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MATCH REVIEW
| | | Massive kill streaks all over the place
One of the most hyped matches of the second week was certainly Sacrosanct facing Apis Europae in Group A. After a good start against CCC where AE looked in a very sharp form, it was yet to be seen how they would perform against a stronger opponent like Sacrosanct.
On Frosthaven, the first map, Sacrosanct did start as Nords while Apis Europae would begin with the Vaegirs. Lead by Garde with PuffTheDragon commanding in game, Sacrosanct opted for a slight variation of the composition played by most with two archers, three infantry and three cavalry while Apis Europae would go for the usual four cavalry, two infantry and two archers.
On the first round, Sacrosanct decided to gamble by leaving their favoured flag near arches up to Apis Europae, while Sacrosanct would go for a position in the open. It was quickly proven the right call as flag spawned in their favour and gave them time to raise it before Apis Europae infantry duo would be able to reach it. With the infantry of Sacrosanct having the numerical advantage and one of their archers Royal quickly opening the kills with a nice headshot on Azan, the AE cavalry was proven ineffective and a teamkill from Razer on Scar under the flag sealed AE's last chance to take the round.
On the second round, Sacrosanct adopted a more conservative approach which once again payed-off as flag spawned in their favor. Royal was once again the initiator for Sacrosanct as he got another headshot on axL this time with BlackTide following with an important kill on Bloody_Death, one of the two AE’s infantry. Apis Europae eventually called back with a few kills from Razer and Azan but trade kills were way too efficient for Sacrosanct, keeping five players alive coming into the third round.
Things looked great for Sacrosanct until Bendetto faced an unlucky disconnection from the server which put Sacrosanct in a 7v8 with one key archer missing. Flag spawning near the Vaegir spawn with Apis Europae ready to receive the flag, but it didn’t prevent Sacrosanct infantry from being aggressive and pushing AE squad away from it. However, it was OGL this time to get the first entry on Royal and with an unfortunate teamkill from Sir_Arthur on Error, thing started to go from bad to worse for Sacrosanct and they were forced to concede the round.
Using that lucky sign from faith, Apis Europae was given the opportunity to get straight back into the match after a shaky start. Same as the opening round, Sacrosanct took a gamble by leaving their flag and rushing the open to take control of the big tower however by doing so, they left the opportunity for Apis Europae to take control of that position, which Sacrosanct left uncontested and it would be there that the flag would end up spawning. However, Sacrosanct not rushing directly to contest the flag certainly helped them, taking important positioning and with the first kills going their way, they were able to finish the side on a convincing fashion, 3-1.
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| Sacrosanct | 6 | | | | Apis Europae | 10 |
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It was Sacrosanct again to take the first round on the second side of the map and with half their player staying alive, things started to look rather dangerous for the bees who could see their opponent running away with the first map.
Both teams exchanged casualties during the second round, both teams losing a player early but Sacrosanct was again the luckiest out of the two as flag spawned close to their position on their spawn. However, a nice coordination from both Apis Europae infantry and cavalry helped them by taking two Sacrosanct players without any possibility for quick revenge and with Scar successively taking two quick double kills, round was assured for AE.
On the third round, both Sacrosanct and Apis Europae tried to contest the tower near the open flag, and it was AE that prevailed on that confrontation, not taking any kills but simply forcing Sacrosanct to retreat in the forest near the village. Sacrosanct not being in the perfect position, Apis Europae decided to push them back and with AE cavalries doing an excellent job harassing the whole enemy team, OGL was able to take the first entry, quickly followed by a kill from axL and a double from Azan. Even with an unlucky teamkill from Anchor on Mitchell, round was already set and done.
Sacrosanct seemed to adopt a more defensive set-up in the following round, but with momentum clearly in favour of AE and despite flag spawning closer to Sacrosanct, the Nord infantry strongly geared-up were too much to handle for them. With everyone from AE massively stepping up and Scar adding three kills to his own score, the bees were able to finish the first map on an even score-line, 4-4.
| | But teamplay eventually winning the real battle.
Second map was Fort of Honour, a much more closed map and with Scar on fire on the first map, it was to be seen if Sacrosanct could contain the German veteran carry, who had such an excellent performance going into the second map.
Apis Europae started as Sarranid against Sacrosanct playing Swadia. Unlike the first side of Frosthaven, it was AE to play an unusual set-up with five infantry, two cav and only one archer while Sacrosanct held on to the regular 4-2-2.
Despite AE quickly taking a good portion of the map control, flag spawned behind AE at graveyard which lead them to slowly back off to take position, leaving Sacrosanct to make their move. Things didn’t start on the best omen when M teamkilled Bloody_Death and with PuffTheDragon getting an impressive quadra kill and Sacrosanct took back the lead early.
On the second round, the flag spawned in the middle in front of the big arch, with Apis Europae contesting the higher position. axL took an opening kill on Bendetto but was quickly revenged by Error and when the fight broke out, Apis Europae's second cavalry was quickly taken down, leaving them without any cavalry back-up, something Sacrosanct quickly took advantage of to get their second round on Fort of Honour and slowly but surely extend their lead.
At this moment, Apis Europae decided to get back to their normal two archers composition and it was certainly the best call for them as they were able to take their first round on the second map, mainly thanks to a quadra kill from Bloody_Death, despite flag spawning towards Sacrosanct.
Momentum started switching sides when flag spawned graveyard, while both teams were staring one another in the center of the map. Sacrosanct were not fast enough to get back in time before Apis Europae arrives, Sacrosanct were caught out of positions and separated from their cavalry. If Sacrosancts infantry eventually managed to finally make it into the graveyard, the price to pay was certainly too heavy as royal (who had switched to infantry) and both their cavalries where taken down in the blink of an eye. With the numerical advantage, the rest of the round was a clean swift with AE only losing two players and being able to come into the last round of that side strongly geared-up.
Fifth round was a remake of the third one with flag spawning in favour of Sacrosanct near cabbage fields and Apis Europae having to be the one making a move. This time however, Garde and his boys were ready and despite Airelhach losing an early fight against LeRoux, Bendetto was able to find a double kill and BlackTide got a javelin kill on M, with only one kill being traded back by Razer, putting AE in a 5v6 situation. However, AE's experience and teamplay shined at the best moment as their infantry squad put on a show taking down four Sacrosanct players and completely turning the round in their favor, Scar getting another triple kill and continuing his massive form of earlier on.
"THE AMOUNT OF DOUBLE, TRIPLE, AND QUADRA KILLS WAS UNREAL THIS MATCH - BUT BLOODY_DEATH'S QUADRA KILLS ON TWO DIFFERENT OCCASIONS CERTAINLY HAD A STRONG IMPACT ON THE MATCH"
Coming into the last set, nothing was lost for Sacrosanct but in a similar fashion to the LL vs BLD match, they were forced to win the first round in order to make sure the opponents economy wouldn’t get out of control.
Their task was made harder as Apis Europae had the flag spawning in their favor in the first round. Both team being relatively careful knowing the importance of that round, AE firstly seemed to give the flag position away to Sacrosanct but it was simply just to regroup and push together as a unit. Kills were traded equally until LeRoux and Razer get one ranging kill each to put AE into an advantageous situation, so that Anchor could shine and get an amazing quadra awlpike kill.
With Apis Europae saving six players and being one round away from securing the draw, the situation went from bad to worse for Sacrosanct. Despite the flag spawning in their favour at graveyard, Apis Europae seemed in total control of that round, pushing Sacrosanct left, right and center, losing only one player to a teamkill and leaving Sacrosanct to clutch the impossible against an extremely tanked-up AE team.
Sacrosanct played their last card by using six infantry and two cavalry during the following round, however it was proven rather insufficient as AE rushed all together and completely crushed their team with Bloody_Death adding a second quadra-kill to his score and AE losing only one player in total to take the final victory, 10-6.
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Analysis & Conclusion
Sacrosanct vs Apis Europae was one of the biggest matches of the Warband Summer Cup so far, and it certainly held up to its expectations. Sacrosanct put on a hell of a show and pushed AE into a performance they might not have even expected themselves.
The match started in the best way possible for Sacrosanct, as a smart move helped them take the open flag uncontested, were most teams would have been going for a straight push inside village. Having the advantage of raising the flag early certainly helped Sacrosanct put some extra pressure on AE, who pushed the flag with a lack of cohesion, getting two of their cavalry players out of the round very quickly. The second round was pretty much the same idea, gambling on the flag payed off, and Sacrosanct were well prepared to receive AE’s push and could get the first kills in their favour, making trades way easier.
There is no denying that Bendetto crashing in the third round certainly helped AE - who were in a really difficult situation to attempt a comeback. Who knows what would have happened had Sacrosanct closed that set 3-0. However, in the only round AE won in the first set, both teams lacked some discipline with way too many team hits dealt out, Sacrosanct having to face most of the consequences of that as the teamkill of Error by Sir_Arthur certainly changed a lot in the physiognomy of the round.
What saved Apis Europae in the second set was better coordination with their infantry and cavalry, but also that strength only the very top teams have - pushing an enemy into a bad position, even when they’re leading the score and should be the ones making the confident plays. Eventually, with Scar being unstoppable and getting multiples kills without looking even challenged, Apis Europae tied the scoreline, which was probably satisfying enough, considering the start of that first map.
With such a line-up as theirs, and considering that Apis Europae were seemingly forced to rely on some individuals plays to close most of their rounds, Sacrosanct could certainly feel confident coming into the second map. That being said, it would also require some of their own players to step-up to make sure they could compete with the potentially growing momentum of their opponent.
As was common nature during this match, Sacrosanct took the first round without too much difficulty, and were able to capitalize with a second quickly after that. Sacrosanct seemed much more in place than AE - committing to the fights as a team and providing fewer mistakes for their opponents to abuse. Sacrosanct could have killed the match at that precise moment, but with a lack of upgraded armour due to too few players surviving on their side, and Bloody_Death going on a rampage like has rarely been seen of that level, the round was maybe a bit too much for a relatively ‘new’ team.
Momentum switching, AE got back into the match with that single play, and from that point on, it wasn’t so much Sacrosanct under-performing, but more Apis Europae coming back to their real level. They left nothing to chance, playing with almost flawless teamplay and synergy while also being able to rely on individual performances such as those of Anchor, Scar, or Bloody_Death, again.
By the last set, it simply looked like Sacrosanct’s morale had been broken, and they lacked the steam to continue putting in the huge moves which had them on equal footing with Apis Europae for a good portion of that match. They came so close to the win, but t matches such as this one should bring confidence, as Sacrosanct were not favorites coming into that match and still created the surprise.
Yes, they might have some regrets about not being able to close it when they had the chance to. Yet they have a lot to learn from matches of this intensity, and with it being streamed, I hope they will be able to watch their mistakes and learn from them so they come fully prepared against Polish Eagles later this week.
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