arufure

[arufure]

IJL Day 3 Thoughts

Hi. I'm Kasumi and I am normal about IDV esports. Starting this week I would like to dump my thoughts regarding every IJL match. Why? I don't know. Who is this for? Don't ask. I just need a space to type out my thoughts.

ZETA vs AWG (Winner: ZETA 1-0)

ZETA claims Round 1 in this matchup 7-2 with an amazing 4K from mkmldy. Watching how he was able to guard the ciphers was so impressive, it's really hard to believe that he JUST became a pro because his decisions felt so pro-like... good stuff.

AWG didn't go down without a fight however. Round 2 opens with an amazing 3 escape, starting with a great first kite from Kaeru and a dungeon escape from Nameko's Prospector. I think the most fatal decision was chasing a full magnet Prospector at the endgame... but AWG were able to hide the endgame-weak Barmaid well. BUT THEN. ZETA return the 3 escape, even nearly getting a 4 escape...

The highlight of this match is hands down DoLisu's harassing using Fire Investigator. I call it Ballin. Kznk went to a corner to be downed there after Tide ended, and then DoLisu comes to ball and block brontal's path while carrying Kznk twice, forcing him to break both balls. Kznk is able to struggle free, connecting to a 4 man endgame. Apparently it was improvised on the spot, and Kznk wasn't entirely sure about the exact down position, but they went for it anyways and it worked out so well. This is the first time we've seen this done in IJL, I think it's possibly the most successful example of it across all tournaments too... DoLisu is just so good at doing things the hunter hates. I'm glad we're seeing more of his Fire Investigator in IJL.

But did you know that there was also another more secret super moment from the survivors in Round 3? DoLisu's ~3 cipher kite against yukakina's Geisha was naturally great, but pay attention to Kznk's Aeroplanist rescue. You'll see that he used the Hover, but didn't leave the ground...? And only the knockback effect for the hunter was in effect....???

What did he mean by this?

I'm truly stumped by this. This hasn't even been seen in IVL before. Kznk always discovers new tech with the characters he uses, but this... This is something else.

The 3rd set draws, as AWG's survs don't back down and get a 3 escape against mkmldy's Hermit. AWG is just a very solid team against Hermit overall. Just like Kaeru this game, every member seems to excel in kiting against a Hermit. It's also funny how Nameko's Antiquarian didn't even need to get involved — it was really mostly Kaeru's raw kiting power. AWG may have lost this matchup, but it was a very good fight. I believe they have so much potential as a team, and I'd love to see them win more this season, hopefully not in the last 2 weeks like last season...

FAV vs RC (Winner: FAV 2-0)

KiRye's first day back and he's already first kite man. He did a pretty good job, but that rescue terrorshock did mess up the pace for the survivors. However, RC survs did pull through to a 3 man endgame, although... did they have to force the gate so much at the end...? Detention was over, monoP probably could've taken a hit and fully opened the gate. You could argue that chairing monoP gave enough time for the other gate to open and it would've ended the same either way, so don't quote me on that. Still, I don't see any merits to getting terrorshocked off of gate though...

In the second half, Felix just does a really good kite against Peter's Sangria as Psychologist. It's especially impressive because although she does need an extra hit to down, Psychologist has pretty much zero chase ability so Felix pretty much depended on raw kiting ability alone against a Sangria. Dacho also gets an amazing rescue, and Peter goes to guard Nerisu's cipher but a little too late... he gets downed, but he's Embalmer so he can just self embalm and they can pop with no problem. It ends with a 3 escape which was honestly bordering on a 4 escape if Peter hadn't found Appai. Peter's Sangria is as fast as ever though. Truly one of the best of the pros.

KiRye gets first kite again in Round 2 1st half and this time it doesn't go so well. I just really think Aeroplanist is overall pretty weak to Sangria when he gets chased so there really wasn't much he could do. But then, something amazing happens...

Soba as Lucky Guy pulls both a watch and flare gun. What he does is use the watch where KiRye is downed after Tide ends... at first I was extremely confused, but I thought perhaps maybe it's so he can use the flare gun while he's unable to be seen. But no. It's to buy enough time for KiRye to prime his self heal, THEN Soba hits the gun and wakes KiRye up... sadly the game ends in a 4K (although very close to a dungeon escape) but I was just flabbergasted (in a very good way) at that use of Lucky Guy. Only Reject man. I need to study hhu's mind and know how he comes up with strategies like this.

Aka is only able to get a tie in the second half, which means that FAV wins with a straight victory.

SZ vs ZETA (Winner: SZ 1-1)

Man. As someone who was devastated when MiraiK went back to SZ and considering the intertwined history between the two teams, this matchup turns me into a mess of emotions whenever I watch it.

The match starts with a 3K from mkmldy's Sangria. I feel like this could've definitely been a 4K if it wasn't for gnk being able to buy enough time for Takoyaki to pop the last cipher and open the gate. Embalmer is strong man. I don't get anyone who says he isn't (do those people even exist? Am I strawmanning? Perhaps I am). ZETA survs come in clutch with a solid tie, amazing decision to not force a rescue and pop during Burio's trait CD time even though DoLisu had been chaired. Both FO and Gardener being able to tank a detention hit inside the gate was strong too.

In Round 2, MiraiK gets his first win against the ZETA survs since going back to SZ. If Shinami had been able to bodyblock after rescuing Kznk, things may have turned out differently, but alas he was able to hit Kznk, who didn't have BT... a solid 3K. Maybe it's just me but MiraiK just seemed to read Kznk so well this game. It makes me emotional....

Also, gnk is just on a roll with his kiting this day. He does an amazing 3 cipher kite as Cheerleader, and reminds us of why Cheerleader was considered to be meta against Ivy. mkmldy has no choice but to give up on tunneling and switch to a different strategy of applying pressure to every survivor and chairing anyone he can, but this of course has the downside of not having anyone dead on chair. SZ survivors get a 3 escape, I believe their first of the season.

The points have flipped, and now it's a set battle. Whoever wins the next round wins.

mkmldy shows us his Night Watch in the first half of Round 3 and gets a solid tie. Especially with Insolence Warp, that's around current day Night Watch's limit, so that's probably what he was aiming for. And then, the second half happens.

This was undoubtedly the most entertaining game from this matchup. We got to see the classic ZETA double harasser comp of Kznk's Forward and Hametu's Antiquarian, as well as Shinami's Aeroplanist (ZETA now has 3 Aeroplanist users) and DoLisu on Composer. MiraiK's pick? Naiad, of course. Million Dollar Mermaid too at that. If you know you know, but that skin choice was definitely intentional. DoLisu isn't able to Flywheel the water damage and gets a pretty early down, but with the power of harassment (this sounds bad out of context) they are able to achieve a 4 man endgame. I don't even know if I can describe what happened but to sum it up the survivors wanted that win so effing bad. They very aggressively opened the gate right next to MiraiK and Shinami did NOT give up and went for 4 rescues, nearly travelling to the other side of the map.. This was peak ZETA. It was so fun to watch. When they want to win, they will go RELENTLESSLY for a win. It's truly something special about them.

The set draws, but SZ wins on points. It's their first win of the season, and a well deserved one. I really do want them to make it to playoffs this season. Today was a big step for them, so I'd like to see how they grow from here.

If anyone somehow read through all of this then thanks. I think. I just want to thoughtdump my esports thoughts. If you like IJL then please talk to me and tell me your thoughts.