How The Warriors Prevented History
A Closer Look at the Surprise Upset that Ended a Historic Win Streak
The Warriors came prepared.
You would be forgiven for thinking otherwise after watching game 1, where the Dragons turned a pressure difference on the left side of the map into an unstoppable deluge of invades, ganks, and objective. And when it comes to this Dragons team, when it rains it absolutely pours. Game 1 ended after 23 minutes with an uninteresting score of 14-4. The only time the game seemed somewhat close was when the Warriors killed three of the Dragons at a gold fury.
The Warriors catch PolarBearMike to win the fight after losing Gold Fury. Images from Twitch.tv/smitegame
Coming into their Phase 3, week 2 match against the Warriors, the Dragons carried a 10-set win streak—tied with NRG for longest in the history of the SMITE Pro League. Had they won this set, the Dragons would have been in sole possession of the longest set streak of all time, an accolade fitting of a team that has been largely on top of the SPL since the core formed in season 6. Even though they have not parlayed that success into a championship, the Dragons won so convincingly over the Scarabs and Kings in week 1 that fans, myself included, were beginning to wonder if anyone could stop them.
How shortsighted we were.
The Warriors entered game 1 with a clear game plan: stall the pressure long enough to reach the late game, where their composition was favored. The Dragons rolled with their usual straightforward strategy: pick pressure then force that pressure. They first picked Cabrakan, which allowed PBM to invade the purple buff, something he did in week 1 as well (Hayzer discusses PBM purple invade in his recent VOD review).
Few guardians can clear purple fast enough on their own to avoid being caught out by the opposing duo lane, which is a considerable risk as invader’s curse can make escaping the enemy jungle difficult. It may be the case that Yemoja and Cabrakan are the only guardians with level 1 clear capable of securing the buff with minimal risk. With Yemoja banned, the Dragons clearly viewed this strategy as effective enough to prioritize Cabrakan—and the Warriors noticed. NeilMah waited in the jungle, careful to hide behind walls so to not be spotted (though he was spotted anyways), then secured the purple buff with a hand of the gods.
NeilMah waits in the jungle to disrupt PolarBearMike’s invade.
Knowing that Neil had a hand of the gods—a one-time burst of true damage to jungle camps that all but guarantees buff secure—viewers might wonder why Mike did not abort his invade. I think there are a two main reasons for this that highlight the differences between the teams’ drafts and how the Dragons were able to pressure the duo side of the map.
First, the only way for Khepri to out-confirm Cabrakan on the purple buff is to use his hand of the gods. Had Mike not continued with the invade, Neil would have been able to hold onto his HOG and save the experience for Vote—both of which would have made invading the second spawn significantly harder as Vote would have more experience and Neil would have a HOG for secure. Second, PandaCat on Hou Yi has tremendously faster level 1 jungle clear than Vote on Artemis, so even with invader’s curse Mike was in little danger of being caught in a 2v1 and either being poked killed (and thus forfeiting pressure). The result is that Mike enters the lane with no experience, Vote and Neil started with just one camp each, while PandaCat got two camps of experience all to himself. While the warriors did wrestle back some early pressure (and nearly got first blood onto Mike), the PandaCat’s lead eventually opened up a gank from Screammmmm, who secured first blood after diving Vote’s tier 1 tower.
Screammmmm finds Vote under tower for first blood.
After the first blood, the Dragons never let up, and Vote at one point found himself down three levels. The Dragons drafted for a strength and knew exactly how to push it—they had pressure in duo and jungle, so they took those 3v3s as often as possible to create as many wins as they could.
The Warriors responded immediately in the draft for game 2. The Khepri-Artemis lane was replaced in their first two picks with Cupid-Ymir, a lane which loves to fight and thrives on outclearing, outduling, and invading. Essentially, the Warriors dared the Dragons to play the duo side of the map again, this time picking gods who could rise to the occasion of constant fighting.
Duo lane was not the only area of adjustment the Warriors made. Out was the Mercury jungle and in was QvoFred on Hun Batz, a god who fights much more consistently at all phases of the game despite having a weaker late game. The Warriors also drafted Cernunnos for Dardez, who has a history of playing unorthodox hunters in mid lane. Mages in middle have been something of a mystery so far in phase 3—aside from several teams prioritizing Vulcan, it seems like much of the league has been tripping over themselves to not pick a mage in mid lane, and it is easy to see why. Mage itemization is slow and expensive: you often have to stack a Warlock’s Staff or a Book of Thoth, or be stuck on a weak tier two item waiting to afford an upgrade. Additionally, mages are vulnerable to assassins (who tend to come online faster), and offer very little kill pressure of their own outside of combos with certain assassins (see Vulcan-Ne Zha).
With these in mind, it is easy to see why Dardez would opt for a hunter—more survivability, more kill pressure, less vulnerability, and better objective damage than most mages. It is equally perplexing that Screammmmm played Zeus. The Dragons had been toying with a strategy where Pegon plays an assassin in jungle while Screammmmm plays Atlas in mid. The Dragons did first pick Ne Zha for Pegon, but left Atlas on the table and took Zeus, who takes all of the kill pressure and vulnerability issues plaguing mages right now and turns them up to 11. Predictably, the superior mid/jungle fight from the Warriors netted them an impressive first blood onto Pegon (though Screammmmm did nearly get one back).
The Warriors get first blood in mid with Fear No Evil.
After blunting the early and mid game pressure the Dragons are known for—and in fact, even mustering some pressure of their own—the Warriors were able to reach a favorable late game with their double hunter composition. The Hun Batz in particular proved pivotal, as his ultimate made it difficult for the front line to do their jobs of either diving the backline or peeling for Screammmmm. A Gold Fury fight went disastrously for the Dragons at 19 minutes as they lost Screammmmm immediately on the back of Fred’s fear no evil, then proceeded to lose both PandaCat and Pegon as they struggled to get passed the Warrior’s oppressive double guardian frontline (though they did manage to kill Fred). The Warriors were able to secure a Fire Giant after winning that trade, giving them a lead they pushed rather easily into a 28-minute victory.
QvoFred finds a devastating Fear No Evil, setting up Nika’s triple kill.
The Warrior’s game 3 draft was very similar. This time, Ne Zha and Cabrakan were taken away from the Dragons, and Vote and Dardez reprised the double-hunter backline of Cupid and Cernunnos. (Side note: it will be interesting to see if teams in the future will try to force the Warriors off of the double hunter combination that excelled in this set). To pair with their hunters, NeilMah played Fafnir whose coerce ability pairs nicely with auto attack compositions. The Warriors used just that combination to sneak away another 19-minute Fire Giant.
Before the 19-minute FG, game 3 started about as poorly as it could have for the Warriors. FineOkay and Screammmmm each found a kill onto Nika and QvoFred, but the Warrior’s draft was such that the Dragons had few avenues to push a lead. Screammmmm was caught out invading the speed buff, and Mike was caught out again after invading the Warrior’s scorpion. It was clear that the Warriors drafted specifically to respond to the Dragons’ game plan of constant pressure and invades. In games 2 and 3, the Dragons rarely made plays for free; they were getting gold furies but losing the fight, securing speed buffs but dying shortly after. It seemed almost as if the Dragons were not accustomed to playing in even games, as they often seemed to play as if they had a lead even when there was none.
PolarBearMike is caught by three after invading scorpion.
The Warriors faltered in a couple of siege attempts after securing that Fire Giant—Neil struggled to use his ultimate as it made him vulnerable to Vulcan’s Earthshaker, and he found himself unable to jump out of a phoenix into safety as Screammmmm could simply use Gravity Surge to pull him back into the Dragons’ Damage. However, that the Warriors were able to maintain control and win the game is a testament to their draft and how it answered the game plan the Dragons brought to the set. The Dragons simply could not find space to contest major objectives, even after finding a pick here or there.
The Warriors were able to draft a team composition that could not only survive the laning phase, but also hold its own in invades and mid game fights. They did this without changing their identity as a late game, team fight oriented team. The double hunter backline is a huge part of that success, but Nika and Neil both played characters that have an easier time establishing or responding to pressure. Nika in particular played guardians in both games 2 and 3, which made him difficult to kill or pressure out for blue buff invades (though the Dragons were more focused on duo lane in this set to begin with). In the late game, having two guardians was a nightmare for the Dragons who were relying on assassins (Ne Zha in game 2 and Awilix in game 3) to set up a large portion of their damage. The added tankiness and crowd control (and in the case of Cabrakan, literal walls that isolate members of your team) made it nearly impossible for the Dragons to dive the Warriors’ backline. As a result, Vote and Dardez combined for just four deaths in the final two games. They died a total of seven times in game 1 alone.
It is early in the phase, but the Warriors have already given us a masterclass in adjusting to a game 1 loss. Their game 2 draft featured exactly none of the same picks from the first game. Rather, the Warriors offered an entirely new look that allowed them to play a completely different style—more responsive, more active, and more in control—at the cost of some late game scaling. The Warriors have another tough match up tomorrow in the Kings who themselves have shown a propensity for clever drafts and snappy in-set adjustments. It remains to be seen whether the Warriors can maintain this momentum, but, for at least a night, SMITE has a new number one—and it’s about time that it’s the Warriors.
