The Full Video is linked. For my friends at work, this might be tough to read without the video. I described what was happening the best I could and gave you time stamps throughout the video if you ever want a visual on one or more sequences. [b]Intro[/b] Hey everyone, Dukaness here with a new series I’m calling Game Tape Review. In an effort to get better I often re-watch my games when Trials is over, so I may as well make a video to talk about my own mistakes and what I did right. I fully expect not everyone will agree with everything I say, and as always, I’m open for a discussion on my points. Today’s video is a breakdown of the first game of a ticket with /u/JohnnyG_11, who is a friend and follower of my stream. He’s a good player that understands the flow of Trials, and graciously allowed me to use him in this video. Thanks Johnny! The average ELO of our opponents was about 1450 and they played well, so GG’s to them. Let’s get started. [b]Round 1 (0-0)[/b] [u]0:46[/u] We normally sit back and look for a pick in the first round of a game to feel out our opponents sniping skills. I know not everyone uses this strategy but it’s pretty successful for us. When spawning on C-side of the map I like to stay left near the train. As you're seeing, one player is entertaining me from outside the warehouse, but he moves away and I push in to train special to get better angles. [u]1:04[/u] At this point JP says he’s being pushed by a shotgun. As you’re about to see, the action was happening way over by C-point. I wasn’t diligent in being aware of my teammates’ location. I had no blips on my radar and should have anticipated that I was too far away to help in the event of a push. Our opponents likely identified the 3v2 situation. It was a good play on their part to take advantage and a mistake on my part, as I should have stuck closer to my team and flanked through pipe if I wanted a different angle. It’s too late by the time I get there and we lose the round. [b]Round 2 (0-1)[/b] [u]1:32[/u] I thought this next round was well executed. We had good control around the C-point and heavy room. Johnny saw an opportunity and decided to push in from C-point. JP was right beside him and called out that he was absolute after being bodied by sniper. [u]1:46[/u] As soon as I see Johnny go, I make a move to collapse on them from pipe to overwhelm them. Johnny goes down shortly after drawing blood. I want to stop the play right here. I knew JP was going to be a second behind while he regenerates from being bodied. At this point I made a decision that I knew I was going to go down, so I wanted to inflict as much damage as possible so JP could clean up. That’s why I throw a Skip Grenade as soon as I get in, and then hold the trigger on TLW until they get me. I kill one and leave the last player low. [u]2:12[/u] I don’t remember if JP was still regenerating or if he was planning on getting the res, but I called “one-shot”. In this situation, you don’t need your health and you don’t need a res. You need to jump in and pull the trigger, which JP did to secure the round. One thing I would have changed is had Johnny call out that he was pushing and for him to wait for JP to regenerate before going in. [b]Round 3 (1-1)[/b] [u]2:35[/u] Now the score is tied. We’re trying different lanes, trying to get a pick. JP gets sniped and calls him out between B-point and heavy room. Seeing enemies move in on my right from C-point, I go for a pick to even the odds. I land a pretty nice snipe on a player between pipe and warehouse just as JP’s res comes up. [u]2:50[/u] In the meantime, Johnny is engaging the other two enemies while they finish their push from C-point. I would have liked to see Johnny hold them off while I got the res, instead of engaging them in a brief 1v2. Getting a grenade in a choke point or laying cover fire down from around the C-special box would have worked. Nonetheless, he engaged the enemies and took one of their shields out before going down. [u]3:09[/u] He never called out how much damage he did, which matters, because if I know an enemy is below half health, I’m going in for a melee based on how close he was on my radar. If they aren’t damaged, I might want to back off and get a better line. Johnny is a good player, so I assumed he hurt someone. Fortunately the weaker enemy is the one I run into first. I get the melee kill and finish the last player off with TLW, knowing if I went down, JP would be there to clean things up. [b]Round 4 (2-1)[/b] [u]3:33[/u] This was a very sloppy round. We’re just looking for a pick when someone rushes in at us. I think his plan was to stick me (outside of warehouse) with a Flux Grenade, which he almost did. I called my team over for a team kill, but we let the enemy get away (running under the train). Nothing terrible there. [u]3:45[/u] Then I make a rookie mistake. While reloading, I walk right into a sniper line (train special lane). Terrible play, and my enemy made no mistake. I should have reloaded from behind cover, or pulled my sniper out to challenge, or jumped through the line to get my head away from where his reticle is sitting. Anything but walking right into it. Fortunately JP bails me out and returns the pick, dropping our enemy on train special. [u]4:06[/u] I’m not sure if Johnny got team killed or lost a 1v1, but either way I would have liked to see him come closer to us and avoid an engagement. We’re about to get a res which puts us in a 3v2 with strong orb control, so there is no reason to engage a 1v1. He goes down in front of Bravo Tree and we return fire. [u]4:23[/u] Given that the game is early, I already have my super, and likely no one else does, I should have popped it here. My enemies are close enough to me that I would have been able to kill at least one. JP could have gotten the res while I pushed out and potentially ended the round right then and there. [u]4:37[/u] Instead, we end up pushing our enemies back and get the res. I see a blip on my radar, figure I have a decent line with good cover and manage to get a pick. This whole time, no one on my team, including myself, covered the other orb. We should have moved over to control the orb as a team, instead of spreading out. This was a team error as the last man got the res. Fortunately JP got him down pretty quickly and we then collapsed on the last player. A team with equal skill would have beaten us in this round. [b]Round 5/6 (3-1)[/b] Not much to talk about here, (I don’t even show it in the video). JP pushed inside heavy with his Golden Gun. Johnny followed and they were both taken out, I then died to heavy. In Round 6, Johnny pushed with Stormtrance. I was Nova Bombed, Johnny was team killed, and JP was killed by a Bladedancer super. We were basically over powered by supers, not much to learn from. [b]Round 7 (3-3)[/b] [u]5:25[/u] I know the other team has another Bladedancer super. He’s the only player with a super other than mine, so I figured I’d go in and push with it. The enemy actually pops his blade first and gets Johnny down between train and Bravo Tree. I briefly hard scope the end of the warehouse. Reason being, if the Bladedancer walks through, I can get a low risk shot off. [u]5:45[/u] I keep an eye on my radar and see him approaching my right to come up behind me. Knowing he left the orb, I then move through the warehouse towards Johnny. JP calls out that he’s being approached by the Bladedancer. With two enemies on my radar, neither of which are the Bladedancer, there is an opportunity to get a pick and a res if I pop. I do so, killing one just outside warehouse and grabbing Johnny. [u]6:07[/u] As JP gets pinched, I see both enemies on my radar. I’m not sure why they didn’t run, considering my super is active, but I take advantage and end the round. I think I played that about as well as I could, given the circumstances. [b]Round 8 (4-3)[/b] [u]6:19[/u] Nothing really special in this round, I’m really only showing it so you guys don’t feel like I ripped out the last page of a book. We flip initial spawns and enter heavy room from Alpha spawn. JP takes two enemies out. Johnny and I then collapse on the last enemy backing away through pipe. This secures the round and the game. [b]Johnny’s Input[/b] Johnny pre-approved this video just in case I accidentally said something he wouldn’t have liked. He thinks that overall, we played too passively on a map that generally punishes passive teams, especially when facing better teams. I have to agree. I usually go MIDA/Shotgun on my Nightstalker, but changed it up for a little variety. The next time it’s Exodus Blue I plan on playing more aggressively. [b]Outro[/b] Everyone, thanks for reading. I hope you all took something away from the video/write-up. Like I mentioned, let me know if you agree or disagree with the things I said. More importantly, let me know if you find this kind of write-up useful or entertaining. Would you want to read one of these a week? Two a week? Wish I’d stopped making write-ups? Let me know, and good luck this weekend :) Duke