【Tokyo Masters】Pacific International League: Southeast Asian scientific research, Korean operation and progress star
Text: Star Yin
Photo: Official photo album, clan social media
In addition to the two Chinese teams invited to participate in the Tokyo Masters, the other teams are from the VCT series of events in the three major divisions, of which the Pacific International League accounts for three places, and the participating teams are PRX, DRX and T1.
The Pacific International League is held in South Korea, and the proximity of time zones and geography makes this division familiar to Chinese spectators and players. In the previous introduction of EDG and ASE, we mentioned the opponents that the players would like to meet at the Tokyo Masters, among which Kang Kang and Life mentioned BuZ and stax, and Alphabet mentioned MaKo, all of whom are from DRX.
DRX's popularity in the Pacific International League is reasonable, as their previous results have always been among the best in the division, and they also finished third in the Global Championship last year; In this year's pre-season invitational, EMEA took two spots in the semifinals, one each in the Americas and the Pacific, and it was DRX that entered the final four Pacific International League teams. But this time at the Tokyo Masters, they are not the No. 1 seed in the division, but the No. 2 seed. Winning the Pacific International League was another powerhouse, PRX. Compared to the first and second seeds who played early, the third seed T1 of the Pacific International League can be said to be a dark horse.
All in all, the three Pacific International League teams participating in this competition have different styles and have good fighting power, which is definitely a force that cannot be ignored.
No. 1 seed PRX – Double Duel Lover
lineup
mindfreak (field control)
f0rsakeN (complement)
D4V41 (Pioneer)
Jinggg (Duel)
Something (Duel)
Benkai (Sentry + Vanguard/Conductor)
The previous conductor of PRX was Benkai, and after the change of formation, Benkai did not play very much, and PRX should have adjusted in command.
Clan style
PRX can win the Pacific International League championship, and its strength is naturally undoubted.
This team has excellent marksmanship and extremely high ceilings, can rely on individual team members' marksmanship to force gaps, and is good at dragging opponents into their own gun rhythm. The team has strong execution, high efficiency in tactical switching and execution, and they also have good scientific research capabilities, and are the first to use the night dew system and the most common team to use Rena. The tactics are flexible and changeable, and it is difficult to perfectly resolve the PRX changes through the layout.
When introducing PRX, it is impossible not to mention their unique double duel system.
Intrepid has four role positions: Vanguard, Duel, Field, and Sentinel; But there are five people on a team at the time of the game, so it's clear that at least one character will be repeated. The most common in the game is double smoke; Of course, there are also double pioneers, information plus flash, props full. Double duels certainly exist, but they are less common in comparison, and teams generally choose depending on the map. For example, DRX has used double duels only five times in 35 games in the Pacific International League this year; In the T1, 36 games in the same division, there are only 10 double duels, 9 of which appear in Fission Canyon, which is the exclusive play of this map. It can be seen that the double duel lineup is not mainstream. PRX is an exception, in their 30 games in the Pacific International League this year, only 4 games did not use double duels, in other words, their probability of two duels is as high as 86.67%, double duels are their main and most iconic play.
Even if three people in a team have played dueling, PRX may suffer from duel deficiency phobia
Not only that, but PRX's hero pool is quite off-the-beaten, with less visited heroes such as Rena and Immortal Bird, in addition to the most common duel heroes Jetwind and Rez, as well as neon that can be seen on specific maps. For example, the hero of Rena has only been used by three people in the past 90 days in the international leagues of the three major divisions, namely something of PRX, Redgar of TL and JitBoyS of TLN, but Redgar and JitBoyS have only won 1 time, while something has won 4 times. The situation was similar for the Immortals, which were only played by 3 people in 90 days, with PRX's Jinggg taking 6 rounds, significantly higher than C9 Zellsis' 2 and TH Kelloqz's 1.
Star players
Since it is a double duel system, the core of PRX is naturally the operator of their duel heroes: something and Jinggg, but they have different positions as duels.
something
As part of the PRX double breakthrough system. The Russian player has a high ceiling on marksmanship and is aggressive when playing the first breakthrough position. It is characterized by the initiative to find someone to the gun, and with the use of marksmanship, it can often put great pressure on the defender before entering the point. It fits almost perfectly into the character missions that the current PRX tactical system requires him to complete. He also won the Grand Final FMVP honor. Something's weakness is that although the upper limit of marksmanship is high, not every round can be played consistently, and there are often some rounds in a round with horse guns.
Jinggg
Perhaps in order to achieve a complementary effect with something, to protect the team's aggressive style of play, Jinggg, who is in the same duel, has a slightly different style of play than something when his marksmanship is equally excellent. Compared to something's initiative to find someone to shoot, Jinggg's positioning is more strategic and requires the cooperation of more teammates, often with the assistance of teammates to quickly occupy and clean a small area. Jinggg's weakness is that he is easily lost when he can't find a rhythm, and his marksmanship and decision-making fluctuate as a result. But fortunately, the lower limit is not low, and you can still complete basic tasks even if you are in poor condition.
Seed Two DRX – Operations
If Intrepid also has a so-called Korean-style operation, it is DRX.
lineup
Stax (Vanguard/Conductor)
Rb (complement)
BuZz (Sentry + Duel)
MaKo (Game/Endgame)
Zest (Vanguard + Control)
Foxy9 (Duel)
Clan style
DRX plays steadily and has good discipline. Unconventional tactics have a strong sense of design and will try to use unconventional tactics with a sense of routine to play an advantage in a specific round. It has a certain ability to change speeds, and can make certain rhythm changes. However, when carrying out tactics that are not clearly designed, the arrangement and cooperation of team members is like opening a blind box, which is very unstable.
One of the things unique about DRX is that they are all Phantoms.
The two most commonly used rifles of the Dreadid Pact, the Madman has the ability to ignore the distance of one shot, while the Phantom may leave the pain of being killed by hitting the head from a long distance because the damage decreases with the distance. The professional arena masters make moves, and the victory and defeat are often decided in an instant, so the madman faction is far more than the phantom faction. However, the Phantom bullets are numerous, the rate of fire is fast, and the trajectory shift of the first shot is small, which means that the Phantom is easier to control the gun; Phantoms also have the advantage of mixing smoke without exposing their position, and Phantoms are actually easier to play at short and medium distances than madmen.
Phantom kills occur more often within 15 meters
The pros choose the madman far more than the Phantom
In order to maximize the advantages of the Phantom, of course, it is necessary to create as many scenes as possible against guns at medium and close range, and reduce the possibility of long-distance firefights. Therefore, from this choice of firearms, we can see the thinking and playing style characteristics of DRX: they are a team that is known for operation rather than marksmanship, and is good at using control maps and props, and creating a suitable gun environment for themselves. When DRX makes decisions, there are very few situations where a single person goes out against the gun without a prop, either with a prop to assist or someone can replenish the gun, which gives them the space to use the Phantom and play to their strengths. The tactical arrangement and the choice of firearms complement each other, which is the biggest feature and highlight of the DRX.
Star players
MaKo
MaKo is the league MVP of the Pacific International League, a world-class smoke position with a unique smoke understanding. Strong main guard ability and super endgame handling make him the DRX's biggest leg character. His endgame ability convinced ASE's alphabet brother, who often watched his videos to reflect on himself; The overseas commentator did not skimp on praise when talking about the MaKo endgame, and it can be said that MaKo's endgame ability is recognized as strong, and it is worth paying attention to and appreciating when watching the game.
BuZz
BuZz is one of the best marksmen on the DRX team, he is explosive and has excellent multi-kill ability, and is the core of the team's attack and front. But after all, DRX as a whole is not a rigid gun team, and BuZz is no exception in this regard, so if there is any deficiency in his shortcomings, it is that compared with the core players of other participating teams, there is no obvious advantage in personal strength, especially marksmanship. However, DRX is a team that fights to operate, so as long as the tactical arrangement and execution are good enough, it can still achieve an advantage, which should not be underestimated.
The third seed, T1, is the fastest progresser
T1, the third runner-up of the Pacific International League, has shown amazing growth in the past six months.
lineup
XETA (Vanguard + Field Control)
Minchkin (Sentinel [Main] + Vanguard/Conductor)
Ban (Control Field [Main] + Duel)
Sayaplayer (Duel)
Carpe (Vanguard [Main] + Control)
iNTRO (Field Control)
Clan style
This year's pre-season tournament was the T1 team's debut, when they faced FURIA in the first round and eliminated early. But in less than half a year, T1 broke into the Masters with this arguably completely reorganized squad, and the run-in and growth were very rapid. In the Pacific International League, T1 showed good consistency, with the exception of champion PRX and runner-up DRX, T1 won almost every match against other teams. The only exception was the regular-season defeat to GenG, who ran away in the first half, but they completed their revenge in the playoffs.
Stability is the key word of T1, or this new lineup is striving to pursue in this half-year run-in, so T1 is characterized by a very fixed map and hero combination. Unlike other teams, the lineup will change slightly on the same map, T1 in this year's Pacific International League, a map only corresponds to a single set of hero combinations, and even the player rotation has not been able to disrupt their characteristics. Of the teams participating in this Tokyo Masters, only T1 and FNC are so adaptable. See if they will continue with their only answer at the Masters or will come up with another trick.
But another feature of T1 that contradicts the previous point is that their players and character positioning are not unique when the map lineup is so unique, or that everyone else plays two positions except for Sayaplayer, which is a pure duel. Among them, ban counts as the main smoke position, but will take the swift wind when T1 comes out with a double duel lineup; This happens in Fission Canyon and Neon Town, when Carpe will fill the smoke, and other times Carpe is a pioneer, so it is the main pioneer in the team. Munchkin is only in Genko Town and Neon Town is Skye, and the other pictures are all Qile and are sentry guards. Although xeta only plays four heroes, there are 20 pioneers, 16 smoke positions, and the distribution of the two positions is relatively even, in the fission canyon is the iron arm, the lotus ancient city and the deep sea pearl are the sea god, the Yahai hanging city and the hermit seminary are the hunters, and the source town and neon town are vipers.
Star players
Sayaplayer
A former Overwatch celebrity who began his career in North America after transitioning to Intrepid. This early experience in North America allowed him to go beyond the traditional Korean school of steadiness, and his personal style blended steadiness and radicalism. Marksmanship is online, the first kill and multi-kill abilities are excellent, and it has the ability to change the tide of battle. But also due to the influence of the American style of play, in today's relatively pure Korean team, there will be a disconnect with teammates when making radical decisions.
xeta
The very stable players in the T1 team will hardly give in vain, and steadily contribute to the team's output. The endgame is calm and the props are well understood. Can act as a vanguard or smoke position, playing a pivotal role in tactics and the stability and integrity of the lineup.
The necklace may be the body
Off the field
Team DRX's consistent results have always made them the jewel of the Pacific International League, and they have attracted attention from within and outside the division. stax and BuZ are not only friends with Chinese players Kang Kang and Life, but also have good brothers around the world who want to stick to them.
In the competition area, PRX and DRX co-produced a Vlog, of which the first issue was released by PRX and the second issue was released by DRX, which is enough to reflect the friendship between the two teams.
The theme of the vlog is to try Korean food and visit Korean attractions, and stax and BuZz are naturally responsible for the façade of the team, and they are obligated to bring their fluent English. In the second video, Jinggg won the mini-game and was eligible to choose traditional Korean clothing for the contestants involved in the shoot, and he very unsurprisingly chose a women's outfit for stax, which became his happiest thing of the day.
Jinggg: Today I'm happy because I put Stax in my dress
The friendship between PRX and DRX is more than that, in the team voice issued by PRX before, when PRX and DRX played, the coach's pre-match guiding ideology was: "Boys, no matter what happens, don't panic, come game by game, play happily, encourage teammates, play style, knife stax, OK?" "Even the knife man has been specially arranged in, and it can be seen that everyone is a good brother.
In addition to getting along well with nearby teams, the last time I went to Brazil, the local team LOUD also warmly invited DRX players to shoot fun videos about trying Brazilian snacks. As the face of the team, stax and BuZz naturally came out with their fluent English.
In this issue, Stax shows the basic qualities of foodies, and does not refuse everything that comes, "Am I too strange?" I think it's all delicious. He said this while Argentina's Saadhak was coughing because the snacks were too dry. And stax is not a kind word, this brother can deal with it, there are snacks he really eats, the LOUD contestant is dumbfounded, better than the locals accept it well.
Saadhak: You're weird. You really like it, right? stax: Right.
On the other hand, in addition to the cooperation video with DRX this year, PRX also shot several Vlogs in South Korea to record life, and they are also keen to shoot some embarrassing small videos.
Lines: - Why is there still a small machine here? -To make the effect a little more grippy.
Due to the similar starting time, the strength of the three major divisions is very close at present. The three teams from the Pacific International League have a good standard and interesting personalities. Whether it's the duel mad PRX, the DRX that operates as king, or the progressive star T1 with a bit of American irrage, you have a chance to play a highlight at this Tokyo Masters.