SMITE World Championships Day 1 – LIVE

January 5, 2017 Kim Key

A lot of matches, a lot of chances for upsets on Day One of the SMITE World Championships (PC).  There are eight matches on the schedule today, and I’ll be here throughout the day providing live coverage, wry quips, and the occasional photo or video from the Cobb Energy Center in Smyrna, GA.

 

ESportsSource January 6, 201712:45 am

That does it for the Day One live blog! Thanks for hanging out with me! If you got anything out of this at all, leave a comment or a tweet. I appreciate you. You know this. See you tomorrow from a possibly snow-bound Atlanta!

ESportsSource January 6, 201712:44 am

Match 8: Allegiance v LG Direwolves


16-2 is the final score, and ALG take care of business as quickly as they could!

LG Direwolves are eliminated from the tournament.
ESportsSource January 6, 201712:30 am

Match 8: Allegiance v LG Direwolves


The walls from kiki’s Ymir are keeping his teammates alive, and LG get the first Gold Fury of the game (11 minutes). In the team fight afterward, LG Direwolves did have to sacrifice a player, but right now the teams are still pretty evenly matched.
In a team fight, ALG hit LG with a Deicide, giving them a real advantage for the first time in the match. Currently 7-2 in kills, and Direwolves have just a 200 gold lead.
ESportsSource January 6, 201712:24 am

Match 8: Allegiance v LG Direwolves


Both teams are focusing on objectives rather than baiting for kills to start the match. The first blood goes to ALG in the form of a fine play from the veteran MLCSt3alth. (6 minutes)
ESportsSource January 5, 201711:35 pm

Match 8: Allegiance v LG Direwolves

It’s do or die time for these two teams. For Allegiance, it would be a serious upset if the North American team didn’t make it to Day 2 of the competition. They won every one of their Super Regionals matches, and they looked like a team poised to make a deep run at SWC. MLCSt3alth won the first SWC in 2015, and Allegiance will need his decision making and big game experience to help them in this elimination match.

Direwolves have spent a lot of time and money living in the United States leading up to this tournament and getting scrims against top US teams, and to go out in the opening round would be a heartbreaker for sure.
ESportsSource January 5, 201711:09 pm

Match 7: INTZ Esports v Team Hapi


Team fights on team fights on team fights. That’s the name of the game, and Hapi is firmly in control of this match now. They’ve taken all of INTZ’s towers, they grabbed the Fire Giant, and they’re swarming towards the enemy titan…
And that’s it! Team Hapi come out on top, winning 21-8. The Chinese team survives Day 1 and will play Team Eagr on Saturday. Brazil’s INTZ Esports have been eliminated.
ESportsSource January 5, 201710:59 pm

Match 7: INTZ Esports v Team Hapi


Hapi has been playing for picks, and it’s been working. Four players on Hapi have 3 kills each, and the team has a total of 14 kills to INTZ’s 6. INTZ is playing far more timidly than they did in their first match of the day, and Hapi certainly looks more like a team that is keen to make it to the next round. (19 minutes)
ESportsSource January 5, 201710:47 pm

Match 7: INTZ Esports v Team Hapi

Team Hapi takes the lead thanks to another left jungle fight, and now they’re appearing to set up for picks in the middle lane. The teams are almost even when it comes to gold and damage output at this stage in the game (6 minutes).
ESportsSource January 5, 201710:43 pm

Match 7: INTZ Esports v Team Hapi

After a bit of a wait, the match has finally begun. Hapi comes hot out of the gate with the rush pick for a first blood. Any early team fight results in handbags near the Fire Giant, but no kills come from it. Currently the kill score is 1-1.
ESportsSource January 5, 201710:35 pm

Just stopped by the Hitpoint booth in the HRX area to pick up a stuffed Fenrir. The man behind the counter was very insistent that I take good care of my new pet and show him off online.

Sir, this pupper pic is for you:
ESportsSource January 5, 201710:00 pm

Match 7: INTZ Esports v Team Hapi

Two international teams are facing off, and just one will make it to Day 2! INTZ is representing South America by way of Brazil, and Team Hapi are from China. INTZ could hang in there with SoaR earlier in the day, but Team Hapi were hapless against Luminosity. It’ll be interesting to see if the Chinese team can manage to stay in the competition past Day One.
ESportsSource January 5, 20179:50 pm

Match 6: Licht Esports v Obey Alliance


18 minute Deicide from Obey to shut down Licht and take control of the match. Obey currently leads 16-9 in kills and has taken two of Licht’s towers in the process. If Obey are allowed to get into a groove here things could unravel very quickly for Licht. CaptainTwig has been doing a lot of work for his team, leading the charge on Licht’s middle Phoenix…

…and it’s over. Obey win 16-9!
ESportsSource January 5, 20179:43 pm

Match 6: Licht Esports v Obey Alliance


Licht have been initiating a lot of one on one battles, as a result the right side of the map has been a virtual bloodbath early in the match. Neither team is looking well organized right now (13:00), but it very much looks like either team could take this one in the end. Mid-game matches are going to be key. Licht leads in kills 9-7, while Obey still has a 2k gold lead.
ESportsSource January 5, 20179:31 pm

Match 6: Licht Esports v Obey Alliance

Match is back up! Obey looks like they’re trying to play a patient game, applying steady pressure in each lane, and not overextending very much. The roaming Thanatos of NowiS is harrying the Obey players, trying to bait them out of position.
ESportsSource January 5, 20179:19 pm

Match 6: Licht Esports v Obey Alliance

Licht’s Sheento get first blood on Pandalike before minions spawn, showing they aren’t afraid of Obey! Watch Clip

We have a pause in the game for a technical issue on the Obey side.

Meanwhile…

ESportsSource January 5, 20179:14 pm

Match 6: Licht Esports v Obey Alliance

The unexpected matchup! You may remember Licht took down Team Allegiance earlier in the day, so now they face Obey in this winner’s match and have already guaranteed themselves a Best of 3 match on Day 2. Can the team from the LatAm region come out on top?
ESportsSource January 5, 20178:53 pm

Match 5: Luminosity v SoaR

Luminosity win 19-12 over SoaR and go 2-0 on Day 1. The crowd went absolutely wild for every LG kill, so it’s clear they are the home favorites. It helps that Barra is a local from Cartersville, Georgia.

We saw a lot of excellent team play out of Luminosity in mid and late game, with BaRRaCCuDDa essentially farming damage and just killing at will at the end of the match. Jeff Hindla came up with some great saves and blocks for his teammates as well, paving the way for Barra, Masked and ScaryD to move freely around the map and harry the SoaR players. It was the best game of the day thus far, with the teams looking pretty evenly matched.
ESportsSource January 5, 20177:37 pm

The crowd is a bit bigger here on Thursday than it’s been in year’s past (I attended in 2015 and 2016), so I’m looking forward to seeing a ton of people over the weekend. There are also a fair number of media outlets here too, showing some growth for SMITE over the past few years. We’ll post photos and videos from the weekend on Twitter and here on the site, so stay with us!

In fact– I’m going to step away from the media area and my computer to get photos and video of the Luminosity v SoaR match.

Watch the match live here:

Watch live video from HiRezTV on http://www.twitch.tv

ESportsSource January 5, 20177:30 pm

Match 4: LG Direwolves v Obey


Obey cruise to a 27-2 victory over LG Direwolves!
ESportsSource January 5, 20177:16 pm

Match 4: LG Direwolves v Obey


Obey look fairly unbothered by Direwolves so far. PrettyPriMe already has three kills on the board, while Direwolves don’t get their first kill until the 12 minute mark. Direwolves are struggling with the aggressive EU play style and team composition with three warriors, including a warrior jungler, which is tough to defend. The Australian team is doing a lot of running away on the left and in the middle.

…and just as I typed that- Direwolves managed to steal away the Gold Fury just before 16 minutes! Perhaps a mid-late game push will make this game a little closer? Obey still lead 14-2 in kills, with a 3k gold lead as well.
ESportsSource January 5, 20177:08 pm

Match 4: LG Direwolves v Obey

Obey draws first blood at around the 3 minute mark. Direwolves are already on the back foot, down 2-0 before 5 minutes.

Obey are dominating in the middle jungle and putting out a lot of damage but only picking up one kill per team fight due to the mobility of the Direwolves players.

ESportsSource January 5, 20176:53 pm

Match 4: LG Direwolves v Obey

Australian team LG Direwolves have been in the US for days, scrimming and preparing for SWC, so we could see yet another upset on main stage. Obey features superstar player Ataraxia in the hunter role, and he’ll be one to watch during this match.

Obey came out with some interesting picks, including new god Nike being picked for the first time in a competitive match.

ESportsSource January 5, 20176:49 pm

Wow, that last match was pretty crazy. Team Allegiance came into the tournament having won all of their Super Regionals matches so they were expected to dismantle Licht with ease. Their defeat was the first time a NA team has ever lost in the first round to a team outside of NA or EU region. Probably not the history the boys of TA wanted to make here at SWC, but they have a chance at redemption in the last match of the day against the loser of the next match between LG Direwolves and Obey.

ESportsSource January 5, 20176:35 pm

Match 3: Team Allegiance v LICHT Esports


And that’s it! Team Allegiance go DOWN and Licht win 14-6!
ESportsSource January 5, 20176:34 pm

Match 3: Team Allegiance v LICHT Esports

Could we see a serious upset here? At 33 minutes, Licht is up 14-6 over Team Allegiance with a nearly 10k gold lead. TA will have to do a lot of work to get back into the game.
ESportsSource January 5, 20176:02 pm

Match 3: Team Allegiance v LICHT Esports


The picks and bans have come through for the day’s third match and Team Allegiance made a lot of noise in qualifying and look to continue their fine run of form against Licht, a team from the Latin American region.
The LatAm team attempted to pick off Weak3n’s Thor early, but he managed to escape by just a hair.
ESportsSource January 5, 20175:58 pm

In between matches I’ve been hopping on to Hi-Rez’ new games: SMITE Tactics and SMITE Rivals. I’ll do a deep dive and proper review of each game a bit later on, but for now, just know that Rivals looks a bit like a Clash Royale-esque mobile strategy game, while Tactics is an online card game in the mould of Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering Online.

ESportsSource January 5, 20175:38 pm

Match 2: Luminosity Gaming v Team Hapi


Luminosity win 26-3 over Team Hapi in 17:41.
ESportsSource January 5, 20175:35 pm

Match 2: Luminosity Gaming v Team Hapi

12 minutes in, and LG look well in control of the match. They’re up 12-3 with a 7k gold lead, and they were allowed to choose some comfort picks- which is sad news for Team Hapi. LG look like they will make quick work of this team, despite Barra coming into the tournament with an illness.
ESportsSource January 5, 20175:11 pm

Match 2: Luminosity Gaming v Team Hapi

All of these early placement matches are best of ones, so every play counts. China’s Team Hapi faces off against a team of well known North American players- Luminosity. LG has fan favorites and former world champions BaRRaCCuDDa and JeffHindla in leadership roles on the team, but they had quite a tough time just qualifying for this event over the past couple of months.
We’ll see if the Chinese can serve up some heartbreak for North American fans early on in the tournament!
ESportsSource January 5, 20175:05 pm

Here at Hi-Rez Expo, there’s more than just the PC tournament. There are also two other world championships- for both Paladins and Console SMITE.

If you play SMITE or would like to at some point, remember to link your Hi-Rez account with your Twitch account. You can win free chests by watching the matches on Twitch.tv/hireztv. You can also get this snazzy Twitch Janus skin by linking your Prime account:

ESportsSource January 5, 20174:55 pm

Match 1: SoaR Gaming vs. INTZ Esports


Game 1 wraps up 12-8 in favor of SoaR who dismiss the Brazilian team.
ESportsSource January 5, 20174:50 pm

Match 1: SoaR Gaming vs. INTZ Esports

SoaR take the fire giant just before the 17 minute mark, and are making moves to take down INTZ’s phoenixes quickly. This first game could wrap up shortly!
ESportsSource January 5, 20174:47 pm

Match 1: SoaR Gaming vs. INTZ Esports


The first match of the day has kicked off and it’s already a wild one, with the Brazilian side (INTZ) jumping out to a 4-0 lead early on. SoaR’s team of veteran players like Baskin, Snoopy, and Andinster have the big stage experience to close the gap, and that they did at around the 16 minute mark, bringing the match back to 8-7.