The second week of the Carnage in Caldavar Pro League ended on Sunday, with a bevy of exciting best-of-three series. Highlighted in this article is a great game between the new Team Excellent and the hopeful The Last of US. xCet hoped to prove they still have what it takes to compete with the best, while tUS hoped to establish themselves a contender in the upcoming months.

Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

This was the second game in the team’s best-of-three series, with xCet making short work of tUS in the first. xCet’s draft in game two was startlingly greedy, with extremely weak laning heroes like Dampeer and suicide Wretched Hag, along with Circe and Nymphora as supports. The pace of the game has hastened considerably since the days of the free farming NoX Dampeer snowballing out of control, but xCet decided to try what was comfortable for them in the past. tUS had a typical draft with Swiftblade, Empath, and Parasite controlling the safe lane, Drunken Master the off-lane, and Bubbles soloing middle.

The game started with a bit of a stare down in tUS’s jungle when xCet was allowed to place wards in Parasite’s hard camp, but neither team engaged. Bloodlust was claimed by tUS when Pew’s Nymphora was caught out of position after attempting to re-ward the hard camp.The action in the early game centered around the off-lanes, where both teams found kills on their opponents’ suicides. tUS came out ahead in this regard when BeaverBanger’s Drunken Master found a solo kill on Dampeer despite Nymphora’s assistance. FuzzySloth’s Bubbles farmed up a quick level six and rotated to the bottom lane where he and Drunken Master pulled off a sensational four-for-one exchange, hinting at tUS’s potential for greatness. At the ten minute mark tUS had a commanding 10-2 kill lead, and a 5k/7k advantage in gold and experience. xCet’s morale was further dampened when Drunken Master made a fantastic escape amidst five heroes.

America’s Shining Beacon Of Hope

The game leaned further in tUS’s favor, with the American squad continuing to take favorable teamfights around the map and an easy Kongor kill at the 24 minute mark. xCet showed signs of life when they picked off an unsuspecting Swiftblade top lane, netting them a Token of life and a follow-up kill. The game settled into a pseudo-farm war with both teams finding pick offs around the map, while trying to utilize their resources effectively. xCet made good use of their Portal Key Dampeer and Nymphora combination, punishing Swiftblade’s lack of Vestments multiple times. Kongor finally respawned around the 36 minute mark and both teams were ready. tUS aggressively forced a teamfight around the pit and was rewarded with three kills and a free Token for Swift.

xCet decided that they cannot win a 5 on 5 engagement, and elected to counter push the bottom lane when tUS came barreling down middle with all of their heroes. Unfortunately for the CEO, tUS quickly finished off the middle barracks and teleported back to defend their base. xCet attempted a desperate “fake-back” strategy to try to find an easy kill on their unsuspecting opponent. They quickly burned Swift’s token with an all-in initiation, but lost Kraken and Nymph in their hasty retreat. NoX was surprisingly now the top farmer in the game and finished his Wingbow, giving the veterans an glimmer of hope. Both teams once again retreated to farm until tUS found kills on Circe and Nymphora, prompting a backdoor push on the bottom lane. xCet repeled them fairly well with the help of a few buybacks, but things were still looking grim for Pew’s squad.

Another teamfight erupted in the bottom river, where xCet somehow picked off Drunken Master sans a buyback and looked to Kongor. tUS bravely decided to fight without one of their core heroes, and a chaotic teamfight ensued. tUS finally came out ahead with the help of a big buyback from Swiftblade, and claimed their third Kongor kill of the game. The game culminated in a base race when xCet knew they could not defend a push from tUS. The US boys made short work of the World Tree with their superior physical damage and took the game at the 52 minute mark.

No problems for Sync, KNX. xCet squeak by. tUS falls short.

Despite winning the series after a great game three, the new xCet squad clearly needs more teamwork if they want to compete at the highest level. Sync E-sports dominated xCet in an easy 2-0 victory on Sunday and look forward to getting their revenge on Bad Monkey Gaming in an upcoming rescheduled match. tUS had ups and downs this weekend after a dominating 2-0 performance against Reason Gaming on Saturday offset with losses to xCet and REXXARS on Sunday. The only team truly cemented in the playoff run are the Monkeys, and everyone else will have to step up their game if they want to compete in the post-season.

The Carnage Pro League action continues on Tuesday at 12pm EDT | 1800 CEST with coverage by BreakyCPK and Honcast, Reason Gaming will attempt to make a big leap forward with a win over the Monkeys, while Handsken and crew look to defend their perfect record. Matches continue Wednesday and Thursday, leading into a full weekend of games, so don’t miss any of the Carnage!

More on this topic:
Carnage Pro League VODs - Week 2
Reason With No Answer For Excellent In Pro League
The Last Of Us Shows Promise In First Carnage Matches
Carnage In Caldavar Portal


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