The last day of the Group Stage started out with every team in both groups able to achieve a top four finish! Some chances are a little more realistic than others, but nevertheless, any team can do the deed. The first round today had Natus Vincere face the wings gaming, Alliance play Escape Gaming, LGD-GAMING fight Evil Geniuses, and TNC Pro Team go up against OG Dota 2.
NaVi and wings are both vying for the same third and fourth places in the group, so winning the direct match up is very important in case it goes to a tiebreaker for the last spot. The first game did not take long, as Dendi’s Razor and Ditya Ra’s Huskar had too much early game power, backed up by SoNNeikO on Io and Artstyle on Chen. Wings was relying on Blink to get going on his Alchemist but he never managed to take the first step in the right direction, and shadow wasn’t able to step up as an under farmed Lifestealer. wings called “GG” at just 15 minutes, the shortest match yet, with the final score 16-5. Game two was no stomp, and Blink played a much better Templar Assassin, allowing Faith_bian and shadow to farm up their necessary items on Slardar and Clinkz, respectively. Ditya Ra proved to be too much to handle anyway, as his Ursa carried NaVi to the 34-minute victory, 31-20 in the game and 2-0 in the series.
Alliance is in the mix for the third/fourth place and needs victories to secure a Winner’s Bracket finish, and Escape needs a miracle to climb out of their pit. Both can’t happen, of course, but a game one upset looked promising after 76 minutes, mega creeps and one barracks left before mega creeps for each side, a 46-37 final score, and some brilliant playmaking by Era’s Razor and Qojqva’s Lone Druid. Loda couldn’t hold them back, even after taking mega creeps, and his Lifestealer was easily dispatched by the triple bear “GG” push up mid. Game two went as expected for Alliance, with S4 and Loda’s dual core Razor-Drow Ranger combo having too much destructive force for Qojqva to keep up with as Alchemist, and Era was playing Axe and had no way to stay relevant. Only 31 minutes were required this time, as Escape conceded to leave the score at 29-10 and the series at 1-1.
EG and LGD are at opposite ends of the group, with the boys in blue playing for first place and LGD struggling to break the tie for third. xiao8 and Agressif made it almost too easy in the first game, letting Universe, Suma1l, and Fear run rampant on Faceless Void, Batrider, and Drow Ranger, and they ended the game at 23 minutes with a 24-13 score. LGD fought back in game two, and Maybe took the opportunity to demonstrate an even better Void than Universe’s, streaking to 10-0-21. Suma1l was never effective with Alchemist, and Fear couldn’t make up the difference with his Juggernaut, leading to the 41 minute “GG” call and final score of 39-11. The draw helps both teams a little, as every win counts.
OG and TNC are both looking at the likely top four finishes, with OG in the hunt for first place and TNC a part of the mess of teams tied for third. TNC’s outstanding plays of yesterday seemed to be missing from game one, as OG took an early lead thanks to Miracle- on Invoker and N0tail on Drow Ranger, leaving Kuku’s Tinker completely behind with six deaths before fifteen minutes had passed. Raven on Terrorblade struggled to find the space to push towers safely, and it all rolled up into a big ball of struggle for the underdogs, who conceded at 46 minutes, final score 42-15. Game two didn’t go much differently, with Cr1t on Mirana and Fly on Oracle putting in some heavy support work and punishing Eyyou’s struggles with Shadow Demon. 32 minutes of TNC pain later, the score read 36-17 and the series ended 2-0.
This article was written by a past writer, Daniel Giroday.
