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2vs2 Single
Style: Switch
DQ: One week
Damage Cap: 50%
Banned Moves: OHKOs, rest, attract
Terrain: The middle lane
Ah yes, the middle lane. A small river separates two bits of land from each other. One side, the dire side, is dark, with almost dead looking grass and trees, and the other side, the radiant, is filled with life, with luscious trees and grass.
For the sake of simplicity, the top and bottom lanes do not exist. On the ends of the river just lie some magical runes (one will be at each end).
They will appear every 3 rounds, even if someone has not picked the last one up (the new one will overwrite the old one). One of these runes that have spawned will always be a bounty rune. The effects (which last till the end of the round) are:
Double damage: A blue rune, looks kinda crinkly. Damage from Pokemon's attacks are doubled, but also the energy cost.
Haste: A red, diamond shaped rune. The Pokemon's speed is doubled.
Illusion: Three yellow runes,in a ovalish shape. Two clones of the Pokemon are created.
Invisibilty: A purple, almost fading away rune. The Pokemon is invisible till it attacks it's opponent. The opponent cannot dodge, as they cannot see the attack coming.
Regeneration: A green rune with plant-life growing on it. The Pokemon is healed 10% health and 10% energy. (Let's be a little fair; if it healed back to full this match may never end.
Bounty: An orange rune with yellow rings around it. Gives the trainer +£1.
It will cost an action to go check a rune, and you will have to specify which rune you are going for. After going for a rune, your Pokemon will return to the middle lane.
Erm, I will leave a picture of the middle lane, for those confused:
Robbie the male Oshawott <Torrent> Muffin the male Swoobat <Unaware> Pearl the female Ralts <Synchronize> Aries the male Whimsicott <Prankster> Spectre the female Gastly <Levitate> Foxy the male Vulpix <Flash Fire> @ Fire Stone Achilles the male Cubone <Rock Head> Zeus the male Rufflet <Keen Eye> Dr Hoot the male Hoothoot <Insomnia> Goatye the male Skiddo <Sap Sipper> @ Lucky Egg
Ether's Bane's active squad
Milenko the male Skarmory <Sturdy> @ Rocky Helmet Voyde the female Spiritomb <Pressure> Cyrix the female Miltank <Scrappy> @ Leftovers Frost the genderless Cryogonal <Levitate> Gulch the male Durant <Swarm> @ Life Orb Rift the female Drilbur <Sand Rush> Kallamehr the male Klefki <Prankster> Karliah the female Sableye <Keen Eye> Viskran the male Chespin <Overgrow>
-Noctowl sends out her laner
-Ether's Bane counterpicks and commands
-Noctowl rushes Midas commands
-rosh tree is kill
Start with Confuse Ray, unless he Protects or is otherwise unhittable, in which case, use Hail. Then, Ice Beam, or Reflect if he can't be hit. Finally, Ice Beam or Light Screen (same condition applies).
It was a cold day in the caster’s office. TobiWan had just finished casting StarLadder 420, and was nursing a cup of coffee. The endgame lobby was splayed out before him, with RoboLanM being showered with praise for the game ending Echo Slam. Tobi mused at icefrog’s decision to make Echo Slasm affect structures in patch 6.9, but a shot of his drink made him think otherwise. There was no questioning his lord and saviour. He turned his attention back to the screen, disposing of the now empty cup in a nearby trashcan- alongside the Valve-issued cosmetics of Tidehunter he kept getting (one hat was enough, really). He was affixing his headset when he noticed the game was suddenly on the loading screen. It wasn’t one of the splashes in his random cycle, but something different….there was a sphere at the center, each half coloured differently. Was this the new dire and radiant? He wondered in a haze of caffeine. Maybe someone spiked his coffee. Music began to blast through his headphones, something he’d never heard before. Something he’d never heard in the history of dota. The game loaded in, he was casting. Apparently he had come in late, as the creeps were already barreling down middle lane, the only lane, headed by a strange new pair of heroes…
Round One
Noctowl
Oo
Goatye
Skiddo (M) [Sap Sipper] @ Lucky Egg
Health: 100% | Energy: 100%
Condition: "Uh guys is this a new Chen mount? Looks pretty…cool? These tourney prizes are getting weird." Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Brick Break
The action’s already started in the middle lane, looks like both players aren’t going for creeps at all, but microing their heroes around them. Wow these animations are really good, I can see the ripples of grass around Chen’s goat’s neck. Really good stuff, guys, I don’t know which tournament this one’s from though. To be honest I thought it was a courier until it threw up that energy shield.
On that note, Chen’s goat seems to have gone for a very defensive ability level one and we’ll see if it pays off in lane. The shining bubble seems to grant both magic immunity and resistance to physical damage. What’s this? Winter Wyogon has taken a page out of Tinker’s book. It’s dropping down a local shower of snow and shards, little crystals gleaming like jewels instead of a march of metal. The creeps are melting from the ice spikes raining down on them, how long can this go on? And Chen’s goat is even pawing at the ground, trying to claw back out of the river. He slips on a glassy patch of icebut leaps back up, that is a cool touch, Valve. He’s busy shaking the collected snow off his coat. His goat coat.
Wyogon’s efforts seem to have paid off, as the creeps dying net it a very quick level two. The hero has sped into motion, zooming towards its foe- look at those animations, it’s spinning in place like a record! The model is a blur; it’s like a disc of pure ice! The ability seems to take a long time to charge up, but I think it’s targeted. I zoomed in and it looks like Wyogon is actually sneering at Chen’s goat. The face is spinning and a thin line of ice is firing from its mouth. The beam looks like it’s a targeted ability, as Chen’s goat is clopping on the ground around his creeps, trying to dodge the chilling path. But to no avail! The beam strikes true, I guess it lasts as long as you don’t hit a hero.
Chen’s goat is shivering in its coat. Hah. You know, it’s about to hit nighttime, actually, and the runes still haven’t spawned, I don’t know what icefrog changed but it’s really going to shake up the midlane meta. Wait, what’s this? Chen’s goat is rearing up on his hindlegs, bleating at the sky. A thunderous clop fills the battlefield and the storm of ice fades away! The river unfreezes, thawed by a sudden daytime? Praise icefrog, he finally made a reverse Night Stalker! The Day Walker’s coat is bristling in the sudden heat, rustled by a fair gust of wind blowing downriver. The day is fine and Chen’s goat is living it up. Wyogon doesn’t seem to like it one bit, however, it’s actually shivering in the light. It’s gone to hide in the trees for a bit, munching through some of them with a tango. The dire trees always have this sort of murkiness to them, not even the sunlight can beat their shadows. Wyogonal is revving up from the cover of some branches, spiraling out a beam of ice. It slices across the middle lane, cutting through the river and piercing the hearts of several creeps. The little guys crumble into nothing, the frost wrought from their chest. Chen’s goat doesn’t even see the beam coming, and it speeds into his flank. On closer inspection the beam itself looks like a long shard of ice, stretched so thin that it’s like a beam shot out of the hero. That’s pretty cool. Chen’s goat is disagreeing with me though, nudging his head in the general direction of the beam, like he’s telling his horns. He taps at the ground, is that a taunt? Looks a lot like a warning for Wyogon.
Woah! Chen’s goat has just leapt across the river, right out of the range of Wyogon’s tower. The creeps that Wyogon’s beam killed weren’t just the radiant’s. It managed to shatter the dire ones too, I guess it doesn’t discriminate, a good way to balance such a strong ability. Chen’s goat is looking for signs of the hexagonal dragon in the trees, trying to look at the meagre sunbeams piercing the thick canopy of dire trees. Ahah! He’s spotted it at last! A pair of trees has a suspicious mark of cold, pale blue bark spreading across it. Chen’s goat arches his head forwards, does he not care for the tower? Like Spirit Breaker on steroids he charges at the trees, knocking away the obstructing branches and running straight and true into Winter Wyogon. He’s locked his horns under its plate body, and you can see the veins in his neck tremble as he tries to lift her. The crooks of his horns crack into the back plating of the snowflake dragon, leaving two terrible marks! This’ll be a fight to remember! He flings his head back, and you can hear the crack of ice slapping against branches as Wyogon is thrown out of the trees. It lands with an audible smack on a creep, throwing it off the lane’s center. The hexagonal shape smushes the creep under its surprising weight, and it isn’t helped when Chen’s goat leaps back into the fray. His hooves smash into what I presume is Wyogon’s face with the sound of ice compacting in on itself; leaving a dirty scar and a monstrous wail. It sounds like someone crying in the refrigerator, yeah I don’t even know what that is, guys. Wyogon slides across the ground, spraying bits of dirt into the river below and spins off to the radiant side of the middle lane. I guess these heroes are out for blood and they don’t care which side they have to take to get it.
What happens if I alt-click on- WOAH Noctowl
Oo
Goatye
Skiddo (M) [Sap Sipper] @ Lucky Egg
Health: 68% | Energy: 89%
Condition: "This hero looks pretty strong right now, he's Tiny with a built-in BKB." Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Brick Break
Ether’s Bane
Oo
Frost
Cryogonal (X) [Levitate]
Health: 90% | Energy: 87%
Condition: ”Winter Wyogon still dominates the early game with her new Arctic Burn, even if it's a skillshot.” Hail ~ Ice Beam ~ Ice Beam
Other
-Sunny Day will continue for seven more actions! Does this mean we can delay night forever?
What happened to the combat log?!
A2:
Ice Beam: Effect Chance (65/100, NO EFFECT)
Notes:
-I hope you don’t mind the reffing style, it’s a bit…off the wall. I don’t mind writing in the normal style, or even my “normal” style if you guys don’t like it.
-I haven't followed the dota2 professional scene in a while, so forgive me if I've missed a bunch of stuff.
-Someone left Noctowl’s courier at the secret shop again, give it some commands.
To be honest, Goatye, it's best if you b for now. I will send out Foxy.
Let's lower the damage that Pokemon can do with a will-o-wisp, then let's try and hit two flame throwers down. If Frost protects or is otherwise unhittable, please do a nasty plot instead.
Noctowl said, "if Frost protects or is otherwise unhittable". You are not Frost, so use Protect, block Will-O-Wisp, and prevent Nasty Plot. Follow that up with a Rain Dance, then a Sucker Punch.
What’s this? The laners are rotating to the side lanes, maybe they’re going for the runes- but those haven’t spawned yet! What is happening. Wait, there are two other icons on the minimap, coming up with the next creep wave…
Round Two
Hoo boy I will never get used to this Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 100% | Energy: 100%
Condition: "Why does the Radiant only have couriers…" Will-O-Wisp/Nasty Plot ~ Flamethrower/Nasty Plot ~ Flamethrower/Nasty Plot 68% | 89%
Ether’s Bane
oO
Voyde
Spiritomb (F) [Pressure]
Health: 100% | Energy: 100%
Condition: ”Is that a black hole? BLACK HOO- Protect ~ Rain Dance ~ Sucker Punch 90% | 87%
No one told me they made Black Hole into an actual hero. Now that’s cool, really cool. I always liked Enigma for that single ability, but the rest of his design was kinda meh, you know? Now that we have just that, I can’t wait to see where it goes. Ohoh, it’s thrown up a bubble just like Chen’s goat did, this one’s a bit darker because there’s a supermassive spacetime event inside it, but you get the idea. I don’t think Icefrog is one to reuse abilities, so this has to be an item. Maybe it’s just a new Euls? Their mana regen doesn’t seem to be increasing…or decreasing. What is happening.
The courier that just spawned for the Radiant has made its way to the middle lane, but it doesn’t have a hero to deliver too. The little fox is looking around, one of the golems at the ancients is waving at it, but it can’t find Chen’s goat. What’s this?! The courier is attacking! It’s opened its mouth and shot off a wispy ball of flame. It looks like someone took pieces of separate fires and tried to glue them back together. Its barely keeping its shape as it floats over the river. But the Euls from Black Hole is still going strong, and it just bumps harmlessly into it. The fire fades away, and the shield follows! Black Hole is spamming a laugh taunt now. I wouldn’t be laughing, that seems really overpowered.
The fox looks a bit perturbed, they really did a number with these animations, I can see the fur on its brow crease. It’s damn annoyed, I’ll tell you that. Its mouth was already open from the earlier- HOLY CRAP ITS DRAGON KNIGHT. That courier just used Breathe Fire, it just melted all the creeps in the lane, the flame just barely shot into Black Hole though, and damn they made it so particle effects are added to the spinning blackness? Now that’s cool, there’s a lick of fire running around Black Hole’s shape. Aaaaand now it’s gone. The angered green light of its face isn’t though. It churns the little slices of emerald into its spinning body, and aims it straight at the sky. It’s spinning just like Wyogonal was, just a bit more horizontal. Will this be another AOE ability? I can’t really think of anything you’d give to a black hole, except maybe some gravity based move. No, wait! The creeps, they’re soaked. What just happened, the river’s rising, almost flooding onto the banks. There’s the slap of rain everywhere, I can hear it drumming in the back of my ears. Did Black Hole just summon a storm?
The fox is shivering in the cold now, droplets are smashing onto its coat. Those effects are really nice; I wonder if Phoenix could react, though it’d probably just caw anyway. It opens its mouth to shout another draconic flame, but before the fire leaves its jaws Black Hole disappears! If Black Hole has the ult I’m thinking it should have, giving it an invisibility move is probably hell for pubs. Imagine if your good old Riki could lock your team up for four seconds, yikes. Hang on, it just looks like it’s moving across the flooded river. Yeah, I can see a ripple in the air! What is this, Heroes of the Storm? We need actual invis! Black Hole spins into the courier, smashing it with its first attack. But the courier doesn’t die? How much health does it have…a lot! That barely dented it, do couriers have custom stats now? This could have some cool interactions, go for fast but frail or slow but durable. It looks like this one’s in the middle of the road, though, but it sure can bite back. Another Breathe Fire shoots through Black Hole’s face, leaving a black char on its suddenly widened eyes. It didn’t expect the cooldown to come back up so fast, believe me I didn’t. I’m surprised the courier even has the mana for it. In fact, even through the pouring rain the shot of flame managed to absolutely blow back the wispy purple tendrils. They’re frozen right there, eyes blinking occasionally. Now that I think about it, the fire seemed a bit more blue than usual.
Alrighty, alt-clicking time. This is actually pretty useful. Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 90% | Energy: 86%
Condition: "Aww the poor thing’s shivering…" Will-O-Wisp ~ Flamethrower ~ Flamethrower 68% | 89%
Notes:
-Crits only ignore stat changes and Reflect/Light Screen. Weather, and everything else, is fair game.
-Foxy was indeed told to Nasty Plot if Frost Protected.
-Pressure upped all of Foxy's energy expenditures.
-Just in case you were not aware, switching after the round has begun (as in, on an action) will end the round immediately after the switch occurs.
-Do the runes appear at the end or the beginning of the third round? If it's the latter, just tell me and I'll roll them now. One round til Rune spawn!
Alright, so it does this automatically? Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 90% | Energy: 86%
Condition: "Aww the poor thing’s shivering…" Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Confuse Ray 68% | 89%
The courier takes the initiative on the arrival of the next creep wave. For some reason new creeps appear every three ability uses, weird. A piercing blue bubble pops into existence around the fox, I guess you can customize your new Euls colours? I wondered when they were going to do something about item effects, it’s pretty cool I guess, probably why they had to change the Euls effect too. Can’t really customize a tornado, now. Black Hole pulses and swirls, firing off a binary system of whirling lights, it flashes across the battlefield and fizzes harmlessly against the smirking fox’s barrier. I wonder what that actually does…
Ah, that’s why the fox was so happy, the barrier was keeping out the rain. Now she just looks mournful again. But what’s this? She’s raised her maw to the sky and is yipping for day to come back. Though I’m not sure it ever left, we don’t seem to like night in this patch. I can see the shadows of clouds on the ground spread apart, opening up the layer that blotched out the sun. And now Black Hole is the one squirming in the heat. It’s gotten so perturbed by the heat that its swirl is bubbling and bulging under the purple fade. That’s kind of weird, it looks like its about to vom- did Black Hole just use the Satyr Hadouken? Did it just use that? Icefrog did you finally put that on a hero? Icefrog I love you.
The glossy purple orb meets fox at the end of its range, just barely striking her on the other side of the river. Black Hole’s gotta be happy about that, and indeed it is. Wait why am I treating the heroes as the players, that’s weird, dude. The courier fixes its glare on Black Hole, her eyes shimmering blue. The glow draws out from her pupils, pooling into a misty orb in the air. The orb splits in two, forming another pale blue. Woah did they just start pulsing, ow ow ow that really hurts the eyes. I can still see the blaring colours from behind my hand. My god that hurts, Christ. Okay I think it’s done now, thank god. I think Black Hole agrees, that was painful to watch. In fact, its wobbling around off-spin. It fires a Hadouken up at the air? You can do that? Icefrog what’s the point of th- oh it just came back down on Black Hole. It did some minimal damage, but that’s kind of weird. Maybe it was the flashing lights, did Icefrog put in some kind of failure chance on certain abilities? That could get bad.
I’m getting the hang of this. Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 76% | Energy: 72%
Condition: "Hey it’s happy again! Guess it must be the sun. That’s some cool interaction there." Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Confuse Ray 68% | 89%
Ether’s Bane
oO
Voyde
Spiritomb (F) [Pressure]
Health: 78% | Energy: 81%
Condition: Confused (1 to 2 more actions, moderate) ”It’s got little stars orbiting it. I’m pretty sure that’s not how Black Holes work…” Confuse Ray ~ Satyr Ball ~ Confused! 90% | 87%
Other: The clock ain’t moving.
-Sunny Day will continue for seven more actions!
Confusion? Is that like miss chance?
A2:
Shadow Ball: Crit Chance(7/100, CRITICAL HIT)
A3:
Confusion: (5/100, CONFUSED)
At least gimme a gold graph?
Foxy’s Health:
90 – 14 (Shadow Ball, Critical Hit) = 76%
Notes:
-Prepare your bottles, it's Runespawn! Next round either Pokemon may spend an action to go looking for one of 'em. The runes appearing this time are a Bounty Rune and a Double Damage rune.
Shadow Sneak to steal the bottom rune before Foxy takes it. Then Protect, then Sucker Punch. However, if you failed to use Protect due to confusion on the second action, use Protect on the third action.
Shadow Sneak to rune ~ Protect ~ Sucker Punch/Protect
Round Four Wait...these guys look oddly like dota players all of a sudden. Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 76% | Energy: 72%
Condition: "Hey it’s happy again! Guess it must be the sun. That’s some cool interaction there." Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Confuse Ray 68% | 89%
Ether’s Bane
oO
Voyde
Spiritomb (F) [Pressure]
Health: 78% | Energy: 81%
Condition: Confused (1 to 2 more actions, moderate) ”It’s got little stars orbiting it. I’m pretty sure that’s not how Black Holes work…” Shadow Sneak to rune ~ Protect ~ Sucker Punch/Protect 90% | 87%
Hah, of course they’d look like dota players, it’s Runespawn! Down on the bottom side of the river, where old Rosh used to be beaten to death- I still get misty-eyed when I see the tree- is a veritable pinecone of welled up energy. Lightning crackles around it, trying desperately to break free. Won’t someone give this rune its dues? Both heroes glance at it, they can’t see far down the river because they have no wards, but they can feel the rune. They can feel it, and they aren’t taking a chance here, they’re going all out. Black Hole blows a raspberry at the fox, who’s lifted paw stops as the rude greeting strikes her. She turns to respond, but Black Hole is gone! She’s goooooone! Only a trail of shadow is left where she was. Is this Spectre’s trail? Black Hole is moving awfully fast on it, quick enough to dash through the darkness and into the Double Damage rune. The blue power pours through her, sending lightning storming through her swirling form. With the appearance of a billowing thundercloud trapped in a hurricane, she turns to the fox, who’s just sauntered up.
The courier’s frustration is more than evident, her fangs filled with faded blue flame. The wisps seem to disappear as they go further and further away from her. That’s a pretty neat visual design, doesn’t draw the player’s attention away from the hero as it goes. It’s also ghost fire and that’s cool. Always. The courier spits a ball of concentrated wispiness at Black Hole, but the spacetime anomaly has already figured out her foe’s plans. The fire puffs harmlessly against a hardened sphere. Normally it would be a pure red bubble of protection, since I guess that’s the kinetic gem Black Hole is using, but you can see the power within. Inside the shield crackles raw blue lightning.
Another set of flames prepares itself in the courier’s mouth. This one is just pouring over the place, glowing and heated and charring the earth where it falls. Now this is certainly a way to differentiate it from the other, less violent flame ability. Black Hole can’t hold back the power welling up inside her, its pushing against her body, forcing her to use it. The duration is actually pretty long on these runes, so she should be good for the return trip to mid, and then some. A living cloud of thundering blue and purple lunges outwards, revving its body like a half-melted chainsaw. The spinning sides slam into the courier, and she’s thrust way far back, almost back into her tower’s protection. But before she leaves, she throws one more Breathe Fire and sets orange rumbling in the storm.
Wait where’s the DD buff? Noctowl
oO
Foxy
Vulpix (F) [Flash Fire] @ Fire Stone
Health: 56% | Energy: 66%
Condition: "The little guy’s licking her wounds, now that’s a pretty cool effect. This wouldn’t have worked with other couriers, since they’re just a little more durable than Crystal Maiden." Protect ~ Sunny Day ~ Confuse Ray 68% | 89%
Notes:
-Voyde’s confusion wore off after the first action.
-Since the DD was down bot, guess what’s going on top! Also both heroes are now back at the mid lane, I just didn’t write that bit in.
-I forgot to account for the Fire Stone's boosts last round, I've accounted for the error this round. 2% damage to Voyde and 2% less energy spent shouldn't be that much of an impact at this point, so I hope it's cool.
Lead with Confuse Ray, or use Rain Dance if she can't be hit. Then Shadow Ball, or Calm Mind if she can't be hit. Finally, Shadow Ball again, Rain Dance if she can't be hit and it isn't raining, or Calm Mind if she can't be hit and it is raining.
Confuse Ray/Rain Dance ~ Shadow Ball/Calm Mind ~ Shadow Ball/Rain Dance/Calm Mind
Robbie the male Oshawott <Torrent>
Muffin the male Swoobat <Unaware>
Pearl the female Ralts <Synchronize>
Aries the male Whimsicott <Prankster>
Spectre the female Gastly <Levitate>
Foxy the male Vulpix <Flash Fire> @ Fire Stone
Achilles the male Cubone <Rock Head>
Zeus the male Rufflet <Keen Eye>
Dr Hoot the male Hoothoot <Insomnia>
Goatye the male Skiddo <Sap Sipper> @ Lucky Egg
Milenko the male Skarmory <Sturdy> @ Rocky Helmet
Voyde the female Spiritomb <Pressure>
Cyrix the female Miltank <Scrappy> @ Leftovers
Frost the genderless Cryogonal <Levitate>
Gulch the male Durant <Swarm> @ Life Orb
Rift the female Drilbur <Sand Rush>
Kallamehr the male Klefki <Prankster>
Karliah the female Sableye <Keen Eye>
Viskran the male Chespin <Overgrow>
