TiTaN loses the opening match, to leave the job to Rob who sweeps through the entire WICKED roster.



In recent NGL action, Gravitas Gaming faced off against Wicked eSports. As a 2-1 Gosubet favorite, Wicked was slated to take the match with ease. After TeRRoR defeated TiTaN in round 1, it appeared that history would repeat itself. However, in a surprising upset, Abdrakhmanov Robert 'Rob' Amirovich single handedly defeated Wicked eSports. Few expected Gravitas - much less an unranked Rob to win by an "all-kill." However, Rob won match after match, leaving Xyligan and HoT to warm "the bench". The match began with TeRRoR defeating TiTaN on Secret Valley.

Bears and dryads fail to high upkeep


TiTaN begins by hiring a Goblin Alchemist and training archers until tier 2; TeRRoR opts to harass with his Death Knight. In a somewhat unorthodox move, TeRRoR expands early. By the time TiTaN discovers the expansion, TeRRoR has established a viable mini-fortress (2 Spirit towers, 1 Nerubian tower, a Necropolis, and 2 Slaughterhouses) As the game progresses, TiTaN chooses the Priestess of the Moon as his second hero, and TeRRoR a Lich. At tier 2, TiTaN's ranged army manages to dispatch TeRRoR's harassing Death Knight. However, TiTaN's low upkeep army of bears and dryads eventually falls to a TeRRoR's high upkeep army of destroyers, abominations, and meat wagons.

A fatal talon decision by Soccer


In the following match, Rob defeated TeRRoR on lost temple without much fanfare. However, many were surprised as Rob defeated Soccer on turtle rock. The match began with Soccer spawning at 11 and Rob at 5. Soccer opts to train a Demon Hunter and 1 archer while constructing his base as a blockade. Rob chooses a Blademaster and trains 4 grunts. Both players creep and harass until tier 2. At tier 2, Soccer employs a Beastmaster, and Rob a Naga. After hiring the Beastmaster, Soccer decides to harass Rob's burrows while upgrading to talons. However, this decision proves to be fatal.

Rob anticipates the tier 2 burrow harassment and counterattacks Soccer's base. To slow the bleeding, Soccer staffs back his Demon Hunter(DH). However, Rob's counter has succeeded: Soccer's harassing army(consisting of a level 1 Beast Master, 2 quill boars and an archer) is unable to take down any burrows. Rob's army returns to catch Soccer guerrillas retreating from his base. The ensuing sequence allows Rob to kill Soccer's Beastmaster and his archer, while forcing a town portal from his DH.

Rob's presses his advantage by building 3 towers between Soccer's natural expos; He creeps both of Soccer's naturals with the aid of the towers, under light harassment by a small group of talons. After hiring a Tinker, Soccer returns to assault Rob's base a second time. To his surprise he finds that Rob has finished the fortified armor upgrade. A base race ensues, and Soccer only manages to take down 1 burrow. However, Rob destroys everything except Soccer's main, altar, and 2 moon wells. The resulting disaster eventually allows Rob to simultaneously double expand into Soccer's naturals and subsequently secure the victory.

FiveStar fights with peons at the fountain


The surprises continued to mount as Rob defeated Fivestar on lost temple. Both players began by training a blademaster and creeping till tier 2. At tier 2, Fivestar catches Rob, just as he finishes creeping the fountain. Fivestar calls out his peons and chooses to fight Rob at the fountain. Rob handily wins the ensuing fight by killing a raider, a spirit walker and Fivestar's Shadow Hunter before forcing the Fivestar to Town Portal; Rob only loses one grunt. Fivestar decides to creep the north goblin laboratory. Unfortunately, his decision includes a fatal tactical flaw. Fivestar forgets to leave a digesting kodo beast behind. Rob notices and pounces on the opportunity. The resulting massacre results in a GG from Fivestar.

Finally, Rob defeated SouthSea, to secure the “all-kill” victory.

This victory strengthens Gravitas’ rank-one position in NGL-ONE: they now have a 5-0 match score and a 20-7 game score. WICKED is behind them with a 4-2 match score and a 19-15 game score.

// Written by Andrew "cannon00" Chen

Links
NGL-ONE.com