With only a few weeks left until BlizzCon, we take a look at how Dignitas fares in the current Meta.
Team Dignitas has BlizzCon on the mind, qualifying back during the Europe Fall Regional. Team Misfit on the other hand, they will not be going to BlizzCon after losing a very close deciding match to Fnatic. This is all passed and now we have new heroes, new maps, and new character balance. So how does Dignitas look heading into the new meta? Let’s take a look:
Game 1-Infernal Shrines
Coming out of the draft, Misfits seem to have a better comp. Pre level 10 Misfits come out more aggressive while Dignitas seems to be biding time for the late game. The match was decided before the 12-minute mark.
In Grubby’s words
"Lots of comfort picks on the side of Dignitas. Misfits didn’t give Dignitas a chance to use their late-game comp against the strategic drafting and aggressive execution by Misfits on Infernal Shrines.”
Game 2-Cursed Hollow
Misfits bans Stitches, Dignitas follows this with the Sgt. Hammer Ban, giving Misfits first pick of Malfurion. Dignitas takes the strong combo of Tassadar/Tracer. Misfits picks up Li Li & Illidan quickly, almost as if to have a plan.
You get the sense that Misfits takes a slight level deficit and make sure to capture the first two shrines, being on point for tribute and camp spawn. Dignitas runs one level lead right at that dangerous level 9 right as tribute three spawns, forcing Misfits to postpone their curse to get level 10. Dignitas pulls up 16-13 by minute 11min. Well played execution, great curse negation, and great Tassadar Tracer play. Misfits seemed to be on the back foot most of the match. A well-orchestrated denial play by Dignitas, if only a feeling a little safe.
Game 3-Battlefield of Eternity
The teams seem to pace each other during the opening phases of the match, only Misfits burn down the immortal without much contest from Dignitas.
Misfits get a nice pick using a gang-bush Muradin into ETC stage dive combo, securing their level lead 11 to Dignitas’ 9. Playing a great team fight, Misfits end up bullying Dignitas during most engagements.
Dignitas tries to pull off their Stitches play only to have Misfits counter hard to taking down two heroes and pushing with boss for the win.
"The first immortal phase, when Hook was on cooldown and Misfits got an Immortal burned down really put them in the driver's seat and they just stayed there the entire time." -Trikslyr
Game 4-Braxis Holdout
Misfits ban Stitches, Dignitas bans Sgt. Hammer, giving first pick of Malfurion to Misfits.
We’ve already seen Sgt. Hammer bring massive value to Murloc Geniuses and MVP Black on Braxis Holdout so it's no surprise to see her banned out on this two lane map.
Dignitas goes for Tassadar/Tracer again, along with Zaria and Gul’dan. Laning 1v1 Gul’dan vs Rexxar top, with 4v4 bot. Rexxar immediately denying globes in the top lane with Misha-power.
Although Dignitas had the ability to bully with Zaria and Tracer shenanigans, Misfits managed to never lose top beacon and use Sylvanias to take camps and apply pressure where needed. As soon as both teams hit level 10, Dignitas launches into aggression, taking both shrines from 0-100% in one go compared to Misfits 42% over the course of the laning phase. Dignitas leaves Gul’dan to clear the bot lane for the Zerg rush, letting everyone else on both teams to fight top lane. Gul’dan cleans up and solos bot bruiser camp while the team-fight rages in top lane.
It’s level 13 for both teams at 12 minutes when Misfits get a pick on Tassadar, causing Dignitas’ entire comp to crumble, and allowing Misfits to secure a 100-0% Zerg Swarm.
“That single death there on Tassadar led to the entire losing of the Zerg Swarm” –Grubby
A Great team fight breaks out with Dignitas overstepping aggression and Misfits countering with strategic picks on Zaria, Tassadar, and then picking off everyone but Gul’dan. This window lets Misfits capture the boss and bruiser camps, and then synchro-capping both to their advantage.
Gul’dan is once again set to janitor duty, cleaning up both the boss, minions, and top lane pressure knocking down Dignitas’ core. Meanwhile, another team fight leads to a pick on Tracer, and another complete dismantle of team Dignitas and another win for Misfits.
What stood out from these matches
Be still my pocket meta?
Dignitas seemed to focus more on pocket strategy and meta picks to carry them to victory instead of using strong team fighting. It’s hard to really know if Dignitas was holding back or focused more on late game, or maybe just even overshadowed by Misfits’ aggressive, almost vengeful, play style.
Slow and steady wins the race?
Dignitas seemed cautious, maybe overly cautious at many points of these matches. There was this strong sense throughout the matches that Dignitas was waiting to get to level 10 or waiting until a later time to make plays.
In the face of Misfits’ aggression, is almost seemed like Dignitas was taking a back seat when perhaps they were playing a control game. The question remains though regardless of why; will this safe play-style work going into BlizzCon?
Face to Foot-Style, how’d ya like it?
It can’t be denied that Dignitas is very focused on BlizzCon, so it only makes sense that they might not put as much energy into winning the EU Nexus Games as a team like Misfits might.
Flying to another country is no small undertaking, and Bakery goes out of his way to assure the fans in a way that seems to assert that their focus on BlizzCon was the reason for their lackluster performance.
I’m not sure how assuring this statement is to the fans. At the end of the day it subtly implies that either it’s okay to not own up to your level of play regardless of outcome, or worse, that it’s okay to not play well under certain circumstances.
Perhaps this is too harsh of a criticism from a simple tweet out to the fans. I’m sure everyone eagerly looks forward to Dignitas bringing their best in the matches to come. Traveling out of country is a monumental undertaking with, no doubt, a wealth of insights to follow. They’ll also be bringing back jet-lag. Will the jet-lag be worth practice with the Korean overlords? It almost seems like a Holy Grail type quest.
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