Spawn Positions:
4 at 2, 5, 7, 10
Overview[edit]
Twisted Meadows is a four player map made by Fairfax McCandlish for Blizzard's 2003 Multiplayer Map Contest.[1]
It is one of the most popular 1v1 and 2v2 maps.
Official Map Description[edit]
The path twists, and the future is uncertain. Race for the center and the treasures it might hold, or visit a Goblin Laboratory and explore one of the small islands.
Notable Features[edit]
The islands in the map's corners including their goldmines can only be reached by air. This can be used to set up highly secured expansions.
The map contains four different types of neutral buildings:
Strategies[edit]
Due to its size Twisted Meadows often sees expansion plays and highly teched high-upkeep armies fighting.
The Goblin Laboratories allow for a great harassment potential via Goblin Zeppelins and Goblin Sappers.
Creeping can be done effectively by fast-building an altar and then clearing the Goblin Laboratory next to one's main base with the help of militia.
Against most opponents a expansion will be set up before teching to tier 2. Siege Engines can be employed versus nightelf and undead opponents.
Nightelf[edit]
Creeping is done by AoW-creeping the Mercenary Camp/Goblin Merchant or the orange creep camp outside the main base.
Trees of Life can be used to clear goldmines and set up (multiple) expansions.
Mass Huntress, Tavern-heroes as well as the usual bear and dryad combination or Druid of the Talon work on this map.
The first creep camp to take is the orange one outside the main base. Alternatively, the orc player might go for harassment by disturbing his opponent's creeping. As the map is quite large, this is not always indicated.
The standard strategy applies best for orc on this map: Blademaster, Shadow Hunter, Raider and Spirit Walker.
The first creep camp to take is the orange one outside the main base. Alternatively, the undead player might go for harassment by disturbing his opponent's creeping. As the map is quite large, this is not always indicated.
- Nicknamed "Moon Meadows" after Moon's mass expansion strategy on this map.
History[edit]
The map was submitted by Fairfax McCandlish for Blizzard's second Map Contest, where it won despite huge competition. It was included in The Frozen Throne's release, and Fairfax's name was included in the game's credits. As soon as the expansion was released, Twisted Meadows was included in the 1v1 map pool. The first tournament that included the map was ESL Pro Series Germany - Season III.
Over the years, Twisted Meadows has always appeared in one or more game modes on Battle.Net. However, the map was not considered as serious as other maps, and was therefore not included in the map pool of bigger tournaments. Blizzard decided to change Twisted Meadows for the first time in Patch 1.12. In the next three patches, two more changes were made and the map was being included in more and more tournaments. Within two years, Twisted Meadows became a staple for almost every Warcraft III tournament and quickly had a fan-made spin-off.
Over the years, Twisted Meadows has been one of the most popular maps in the scene for both 1v1 and 2v2. During the 2000s, including, GameX, Blizzard World Wide Invitational 2004, as well as a lot of 2v2 and team tournaments. Even back then, it was known for creating unique games, due to the size and the amount of gold mines in the map. ESL added Twisted Meadows in Season 3, up until Season 16, the last one of the series. Star Wars included it in all of their tournaments, while WCG added it in 2004, with it being the most played in the 2006 and 2008 edtions. Blizzard themselves included it in all BlizzCon tournaments except the 2008 edition. In 2006, it was also added in the FFA map pool.
Going into the next decade, Twisted Meadows was still one of the fan-favourites. It was the second most played map in WCA 2014 and most played in PGL Summer 2016. It appeared on every Tier 1 & 2 tournaments, with minor exceptions. It kept being one of the most played maps in the competitive scene throughout the decade, including GCS/WGL 1v1 and 2v2 tournaments. The map kept being a part of both Battle.net's and W3Arena's map pool. When NetEase was released, Twisted Meadows was one of the first maps added for both 1v1 and the 2v2 game mode. The map had some minor changes after 14 years, with the island expos being easier to take and less abusable.
Nowadays, Twisted Meadows is still standing the test of time. The map was part of the W3Champions' 1v1 map pool from the start up until Season 6. It was added back for the 12th season, with minor changes to mostly creep camps and has remained there ever since. It has been included in many Tier 1 tournaments, including DreamHack 2020 tournaments, Don't Force Me Cup and TP League, being, in many cases, one of the most played maps.
Notable Games[edit]
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2016
- 2017
- 2019
- 2022
- Show All
Statistics[edit]
|  vs.  | vs.  | vs.  | vs. | vs. | vs. | Mirrors |
|---|
| Map | # | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | Σ | | | % | | | | |
|---|
| Twisted Meadows | 12421 | 1664 | 701 | 963 | 42.1% | 2102 | 1102 | 1000 | 52.4% | 1357 | 713 | 644 | 52.5% | 1159 | 575 | 584 | 49.6% | 1241 | 621 | 620 | 50.0% | 2013 | 946 | 1067 | 47.0% | 450 | 689 | 577 | 1169 |
Version History[edit]
- Redesigned the layout of the areas next to main bases, in order to provide more streamlined early game creeping options: the more rewarding camp is now the closest to the base (5-3-1), meanwhile the more exposed one is now weaker to compensate (3-3-1).
- Natural expansions are now slightly easier to creep and critter clusters around them have been more symmetrically spread across creep camps
- Main base creep camps are now beefier.
- Cross positions for 1vs1 games have now been enforced.
- Base layouts are now more symmetric.
W3C Season 6 Update[4][edit]
Blizzard-made changes[edit]
| Balance Patch History |
|---|
| Version | Release | Balance Changes |
| 1.32.6 | 2020-06-02 | - Green Gnoll camps near player start locations now has an additional level 1 Gnoll and the Gnoll Brute drops a level 1 power-up item.
|
| 1.30.1 | 2018-09-13 | - Tree locations reverted to 1.29.
- Goblin Laboratories have a tree within range for Wisps.
- Adjusted all starting locations to allow for optimal building placement.
|
| 1.30.0 | 2018-08-08 | |
| 1.19 | 2005-09-19 | - Changed the level 4 charged item drops at the Goblin Merchant to level 4 permanent drops.
|
| 1.17 | 2004-09-20 | - Added some trees near the south Mercenary Camp to prevent mercenary purchase without engaging the creeps.
- Added some trees to prevent item purchase from Goblin Merchant without engaging creep camp.
|
| 1.15 | 2004-05-10 | |
| 1.13 | 2003-12-16 | - Added ground-based anti-air creep to the island.
- Added some trees behind the 3 o'clock start location to prevent building NE town hall behind the gold mine.
- Changed a level-4 drop from charged item to permanent item.
|
| 1.12 | 2003-07-31 | |
References[edit]
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MaDFroG 
Crimson 
