“I think a lot of what comes down to these games, it seems like, is being a bit more patient with getting CC.”
The Move and Hoolibang have claimed victory in 2024's first World of Warcraft Arena World Championship (WoW AWC) tournament! Here are the WoW AWC Cup 1 results for the North American (NA) and European (EU) regions plus what the winners had to say.
The Move players win WoW AWC Cup 1
After taking the crown in WoW AWC Cup 1 for Dragonflight Season 3, The Move earned 120 points in total alongside the bulk of the $10,000 USD prize pool. In the post-match interview, player Absterge chatted with the broadcast talent about what led up to the team's victory, noting how consistent practice, the current meta, and patience contributed to The Move's success.
"We changed up a few things. I think a lot of what comes down to these games, it seems like, is being a bit more patient with getting CC," Absterge said, referring to crowd control and describing The Move's experience in the lower bracket. This involved waiting for the right moments to do stuns and killing totems.
Absterge talks WoW Shaman meta and practice
In terms of his thoughts about Shaman in the current meta, Absterge said it's fun to play because of the variety of abilities. He added that the game being slower helped Shaman a good amount as well.
"I think if the game is still fast, Shaman probably wouldn't have been as good, but Shaman has like a weird sweet spot where the game is like kind of the right tempo where you can be successful. Especially with mana. I think Shaman mana is ridiculous right now," he continued.
However, one of the key takeaways from The Move's WoW AWC Cup 1 victory is the need for consistent practice. Absterge revealed that his team went from practicing from three-hour sessions and taking a few days off to one-hour sessions on a nightly basis. This allowed the team to practice a lot of different compositions and made them feel comfortable about playing them competitively.
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Hoolibang players take home WoW AWC Cup 1 crown
Over on the EU side of the tournament, team Hoolibang took home the gold. Just like The Move, they earned 120 points in total. By defeating Echo on their way to the crown, Hoolibang players gained WoW AWC fans plus incredible respect for their performance — especially when it comes to Lontar's abilities as a healer. Caster Christian "Lythi" Oeser also noted that Echo was eliminated for the first time in years.
"It was a super insane series," Jayyti said in the post-match interview. "Well played to the other teams. I don't think anyone expected us to win this. At the end of the day, we're just kind of [played] for fun. We just kind of went into this [as] three friends."
Jayyti on playing for fun and forming a team
Compared to their NA counterparts, Hoolibang players did not dedicate a lot of time to practice. Jayyti revealed that Eradas, Howton, and himself didn't go into AWC Cup 1 as a main team. While Jayyti and Howton didn't play as much together in the past, Jayyti and Eradas simply played Dragonflight on and off together.
"I think we played ladder once. One and a half times for two hours, then a one-hour session. We don't really play that much now. It was just for fun and it turned out to be working," he added. He then shared his thoughts about how that was a bit of an advantage.
"If we played ladder more, I think a lot of them would've gotten more practice for us," Jayyti said. "It's not the most optimal case to go play ladder and give people practice into this — into this specially, a little bit cheesy comp."
That's all for now. The Dragonflight Season 3 esports matches will continue next week with WoW AWC Cup 2!
