#6 Idiot Savants [iQ] vs. #30 War Machine [WM] - Game 3 of 3
Match Infos
  • Category: Guild Wars Factions Championship · Finals
  • Guild hall: Warrior's Isle.
  • Match duration: 15:48
  • Defends: WM defends.
Videos
Capes
1 6
Lara Valor
1 6
Big Mchugelarge
2 1
I Go Real
3 6
Rayne In Your Boat
3 5
Kami Boon Prot
3 5
Ayoku Iyushira
3 5
Red Bars Go Up
3 5
Sarus Backup Bot
1 7
Wm E Jang
1 4
멘토 라이프
5 3
아 브
5 6
Wm Sup Geabegi
6 3
Luar Planeswalker
5 6
Wm First Queen
3 7
War Berry Bes
3 7
리 리 빵
Note: some skill descriptions may have changed since this match was played. Highlight the skills with a red border to see these changes.
Quotes from players

The thinking goes something like 'If they run monk/assassins again and if we put a triple smite team in their boat, will they be able to survive long enough to kill us?' The answer is yes, if they don't split and bring three mesmers (which rocked our faces). There wasn't time to work out a complicated plan, so we guessed at some things WM might be vulnerable to and went all-in. Rayne had made a ton of awesome decisions so far in the tournament, this one just didn't work out.

Either way, we knew the match was going to end quickly with a lot of death. It just happened to be us who ate 15 deaths in 2 minutes =p

The second charge into their base was a huge mistake, that came out of desperation because we were so hosed. The 'logic' went something like "they only have one bodyguard left, it will be easier this time!" We really should have sat back and re-evaluated what was going on, and tried to fight them straight up.

We know that the match looked really bad. But that's always going to happen when you gamble and lose. If you slug it out for 30 minutes and lose at VoD people call it a hard fought match even if you didn't have much of a chance, but when you put all the chips in and either win or lose spectacularly, you're either hailed or called a moron.

Consider everything you've seen this tournament, though. Games were rarely won or lost in slugfests, but through tricks around the lord and VoD that teams were not prepared for. We went all in on them putting people into our base, and not having the backline to deal with triple smite in an enclosed space like the lord room. To an extent we were right, but 3 mesmers with double enchant removal rocked our three smiters, and it went downhill from there.

But stop and consider for a moment. If they only had two mesmers, don't you think that we would have gotten both bodyguards in that crazy push? Wouldn't that have seriously changed the nature of the game if they no longer had that big NPC advantage? Moreso, consider what happens if they bring only one mesmer. I still think that between three smiters and three melee, that with only one mesmer, War Machine would have lost right then and there, and the flavor of this conversation would have been completely different.

Did we lose? Yes, we lost spectacularly. But don't immediately turn that into 'you guys are morons'. Knowing we were up against the best adapting team in the world, we put all of our chips in and tried to win big, and it just didn't work out. Oh well. =)

Ensign (iQ)
Match report

Speechless: adjective - temporarily deprived of speech by strong emotion, physical weakness, exhaustion, etc.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. There could have been quite a bit to talk about in this match, because both sides' builds would have been quite interesting when matched up. War Machine put together a slightly more punchy version of their Game 2 build against Te, while iQ went the over-damage route with three Smite Monks, a Thumper, and two Warriors.

But iQ seemingly had a death wish. They streamed out of their front door, straight across the map to WM's back door, and right into their base - all 8 of them. Not stopping to even consider the team coming back to defend, they went directly for Bodyguards, hoping perhaps to output so much damage that War Machine just wouldn't be able to keep up. They couldn't have been more wrong.

The first wave hit, and WM held strong. A bevy of enchant strips, precision counter-pressure, and the assistance from their fully intact NPC core left every member of iQ with at least 30 DP before even three minutes had gone by. Then they resurrected in their base, and went right back out the front door, eager for more.

I stood there watching, in disbelief, wondering if perhaps iQ knew something about DP that I didn't. Did they have a master plan? Was there some hidden strategy that I wasn't seeing? Was this really happening? Why were they throwing this away?

The rest of the match was almost impossible to watch. Suicide run after suicide run, iQ continued to push, continued to press, even lucking out at one point when WM catapulted half their own team, but it didn't matter. iQ didn't try to capture the flag, and didn't even really have enough left in their tanks to even provide much pressure. The final toll of the bell came at 15 minutes, when every single member of iQ was hit with one gargantuan catapult shot. With a clear path before them, WM finished off the Guild Lord, and that was that.

"War Machine! War Machine!" came the shouts from the overflowing crowd. The booth was filled to the brim, with frenzied gamers spilling out on all sides, standing on boxes and tables, just trying to get a glimpse of the action. A resigned look on their faces, the boys from iQ stood up from their computers as knowing looks were passed all around. Just across the way, War Machine erupted in celebration - they must have been just as confused as the rest of us during the final match, but you can't argue with 50 grand.

~Joshua Lovejoy (GuildWars.com)