The former International and StarLadder champions bow out of the ninth season of StarSeries, with Alliance and Natus Vincere sharing a joint fifth/sixth place finish as both lose their lower bracket matches today.
Today's lower bracket matches are over, with two big names in Natus Vincere and Alliance taking a fall. They were defeated by Team Empire and Invictus Gaming respectively. Up next is the winner's bracket finals of unbeaten teams DK and Evil Geniuses, with the winner of that match claiming a guaranteed second-place finish in this competition.
Alliance went with a strong middle-game oriented line-up with big teamfight heroes, boosted by the big ultimates of their cores in Centaur, Puck and Spectre. Empire's line-up, on the other hand, looks to be geared more towards the late game with a Morphling together with good defensive heroes like Treant and Ancient Apparition. It was a Puck versus a Dragon Knight in the middle lane, Centaur and a Batrider solo, and then standard trilanes for both sides. Both teams also opted for rather defensively-positioned and non neutral-blocking wards
Alliance narrowly escaped first blood, and rather took it themselves when Empire's Treant over-committed in chasing the Centaur and two of the Swede's heroes responding to teleport. Alliance also managed to take three more kills in the nine-hero skirmish at the nine-minute mark, with Empire's Morphling getting two kills of his own to try keep his team close. The team traded kills until the 16th-minute, with Empire slightly behind in the kill score of 5-6. Despite that disadvantage and the fact that two of their kills were taken by creeps, the Russian team is still ahead in both experience and gold thanks to their more efficient spacing and rotation.
Alliance was able to minimize the gap in the 18th minute as they were able to surprise the enemy and win a 3-1 trade-off. While Empire was able to take an uncontested Rosh, Alliance was again able to win another teamfight as they surprised Empire from behind. The Swedes continue the pressure, and they were able to get five of the next six kills. The enemy Morphling was getting alarmingly farmed though, finishing an Ethereal Blade with his Linken's and Midas at the 26-minute mark.
The Ethereal blade was put to use quickly, with Empire wiping Alliance just a minute after. Empire translated that into taking the last tier-2 tower of Alliance, as well as an uncontested Roshan. The experience also dipped back into Empire's favor. Empire actively pursued their enemy, going in on a smoke gank as they crawl across the map as they seek for a team battle. They showed their gold advantage as they win another engagement.
Seeing their superior advantage, Empire just went straight into a decisive push and took down three lanes in quick succession. There wasn't much that Alliance can do, and they fell to a respectable fifth/sixth place finish. Empire, meanwhile, will be moving on forward into the lower bracket semifinals.
Invictus Gaming vs Natus Vincere
The rematch of The International 2 finals, this match is another crucial match as the loser gets to be eliminated into a joined fitth-sixth place. Invictus Gaming has a strong aggressive pushing line-up with a Dragon Knight, Vengeful Spirit and Enchantress, while Na`Vi has strong crowd-control heroes in Storm Spirit, Luna and Timbersaw.
It was iG who took the first blood as they take advantage of Storm's susceptibility pre-level 6, and the Chinese team was also able to push it early as they quickly take down two towers. The biggest action in the early game happened at nine minutes, wherein a ten-hero battle at bottom lane saw iG getting a 4-2 win and also claiming the enemy's last tier-one tower. The trend continued as Na`Vi was continuously losing team fights, among of which is a Roshan and a two-hero pickoff by iG in the 16th minute. By then, the Ukranian team is behind 6,500 gold and 4,000 experience.
It started crumbling for Na`Vi. They were counter-initiated in the next minute, leading to the lost of their fourth tower and Luna's ancient stack. Their enemies were snowballing out of control, with the gold and experience lead jumping into 12,000 for both just three minutes after Roshan. iG pressed their lead, won back-to-back 4-1 team fights, taking the bottom barracks and a Roshan after the last clash.
The end came as Na`Vi threw whatever they had in a desperate attempt. Their opponents were very far ahead, and it ended with the engaging team being wiped out. Enchantress and Mirana played impressive for their team, finishing with a combined KDA score of 20-0-34. With the win, Invictus Gaming arranges a loser's bracket semifinals against team Empire. This also marks the first time that Na`Vi has failed to win a championship in a Starladder tournament where they reached the LAN event.
Earlier today, Empire sent fellow Rusian team RoX.KiS packing after defeating the latter in their lower bracket match-up. Natus Vincere, on the other hand, was able to reach the Invictus Gaming match-up after defeating the Korean team, MVP.Phoenix.
Starladder StarSeries Season IX Final Standings
1st: $75,000~
2nd: $35,500~
3rd: $24,000~
4th: $13,800~
5th/6th: 
Alliance - $6,900~
5th/6th: 
Natus Vincere - $6,900~
7th/8th: 
RoX.KiS - $3,400~
7th/8th: 
MVP.Phoenix - $3,400~
Tomorrow's Schedule :
11:00 CEST/05:00 EDT/17:00 SGT: Empire vs 
Invictus Gaming (BO3)
15:00 CEST/09:00 EDT/21:00 SGT: Loser's Bracket Finals (BO3)
19:00 CEST/13:00 EDT/01:00 SGT: Grand Finals (BO5)
Headline from: SLTV's Facebook
