The 5 Biggest Takeaways from Deadlock Fight Night #28

Another iteration of Deadlock Fight Night is in the books as DFN #28 gave us even more amazing high-level Deadlock moments. Now that the dust has settled and the winning teams have claimed their prize, here are our biggest takeaways.

#5: Sometimes an aggressive Mid Boss is all you need

In the first match of the EU money match between Abrahams and Virtus.pro, Abrahams went for a bold Mid Boss with all 12 players alive and actively on the map. What ensued was a perfectly executed, quick, Mid Boss take, which snowballed into an eventual map 1 win for Abrahams.

These types of plays are rarely executed so quickly, so credit to the shot-calling and quick decision-making of Abrahams to pull it off. After seeing this, will we see more Mid Boss attempts like this one in future fight nights, especially with Haze becoming a more prominent part of the meta?

#4: Early game pressure is at a premium

One of the interesting things to monitor throughout the last several fight nights has been the value and frequency of early game fighting. But this week, perhaps more than any other, it felt like bodies were being thrown at Guardians in the laning phase as players did not seem to care nearly as much about early deaths, valuing early pressure. In weeks past, it felt like this was a playstyle that was somewhat exclusive to NA, but even EU has seemed to move in this direction as well.

This speaks to the value of getting early Guardians knocked down, playing lanes aggressively at a high level, and getting to the roaming phase as quickly as possible. This is also when most Urn attempts get made, putting even more value on early pressure.

Image courtesy of Deadlock Fight Night

#3: The regions still feel distinctly different

Whether it was draft priority differences or completely different approaches to Soul allocation, this week reinforced the different approaches to the game from EU and NA pro players. This often happens in games like Deadlock, as scrims can tend to solidify certain playstyles and alter perspectives on different gameplay approaches.

Viscous v.s. Kelvin as a priority support hero is a great example, where EU seems to favor Kelvin, generally, and NA has leaned towards Viscous earlier in drafts. Neither is wrong, and it’s impossible to know which is truly better without an international clash of some kind, but it is great to see each region taking on its own personality in the early stages of Deadlock esports. This will always provide an interesting new element when tuning in each week.

#2: NA “Double Down” on Lefaa’s Infernus

Deadlock Fight Night #28 felt like days of old in some ways this week due to the return of Lefaa’s world-class Infernus, which helped lead Hyrda Nation to 2-1 victory over Melee Creeps in the NA money match. He got out to an early lead and never slowed down, even outmatching AVG on Calico for Melee Creeps, who had incredible farm throughout the game.

Thanks in part to Lefaa’s Infernus, Hydra Natin flipped the meta on its head this week, much like the KFC Double Down did back in 2010 when it was released (that’s for you, DFN broadcast).

But, NA wasn’t the only region going for damage-heavy comps this week…

#1: Innovating the meta can swing a series (and a region)

Abrahams map 2 win statistics, courtesy of Deadlock Fight Night

In the second match of the EU money match, Abrahams went for a very damage-heavy composition that featured Infernus, Haze, Seven, Shiv, Calico, and Lash. This allowed for a really interesting flow of the game and an incredible late-game finish.

Lash and Shiv were relatively quiet, and the damage trio of Infernus, Haze, and Seven were able to provide solid pressure, but it was Hoot’s Calico that was able to dominate the early to midgame to a staggering degree.

This may put both regions on notice when it comes to Calico’s potential as a carry, but this win also shows that, despite some weeks of similar compositions, there is still a great deal of innovation to be had within the pro Deadlock meta. And I, for one, am excited to see what happens when Deadlock Fight Night #29 rolls around next week.

Deadlock Fight Night #28 presented by Intel

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