AD2L S48 Explorer Week 2 Match Reviews
We are over halfway through the Explorer Permutations and my takeaway is that we have a serious season on our hands here!! Part of me wants to write about how upon watching a recap of American Horror Story 1–12, it became clear that the writers and show-runners totally lost the plot (figuratively and literally), with seasons having so many twists as to be nonsensical and actors playing multiple roles in the same season just to make things even more confusing, BUT I cannot resist biting into this juicy burger of a week! Let the beet-red blood of an impossible burger run down our cheeks as we savour Week 2 of Explorer!
Feisty Farmers Farming 🧑🌾🌽 (1–3) vs Josh A. Explorer S48 🌴🐫🛶(2–2) — [1–1]
Due to Oogie chowing down on one too many Melatonin gummies (in his defense, he thought they were Melanin gummies — enough of those and you can say the word), the Farmers enjoyed a fat Forfeit game one, but with the mental strength of a recovered alcoholic working as a bartender, they picked up a sub, LOCKED TF IN, and proceeded to crush game 2!
Winning both sidelanes, and even edging out a lead mid, the tricore of F3 just took over the game early, in no small part due to Gabe’s dominance offlane on Necrophos. A 14 minute radiance on offlane Necro is absolutely stellar, and if this is an indication of games to come then I’d start taking the Old Man Offlane™ a lot more seriously going forward. My MVP of course has to be my Panda; after one death in lane, she opted to simply not die for the next thirty minutes, and even then in a won teamfight. Top Dmg in the game, top frags in the game, top kill participation, top building damage, I mean if I didn’t know better I’d say she was the carry!
A 10 lead by twenty minutes, a super early rosh, and just fight after fight going their way, Farmers closed it out pre 40 mins, securing their first win of the season and punctuating it with the Avengers ass promise that this team WILL return. And with Cat dropping the “no wonder yeall made us forefiet” [sic]. No notes, just a thing of beauty. And hey, a correct predition by me!
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The Petting Zoo Rejects 🐐🚫🏆(2–2) vs Stanley’s Friends Squad 🐖🐗(3–1) — [0–2]
A few days ago I stated that this series would determine “Who gets to keep their spot on the farm and who has to interbreed with Sus Scrofa to survive.” And after Boxer was sent off to the glue factory (Spoilers for an 80 year old book!), the dust settled and we find a beautiful specimen leading his army to victory over the stinky feral PzR beasts.
Game 1 we saw a bit of a false start by SFS, losing both side lanes and drawing mid. Whole Grene Toast did their best to not bleed too badly, only dropping one kill to PzR’s somewhat oppressive combo of Centaur and Wyvern, but Matty and Red Sky (this week’s sub in for Dark) had a real scrap fest bottom into Sidez and Luke at almost 1 kill a minute happening down there. Mid was unsurprisingly in Lina’s favour, but a smart rotation by Voidhunter nabbed him a Spec kill and pulled the lane much closer to even. Immediately post laning phase we saw the supports dazed and malaised, especially on Dire, dying over and over again to Lina and Spec. By twenty minutes we had 10 deaths on Gyro, 6 on Warlock, 6 on Venge, and 4 on Wyvern, but culminating in the biggest fight of the game thus far around the Radiant T1. 4 for 4, with only Rene and Dr. Equine Phallus making it out, but this opened up a lot of map space for Die with the removal of the T1. It was at this point net worth finally broke even, falling into Dire’s favour where it would remain for almost the whole rest of the game. Radiant started to realize that while they could easily and freely pop Warlock, Gyro, and even the occasional Void/Tide with the right combo, PL had yet to die and was racking up net worth like a crypto enthusiast in 2013. Between Lina and Radiance Spectre, the networth graph was holding even, and this came to a head after a rosh take turned into a lost aegis which turned into a really bad fight near the radiant wisdom shrine. Despite Red Sky dropping damn near 5k damage solo, SFS using ravage and golem, and Spectre actually dying despite two save supports, the fight was extremely punishing for the Dire, losing 4 heroes for only Spec, in no small part to agpat dropping 7700 damage as he stacked double edges. This 4k swing balooned into 8k as PzR swarmed the map, taking all T2s, full map control, and seemingly the game. But Rene, the Solo Leveling protagonist that he is, caught Spec out and killed her ghost ass, stopping the bleeding. This lead to basically the last fight of the game as our piggy pawns ran high ground into the maw of PzR, staring death in the face and not fuckin’ blinking! Spec held BB after getting caught and killed, but was forced to drop it as the Dire encroached further and further into their base. Mega Creeps? Nah, I’m tryina win. At the end, it was bodies being thrown into bodies as the Rejects desperately tried to keep their ancient alive. But while friends to Stanley, they were none too friendly to PzR as they ignored all and just fucking mashed their fists and faces into the ancient until it crumbled. Looking at the damage numbers is actually somewhat hilarious because you can see that’s exactly what they were doing: 4500 hp chunked down 500dmg from Void Spirit (he died), 1000 from Tide (he died later), 600 from Warlock (she die too), 900 from Gyro, 1900 from PL, what a fucking call to do this and everyone doing their part is just so sick. If it had not worked, would they have lost the game? I am not saying that. But I am saying that it was the game winning play. Shout out toastie for approaching Maelk Award status (0–20–21) with her 0–13–20 showing here!
After a nice compact 49 minute game, the Friends Squad was all warmed up for a real slog. And what’s a 65 minute game between friends? Unsurprisingly, the PL was first phase banned, but PzR let Warlock, Gyro and Tide back through. PzR picked not a single repeat hero, opting for a Naix carry, UL off, and last overall pick OD. Lanes actually went much better for SFS this game, with Voidhunter’s Razor picking up a dub against OD, the Spec Warlock lane granting Renastie their first lane win of the season, and only the Lifestealer pulling head in lane for PzR. Luke put on a bit of a clinic on Shaman this laning phase, going 2–1–2 and even picking up an assist on Spectre (shutting the door on another deathless performance for Rene early). However, Red Sky’s Gyro managed to live the whole time, which was a bit of a saving grace for the lane. The first of many teamfights was at the Dire top tower at 12' where a well placed ravage plus haunt plus Razor storm took out all 5 members of PzR for only the Tide, granting Voidhunter an Ultra kill (thanks Rene for saving him the embarassment of a rampage). But this lead was short lived as a mid T1 push by SFS turned into a brutal 3 on 5, the first of multiple engagements in the early midgame in which the Squad fought 3 or 4 on 5 and bled out deaths to Naix and OD. The game was on shakey ground at this point for the barnyard brawlers; PzR had aegis, a 10k lead, and even got a kill on Rene’s Spectre, who had been farming up an absolute storm. A big fight top lane stemmed the bleeding briefly, as a sick Ravage from Matty lead to a 4 for 3 exchange, but sidez managed to live on his Lifestealer and mere minutes later they were knocking on Radiant’s high ground, dropping snakes and taking a T3. Reset, second aegis, and PzR was looking to strike the final death blow around 40'. But here we have the biggest swing of the game and the best fight from SFS I’ve seen all season. Ravage on, by my count, 12 heroes, fresh aghs on my Toastie, Razor with 7k damage, 2 homing missile stuns in one fight, 4 members of PzR basically 100–0'd, and the prize above all: Lifestealer dead twice. An 8.k swing off this one fight, into outer tower demolition and a 25k exp lead out of nowhere for the good guys (no bias btw). From dead even to actually favourable, a fight at 47' in the triangle showcased Razor’s new AC, Tide’s Lotus, and Spectre’s Bloodthorn, making short work of all but agpat’s Underlord despite a great ult from DDD’s OD.
But this is 7.41, one does not simply go high ground! Even with aegis and top rax down, Dire managed to rebuff the push and trade all three of their crawly boys for all 5 of the Friends (Naix, Nyx, and UL are the crawlers). The Rejects ran it all the way down top lane, actually evening out the rax here, putting the game into a stalemate once again. A random death on Spec at the hands of OD stressed me out, but both sides were content waiting for their Bro Roshua to rear his scaley head once more. And like most of the Conq player base after they have one too many Twisted Teas camping with the boys, rear he did! Radiant jungle, right outside the Roshua Tree pit, 57', we have 3 refresher orbs popped, one refresher shard, and 3 BKBs, for 2 Haunts, 2 Ravages, 2 aghs Serpent Wards, and a pair of golems. BB from Nyx, Dieback from Nyx, 6k damage from Lifestealer, 7k from OD, 8k from Spectre, but an INSANE 12.6k damage in ONE FIGHT from Voidhunter’s Razor. This was truly the death knell for PzR, losing aegis, the remainder of the rax top, and their last ditch efforts to make plays just failed, dropping the double Gs as Lifestealer died for the last time at 64'.
A masterclass in resiliance from the Stanley Friends Squad, taking down not just a higher MMR team, but one who is proven, both last season and this. SFS show that they have ability to beat ANY team in this division, and they have the grit to win even when it’s hard. And PzR made it damn hard this game! I can’t understate how well sidez and Dr. Donkey Dick, DMD played this game, and against pretty much anyone else I think they win this. I’m impressed by both teams and frankly, after this week I would be far from suprised to see this rematch happening in Grand Finals.
Another mega fun week, excited for the conclusion of the first round robin here in Explorer next week! All the teams are growing, learning, and shifting; I can only count myself lucky that I’m here to witness it in person!! Thanks for reading!
