On April 14th, during their ESL Majors match against Goat Gaming, Cloud9 Maelstrom pulled out an unusual team composition. For a game on Cursed Hollow, the team chose to not include a warrior in their lineup, and instead bring Murky into the top level of competitive Heroes of the Storm. C9 had already handily defeated Goat Gaming in the first game of the series, and many in the Twitch chat cried “troll pick!” Maelstrom was able to pull off another dominating performance with the baby murloc on their side, but the question lingered over the series—did Cloud9 insult their opponents by choosing to play Murky in an official match?
A “troll pick” is defined as a hero that is universally considered to be inferior to any other option
The idea of etiquette in sports has been a topic of much debate for generations. Running up the score in football, intentionally hitting batters in baseball, and troll picks in competitive MOBAs are all subjects that divide the fans of any sport right down the middle. While there seems to be no clear “right” answers, using the example C9 provided, we can perhaps determine if picking Murky constitutes “bad manners” in Heroes of the Storm.
What's in a troll?
First, let’s explore the idea of a troll pick. For the sake of this article, a “troll pick” is defined as a hero that is universally considered to be inferior to any other option. In essence, no team would ever purposely choose that hero if they were trying their best to win the game. This definition does largely work for Murky because of his odd mechanics and his general lack of damage and utility when compared to most specialists. Particularly when compared to the likes of Sylvanas, Lost Vikings, and Zagara, Murky seems to provide very little to his team on the surface. If Murky is indeed a troll pick, then every single person who has ever picked him (unless they just needed to get level five for the free gold) has been purposely trying to make life more difficult for their teammates.
And yet, we have all been in games where Murky did something awesome. Where his split push gave your team a huge level advantage, or his ability to return to fights made reengaging for a tribute possible. The idea of a troll pick essentially implies that Blizzard is so bad at their jobs that they have created a hero that is just no good, and they have decided to just let the community declare it useless. However, Blizzard gave Murky a huge rework just a few weeks ago, so clearly they don’t view him as obsolete. The general goal of success in hero-based game is that every single character has an opportunity to shine. Perhaps Cloud9 just found the secret formula to make Murky work.
Consider the comp
So, if Murky could potentially work in a competitive environment, how does a team make that happen? Cloud9’s team composition should give a pretty clear answer. While the team did not include a warrior, they did have Illidan and Uther, two heroes who have strong survivability when used together, and can effectively absorb most of the damage that would normally fall to the E.T.C or Diablo. They also chose to abandon a second support in lieu of securing Jaina and Falstaad, heroes with some of the highest area burst damage in the game. Last, their Murky went for Octograb as his heroic ability, a spell that locks one target in place for several seconds.
The idea of the composition is simple. Murky uses his mobility and damage immunity to get inside the enemy team and isolate one target with his ultimate. Using their excellent team synergy, the rest of the squad immediately unleashes all of their burst damage onto the chosen victim, eliminating them from the fight before it starts. If everyone is positioned properly, the only person who should die in this exchange is Murky, who appears two seconds later from a well-placed egg to rejoin a five on four team fight.
On a map like Cursed Hollow, where the team knows exactly where the next fight will happen in advance, Cloud9 could setup this trap reliably over and over again, and Goat Gaming had no way to prevent it unless they found the egg before the fight. This was an extremely risky team composition that relied on everyone being on the same page, and positioning perfectly before each fight. It also required Murky to know exactly where to place his egg ahead of time so that he could quickly rejoin the fight. Without a warrior or a second support, Cloud9 would have been unable to win multiple extended team fights in the late game. They needed things to go their way early and often.
Can you run up the score?
This was not C9 picking on a high school club team. They saw an opportunity to test a unique strategy, and Goat Gaming was unable to punish them for it.
Remember that this was an official match of the ESL Major League. If Maelstrom had lost this game, they would have been in danger of dropping a series, which would affect their standing come playoff time. While Goat Gaming may not have been the favorites in this match, they still earned their spot in this league. This was not C9 picking on a high school club team. They saw an opportunity to test a unique strategy, and Goat Gaming was unable to punish them for it. It should also be noted that Team Liquid pulled out a Murky during the Enter the Storm finals, and they went on to win the whole thing!
In a game like Heroes of the Storm, where the meta remains so fluid, there is no way to really declare any team composition to be intentionally disrespectful unless someone in an official (i.e not Reddit) declares a hero unusable.
So, the next time you run across a Murky in your ranked matches, instead of declaring the player a troll, consider the opportunity to find a new way to defy the meta, and surprise your enemies with the power of a team built around a “worthless” hero.
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