I would have been doing one long report on GXL, since it was a rather good game, but the glare from the sun shining on the screen (add that on to the mass lightning effects from THD, Zeus, and Chen, and all the regen auras), means that half the time I didn't know where I was, let alone the rest of my team or the enemy team. Replays hopefully get up soon.

Anyway, I'm watching the asterisk* vs va1zard & co. match now, and I'll just leave my many cents worth of opinion behind. I'll leave more opinion than usual, so I'll be wrong much more too. Oh, and I'm mostly going to comment on things which I disagree with.

Oh, first thing, you guys really should stop rampantly subbing players because one change in the lineup makes a hell lot of difference in team performance. If you are testing strats or training individual skill, it isn't really a problem, but a true reflection of team performance only comes if every member plays together.

Lineup seems fine, traditional. Warlock Viper Pugna VS THD against Veno Zeus Chen QoP Bear. Except we don't usually see a team being allowed to get all 3 of Veno Zeus Chen.

2 minutes into the game, Chen's ward placements are Tofu-like. Tofu has a chronic habit of perpetually blocking creeps from spawning whenever there is an allied Chen, Bear, or Enchantress in the game. There are ward spots overlooking the crucial backstab points that don't stop creeps from spawning. Especially when you have both Chen who needs creep spawns and Bear who can once in a while resort to neutral creeping, it's best if spawns are not blocked by wards.

Top lane, THD Viper up against Bear isn't even supposed to be close. However, the Viper isn't last hitting (missing last hits as well as attacking full HP creeps) and the THD isn't spamming dual breath (granted the Bear rarely presents himself for that to happen, but the THD should be more aggro, let the Viper farm).

Mid lane, QoP against Warlock, and maybe it was different in the other levels, but taking a peek at level 5, I'm seeing an upslope Warlock being scared to go near the QoP and being harrassed instead. It's not even supposed to be a close matchup. Then again, checking later, it seems the Warlock does do his job rather well.

Sending 3 to help establish lane control momentum in the bottom lane is a good choice since Veno Zeus really needs that early game momentum, but once they have it can go far up against VS and Pugna. VS and Pugna also have no need to run away from the lane since the other lanes are sort of controlling pretty well. Nothing much wrong with bottom lane.

Chen backstabs top effectively, and the Bear roots =.= There's actually a crack in between the trees where you probably would have been able to catch the Viper, but I guess the THD died so it doesn't matter. I much actually prefer ToF at the lower levels since it does much more potential damage than penitence should, but with 2 creeps or more and at high levels of penitence, I usually favour penitence, so Chen with Penitence or ToF are both viable choices.

Oh, and I know we do this to Tofu a lot, but that's because he's Tofu. Don't send your allied QoP to her grave. Soloing mid against Warlock without backstabs every 3 minutes or so is bad for farming. 10 minutes into the game, that's a very overkilled Veno at mid. Shadow word would have been enough without having to use Infernal with 2 allies there. Costs less mana too, especially with a mana shortage.

Why is Pugna acting as an Observer Ward at btm lane? o.o Running around doing nothing, not going to backstab anything, and not creeping or gaining XP, is generally not a good thing this early in the game. Same goes for Chen. If you're waiting for a Centaur to gain mana, go creep around and get level 5 quickly instead of running around not actually achieving anything.

Chen at bottom finally gets around to catching, but Zeus responds too fast. I mean, they KNOW that the Zeus has basically been a humming chicken (humji!!) for a long time and suddenly he moves forward, and hey they just spotted Chen recently, so something must be wrong! Zeus can stay within strike range, and wait for the Chen to advance before going forward. Going forward too early means that Chen can't catch them with the Centaur.

It's now 14 minutes into the game. Checking top lane, I think THD needs to overcome goldilocks syndrome and stop being so scared of the Bear. Just huff and puff and blow the Bear down!! No sense keeping far behind the creep line, not spamming Dual Breath. Mana is for using.

Oh well, Bear dies one minute later, so I guess THD did his job. Meanwhile at mid-lane, it's level 9 for both Warlock and QoP, and QoP should never attempt to engage in poking wars with a Warlock at this level, especially if the Warlock is upslope. Also, if Shadow Word Pain can kill, don't be too hasty and waste the Infernal on a QoP that can blink away?

17 Minutes into the game, that's not the best backstab in the world. Veno could have got a bit of extra damage by coming in from above the ramp, not below, although it doesn't really matter since killing a Warlock without the use of three ultimates at this stage is kind of difficult. Also, at this low level, unless you have some form of escape with a Dagger or something, or a Heart, or an Aegis, or are feeling high, Zeus should not run through 10 seconds of tower fire to cast one lightning bolt on a almost full HP warlock.

Neither should Veno cast its ultimate at the end of everything when everyone else is already retreating, especially with the Zeus already dead. Unless of course the Veno is doomed to die.

19 minutes into the game, Chen and Veno are moving together to catch. Most of the time, it's better for the Veno to go into the fray first to cast Shadow Strike, giving the Chen ample time to stomp and whack with creeps, so it's generally NOT GOOD that the Veno is running off away from the Chen, or that the Chen is starting backstabs while the Veno still lurks one screen behind. Also, penitence is usually casted on the potential target that is going to be stomped and focused on.

There is a lot of backstabbing going on from asterisk*, so if the Scourge wants to maintain a lane control strat, a few wards are very very handy. Alternatively, they can have quick TP backups, or just anticipate backstabs more, but they aren't doing any of those.

I guess that's about enough to cover about early game. I'll boost the replay speed and see what goes on.

On to item builds. Veno should go Diffusal, or the Chen. Bear going Diffusal so early in the game is mostly wasted, IMO, especially since he's not farming that quickly either.

Chen seems to be microing one Centaur individually to hit stomp. Which is fine, except in microling that one Centaur, the hero and the other 2 creeps are clean forgotten. I find it much easier to right click on the target hero with all your units before microing that individual stomp.

An illusion that has been attack-moving in a lane for 30 seconds should be relatively easy to spot and not waste Shadow Strike on too... but I guess this comes from the practice of habitually pressing the alt key at every available moment.

QoP misses a very easy kill on a 100 HP VS. Must have missed it. More communication is required I guess.

Now 40 minutes into the game, the game actually seems pretty much won by asterisk* just by virtue of item builds. BKB on Viper is going to give him no damage output, and no HP, meaning creeps of Chen, or Bear, or QoP will make short work of him (and Zeus just bolts other heroes anyway). Refresher on Warlock means a bit of stun which can land a good Macropyre, but chances of that happening are low, and Diffusal on the Bear means that the Infernals fall quickly, and I don't mean from the sky.

An engagement starts off pretty well for asterisk* at 41 minutes, catching Viper. However, some target pioritisation is neccessary here. We have a Zeus spamming spells, a Chen Healing, and whatsnot, all in front of a Nether Ward that could easily have been taken down by the Bear or Chen's Creeps (it was right in their face). And yes, QoP does need to farm, but when the battle is about 2 Screens away, it does a lot of good to blink there and lend a wave or a scream.

Next engagement is mostly a number game. Ults and all go off pretty well, but since asterisk* is locked in a 4v5 battle without the crucial QoP, and this time the opponent isn't streaming in 1 by 1 to their deaths, the battle doesn't go too well for them. Bear should try to stay alive to purge the Infernal if he has Diffusal though.

QoP sonic waving 2 heroes is fine, but not when there's no backup, the engagement hasn't started, and they're full HP in the middle of the river and with no possibility of dying.

50 minutes, even with being much more farmed, asterisk* fails to push mid, by virtue of being swapped when Nether Ward is already down. I mean, it's a golden opportunity here. Just wait another 40 seconds or so for Nether Ward to go down, and there is no more Nether Ward, leaving you free spam spells! No sense lurking around the front of the tower to get swapped.

Another push at 58 minutes. Wrath is casted at the same time as poison nova, which is truely a big fat waste. Wave comes in late too.

After that though, game is mostly won by virtue of Viper being useless, asterisk* having farmed much much more, and having more late gamers. Engagements are quite horrendous though. Zeus doesn't survive the battle long enough to do enough damage, Bear dies too fast to purge, QoP waves either too early or too late.

Well, last few comments at the chat log around past one hour.

To QoP: It IS zi bi. They CANT hold well without you.

Chen: No, they aren't winning. They have no chance to win with those items and those heroes this late into the game unless you have one rax down.

A bit of other comments I won't put up here (I can't even remember what it was, but I might once in a while). I know this is rather messy, and if you haven't seen the game, you will have almost NFI what I'm talking about, since I'm just posting my opinions on what I think (I MIGHT BE WRONG) can be improved as I watch the replay.

Once GXL replays are up, will be posting again. Meanwhile...