myMYM.com's Strategy Columnist Galvin "Gosubay" Bay is back with another article from the "How to Play" series. This week he will be exploring a more unorthodox strategy which has been refined continuously by a Taiwanese elf player: EsM.Kim

This time round, I have decided to select a less commonly used strategy to write about. This strategy involves the use of the Keeper of the Grove as a starting hero in a Nightelf mirror match.

I won't make outrageous claims, saying that this strategy cannot be countered, but it can certainly defeat professional players if they are unfamiliar with the proper counters or if they are caught off-guard. (I actually wanted to post the replays but the new patch 1.22 was released T_T.)

Now let me briefly introduce EsM.Kim to some of you who are unfamiliar with him. Kim is a nightelf player from the clan EsM. He plays in a number of online leagues such as Dreamcup, TFL and UL. In an interview (Traditional Chinese), Kim says that he is pretty lousy with the Demon Hunter. Thus, he almost always uses the Keeper of the Grove or other tavern heroes as his first hero.

I downloaded a couple of his replays in the past and discovered that he has defeated players such as Check, Who and Fivestar in his ladder games.

Today's article will include two games since elf mirrors have two distinct styles of play: Demon Hunter + Naga Seawitch / Archers + Druids of the Claw + Dryads or Priestess of the Moon / Huntresses.

In the first game, Kim was matched against Check on the Intel Rampage Asia ladder last year. In the second game, Kim is matched against nSt|All1gator, an unknown nightelf player.

I'll go through the build order this time round.

Build order:

1. 4 wisps to goldmine, 1 wisp to build altar (scout after altar is completed)
2. 6th wisp to build moonwell (rally wisp to tree after building moonwell)
3. 7th to goldmine
4. Train enough wisps. You will need 7 lumber wisps if you are planning to amass a huge number of huntresses and 10 lumber wisps if you are planning to tech to tier 2.
5. When you have accumulated 180 lumber, build an Ancient of War and a Hunters Hall.
6. Build your second moonwell when you have 40 lumber
7. Tech to tier 2 if he is playing archers or build a second Ancient of War if he is playing huntresses.