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StarSeries IX finals: DK and EG qualify for the Winners Bracket finals


With two 2-0 matches, EG and DK advanced to the Winners Bracket final. The winner of the best-of-three clash will acquire a guaranteed spot in the Grand Final of Star Series IX, while the defeated will have to survive the Losers Bracket.

What has been a long day so far has nearly concluded, and we have the two teams that will be moving to the Winners Bracket of Star Series IX playoffs, taking place in Kiev, Ukraine. Team DK faced their compatriots Invictus Gaming, claiming two fast and convincing victories. On the other hand, Evil Geniuses had a harder time against Alliance, but they will also advance through a 2-0 victory. DK and EG will battle in the Winners Bracket final tomorrow.



Invictus Gaming vs Team DK 

Game 1



Invictus Gaming opt for a heavy split push strategy while DK opt for a gank oriented line-up highligting their global pick-off ability in Invoker's presence along with a surprise pick on Meepo for MMY. Three minutes into the game, Chuan's Rubick gives out the first blood to Mushi's Centaur Warrunner with an attempted double smoke from both the teams at the middle lane. Thirty seconds later, Faith's Ancient Apparition falls down to a Centaur stomp and Invoker's Sunstrike in the Radiant jungle.

At the 6th minute mark, Luo's Naga Siren gets a kill off Iceiceice's Invoker at mid lane with a subtle gank attempt from Ferrari's Storm Spirit. In retrospect, Mushi and MMY try to bring down Luo immediately thereafter, however, a clutch use of Song of the Siren from Luo allows him to escape on 9 health points.

Mushi gets his blink by 11th minute on Centaur which enables him to mobilize quickly for ganks over the map and kills Storm Spirit under Radiant's tier-1 tower at top in process. Meanwhile, Burning's Bone Clinkz is free farming as he has Power Treads, Orchid Maloevalance and Blink at 16th minute, following a Roshan kill two minutes later. A gank ensues on Naga Siren at mid lane by Team DK where she dies, therefore delaying her Radiance.

Team wipe by DK

After some delay, Luo manages to get Radiance on Naga Siren by 20th minute and goes into an intense split pushing mode along with YYF's Nature's Prophet. However, six minutes later all of IG's outer towers are down that causes a little uncomfortness and decide to play defensively.

A defensive approach seems to work out good for IG who manage to hold up their base without the interference from DK for the next twenty minutes, although, by 40th minute DK manage to grab their third Roshan with Aegis on Iceiceice and Cheese on BurNing and storm into IG's base killing down the Radiant heroes with a farmed Meepo rendering Naga Siren's illusions useless.

A minute later, DK breaks the base towers and proceeds on to destroy the Radiant throne. GG is called and DK end up winning game one of the best-of-three series.

Game 2

Second game starts on a similar note with Team DK opting for a gank oriented line-up with Mirana and Shadow Demon alongside pushing potential from Enigma, whilst Invictus Gaming opt for a different draft with Tinker, Treant Protector and Axe accompanied by Dazzle and Nature's Prophet.

Two minutes into the game, YYF gives away first blood on his Furion to Mushi's Centaur with some help from Invoker. YYF dies again at the hands of MMY's Shadow Demon but also manages to get a revenge kill in return. Due to some amazing and cheeky plays from Invoker and Centaur, IG lose 3 heroes solely because of the stun-sunstrike combo.

The only blackhole by LaNm

By 20th minute mark, DK amasses a huge 14k gold lead and also lead in terms of the kill ratio as compared to IG. YYF dies yet again in an instant as a result of demonic purge, arrow and sunstrike, but IG manage to kill off the Enigma. Thereafter, IG lose 2 more heroes by 24th minute and DK retreive their dropped gem of truesight from Chuan.

With the gold and kills graph favouring DK and Iceiceice being godlike on his Invoker by 27th minute, IG have no hope other than forfeiting the game and calling out a well deserved GG in a rather one sided affair.

 

Evil Geniuses vs Alliance

Game 1

In a surprise move, Alliance selected Naga Siren for s4, giving her the solo mid role instead of the usual support controlled by EGM. Along with Naga, the Swedes grabbed their favorite Io - Chaos Knight combination, hoping to be a constant threat to Arteezy's Shadow Fiend. 

The laning stage started in the worst way possible for the offensive trilane of Alliance, with EternalEnVy hitting a tricky arrow to grab the first blood on EGM, slaying Loda as well. With the presence of Treant Protector in their line-up, EG managed to secure a steady flow of gold and experience for all their heroes during the early laning phase. Feeling safe enough, Arteezy applied continuous pressure on s4, instantly killing his illusions with Shadow Raze to eliminate Naga's farming capabilities.

With a massive lead built via the successful lanes, it was easy for EG to control the map with their roster composition. Both Arteezy and EternalEnVy were too tanky to be slain by a simple Relocate gank, and Loda's Hand of Midas could not help him catch up to EG's cores. S4 was able to complete a relatively early Radiance, but it was too late for him to create enough space through split pushing.

The first set of barracks fell by minute 22, with Universe catching a solid Dream Coil to trap EGM and Loda out of position before EG moved to the high ground. With middle lane mega creeps and an uncontested Roshan going their way,  the Americans knew that the game was theirs. Following a final push at the bottom lane and a desperate initiation by AdmiralBulldog's Centaur, Arteezy sealed the deal with a destructive Requiem of Souls and a Triple Kill , forcing the GG out of Alliance.

Game 2

Unlike the previous game, Alliance opted for a more familiar hero roster, with a support Silencer being their Ace in the hole- countering the crushing spell damage combinations of EG's line-up. The impact of the conventional picks was much better than the previous game, as the Swedes were able to have an improved laning presence compared to the first game.

Both teams went very aggressive quite early, settling for even kill exchanges under their towers. EG managed to grab a temporary lead by minute 18, with a 3-1 fight after a gank-gone-wrong against PPD's Shadow Demon. EG then grabbed their first Roshan of the game and attempted to win a fight inside Alliance's base, but a well timed buyback by S4 turned the fight into a 4-3 exchange in favor of the Radiant.

The siege of Alliance's base lasted for several minutes, with the Swedes defending very efficiently. Arteezy's Ember Spirit kept getting focused and killed during Global Silence, ending up with a very low networth during the mid game, minimizing his impact. The continuous victories for Alliance helped EGM's Silencer gather an impressive amount of bonus Intelligence, turning him into Alliance's third carry with a Refresher's Orb. A desperate attempt during the 36th minute resulted in a full teamwipe by Alliance - EternalEnvy could not breach the base alone.

All hell broke lose after the 40th minute, with both teams fighting non-stop, going from defense to offense in a matter of seconds. Using his Mask of Madness and the lack of Global Silence from a previous engagement, EternalEnVy managed to overwhelm Alliance with his glaives to take down the top set of barracks, giving EG a slight advantage. However, with two consecutive teamfight victories for Alliance, the Swedes managed to take down the middle barracks themselves five minutes later.

Realizing that EternalEnvy was no longer safe against the massive single-target damage coming out of Alliance's heroes, EG made a controversial decision to trade the top barracks for a free Roshan by minute 55. With Aegis in hand, EG made another effort to enter Alliance's base, with the Swedes winning yet another fight next to their middle barracks. Nonetheless, they were unable to capitalize on their numeric advantage due to a well coordinated Vacuum-Wall-Epicenter combo by Evil Geniuses near the Dire secret shop.

With 64 minutes on the clock, Alliance moved to finish the game, forcing one more teamfight outside the Dire facilities. EG managed to use their combo once again, causing the premature death of Loda's Mirana. He instantly bought back and returned to the fight, killing four heroes but dying to EternalEnVy once again. With five heroes on the sidelines, EternalEnvy rushed to the Radiant base and got Mega Creeps for his team, losing his life in exchange. 

All their barracks were down, and the Swedes knew they had to finish the game - it was now or never. They marched inside EG's base and forced the buyback of EternalEnVy, and the teams crossed their swords for the last time. Loda managed to slay Luna, but died to EG's AOE damage. With no physical damage to take down the tier-four towers, Alliance had to escape as fast as possible to stay alive and defend their base against the Mega Creeps. It was then that Arteezy showed his teeth, preventing most of the retreating heroes from ever reaching their home. With only Akke hopelessly defending the Radiant Ancient, the victory went to Evil Geniuses a few seconds later.


 

Tomorrow's Schedule :

10:00 CEST/04:00 EDT/16:00 SGT - Russia Empire vs Russia Rox.KIS 
11:45 CEST/05:45 EDT/17:45 SGT - Ukraine Na'Vi vs South Korea MVP.Phoenix
13:30 CEST/07:30 EDT/19:30 SGT - Sweden Alliance vs Other TBD [Winner of Empire - RoX.KIS]
15:15 CEST/09:15 EDT/21:15 SGT - China iG vs Other TBD [Winner of Na'VI - MVP.Phoenix]
18:00 CEST/12:00 EDT/00:00 SGT - China DK vs United States EG
 

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