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The finals opened up on Nomad's Isle, chosen by Team Quitter. Action immediately began near the flag stand. QQ's build included a Smiter to bolster their Warrior damage, combined with two Mesmers using Energy Surge. QQ quickly spiked iQ's Ritualist for a kill within the first 30 seconds of the match. Almost two minutes after that, they spiked the Ritualist again for another kill. Showing their experience, iQ stayed calm and did not panic. Instead, they pulled the Ritualist back to a safe position to help run flags. Idiot Savants' experience in Guild Battles was called upon many times throughout the finals. In this case, they simply regrouped and the battle raged on. After the initial kills, the pace slowed for a while as both teams traded flag stand captures and felt each other's builds out. The builds were slightly different; both guilds had front line damage coming from Warriors, but each team had variable support characters, both offensive and defensive. The Quitters brought a classic Water Elementalist with Heal Party and also employed a Smite Monk, while the Savants brought a Ritualist and a Fire Elementalist with Heal Party. For added pressure, QQ used two Domination Mesmers and iQ had a Ranger packing Traps. QQ maintained the upper hand throughout most of the mid-fight by using extra pressure from Smiting and direct damage from the Mesmers. They managed to score five kills before iQ got their first. Sensing their opponents were strong, the Savants dug in their heels and waited. They weathered the battle, secure in the knowledge that they had a specific VoD strategy.  Glyph of Sacrifice Glyph of SacrificeElementalist - No Attribute - Glyph Energy: 5 Activation: 1 Duration: 15 Recharge: 15 Glyph. For 15 seconds, your next Spell may be cast instantly, but it takes an additional 30 seconds to recharge. When VoD came, iQ pulled out their ace in the hole—a move they have been using since the GWFC—Glyph of Sacrifice paired with Meteor Shower. It's a skill combo that their Elementalist hardly uses with the exception of games that go to VoD, and it is devastating to grouped targets. The NPCs at VoD become ideal victims for this high damage skill combination. Within seconds after Team Quitter's NPCs left the base, they all died to iQ's Elementalist. This gave iQ a massive NPC advantage at the flag stand, at which point they took over the stand to receive a morale boost. The extra damage of their own NPCs allowed the Idiot Savants to all but eliminate Team Quitter. At 25:21, QQ's Guild Lord fell. Game Two
The Idiot Savants decided to play on the Isle of Weeping Stone for the second match and made no changes to their build. Team Quitter switched to one of the many builds they had used earlier in the tournament. This build featured two Assassins and two Ranger thumpers with pets. Realizing that iQ's strength came at Victory or Death, Team Quitter decided on split tactics in Game Two. They used their dual Assassin split to kill off the enemy NPCs to hopefully gain an advantage later on in the game. This worked to remove some of the surrounding defensive archers, though iQ sent their Ritualist and Elementalist back for defense. Blinding Flash easily disrupted the high damage attack combinations of the Assassins, and the Ritualist was able to leave offensive spirits like Shadowsong and Bloodsong to deal extra damage. The split still secured kills, but iQ's defense stalled the Assassins long enough to save some NPCs for VoD. Despite pulling ahead in NPC numbers, the split was not as effective as QQ wanted. Their main group could not handle the pressure from the Savants' Warriors. QQ was pushed back, and iQ got their first kill when they dropped QQ's flag runner at 9:23. iQ secured a Morale Boost at 10:01 and didn't look back, continuing the aggression and never easing up their pressure.  Meteor Shower Meteor ShowerElementalist - Fire Magic - Spell Energy: 25 Activation: 5 Duration: 9 Recharge: 60 Spell. Create a Meteor Shower at target foe's location. For 9 seconds, foes adjacent to that location are struck for 7..112 fire damage and knocked down every 3 seconds. This Spell causes Exhaustion. When Victory or Death came, all of QQ's NPCs lined up near the flag stand. Realizing iQ was going to cast a Meteor Shower on the NPCs, Team Quitter made one final push to kill the Elementalist. They almost got it, but iQ saved their mage and it was able to drop meteors on the NPCs, creating a tremendous advantage. Once all of the NPCs were cleared, iQ dispatched the remaining players and moved towards the Guild Lord. Not wanting to give up,, Team Quitter tried to make one last back-door run to iQ's Lord. They never made it to their target, as the Idiot Savants went on to defeat Team Quitter's Guild Lord at 23:48 and win the Autumn Tournament. Overall, these two teams were virtually deadlocked throughout the entire two-game series. It was iQ's experience with Victory or Death and their patented move of using Meteor Shower and Glyph of Sacrifice at the end of each match that paved the way to their victory. iQ made minimal changes to their build throughout the competition demonstrating that, when it comes down to it, experience is a key factor to being a successful competitive guild. Will the introduction of Nightfall change iQ's build or tactics? Or will we see a new guild emerge to counter the tricks of old and invent new ones for themselves? We can only imagine!
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Match Report
