Posts from [Photo Report] XL' vs. BA/IEHOK. Lower bracket semi-final of the "Novichok-2009. Winter" tournament. Auto-translated

Very interesting report, thank you to the players and the organizer of the broadcast. Smka looked more like Jebus; I haven't seen so many Dungeons and Temples in a long time. Congratulations to XL on assembling the Alliance; I've only managed to do it once online. For the final battle, I would equip a crimson shawl – it provides a large stat bonus, and Prayer can be cast even when under the effect of Orb.

I completely agree with you about the red orb; I just didn't know it could be used against an opponent.

Thanks to the guys for the game, it turned out quite spectacular. The whole alliance-gathering alone was worth it, showing that it's not unreal :) No one is demanding flawless play from you yet. Yes, there were some outright noob moves, but overall the impression is good.
I liked how XL' started - didn't neglect taking Pathfinding as a second skill, scouted the secondary well and the prison with Malekith, didn't take the secondary on 113 but hovered nearby, afraid of a rest. Under the dome though, he was messing around with something unclear and let Bog catch up to him in development.
Valenok was also good: liked the fights with poor heroes (e.g., Deemer trading cows for artifact in treasure), on some day the chain was set on 2 Dragon Fly Hives at opposite ends of the treasure zone - really liked it (though didn't take both the next day, but at least the idea was there, which is good))
And towards the end, both were just outright exhausted from the 10-hour game, constant disconnects, fussing with the stream and saves. So the final turned out a bit of a mess. You two at least held on somehow, I was practically dead on my feet))

Once again, congratulations to the winner, arrange the game with Daryel. There won't be a show like this, take as many screenshots as possible. If you decide to do a stream - I'm all for it. Good luck

Artyom, see you in the seasonal :)

P.S. Well, the map you got is certainly something... I'd gladly run around on one like that :)

P.P.S. If Dirty, LeBron, or anyone else who saw the final describes and breaks it down - I'd appreciate it

The final turned out to be one of those "down to the last heal" affairs, but honestly, it was played rather weakly by both players. First and foremost, I was surprised by the hasty decisions—what was the rush?? It's not CS or an old man to click the mouse 10 times a second:)
If we're breaking down the final, we should probably start two days before it
I watched from Tazar's perspective, so I'll try to outline his inaccuracies
First: the Dragon Fly Hive and Ring of Speed were not taken, and the area held by the Archangels was never scouted (I suspect there's either a Nuts box or a Nuts artifact there). Second: a couple of spell power boosters were not visited (and I consider this a very important point for such a game situation!!!)
Third: before casting Town Portal home, Tazar clearly didn't go all the way (there was still something to scavenge there)
Fourth: I don't think he himself believed the game could be won in this Final Fight, which ultimately played a decisive role

As for the Final Fight itself, Crag Hack simply needed to cast Anti-Magic on the bears to win, and there would have been no post-mortem analysis.
Tazar's plan was simple and understandable. In the first round, take out the fat stack of bears, and in the second, use Armageddon to wipe everything else—and the plan is absolutely correct!!!! But for some reason, he didn't calculate how many wyverns would remain after Armageddon, and there was no hint of any desire to cut down the Wyvern Hives
In short, if Artem had been a little more attentive, he would have harshly punished Crag Hack for his excessive overconfidence!!

It's also worth analyzing the first fight, when Tazar attacked Crag Hack in the Castle—and again, ALL THAT WAS NEEDED WAS TO CAST ANTI-MAGIC on the 40 Monarchs—and the fight would have been won quite easily, but again, there were inexplicable Implosions and Meteors...

In short, both players have things to work on—for a beginners' tournament, the game was quite respectable, and with that, congratulations are due not only to the beginners themselves but also to Kesh, who organized it perfectly and made a show out of their games

+1 to LeBron's post. I said almost the same thing to Artem in ICQ after the game.