Is Aether Main Unbeatable?

June 29, 2018

Taking a Good Long Look at Aether Main’s loss to DD Pro Gaming 

Short answer: No. But you could probably already tell that by looking at the glaring stain on their otherwise pristine record during the regular season. Now, it would easy to breakdown the match to nitpick each and every little mistake that lead to Aether Main’s lone defeat against DD Pro Gaming but even their opponents did analyze this particular game, they wouldn’t even be close to developing a solid game plan to beat AE Main. Why? Because Aether Main isn’t that weak of a team.

In fact, I would be as bold to say that they might be the strongest team to ever compete in a national competition thanks to the all-star lineup they have now. That said, they’re still human and have tendencies that are definitely exploitable given the right circumstances so let’s get to know Aether Main a little more, shall we?

It wouldn’t be strange to start with Pein, because he is indeed the pillar that supports the entire team not just because he’s the captain but more than that, it’s how he’s able to influence the entire mindset of his team. He sets the bar for the quality of play he expects from his team. It seems like each game Aether Main plays, he goes into it saying, “We’re not here to win. We’re here to dominate,” and that just contributes all the more to bring out the talent of each member. But shining as a captain has exposed one of his greatest weaknesses he has—he can’t be their carry.

Not because he’s weak player because he actually has godly mechanics but because of how heavily his team relies on him to change the tides of the game. He is aware that he’s a very cerebral player and that he can get into his opponent’s heads, which would explain why AE Main is so famous for their taunts.

In Aether Main vs Aether Valkyrie, we saw Pein completely single-handedly dominate the enemy team with his clutch Angela plays. He knows his teammates and can analyze the flow of the game so well that he can perfectly move the way that would benefit his team the most. But in their match against DD PG, we saw how he tends to overcompensate sometimes due to this pressure to become the “hero” that could inspire his team to victory, which he has done several times before as the secondary carry of AE Main. This mentality and confidence leads him to somewhat tunnel vision and focus on solo-plays, which he could definitely pull-off but with a greatly lessened percentage of success compared to their overwhelmingly consistent and effective team plays.

AE Yuji and AE Yellyhaze are both great players, probably the best in the competition in their respective roles but when they’re together, that’s when they become unbeatable. AE Yellyhaze is great all around tank with the mechanics to back it up but his specialty is really peeling for his teammates, which goes well with AE Yuji’s exceptional kiting ability. AE Yellyhaze has enough skill to keep the opponents at bay because of his aggressive in-and-out playstyle, which really shines when he plays mobile tanks like Chou. Both of their playstyles primarily relies on taking the agro of the enemy team and escaping with only a sliver of health, while carries like AE Coco deal free damage to the enemy.

AE Coco is mechanically on par with the best players out there but what separates him from most carries is that he isn’t selfish. Often, most of his deaths are from saving his allies like Yellyhaze and Juji by sacrificing himself. While admirable and effective at times, he has to think of himself sometimes, especially when he plays marksmen. He has one of the best farming rotations among the carries in the competition but all that goes to waste if he dies because he makes up most of the gold value of his team. Yuji and Yellyhaze compensate for Coco’s selfless playstyle by forcing the opponents to focus them by being massive threats to the enemy, making it seem like they are the carries of AE.

The only workaround to this strat is to not focus Yuji and Yellyhaze and bait Coco into over-committing like what PG Tets did in their game, which served as the turning point of the second game of AE Main vs DD Pro Gaming. PG Tets isn’t as mechanically gifted as Yellyhaze but it could be argued that PG could be the better tank when it comes to micro gaming, as he really noticed key turning points in skirmishes. PG Tets is probably one of the most patient players in the MLBB scene right now and if a team were to have a chance against the AE powerhouses, they have to really be picky with their fights and not let themselves get baited by AE Yuji’s and AE Yellyhaze’s plays.

Ribo and the sixth man 666 have had some great showings in the regular season, particularly Ribo on his Aurora and Karina who got fed in 90% of AE Mains games. That said, they aren’t the true carries of Aether Main because Coco already claimed that title and that’s why they create the biggest imbalance in the team as seen in AE Main versus OBS Gaming. AE Ribo was forced to play Helios, a low-impact tank that serves mainly as a follow-up initiator for a true engage tank such as AE Yellyhaze’s Akai in that particular game. Before AE turned the tides that game with a really good team fight, he had a score of 1/5/9 and played a pretty uncharacteristic backseat playstyle of the rest game.

Both AE Ribo and 666 have aggressive playstyles that focus on making really big and impactful plays. Honestly, they could become really good carries for other teams but AE Main doesn’t really need anymore carries. One of AE Main’s double-edged swords comes from the fact that any of them can play (and arguably, based-off from what we’ve seen from them, wants to play) a carry role. This doesn’t simply mean they all want to play assassins but rather, they play impactful heroes because they all have this mentality that they have to play a vital part in how their team’s victory.

AE Main’s teamplay is clearly a cut above the rest and their members are no joke but that doesn’t mean they’re untouchable. All of the teams in the finals have their own quirks and strats that if pulled off correctly should be able to give AE Main a run for their money. I felt a bit disappointed after watching most of the interviews with the teams because they seem to view AE Main as a team they don’t want to face early on in the finals. You can’t have that kind of attitude when you’re facing a team like AE Main, whose goal is to completely show off how better they are than you. Show us what you got, qualifying teams for the MPL-PH Finals 2018. If a lowly e-sportswriter can dissect a team like this, we’re expecting a whole lot more from pros such as yourselves. Don’t let us down.

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