evil-geniuses
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MLG DC starts tonight for WoW
If you're not keeping up with the PvP tournament scene, this is a friendly reminder that MLG DC starts tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST. You can watch the MLG stream at MLGPro.com when it starts. I'll be in attendance at the event personally, so if you have any questions you want answered by the teams and players, leave a comment and I'll do my best. The WoW tournament will only run for a couple hours tonight, then continue all day Sunday. Notable teams competing are Nerdstomper Blue, the winners of MLG Raleigh, and their sister team Nerdstomper Black. Also in attendance are Arenapwnage, Evil Geniuses, Complexity Red and Black, Skill Capped, and Penguin Smash. Unfortunately, as World of Ming reports, the tournament will not be played with the new 4.0.1 patch. Apparently, there was a conflict with MLG's viewing client and the new patch.
Nerdstomper Blue win MLG Raleigh
The latest WoW champions in the 2010 MLG Pro Circuit are the members of Nerdstomper Blue, who claimed their victory Sunday evening in Raleigh. It was a close win for Nerdstomper Blue, after its opponents, Evil Geniuses, won the first set of the finals three to one. Evil Geniuses entered the finals from the lower bracket, though, and needed two winning sets to claim the championship. Things seemed doubtful for Nerdstomper Blue after it lost the first two games of the second set, but it made an impressive comeback, winning three games in a row and taking the championship. In addition to the $9,000 prize for first place, Nerdstomper Blue will now be seeded favorably at the MLG Finals in Dallas later this year. If you missed the livestream, you can still watch the rebroadcast from Sunday's games at MLG's site. For those of you who are curious, Nerdstomper Blue used a shadowplay comp (priest-warlock-shaman) for their first set against Evil Geniuses, then switched to RLS (rogue-warlock-shaman) for the second. Evil Geniuses used RLS for both sets. Congratulations to Realz, Glickz and Kollektiv of Nerdstomper Blue!
Orz wins MLG Orlando tourney
The MLG Orlando tourney has come to an end, with Orz coming out on top. As I mentioned this morning, Orz has come back from a pretty severe choke last month that concluded with MoB Gaming dropping their sponsorship. They were put up against some of the best teams the MLG has to offer, and met the challenges every step of the way. The final round against the Frag Dominant Duelists was a matchup nobody ever expected Orz to win, with Orz running Warrior/Lock/Druid in the final round up against FDD's RMP. Orz walks away with $12,000 and three HP Blackbirds. Frag Dominant makes off with a mere $6,000.Last month's winners, Evil Geniuses, placed third in this year's tournament, not doing quite as well as the last time around. That's almost to be expected, and they even said as much in an interview GotFrag held with them prior to the tournament. Being last year's winners, they had a great big target painted on their backs and a lot of teams probably spent a fair amount of time doing little more than scouting out EG and their moves. It's actually rather impressive they still walked out in third despite that, and it's a testament to their skill and ability to adapt. Evil Geniuses walks away with $3,000.The next tournament will be next month in Dallas, Texas. Orz is looking for a new sponsor, but even if they don't find one I'm sure we'll see them there. That $12k has to go to some use, right?
MLG Orlando coverage continues with an epic showdown
If you haven't been following GotFrag's coverage of the MLG 3v3 Tourney going down in Orlando this weekend, you really are missing out. Coverage kicks in again this morning at 9am Eastern, 6am Pacific. After the warmups, I believe the opening matchup will be Evil Geniuses (formerly Frag Dominant) up against Orz, formerly sponsored by MoB Gaming.Let me give you a little background on this matchup. Evil Geniuses came into the last tournament as Frag Dominant. While they were never a complete unknown, most of them had never experienced the LAN tournament setting before. They managed to wow us and their competition by proving themselves capable of running multiple compositions between the three of them, and running them very well. In the end, they came out as the victors after a long series against Nihilum.Orz was formerly sponsored by MoB Gaming, and one of their members is the fan favorite Hafu. Last month, they were slammed with a pretty major upset. They didn't do very well at all, and it actually led to their team losing sponsorship. MoB Gaming replaced them for this month's tourney. Now in Orlando, Orz has made a fantastic comeback, beating out both the SK Gaming team and the team MoB replaced them with. I bet MoB isn't feeling so hot right now.First thing this morning, these two will be going head to head (I think). Even if you're not a PvP fan, you have to admit that's a pretty cool showdown, no?
Frag Dominant on the importance of composition
Nick Bee over at GotFrag interviewed members of Evil Geniuses (previously called Frag Dominant), and revealed a few points about the Arena that many casual players don't necessary see. While Nick doesn't actually say to which member he talked, the interview doesn't seem about the individual as much as the team.When asked about perceptions of Frag Dominant, the Evil Genius responded that before the MLG San Diego tournament (which they won), the only really available basis for opinions was from the Tournament realm and other tournaments. But his real point is that since Frag Dominant could run multiple class compositions using the same players, they had a very good chance of winning -- their adaptability was higher than other teams'.He reinforces that idea of composition flexibility at the end of the interview. The Genius says whether you like it or not, you need to be aware of WoW's metagame if you're going to compete seriously in the Arena. (This means each person on a competitive team should have experience with multiple classes, and how the dynamics between those classes change.)I think this outlines an idea that many folks miss about the Arena. Arena competition isn't just about your character competing, but also the players behind the characters. I could be the best Hunter to ever tame a pet -- but I probably don't bring much to a team if I can't tell the difference between a Silence and an Interrupt. Your skill isn't just fast-twitch reflex or single-class knowledge: it's overall knowledge about the whole enchilada. In the midst of nerf-calling, we should keep in mind that player skill doesn't just mean "skill at my class."
