With another epic weekend of HoN Tour qualifiers over, it’s time to take a look back at a series you did not have the pleasure to see, featuring a team you may not be too familiar with. This time we will be featuring Clan One Day from all the way down under, as they seek to make a name for themselves as one of the few purely Australian sides that can compete with the big boys.
Teds Angels Gaming on an early Monday morning (for the Aussies anyway). However, before we delve into the great series that unfolded, let’s take a gander at the team that you will come to love.
AngelAdVcate
RoastedMango
FancyFootWrk
MissTea
Support`
With TaGa being a European team, the system set the stage on a USW server, making the ping advantage incredibly minimal as the two teams prepared for a tough engagement. Let’s jump right into game one shall we?
Game 1
Electing to go with some slightly unorthodox heroes, both teams lined up in nearly a mirror matchup, each having a jungler positioned in a pseudo trilane, with a suicide hero struggling in both side’s short lanes. Looking at the team composition of both sides, it is evident that TaGa would gain more of an edge the later the game goes, as the hard carry of Silhouette loomed ever dangerous.
But with a team including Magmus, Midas and Engineer, the aggressive nature from the Hellbourne side was definitely not lacking. Let’s also point out that both teams had phenomenal team fight capabilities, and the individual dual between Tempest and Keeper of the Forest is always an entertaining, vital battle.
A strong early game was a must for Clan One Day, and they achieved just that through the incredibly powerful lane of Engineer and Magmus. Going up against the suicide Plague Rider, there was nothing poor RandomOrWhat could do but melt in the double stun combination.
While in most scenarios you would deem your defensive tower a safe haven at such low levels, it didn’t stop AngelAdVcate and FancyFootWrk from getting their hands dirty and dominating the suicide hero, as they dove over and over again.
Poor Plague, didn’t even stand a chance.
With a fast portal key on Magmus, One Day kept up the aggression, forcing team fight after team fight as they consistently pushed for an early end to the game. It was made difficult however due to the strong anti and counter push of the Legion side, as the Death Lotus and Electric Jolt played huge roles in clearing out the seemingly countless minions of both Balphagore and Tempest. Eventually, however, towers withered away and One Day soared to a comfortable lead in both gold and experience.
They key moment in the match occurred just outside the Legion base at around the 20th minute mark. As One Day moved in to take both Barracks of TaGa, they were met with stern resistance. Wave after wave of Hellbourne Creeps pushed into the base, and each time they were repelled by the area of effect nukes that were prominent on the Legion team.
However, every time this happened, a small part of the Melee Barracks dropped and it was only a matter of time before the whole Barracks fell and One Day would achieve what they came to do. As the Barracks fell, it was followed up with a beautifully timed ultimate by Magmus as he engaged onto Keeper of the Forest, eliminating him before the oh-so powerful Root could come out.
From there, the Legion team just fell apart as the potent pushing power of Clan One Day got the better of them. TaGa conceded defeat, but it was only the first game of a best of three series, and they would most certainly not go down without a fight.
Game 2
As the picking stage ended, it was evident that the gameplay of the second game was going to be completely different than the first. With the hard carries of Chronos and The Dark Lady picked up by both TaGa and One Day (respectively), it was apparent that both teams were in this one for the long haul. With very teamfight-oriented heroes lining up on both sides, this game would surely be an entertaining one.
At the beginning of the game, both teams were willing to sacrifice free farm onto their opponent’s carry, while their own racked up the free farm that was being given to them. One of the most interesting tactics I’ve ever seen in my three year tenure playing Heroes of Newerth was the suicide Kinesis that was run by One Day. As soon as Creeps spawned, MissTea on Kinesis began lifting up his own Creeps using Telekinetic Control, severely delaying several of the minion’s trek to battle in the top lane.
This resulted in the lane being brought back significantly, allowing the Legion hero to fight safely from his defensive tower. This also left the Aluna and Magmus trilane (with Chronos of course) next to useless, as they were unable to find an avenue of attack and were left powerless by the lane control of Kinesis.
The game was reasonably passive for the most part, as both TaGa and One Day seemed to prioritize maxing out the farm on their hard carry. It was only towards the 30-minute mark that the teams began to really group up and fight as a team, instead of the few ganks and skirmishes that had been prevalent in the early-mid game.
While the game was incredibly even, TaGa seemed to come out slightly on top in every team fight, eventually deeming it necessary to push into the base of the Legion side while the Token of Life was still active on Chronos.
An excellent four man ultimate—five if you include Magmus blinking into the Void.
They were hit by the brick wall of Tempest as he landed a magnificent four-man ultimate, allowing One Day to completely Genocide the Hellbourne warriors while taking very minimal casualties.
After this, One Day attempted to gain the upper hand and take control of the game, but it just didn’t seem to work. With both Bubbles and Plague Rider sporting shiny new Sheepsticks, the lockdown onto The Dark Lady just seemed too powerful as Chronos was always able to set up perfect ultimates to beat down on FancyFootWrk.
That didn’t stop the Australians however, as they kept up their relentless pressure and aggression. With the game hanging in the balance they pushed into the Hellbourne base, engaging on top of the hill in the middle lane.
Another beautiful Tempest ultimate, but the damage had already been done.
While Dark Lady possessed a whopping 2820hp, it didn’t stop her withering away to the power of Magmus’s eruption and the auto attack power of Chronos. The excellent use of Sheepsticks prevented her using her Shrunken Head before the bulk of the damage had been dealt.
Even a beautiful Tempest ultimate by Support` couldn’t turn the game around, as the Legion side lacked any buybacks to combat the inevitable counter attack.
TaGa, having won the team fight, leapt down the map to the Legion base and promptly destroyed every Barracks to spawn their own Mega Creeps. The World Tree followed soon after, and the European team of TaGa tied up the series 1-1.
Game 3
The final game of this highly intriguing series again sported some strange lineup choices from Clan One Day, as they opted for both Midas and War Beast. On the other side, TaGa elected to go with what was seemingly comfortable for them with another Magmus/Aluna trilane, this time accompanied by the deadly Forsaken Archer.
However, the powerful trio never seemed to find any chance to be aggressive against the Engineer/Hammerstorm lane, leaving the entire lane under-levelled and under-farmed as War Beast roamed free throughout his own jungle. One Day took advantage of their early levels and the double stun combination of Hammerstorm and Engineer proved too strong for poor Aluna, as the trilane broke down in utter disappointment.
From there, One Day took complete control of the game, utilizing the intense pushing power of Keeper of the Forest and War Beast to take down early towers and further the gold and experience lead they already possessed.
If you get transmuted by Midas, you’re gonna have a bad time.
While we were only 15 minutes into the game, that didn’t stop Support` on War Beast from surpassing the 400gpm mark while his team completely obliterated the opposing force. Much like the first game of the series, One Day took their time and progressively destroyed the Legion base using the power of the minions from Keeper and War Beast. At this stage, the lead was just too much for TaGa to handle, as they wiped and dropped two sets of rax.
It was clear sailing after that for One Day as they took an intense series, two games to one.
Definitely some entertaining games, and a huge congratulations to the Australians as they move into the Winner’s bracket round of 32. Well played by TaGa as well; let’s see how you do in the loser’s bracket now!
Keep an eye out for Clan One Day. While Diamond may very likely elude them with the powerhouse teams that reside in Newerth, with unique picks and a refreshing playstyle they are definitely a team to watch out for. Taking on Shit Happens next weekend, it’ll be interesting to see how that one plays out.
- YUMstix`
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FireSage
I love these summaries
Posted about 10 months ago
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