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aTTaX.yAwS		Axslav

yAws was one of my favorite players of last season. It was refreshing to see a german human not content with simple national league fame. His precision and macro abilities went through the roof so quickly that a drug test almost is in order. This season the effects seem to have subsided slightly. Although he did defeat the macro elf Sonik he was defeated by his fellow countryman TryDying.

Axslav on the other hand needs no real introduction, but that’s what this segment is for anyway so it would be rather lazy of me to skip over it.

Game 1 (LT): Now that orc has stepped up to become the strongest race (arguably) LT has become without question an orc-centric map with its large distances, open spaces and its central healing fountain being the main advantageous traits.

Normally the best way to take advantage of these conditions is to creep up a Blademaster and haunt your enemy as he tries to expand. However, Axslav is a show artist and he proves once again that underused heroes are underused simply because of the inability of most players to think outside the box. He starts out with a TC and starts to creep the middle.

yAws does a classic fast-expand which gives Axslav some extra time. Not enough though as he is jacked by yAws forces.

Here is a fine bovine specimen, unfortunately infected with Creutzfeldts-Jacobs disease...

Not wanting to fight water elementals with only grunts Axslav heads off to yAws’ expo spot to see what kind of damage he can do. Before he’s driven off he manages to kill a tower and three peasants which is a fair amount.

Normaly orcs try not to build too many grunts as they tend to become gimps for the enemy at tier 2 against most races. Axslav continues production past 4 and keeps going. In a cunning manouver he sends a few of those grunts off to harass yAws’ expo again while he creeps the middle with the rest.

As he starts constructing a War Mill before his tech is finished it’s clear that he intends to tower rush. At 08:00 he arrives and starts setting up towers. yAws is at this time only half-way to tier 2 and with 7 grunts and a lvl 3 TC in his fold + a SH with wards it’s looking rather grim for him at this point. yAws desperatly tries to take down the towers with militia while Axslav’s army is fighting his main army.

This does work to an extent and tier 2 finishes before a few towers finaly complete. yAws takes this opportunity to select a second hero to help fend of the tower rush: Blood Mage.

With three Sanctums swiftly built while he continously harasses with Flame Strike yAws looks poised to turn the game around. However, heavy artillerly fire keeps Axslav in the game, and as his towers finaly pop he becomes harder and harder to evict.

Axslav manages to sneak his wounded grunts over to the fountain to heal. yAws consequently decides that his best chance is to build a large untouchable army and creep up his underleveled heroes rather than risk a war of attrition in which he might lose.

Meanwhile Axslav displays a bit of game-reading blindness by not opting for tech buildings at this point. Ensnare and disenchant would been the final nail in the coffin. After a brief struggle at the expo yAws decides to base-race, sending his peasants off to build an expo while his army moves in on the orcish main.

In his overconfidence Axslav teleports in to fight, forgetting that his army is still in fact inferior.

yAws uses Siphon Mana to empty the TC’s reserves and the proceeds to spam Flame Strike to great effect. yAws edges away towards the fountain (breakers have almost as much hp as grunts after all) and fights there using every weapon at his disposal.

Axslav’s micro collapses at this point and both his heroes get surrounded and killed. The game continues for a while longer, but from this point on yAws has gold while Axslav doesn’t which is an easy calculation. Game 1 goes to yAws!

Game 2 (SV): Axslav retreats to Secret Valley with an army of elves with a clear strategy in mind. The Potm as a first hero give a quite clear suggestion as to what that strategy is. While Axslav’s huntress production gets underway he harasses yAws with his Potm.

yAws opts for riflemen while trying to creep. Axslavs hunts are relentless however, and he doesn’t manage to get much done at first. Axslav keeps yAws under siege while covertly building a tree of life. yAws prepares for his own cabaret by hiring the services of the Alchemist.

The idea here is to cluster your riflemen while using Healing Spray to keep them alive for as long as possible.

Agh! No! We're not into peeing! Keep your sick fetishes to yourself!

After a short struggle Axslav pretends to run away to clear space for his expo, leaving yAws with a few moments of peace. Strifecro remarks that rifle/caster isn’t an optimal strategy versus a mass of huntresses, and of course he is correct.

However, it is also a matter of what you’re letting tank. Consider that it’s the riflemen whom are supposed to do the heavy lifting, dealing the damage. And, consider that it is they who will be targeted by the enemy.

The casters however do not take extra damage aganst normal damage, so it would be prutend to use them as tanks rather than the other way around. Axslav picks up a panda to add stone to burden for poor yAws.

While fighting he divides his hunts into small ”focus groups”, attacking perhaps three riflemen simultaneously. Against this there is no reasonable micro defense; at least not in open terrain like on this map. After three consecutive battles where Axslav narrowly wins yAws surrenders.

Game 3 (EI): Game 3 plays out very similarly to the previous game. Axslav goes for hunts, yAws tries to counter with rifle/caster. He analyses his previous game and comes to the bad conclusion that he was simply lacking a choke point at which to fight.

This leads him to hiring a Tinker as his second hero. But since the factory takes more damage from normal damage it is only an extremely temporary obstacle, and after it has been destroyed there isn’t any healing spray to keep rifles alive and no acid bomb to even out the odds. The game finishes quite quickly with another victory for Axslav.