Gunnar's core Ogre Magi propels nouns to the TI12 upper bracket
In an astonishing turn of events, North American underdogs nouns take down The International 12 champions Tundra Esports in a convincing 2-0 series. The results of the series put nouns in the upper bracket, while Tundra starts the playoffs with only one lifeline in the lower bracket.
Nouns' victory is a surprise by itself, but their drafts in both games were equally surprising. Game one included an offlane Witch Doctor for David "Moo" Hull, while game two had the even more unorthodox core Ogre Magi being played by Nicolas "Gunnar" Lopez.
Nouns countered Tundra Esports draft perfectly in game two
Tundra EsportsCredits: Twitter.@TundraEsports
Tundra Esports intended to go for a big teamfight lineup. Faceless Void and Warlock are a solid laning duo and bring massive ultimate for later engagements. Dark Seer and Invoker also provided plenty of teamfight control and Earth Spirit was picked up to bring some momentum to the team.
Tundra's draft had one problem though, most of their lineup was playing with long cooldown ultimates, which meant they could only force a fight every few minutes. This meant their draft was unlikely to go for early objectives.
Nouns had the perfect response to Tundra's wombo-combo lineup and fought fire with fire. Phoenix and Brewmaster provided all the teamfight the squad needed, while Chaos Knight and Dark Willow with Hand of Midas scaled into the late game.
The biggest surprise was the last pick Ogre Magi for Gunnar. Mid Ogre is a pretty rare sight but he suits the current meta of picking ultra-durable cores that scale, rather than spell casters or fragile damage dealers.
In the past, Tundra Esports excelled at winning the lanes and then forcing their opponents into their base while Tundra outfarmd them all over the map.
That strategy failed against nouns lineup. They went for Triple Hand of Midas on their heroes and all of them were either too tanky or elusive to be shut down.
Tundra couldn't find the kills needed across the map and nouns superior scaling thanks to their calculated greedy item build paid off, resulting in a 2-0 victory over the TI11 champions.
How to play core Ogre Magi like Gunnar
Surprisingly, Gunnar didn't rush Hand of Midas as his first item. (Credit: Valve)If you're looking to learn how to replicate Gunnar's success in the mid-lane with Ogre Magi, then you've come to the right place.
Gunnar started the game with one point in Bloodlust, which provided a massive amount of extra attack speed, very helpful for contesting creeps. He still lost the lane to Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen but it was a fairly close matchup overall.
After that players should max out Ignite, with a value point in Fireblast for the stun. Ignite deals incredible damage and can hit the same enemy heroes multiple times as well.
Core Ogre Magi's early item build focuses on keeping his mana pool full. Bottle, Soul Ring, and Magic Wand are sufficient to ensure the hero doesn't run out of steam.
While Hand of Midas is crucial for Ogre Magi, Gunnar didn't rush the item. Phase Boots and Blade Mail were picked up first, to ensure the hero can contribute to early skirmishes.
For late-game, Gunnar focused on staying alive, picking up a Heart of Terrasque and Black King Bar to ensure he couldn't be brought down.
The result? Gunnar was walking around with 4,500 health at level 20 with that item build, good luck killing that.
Thanks to their unorthodox draft and out-of-the-box thinking, nouns advance to the upper bracket of TI12. It will be interesting to see if this International has more upsets in the future.
READ MORE: The International 12 Group Stage Ends: A Recap of What Happened
Featured image source: WePlay/Valve