World of Druidcraft

If there’s one class which elicits more hate from PvPers than any other, it has to be our old friend the Druid. This healer, with better control than a mage, has become the dominant force in top tier arena play and has long since overtaken Warlocks in terms of broken keyboards.

Everywhere you look after a tournament, you see a trail of cyclones, roots and interrupted heals. And if all that fails, the bastards just run away.

Just look at MLG. The winners of both events (San Diego and Orlando) featured a Druid each: Spoh for EG, Hafu for Orz. The recently completed CGS WoW tournament was won by Nihilum – another team with a Druid. Only Blizzard’s own WWI gave us a non-Druid winner. Oh, but their opponents in the final, Improved Clicks, ran with a Druid.

The fact that Druids are so versatile is an issue in itself, but it leads to an equally versatile meta game. Druids work with pretty much everything. In 2v2 they are great with Warriors and Warlocks. Throw all three of ‘em together and you’re on to a winner! Literally, in Orz’ case. How about mixing it up with a Hunter? Ok, fine, you can win CGS with Nihilum.

If you want to win an arena tournament in WoW, there seem to be two simple solutions. One: run a Druid. Two…

Bloody Koreans… Again!

…be Asian! The only team so far this year to win a major tournament without a Druid is the Korean Rogue-Mage-Priest team, Council of Mages, winners of Blizzard’s WWI. There just seems to be something about Blizzard games and that infamous little corner of East Asia.

I’ll be honest, before WWI I thought we’d have an all English-speaking-realm final of some kind. America vs Western Europe, just like the MLG San Diego final before it. In hindsight, this was a pretty uneducated prediction on my part. When you look at SK’s very own arena ranking, it’s nearly always a Korean team on top. The fact that they aren’t covered in the same way as Serennia, Hafu or Beasteh made them a non-entity in most people’s consciousness, and to make it even worse, the second placed team came from the Spanish-speaking realms.

This could be the start – or, more accurately, the renewal – of another great intercontinental rivalry. The biggest one yet, in fact. CS was always Europe vs America, WC3 was Europe vs Asia, now we have Europe vs America vs Korea.

If nothing else, it’s a lot of vs’s.

I can only hope that someone will send these guys to MLG so we can get a more accurate picture of exactly where everyone stands. The first MLG featured one solitary European team – Nihilum. Last weekend’s MLG Orlando didn’t even have that. Most recently of all, CGS invited two European teams and two American teams to play for $25,000. A nice little earner for Nihilum, but a somewhat hollow victory, surely, with no Asian teams.

Versatility

Counter-comping has been one of the hottest topics since professional WoW tournaments began. The ability to play more than one class has traditionally been a huge advantage, but as SK-Gaming proved, you can go too far with it.

Serennia’s obsession with trying to break the mould is admirable, but seemingly misguided. In one WWI match they even ran Warrior-Warrior-Paladin, seemingly a gimmick setup that might hit 2k rating in an average battlegroup. On the big stage, however, it failed miserably.

Perhaps they should’ve taken a leaf out of Glick’s book. The Warlock-cum-Paladin was the standout player at MLG Orlando, named MVP by GotFrag. He showed how powerful correct counter-comping can be when played so skilfully.

Consistency? What Consistency?

WoW, as an esport, is still very young and we’ve yet to really learn who the favourites are. The big names, at least in Europe and America, are always touted as the favourites for every event, but at the one truly international event, none of them faired particularly well.

The fact that so few tournaments have taken place, coupled with the lack of intercontinental competition makes consistency very difficult. Orz, formerly part of MoB, placed poorly at the first MLG event but with little practice, a month later they won the whole thing in Orlando. In previews for the next event they’ll be tagged as favourites, meaning they’ll probably finish about 8th.

Only two teams have managed anything resembling the reliability of a Fnatic or a Moon. Nihilum have a CGS championship under the belt on top of a second place at MLG San Diego. At WWI, however, let’s just say they had a very good look at Diablo III.

American team Frag Dominant Duellists has been the other regular top-four finisher. Despite not winning a single event, they have two second places (MLG Orlando, CGS) and a fourth place at MLG SD. They weren’t invited to WWI but they have been arguably the most consistent team so far this year. If the pattern continues, expect a major win for them in the not too distant future.

The Zechs Files returns next Tuesday.