Misfits burns Team Dignitas for a 3-0 victory and Team Expert crushes Diamond Skin 3-0.
Match 1: Misfits vs. Team Dignitas (Misfits wins 3-0)
The Game drafts can be found here (click on Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3)
Inexplicably, Team Dignitas didn't seem to have any idea how good Ragnaros is in the current meta or how to play against him. Misfits capitalized, picking him up at the first opportunity every single game. They were even able to get heroes like Zeratul and Leoric, for the Void Prison/Entomb heroics, to go with him, maximizing the value Ragnaros could get out of Sulfuras Smash. While Team Dignitas put up a good fight in games 1 and 2, they'll definitely want to work on their drafting for next week.
While I'm sure Team Dignitas did not envision opening their HGC 2017 Europe campaign by losing 0-3 to Misfits, not all is lost. There is still 4 more weeks of league play for them before the Western Clash, and they lost to undoubtedly one of the top teams in Europe. That should be plenty of time for them to build up team synergy with their new member Zaelia and get back to being one of the best teams in Europe.
Match 2: Team Expert vs. Diamond Skin (Team Expert wins 3-0)
The Game drafts can be found here (click on Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3)
Adrd is without a doubt one of the best Medivhs in the world. So what if you first banned the Medivh and just didn't deal with it? After getting wrecked by Adrd's Medivh the first two games, Diamond Skin decided that they had to try. It didn't work out for them, as Team Expert dominated Game 3 with adrd on Ragnaros. This leaves their potential opponents with a major dilemma: do you give adrd his best hero in Medivh, or do you allow them to draft one of the best heroes in the game?
Perhaps the best play of the day happened in the second half of Game 2 on Towers of Doom. Team Expert's ETC fearlessly power slides to Mosh Pit two enemy heroes...under the enemy team's death zone. Not only does his team get a kill, but he leaves with over half his health. It was even more impressive watching it than it sounds when I try to describe it. The loss had to hurt for Diamond Skin, as they had built a pretty impressive mid game lead with a 5-2 kill advantage and a 28-8 core health advantage, but what a comeback by Team Expert!
We saw some pretty good Heroes of the Storm play from many players today, but I think adrd has to be MVP of the day so far for his incredible Medivh and Ragnaros play.
Early Draft Observations
The big headline is obviously Ragnaros's 4-0 performance in HGC Europe and clear first pick/first ban status. Beyond that, Malfurion's 100% involvement rate and 0% winrate (0-6) is definitely a major talking point. Team Dignitas and Diamond Skin both first picked him every time - and it did not pay off, as the other teams picked up Rehgar or Brightwing and were perfectly fine (Rehgar and Brightwing both had a 100% winrate). Such an emphasis on Malfurion only makes sense if he is a significantly better support than the alternatives (Rehgar and Brightwing).
Looking Forward
HGC 2017 Europe action continues tomorrow starting at 18:00 CET (9 am PST) with beGenius vs. Team Synergy and Fnatic vs. Tricked eSports at 20:30 CET (11:30 am PST). Will Ragnaros continue to dominate? Which one of Fnatic, Misfits or Team expert will finish Week 1 at the top of the standings?
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