Round 3 match report - VEECE vs Hoplita S

Greetings, this time I have with me a match report from round 3 between VEECE and Hoplita S in division 1.

Division 1
 VEECE vs Hoplita S

Match link: https://heroeslounge.gg/match/view/8314

Previous standings

VEECE is a newly formed team that in their first season got placed all the way up to division 1. They have had a ruff start with 2 losses so far, 1-2 vs RIP Hots Blizzcon 2k19  and 0-2 vs eXon-esports | eXon-black . Hoplita S are in their third season and have managed once to qualify for the mythic championship in season 9. This season Hoplita S started with a 0-2 loss in round 1 vs Support Supreme , though they came back with with a 2-0 win vs At least we showed up in round 2. Now in round 3 both VEECE and Hoplita S are looking to win to not fall to far behind on the leaderboard early in the season.

Result

In game 1 on Infernal Shrines Hoplita S slowly took back the game after having a rough start. Until they were 2 lvls ahead and could end together with the third Punisher of the game. On Volskaya Foundry in game 2 the picture were reversed with VEECE coming more back into the game. Despite that both Protectors had gone over to Hoplita S. With lvl 20 talents for both teams the fight over the third Protector was open. It looked like VEECE was going to win the teamfight, but a miscoordination in their team cost them the fight and ultimatley the game. Making the result a somewhat confident 2-0 win to Hoplita S over VEECE.

MVP

Often healers go unnoticed when it comes to the discussion of who was the most valuable player. However, januxa would not let that happen this time. In the first game as Rehgar he had several instantaneous cleanses and clutch Ancestral Healings that ended up saving his his allies life multiple times. In the second game on Ana while he had less healing than the opponents healer he provided his team with sleep darts that at times led to kills. Or well timed Nano Boosts that lasted the whole teamfight out, making the DPS only dish out that much more damage.

Play of the game

Hoplita S were already looking great at this point in game 1 on Infernal Shrines. They had the Punisher with a 2 lvl lead and the top keep were the Punisher spawned was already destroyed. Falstad with a risky but good Gust put the final nail in the coffin, by flying behind the opponents back line and gusting them into his team to kill them.

Highlights

Here other moments from the match will be shown, those can be great plays, misplays or anything in between. This time i will show a unfortunate Wave of Force from Li Ming that saved two targets her team would most definitely have killed. While also turning the tide in the teamfight.

Interview

I sat down and had a talk with Nano and MoyMoy the DPS's on Hoplita S how they felt about the match.

First of all congratulastions with the victory, I am sure it’s nice to swing back with two victories after losing the first round.

Nano: Yeah after being stomped in the first round it feels nice to come back. We have been more focused on doing camps, rotations and so on which i think really helped.

Are you satisfied with how you played this match?

MoyMoy: In the second game as Sylvanas I was not happy with my performand compared to the first game as Falsatd. I think I greeded for stacks, went for a random build and a braindead playstyle. I was way more focused in the first game than the last one. In my opinion also meji our tank player and captain who played Blaze in the first game and Mal’ganis in this one. And Sucompi the solo laner, I felt like they stood up way more in the second game. It was more calls and setups that were good rather than me or Nano doing our jobs well.

Nano: Personally for me I am quite happy with the first game. I felt very impactful that game it was an easy game for me. Because there were a lot of melee heroes, but they didn’t dive too much. In the second game the biggest mistake I noticed was that I had my W the Mine planted on the support camp. The plan was to detonate it and then place another one, just in case to get the camp. When the enemy team got onto the camp I used my Rip-Tire which makes me unable to use my W. So yeah, that was a big mistake. They got the camp we got the teamfight, but that mistake could have bee avoided.
When it comes to the drafting I didn’t like the Falstad pick. But it's more important that he (Moymoy) feels comfortable on Falstad than forcing him to play something he doesn’t like.

Moy: In that game I felt Falstad was impactful on the DPS side and felt comfortable with the Gust disengages. Especially the last one from behind to engage on them (see video above). I am more used to playing defensive heroes so I prefer to have a defensive ultimate like the Gust. Even more so when they went for melee heroes against us. I was looking for the disengage the few times they jumped on us. Eventhough I got caught ones on the early camp in one rotation, but other than that I felt pretty comfortable how to play the teamfight and how to save my teammates.

What is one thing your team does really well? And what is one thing your team struggles to do in your opnion?

Nano: In the last games we have had in Heroes Lounge we struggle a lot with camps. In fact I think in the first game on Infernal Shrines they stole our easy camp. It happened like 5 or 6 times in a row. We might have lost some games last season cause of things like that. So yeah, we still need to work on that, maybe some calls should be made faster as well. Rotations to I guess. I think our biggest weakness that is causing all this is the lack of a shotcaller. Main shotcaller lets say, everyone is shotcalling a bit. It’s okay but we think we would be in a better spot if we had a main shotcaller.
A strong point seemed to be teamfights I guess. Like we often throw games on the early game and we get snowballed 2 lvls or so. But when we are not losing we usually win our teamfights.

Moymoy: In my opinion I think it’s more like we struggle with aggression and how to manage it from both sides. Like when the opponents has a high aggression composition or playstyle. We get a bit afraid of making a mistake and it makes us play different from what we are used to do. It stops us a little bit to shine in the game.
On the other side I think our stronger point, for Nano it’s the teamfight, I think it’s capacity to snowball the games. We are decent at playing teamfights, having focus and killing people also. When we are ahead our playstyle shines and allows us to snowball the games. Even more on people that are not comfortable with teamfight or a more fighting game than a macro game. I think we manage to control the macro more when we are ahead, then we are not so bad at doing the macro.

As I gather you guys are all Spanish in the team. Do you think communicating in Spanish gives you an advantage over having to speak English when you are from different countries?

Nano: Yeah, it definitely helps and it should always be better. Though I have to say I have played in another Heroes Lounge team that spoke English. There you tend to be more serious and focused on the game. Than for example our team right now, we sometimes talk about something that has nothing to do with the game. Just nothing to do with macro calls lets say. We maybe talk about one skin or why I like the skin.

Moymoy: It leads to more friendly talk among us because we are friends not only teammates. We spend a lot of time inside and outside of the game talking to each other.  But I don’t think that it would change that much for teamplay. If we didn’t talk the same language I still think we are all pretty comfortable. We train in Storm League and I know people like Nano or myself tend to play a lot with English speaking people. The communication will probably be a bit slower or more messier, but I feel it wouldn’t change that much. Since we also say “look here” or “Garrosh, Garrosh Garrosh !!!” in scrims and so on.

Nano: Yeah, a lot of calls in a way use English words like dive, gank, camp, easy, hard. Most short calls are made in English in a way so you don’t even have to use your own language.

Moy: It will affect more on macro calls or strategies. From the teamfighting perspective I don’t think it will matter that much. Cause we are really not like "we are gonna do this" or "then we are gonna rotate this way". Our teamfights is more like “I am gonna look for a sleep on this guy” or “let me set up this trap” or something like that. So it’s not like we need to explain a lot. 

What are some of the stronger picks in the division 1 based on your experience?

Nano: Which heroes? For me Ana and Mal’ganis. That is my opinion  personally. I also really like Hanzo and Li Ming I think they are pretty versatile as picks.

Moy: In my opinion for what our team likes or the players prefer, Blaze, Mal’ganis and Ana. Not that much the ETC, Johanna, Garrosh and Diablo, but we also belive they are strong. Probably Alarak with teams that can play it, but it makes you play more around it. Who else? Maybe Rexxar and Chromie.

Nano: Yeah, there are like 10 really strong picks right now, the meta is super diverse right now. Also Junkrat, Greymane, Abba, though we don’t play Abba.

With Deathwing being allowed from round 4 and onwards how do you think it will affect the meta in division 1.

Moy: There are a lot of people trying him out.

Nano: I mean he has a huge winrate right now, people who play him have like 80 % winrate in ranked games. But I don’t think he will be that OP as in ranked. I think it’s a hero who can be countered with macro and poke.

Moy:  I feel like we are in a weird state were everyone wants to play it to train it, but no one wants to let it open. Cause no one knows what to do against him. So I think it’s more the confusion the new champion brings with the new mechanics, rather than the hero and it’s health. I feel like in a couple of weeks the confusion will settle off and it will be easier to play with and against him. I still think we will see him in the division, but I don’t think it will be a priority for a ban or pick

Q6: Thank you for your time, anything you would like to add before the interview ends?

Moy: Probably to thank the captain and the team members. Also the guy who played with us for the match before this one earlier today. Keru he was subbing for us then. So probably our captain and keru for being able to play with us and be there for us.

And so we reach the end of this article as well, many thanks to Nano and Moymoy for the interview.

If you have any ideas for things to add or change on the article, don't hesitate to contact me on Discord.