#136 - Into the Nexus: “Enjoy the Stable Meta”

• Garrett • Kyle 

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• Patreon.com/ITN

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Intro:  Welcome to Into the Nexus! The Heroes of the Storm podcast!

News

Reminder, you can go to ITNcast.reddit.com to submit stories or upvote submissions for the next episode.

Stories from Diamond 1

• Grandmaster Duo Queues
• Muradin Unknown
• Same mistakes happen, the reactions are just more impressive.
• Mosh is out!
• Nobody cares about winrates, just the stigma.

BlizzCon: The Story So Far

Bracket

$1,000,000 prize pool.

Prize Breakdown:

1st - $300,000

2nd - $150,000

3rd-4th - $100,000

5th-6th - $75,000

7th-8th - $50,000

9th-12th - $25,000

I’ll do the short version run down. Then we can get more nitty gritty.

Short Version:

• Semi Finalist Korea’s MVP Black destroyed. 8/0 total through their groups.

• Dignitas did ok against them. But was beaten by Tyrael Guldan. And then Kyocha’s Tracer

• Semi Finalist Korea’s Ballistix seeded higher and destroyed their group 4/0.

• Denial Esports didn’t get a single killed against them.
• Former Team DK members sCsC and Noblesse lead Ballistix

• Taiwan’s Please Buff Arthas and Europe’s Fnatic are the teams to beat to gain access to the semi finals.

• Please Buff Arthas was defeated by Fnatic, but rose back up through the loser's bracket.

• Dignitas vs. Astral Authority. Winner faces Please Buff Arthas.

• Dignitas did the boot camp in Korea. Scrimmed with Ballistix.

• Denial Esports vs. Zero Panda. Winner faces Fnatic

• former Cloud9 members KingCaffeine, k1pro, and iDream comprise 3/5 of Denial.

Longer Version:

Day 1: Group A

• Korea’s MVP Black cruises through without a single game loss.
• North America’s Denial 2/0s all opponents except MVP black. Both Latin American teams, Reborn and Burning Rage, gave Denial a visible workout, but Denial was ultimately stronger.

Day 2: Group B

• China’s Estar had visa issues. With only a few weeks to practice with its new roster, they were no longer the dominant force in the group.
• Europe’s Fnatic narrowly beats Taiwan’s Please Buff Arthas with some choice staggers and punishes. They went on to defend against Estar to advance.
• Taiwan’s Please Buff Arthas was defeated by Fnatic, but advances through the loser's bracket against Estar and South Asia’s Imperium

Day 3: Group A

• Korea’s MVP Black advance to the play offs at Blizzcon with 2/0 victories.
• North America’s Astral Authority puts up a fight, but Taiwan’s Please Buff Arthas takes the win with an amazing counter core rush earning a spot at Blizzcon
• While ultimately outclassed, Dignitas had a good showing against MVP Black. PBA tried to cheese MVP Black with a Tyrael Judgment / Nova Triple Tap combo, but to no success.

Day 3: Group B

• Korea’s Ballistix advances with 2/0 victories against Denial and Fnatic.
• North America’s Denial Esports lost to Ballistix without getting a single kill in both games.

The Results!

• All matches from here on out are eliminations.
• Korea’s MVP Black and Ballistix advance to the round of 4 playoffs.
• 4:00 pm Pacific Friday - Dignitas vs. Astral Authority. Winner faces Please Buff Arthas (at 7:00)
• 5:30 pm Pacific Friday - Denial Esports vs. Zero Panda. Winner faces Fnatic (At 8:30)
• Semifinals start at Noon the following day.

Who to Watch For

• MVP Rich’s Alarak, Kerrigan and Illidan
• MVP Kyocha’s Tracer
• Fnatic’s Double Warrior, Double Support Valla comp. (ETC, Zarya, Brightwing, Tassadar, Valla)
• Fnatic’s Triple Global (ETC, Brightwing, Falstad)
• Dehaka Sightings sprinkled throughout

Links

• https://www.reddit.com/r/heroesofthestorm/comments/59e3ur/survival_guide_blizzcon_2016_esports_opening_week/#esports
• http://www.gosugamers.net/heroesofthestorm/news/41952-blizzcon-2016-mvp-black-cruises-to-victory-in-group-a
• http://team-dignitas.net/articles/blogs/Interview/10388/interview-with-bakery-on-korean-bootcamp-and-blizzcon
• http://www.gosugamers.net/heroesofthestorm/news/41966-blizzcon-2016-day-2-pba-pushes-fnatic-and-estar-to-the-brink
• https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/190

Patreon Mention: Patreon.com/ITN

Patron Thanks

• Michael        Wheater
• Shilas        
• SeanFAU        
• Christoffer Bjerge
• Nicholas Goss
• Jennifer        DeJesus
• Karl Kemp-O'Brien
• zachary        cooper

Strategy

You have one week of Stable Meta Left!

Probably more without a patch, but BlizzCon will bring in new players and the finals will make people do strange things in draft. Now is the time to climb!

Bronze and Silver

• Only 5 heroes give you a statistical advantage.

• Samuro
• Sgt. Hammer
• Gazlowe
• The Butcher
• Murky

• Every Game will have (All of which have negative winrates)

• Li Ming
• Malfurion
• Jaina
• Muradin

• Play Heroes who mix Soak, team fight and gank

• The Butcher on big maps
• Gazlowe on small maps
• Kerrigan
• Tychus

Gold and Platinum

• 50% of heroes are above 50%

• TLV
• Malf
• Gazlowe
• The Butcher
• Kerrigan
• Jaina
• ETC
• Tyrael

• All Games have a

• Li Ming
• Malfurion
• Muradin
• Johanna
• Brightwing
• Valla

• Get really good at something with a low pick low ban

• Nazeebo
• Diablo
• Stitches
• Raynor
• Azmodan
• Valla
• Lunara
• Xul

Diamond and Masters

• All but 11 heroes are above 50%.

• The Butcher
• Rexxar
• Kerrigan
• Sgt. Hammer
• Xul

• Samuro and Malf will be ban most games. ETC, Zarya will be second ban
• Every Game has a

• Li Ming
• Valla
• Muradin
• Brightwing
• Sylvanas
• Tychus

• Pick

• Whatever your amazing at brah. Draft for the map first.
• Avoid Kharazim, Diablo and Sonya.

Emails

Jestorm

Just gotta say Thank you for all you both do, your professionalism and quality are awesome. I love your bumpers and it sparked a bit of a thought. Is the "darkness" from heroes hidden interactions the same Darkness from the sound of silence song? Or is there another reference I may have missed?

Outro

Patreon Shout Out

ITN is supported by our badass Patrons. You can become a ITN Patron by going to Patreon.com/itn.

iTunes Thanks

• Name

Into the Nexus is produced by Amove.tv and our Patreon producers Declan H and CheezyBob! ITN coffee mugs and glasses are over at bit.ly/amovestore.

Catch the live show Thursday nights at 8pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio. Go to mobile.alphageekradio.com.

Follow the show on Twitter @ITNcast, Facebook.com/Amovetv, And ITNpodcast.reddit.com.

Thanks to Brian Griffith, the musician responsible for our intro music. He can be found at briangriffithmusic.com or @briangriffith on twitter..

Personal Stuff

Garrett

Follow Garrett @GarrettArt

NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.

The Angry Chicken: A Hearthstone Podcast

The Angry Nerd

Kyle

A-move Radio

Kylefergusson.com

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