Last night, CommFT-sponsored The Experiment took on eMazing Gaming in their first match of ESEA-Invite Season 9. The match took place on cp_snakewater and although it ultimately ended 5-3 in favor of eMg, it was a great match for The Experiment. Since I watched it myself, I thought that I would throw down a match review for the readers. Let's start with the rosters...
The roster for The Experiment (ex`) was as follows:
dummy - Demoman
PYYYOUR - Medic
TLR - Soldier
ww - Soldier
justin - Scout
Reptile - Scout
While the roster for eMazing Gaming (eMg) was as follows:
b4nny - Demoman
CB - Medic
tyrone - Soldier
mackey - Soldier
cyzer - Scout
clockwork - Scout
Round 1
In the first round, b4nny got to mid earlier than dummy and started laying down a lot of pressure on ex`. cyzer went down early just as Mackey killed dummy. The tide seemed to be going in favor of eMg until CB was taken down by justin. ww got three kills during the mid fight but died right before ex` captured the point. PYYYOUR survived the mid battle with the help of TLR, who got two kills during the battle, and barely escaped from a recently-respawned cyzer.
Next, ex` pushed easily into eMg's second point, took it, and prepared themselves to push eMg's first point. Mackey attempted a pick on ww but got killed, leaving ww with 9 health. ex` took advantage of the death and pushed last only to have TLR die early and dummy take too much heat. It appeared as if eMg was going to be able to push back to their second but then justin came from behind for a backcap on eMg's first point.
ex`1 > 0 eMg
Player of the round - I give the award to justin for the first round since he got a clutch kill on CB during the mid fight and managed to get the backcap to take the round.
Round 2
As the second round began, b4nny once again put down a load of damage on mid and cyzer got a series of kills. CB and tyrone were hardly pressured given the dominance of eMg's Scouts, b4nny, and Mackey. eMg pushed into second with CB popping uber to flush the ex` players out. PYYYOUR retreated to last but eMg kept the pressure up and did not give ex` a chance to build uber.
ex` 1 = 1 eMg
Player of the round - b4nny blanketed the mid point with stickies before ex` could arrive and then later aggressively pushed into last with a ton of sticky spam on the point. The mid battle of push maps is so important and b4nny showed that with a super strong mid, you can roll right on through to last.
Round 3
Little more than four minutes into the match, the third round began with Reptile and ww going down early. eMg left cyzer to cap the mid point as they quickly pushed into ex`'s second point. During the second point battle, clockwork got two kills, including dummy, and b4nny took down justin. eMg charged onto last with uber against Reptile on Heavy, PYYYOUR without uber, and ww without a full buff. ex` somehow managed to get uber before PYYYOUR went down and they repelled the push.
ex` pushed back and took their second point but PYYYOUR goes down to clockwork's pistol. eMg took advantage of the death, took the point back, and pushed last only to wipe before ex` once again. PYYYOUR dodged an insane amount of projectiles and his team bounced back to take their second point. ex` then attempted to take the mid point but eMg fought back and slow pushed ex` back to their second. As eMg tried to take ex`'s second, dummy got a great trap kill on tyrone and Reptile ultimately took down CB to give ex` some breathing room despite losing their second. Mackey tried to be aggressive after CB goes down but dummy absolutely demolished him with an air pipe on ex`'s first point. Then eMg surprised ex` and pushed into last with Kritz. ex` was unprepared and got wiped.
ex` 1 < 2 eMg
Player of the round - Whoever on eMg called for Kritz on the final push (CB or tyrone). 'Nuff said.
Round 4
After a long third round, the fourth round began with a bang. Mackey went down early on mid but managed to get a mean rocket on PYYYOUR. b4nny and tyrone went down shortly thereafter and ex` wiped the rest of eMg except for cyzer. With only dummy dead, ex` pushed hard into eMg's second and then continued into eMg's last to win the round. A quick one to provide a nice contrast to the previous back-and-forth third round.
ex` 2 = 2 eMg
Player of the round - Reptile dominated on mid and got kills early so that less damage could be put on the heavy classes of ex`.
Round 5
To kick off the fifth round, b4nny went down early and ex` controlled the mid battle to cap the mid point. Nevertheless, cyzer took down PYYYOUR and Reptile before he died to dummy, giving eMg some room to build Kritz and push back into mid. b4nny could not get any Kritz kills on mid, though, and PYYYOUR popped uber to bring ex` back in control of the mid area. Unable to push onto eMg's second, ex` had to wait to re-build their uber but before they could do so, CB popped Kritz to once again contest the mid point. ex` fended off the push, took eMg's second point, and prepared to push eMg's first point.
PYYYOUR got picked by a full power bodyshot from Mackey and eMg pushed into their own second to cap it. eMg continued onto the mid point, capped it, got a pick on TLR, and took control of ex`'s second point. ex` turtled last with justin on Engineer and Reptile on Heavy but as they attempted to push out, eMg defended and began work on capping ex`'s first point again. As eMg started pushing into last, with Mackey getting headshot after headshot, justin got a Bushwacka kill on CB but eMg took the point anyway via cyzer's backcap.
ex` 2 < 3 eMg
Player of the round - Although justin took the cake with a Bushwacka / Jarate kill on CB, Mackey gets the award for his pick of PYYYOUR and for the pressure he consistently placed on ex`.
---- Half Time ----
Round 6
In the sixth round, ex` destroyed eMg on mid with b4nny taking too much heat early and Mackey, tyrone, clockwork, and cyzer going down as well. ex` took eMg's second point and proceeded to push onto eMg's first point with justin on Heavy. ex` easily won the round without so much as a hiccup from eMg.
ex` 3 = 3 eMg
Player of the round - TLR and dummy made the mid domination possible for ex` during this round. The domination was so thorough, similar to Reptile's fourth round efforts, that it made the round finish in under three minutes.
Round 7
The mid battle in the seventh round was quite hectic but TLR, ww, and PYYYOUR emerged unscathed despite having killed CB and the rest of eMg. At this point, it felt as if The Experiment would continue their mid domination streak to win the match but their efforts to finish off the round were stopped at last. Both times that they attempted to push onto eMg's first point, they were rebuffed by a strong eMg defense. justin did provide some sniping pressure by picking Mackey but eMg still managed to capture their second point back from ex`.
On the way to mid, eMg took down TLR, Reptile, and justin. ex` retreated to their second with clockwork getting a pistol kill on ww. eMg mopped up and rolled onto ex`'s first point to win the round. Despite the early strength from ex`, it's eMg that deserved this round.
ex` 3 < 4 eMg
Player of the round - On the final eMg push onto ex`'s first point, tyrone took a ton of heat and enabled b4nny to sticky spam ex` to death. tyrone did a lot of work throughout this round, keeping CB alive after ex`'s initial strong showing.
Round 8
Unlike the previous two rounds, eMg won the mid battle in the eighth round. justin, dummy, and ww went down early to spam from b4nny and tyrone. PYYYOUR was the only ex` player to survive the mid fight but eMg quickly capped ex`'s second. ex` found eMg at their last with no time to prepare and eMg took the final capture of the game with ease.
ex` 3 < 5 eMg
Player of the round - At this point in the match, tyrone had found his sweet spot and was belting out a ton of damage from the pocket position. Earlier in the match, it seemed as if he was tentative in his approach on mid but this definitely changed by the eighth round. Although it was b4nny that gave him the space on the mid battles, tyrone deserves a round of applause for his performance.
Be sure to post your opinion of the match in the comments. You can check out the stats from the match here: http://www.esportsea.com/index.php?s=stats&d=match&id=2255944. And, last but not least, you can watch the eXtv VOD here: http://www.twitchtv.com/extvesports/b/289153115.
