Hi-Rez Expo 2017: SMITE World Championships Finals Results & Highlights

It’s been a long journey for the two teams that took the stage today at the SMITE World Championship. They battled their way through the brackets, survived some seriously close calls, and arrived at the end of it all with only one task in mind: winning. 

For the first time in SMITE Pro League history, two European teams fought it out in the finals — Team NRG and Obey Alliance.

NRG came into the match defending the world championship title they earned under the Epsilon name last year with more than a year-long winning streak under their belts. But Obey didn’t seem too daunted, as they’ve spent most of the regular season scrimming against NRG and learning from them as a team. So the question going into this matchup became: would the students be able to beat the teachers and end NRG’s hot streak?

Not this time around. While Obey did take a game off NRG and did their best to force the match to a full 5 games, they couldn’t quite make it happen and NRG once again walked away with the World Championship title.  

Game 1

Winner: NRG

• NRG: Janus, Chronos, Khepri, Bellona, Thor
• Obey: Scylla, Thanatos, Tyr, Jing Wei, Sylvanus

As most viewers have come to expect from EU matchups, the early game began with both teams dancing around and poking each other away from buffs for several minutes before moving in to secure anything. Obey had the better early damage, though, and managed to push NRG far enough to take parts of their jungle. 

First Blood finally went to Obey at 6 minutes, but NRG retaliated with a pick of their own for a 1-1 trade. It didn’t seem to faze Obey, though, as they kept pushing and took the first Gold Fury just a few minutes after. 

Clearly aware that they hadn’t come online enough to sustain in team fights, NRG pulled back and started looking for individual picks across the map to bide time until they could keep up in larger engagements. They found a single kill and 1-1 trades, and the next engagement was a 3-0 sweep in their favor. 

After another 2-for-2 engage at the Gold Fury and a much cleaner 2-for-0 engage a few moments later, NRG was sitting pretty with a decent lead. But Obey wasn’t inclined to give up, and they managed to get an 0-2 engagement that opened the way for them to take the first Fire Giant. 

Using buff momentum, Obey started laying on the map pressure and took 2 Phoenixes. They couldn’t secure the end of the game, though, and got pushed out after losing a few members. Afterward, NRG stole two more Fire Giants and eventually moved in to make a 5-0 wipe on Obey that gave them the win in Game 1. 

Game 2

Winner: NRG

• NRG: Chronos, Khepri, Poseidon, Rata, Tyr
• Obey: Sylvanus, Vulcan, Erlang Shen, Camazotz, Jing Wei

Once again, Obey took early control of the jungle by stealing a red buff from underneath NRG. But NRG retaliated by grabbing first blood, then another 2-1 trade at the Gold Fury. 

As the early game faded to mid game, a few unfavorable engagements for Obey proved that NRG’s Poseidon ults were simply too much to handle. Obey tried to recover some ground by diving into an enemy tower for 2 kills, but NRG kept finding good picks that prevented them from securing any sort of lead. Pretty soon, Obey’s frontline was too far behind in levels to keep up during engagements. 

Snowballing their lead and keeping the map pressure heavy, NRG grabbed a Gold Fury and an enemy Phoenix before regrouping and looking to the Fire Giant. They were able to steal the Giant from Obey, but they lost 3 of their members in the process. NRG recovered, though, and got 4 picks in an engagement at the Gold Fury that cleared the way to Obey’s base. 

Obey did their best to defend against the wolves at their door, but NRG landed a 5-man sweep without losing a single member. With respawn timers nearing 60 seconds, Obey could do little but watch as NRG took their Titan and the second game win. 

Game 3

Winner: Obey

• NRG: Zeus, Chronos, Geb, Amaterasu, Nemesis
• Obey: Sylvanus, Ratatoskr, Sol, Poseidon, Mercury

NRG started out strong this game, grabbing an early First Blood in a 2-1 trade. But Obey quickly began to take an early lead with their jungler and nab better map control, which put them in a better position to take a game off NRG. 

Their lead only increased as they carefully chose which objectives to take in this high-stakes game. They nailed a 4-3 engagement that fell in their favor, then snuck another 2-1 cleanup that lost them Sylvanus but won them the Gold Fury. 

NRG tried to lay down the law with a 2-0 engagement not long after, but Obey was simply too far ahead and wouldn’t relinquish anywhere near enough map control for NRG to get into a more advantageous position. 

Both teams clashed again at the Gold Fury, and Obey came out on the better end of the 4-3 trade. Almost as soon as the Fury respawned, the teams were at it again. But this time, Obey completely wiped NRG and secured the objective. 

NRG tried hard not to give up their defenses and even made a Fire Giant steal, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. Obey waited for the next Giant respawn, forced a fight that NRG wasn’t ready for, then used the respawn time to take the Titan and their first win of the match. 

Game 4

Winner: NRG

• NRG: Poseidon, Ratatoskr, Erlang, Freya, Terra
• Obey: Sylvanus, Fenrir, Vulcan, Janus, Thanatos

Everyone was wondering if Obey would be able to force this match to game 5, but NRG was clearly on top of their game from the outset of Game 4. They took first blood with a triple kill in a 3-1 engagement, then landed another 2-0 engage in the jungle not too long after. 

Obey found a few good picks with a 2-1 engage and a Gold Fury steal, but NRG’s immaculate rotations were just too much. Obey could dominate in team fights, but NRG kept finding the right picks after disengaging to keep Obey from gaining too much ground. 

With the kill advantage going to NRG and the map pressure advantage going to Obey, it looked like it could be anyone’s game. Obey secured the Gold Fury in a 2-0 engagement, but it was the last fight in which they came out ahead. 

The next engagement at the Fire Giant was a 3-0 wipe for NRG, after which they rotated over to take the Gold Fury and clear all Tier 1 and Tier 2 objectives.They kept forcing their way down the map to the right Phoenix, but couldn’t secure it. Intead, they backed off to clear out the enemy jungle instead so Obey couldn’t farm it. 

NRG picked up another Fire Giant buff a few minutes later, then another Gold Fury immediately after. With tons of momentum behind them, NRG cleared all of Obey’s Phoenixes and broke the base defenses. Though they paid with three members, it wasn’t long until they had all respawned and took another Fire Giant. 

Tired of biding their time and riding high on a map advantage, NRG made their final push into Obey’s base to take the Titan and win the game. 

So for the second year in a row, the boys of NRG are the World Champions for SMITE on PC. As we move forward into the Spring Split and all the changes happening in Season 4, only time will tell how much longer NRG can defend their title and keep their winning streak alive.