Many considered them the top team before this match. Is there anyone or anything that can stop SK in the upcoming HoN GosuCup #1?
CarDinaL: I still think that the top five teams can beat each other on any given day, but right now I consider us the #1 team, with Empr (Phenomenal Boys) second.
Also, what's the deal with Bdiz? Why didn't he play tonight?
AngryTestie: He's joined EG, and there's no bad blood between us. We're actually talking to him right now in Ventrilo, and it's pretty amiable. So we just wish him well on his new venture, and we'll switch from enjoying playing with him, to trying to stomp the life out of him in the upcoming matches!
HUGE thanks for taking the time to do this, guys, and congrats again! Any shout-outs or anything else you want to add?
CarDinaL: Shout-out to Watermelonzz for sitting on the sidelines and boosting Honcast ratings. Thanks bud!
Tralfamadore: Shout-out to Lisa, and my roommate for giving me the name Tralf :D.
Korok: I'd like to give a shout-out to Clan EzPz, the best team in HoN currently. I'd also like to give one to Clan HORSECAMP, #1 up-and-coming team. Also, a HUGE thanks to GranDGranT for supporting the team when we needed him the most. We couldn't have done it without him.
AngryTestie: Shout-out to my GF Kelly whom I <3 dearly, and shout-out to all my friends in TeamSpeak who call me bad all day. People can hear them on my stream now, and they may wonder, "Why are these people so mean to Testie?"
Links
GosuGamers.net - Match report
