Deadlock Fight Night continued on this past week with its 21st iteration, but even after all of these weeks of competition, surprises still manage to come around every corner. Here’s our recap of the best and the worst from DFN #21.
In several of the series’ this past week Paradox was a hero who consistently found value, had impressive stats, and made a massive difference for their team. The one that shined above them all, however, was Lukas “flick” Grabowski, who managed to go 9/2/18 on Paradox in game three of the NA championship match against B&B, which ended up getting Hydra Nation the 2-1 series win. Flick went off in the other two rounds as well, bringing his series total to a staggering 24/7/51.
Those are insane numbers on a hero that most don’t necessarily associate with being a carry like they might for Mirage or Seven. After a week of paradoxical dominance like this one, perhaps we will see this hero first-banned much more often in future weeks. In DFN #21, Paradox was featured in all but two matches, but in both they were banned in the draft, but never first-banned. This is one of the few heroes that has bridged the gap between NA and EU’s metas consistently and, without any balancing patches on the horizon, I would have to think that teams will start to counterplay this hero.
Deadlock Fight Night NA Championship History (Image courtesy of DFN)
The level that Hydra Nation have returned to in the past few weeks is very scary for their NA competition, who have struggled to even get a map off of them in the past three weeks. As someone who loves close competition, 90’s sports movies, and any underdogs, this is concerning. It is far too early in a game’s lifespan for there to be a dynasty like this. But, at the end of the day, how do you nerf Hydra Nation? Outside of sweeping changes to the game, which did hurt them the last time, one of the only major threats to this roster is likely going to be an esports org poaching its players. Otherwise, it is going to come down to other teams finding cracks in the armor.
To this point, credit to B&B in DFN #21 for taking the first map in that series and providing Hydra Nation with a real scare. Their off-meta and somewhat nontraditional approach to that map is worth the watch if you missed it, and I’m hopeful it can pave the way for some developments and new approaches to the meta. If it does, who knows, maybe we will see Hydra Nation usurped sooner rather than later.
I’m sure anyone reading this has encountered more than one snowball win or loss in Deadlock recently (I know I have). The game’s current state makes it very difficult to claw back into games when a 10%-20% Soul lead is taken, which can take away some of the excitement of the late game in many instances. Pair that with players at the DFN level who can optimize their leads and play disciplined, and you have some very predictable, slow-burn finishes. I love the trenches of the laning phase and mid-game as much as anyone, but I would love to see some more late-game fireworks.
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There were exceptions to this in DFN #21 with some very close games in both NA and EU, many of which were neck-and-neck through long stretches of the early and mid-game. But, both 1Win and Hydra Nation put on their usual masterclass when it comes to keeping their foot on the gas and closing out games with leads. This is something that I’ll be keeping an eye on in future iterations as this is both a game state/balance problem, but also something that these high-level teams can find workarounds for at some level. I mean, just play Vyper and steal two mid-bosses every game, right?
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Otherwise, stay tuned here at The Game Haus for more Deadlock esports coverage, guides, and much more as the game continues in early access. To support Deadlock Fight Night, make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel!
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