Victory for Fight Club! The River King’s Cup EU Semifinals & Grand Final Results

Soobin "Pratt" Choi, Junseok “Tonny” Bae

Aug 27, 2017

On August 26th, MXM’s first community tournament, The River King’s Cup, held its EU Semifinals and Grand Final.

After the semifinals and the Loser’s Round, Fight Club and Warmonger collided in the Grand Final. The match was BO3, and Fight Club won against Warmonger 2:1 and became the final winner of the tournament. As a result, Fight Club claimed the title of The River King’s Cup EU champions, along with a massive prize.

The first match was between Over[Z]ealous and Fight Club in the semifinals. Both teams had intense battles in order to obtain jungle objectives during the early game. One teamfight occurred around Monolith for the Titan Shard, where Skiller from Fight Club used his sharp skills to snatch the Shard quickly, right after the fall of the Monolith, and escaped without any casualties.

Both teams proceeded with the game by quickly destroying each team’s towers using Fallen Heroes and Titans. Two towers from each side were destroyed 5 minutes into the game, but the points were nearly the same. It was when Fight Club won skirmishes and claimed the second Monolith and the first King Tanian that the balance was shifted.

Having the advantage in the lanes with objectives, Fight Club decided to quickly hunt down Rozark with Vonak and Merope while the opponent team was focusing on defense. Due to the rest of the team drawing the attention of the opponents outside, Fight Club managed to kill Rozark without any difficulties.

The point gap was still around 100, but Fight Club eventually decimated all Over[Z]ealous’s towers with Merope, Bumaro, and MBA-07, Masters who are quite suited for destroying towers. In the end, Fight Club claimed the victory of the first semifinal round by mobilizing all of their forces, charging towards the defenseless base of their enemy, and destroying the core.

▲ The first teamfight around Monolith, Fight Club took the Shard and escaped without casualties

▲ Fight Club hunted down Rozark silently with Vonak and Merope

The second match was between Nothing Personal (NP) and Warmonger in the Loser’s Round. While NP banned MBA-07 and Vita, Warmonger showed a somewhat unusual ban-pick by banning Ghostwidow and Lilu, and picking Nanurunerk. A number of intense skirmishes occurred during early game. When NP took Warmonger’s first tower in the top lane with a Fallen Hero, Warmonger pressured the mid lane with the first Titan and destroyed the first tower, maintaining a similar score until the mid game.

As is often the case with MXM matches, the stalemate of points was broken in the Rozark chamber. Warmonger took over the chamber and it seemed as if they were going to claim Rozark after vanquishing the NP players. NP bought some time with the Titan Incarnate, and the rest of the team swooped in on Warmonger after respawning. Warmonger left the chamber and managed to avoid annihilation. They then reorganized and finally killed Rozark after clearing up the NP players in the chamber. It was a long teamfight that lasted almost 3 minutes.

Warmonger did not miss this opportunity and pressured NP’s towers with the Titan summoned from the hunt of Rozark. NP tried to recover from the loss by claiming jungle objectives or taking over Altars, but that choice worked against them as they were cut off by Warmonger. In an attempt to take away Warmonger’s momentum, NP decided to silently hunt down the second Rozark.

NP somehow managed to slay the Warmonger players in the teamfight inside the chamber, but eiseu from Warmonger delayed the hunt of Rozark by NP by making use of the Titan Incarnate. While that was happening, Warmonger’s Titan marched towards the opponent’s core in the mid lane, and destroyed it while the others were still fighting over Rozark. Warmonger eventually won the match as a result.

▲ eiseu survived alone and delayed NP as long as possible

▲ NP’s core was destroyed even before Rozark was slain and Warmonger won the match

The third match was between Warmonger and Over[Z]ealous in the Loser’s Round. Warmonger limited the bruiser-type Masters by banning Pancuga and Kat the Cat, while Over[Z]ealous chose to limit the opponent’s firepower by banning R&B and MBA-07. Warmonger picked Nanurunerk again in order to support the ally DPS.

Both teams confronted each other in Warmonger’s bot lane, and reached 100 points at almost the same time. The summoned Titans collided in the mid lanes, but Warmonger was able to come out on top and gained a lead over their opponent.

In order to overcome the point gap, Over[Z]ealous attempted to steal the King Tanian that Warmonger was hunting down. Not only did they steal Tanian, but they even managed to take over an Altar, and were able to close the gap. However, Warmonger then hunted down Rozark quickly with Vonak, making the point gap reach 200. This routine continued until mid-late game, with Warmonger widening the point gap as Over[Z]ealous fought to close it.

Over[Z]ealous pressured Warmonger’s top lane fiercely three different times after taking over the Altar in order to turn the tide. However, Warmonger had a number of Masters with high sustain such as Ignuma and Kat the Cat, and they managed to defend against all three advances, preventing the point gap from closing. Eventually, the match time was up, and Warmonger won 948:652.

▲ Warmonger hunted down Rozark and started to widen the point gap

▲ Over[Z]ealous mobilized all of their forces, but they couldn’t destroy the core

Eventually, Fight Club from the semifinals and Warmonger from the Loser’s Round had a rematch in the grandfinals. While Fight Club banned R&B and Lilu in the first round of BO3, Warmonger banned Pancuga and Vita. It was quite interesting to see that both teams picked Nanurunerk. Some intense teamfights occurred in the jungle and around the Altars in the early stage, but neither of the teams was successful in widening the point gap.

While the Titans were confronting each other in the mid lane, Fight Club managed to hunt down King Tanian with Vonak alone. Fight Club later took down the enemy Masters during a teamfight in the jungle, and decided to hunt down Rozark afterward. Although Warmonger managed to enter the chamber, it was after Rozark was slain, and the team had to be satisfied with a couple of kills.

Both teams continuously engaged in teamfights without rest while maintaining the point gap from Rozark’s death. In order to change the flow of the game, Warmonger sent Vonak to hunt down the second Rozark, but the player was instead slain by Rozark, and the strategy was blown as a result.

Fight Club attempted to steal the monster, but eiseu broke into the chamber alone and summoned the Titan Incarnate, killing both the Fight Club players and Rozark. Having gained the lead, Warmonger finally destroyed Fight Club’s core and claimed the first round.

▲ Both teams engaged in a number of fierce teamfights

▲ eiseu showed a great performance in the chamber again, contributing to the team’s victory

The following second round had a similar ban-pick. Both teams performed their jungling similar to the previous round, but Fight Club claimed more kills and tower points this time. Fight Club cut off some of Warmonger’s players during a teamfight in the bot jungle and attempted to quickly slay Rozark.

Warmonger discovered their movements and tried to stop them, but they could not intrude with Notebook defending the entrance. After successfully hunting down Rozark, Fight Club won the teamfight that followed, widening the point gap to 200. Warmonger lost all structures except the two towers defending the core, and they attempted a second hunt of Rozark in order to turn the tables.

However, Fight Club did not even bother stopping them, and Warmonger was able to easily take Rozark. Warmonger managed to defend the base with the Rozark buff and bought some time to reorganize. When the third Rozark came up, Warmonger left Manly alone in the base and managed to successfully take the monster down again.

Eventually, the point gap of 200 decreased to 50, and both teams utilized all of their Titan Shards and engaged in a final teamfight to keep or gain the point advantage. Fight Club did not allow the enemy team to close the gap, and they claimed the victory of the second round with 885:845 in the end.

▲ Warmonger chased after Fight Club’s point score by slaying Rozark two times

▲ However, Fight Club kept their lead and won the round with a 40 point difference

The third and final round would decide the final victor between Warmonger and Fight Club. Just like the other matches, the first teamfight occurred around Monolith. Although Warmonger managed to claim the Titan Shard, Fight Club took first blood, and had the lead in points.

Fight Club attempted to take down Rozark earlier than Warmonger this time. However, they had Skiller hunt down Rozark as Vonak while the rest of the team defended the entrance. Warmonger responded by summoning the Titan Incarnate and trying to drive away Fight Club’s Masters. Eventually, Warmonger’s Masters broke into the chamber when Vonak could not finish off Rozark, and Warmonger took Rozark, gaining the lead.

There was another skirmish around the second Rozark. Both teams summoned the Titan Incarnate this time and suffered casualties. With Rozark’s health at around 20k, the teamfight died down a bit, but then both teams continued the teamfight after respawning.

Fight Club then made a strategic move. They sent Notebook’s Bumaro to Warmonger’s mid lane to attack the tower. Bumaro successfully destroyed Warmonger’s core tower, while the rest of the team managed to take down Rozark. Two Titans were summoned as a result. Warmonger could not stand against the siege and their core was destroyed. In that moment, Fight Club became the first champion of The River King’s Cup EU.