NewBee take down top seed Vici Gaming in the opening match-up for the main event at The International Dota 2 Championships 2014. They proceed to the next round, whilst VG await their opponent in the second round of lower bracket.
Game 1
Draft - NewBee opt for heroes they are quite comfortable with. They first pick Shadow Shaman, Luna, Templar Assassin, Puck and Chen focussing more on pushing and tempo controlling heroes. On the other hand, VG opt for more farmed oriented line-up with Shadow Demon, Doom, Weaver, Leshrac and Dragon Knight focussing on late game.
00.00: FIRST BLOOD! Even before the game starts, NewBee secure the first blood on VG's Shadow Demon in Radiant's jungle.
04.20: xiao8 dives past Dire's tier 1 tower on top lane and secures a solo kill on rOtk's over-aggressive Doom.
06.40: A disastrous team fight for VG as NewBee get a kill on Sylar's Weaver, Shadow Demon and Super's Dragon Knight who attempted a gank on the bottom lane with Hao's Luna barely escaping on low hp. In the meantime, rOtk gets a revenge kill on xiao8 at top lane and secures his first solo kill.
08.30: VG lose their mid and bottom tier 1 towers by this time. The second team fight ensues, and both sides exchange 2 kills each as Templar Assassin, Luna, Doom and Leshrac become the casualties. However, NewBee is leading in terms of gold and experience and also takes down VG's tier 2 tower at mid.
11.30: Capitalizing on their pushing potential, NewBee take down all of VG's towers on top lane and start knocking on their barracks. They back out momentarily, and keep on applying the pressure.
14.00: GG! Another disastrous team fight for VG culminates in a very early 'GG' from their side. NewBee takes the first game in style and set the tone for the next game. Can VG bounce back?
Note: NewBee's Banana had more networth than VG's Super in this game.
Game 2
Draft - NewBee again opt for an early game oriented push line-up with Tidehunter, Luna, Viper, Shadow Demon and Batrider. VG opt for a slightly different draft as they opt for a split push line-up with global presence. They place their faith in Doom once again who is accompanied by Ancient Apparition, Nature's Prophet, Vengeful Spirit and Ember Spirit.
04:30: FIRST BLOOD! After a passive start to the game as compared to the first one, both teams try to scout out each others lanes. VG's Ancient Apparition gives away the first blood to NewBee's Shadow Demon. VG's Vengeful Spirit too falls at the hands of Hao's Luna.
06.00: VG secures a kill on xiao8's Batrider after the latter over extends his stay.
07.00: A 2:1 exchange in favour of NewBee. Batrider lasso's Doom near Dire's tier 1 mid tower. Ember Spirit jumps in to kill a low hp Viper, but a clutch Eclipse from Luna kills Super's Ember Spirit.
09.30: TEAM WIPE! DIE BACK! A chaotic fight erupts at NewBee's tier 2 tower at bottom lane. VG overstay their welcome, and NewBee take a perfect advantage of this situation. VG end up losing all of it's players whilst NewBee lose a handful in return.
13.00: Another disastrous fight for VG as they end up losing all of their heroes except Doom after a blink lasso from Batrider on Dire's top lane tier 1 tower. xiao8 sets the tone for rest of the gank, whilst Hao escapes on a mere 50 hp and also dodges AA's ultimate.
14.30: VG strike back. A quick and timely initiation from Ember Spirit that gives enough time for AA to set up his ultimate, destroys 3 of NewBee's heroes.
15.30: One more team fight at Dire's mid lane between both the teams. Just as NewBee is looking strong in taking this team fight, some superb initiation from VG's Ember Spirit and Doom turn the gank around. Sylar buybacks and joins the fight as well, thereby, giving VG an edge. rOtk and company take down Dire's bottom tier 2 tower and are seeming to gain control of the game after a rough start.
18.30: VG take lead after a slow start in terms of both; gold and experience. They also take down a few kills here and there before the next team fight.
23.30: TEAM FIGHT! TEAM WIPE! VG STRIKE BACK! VG are looking really strong as they completely outplay NewBee and sweeps through their defense. The entire roster of NewBee falls down at the hands of VG as the latter successfully executes their first team wipe.
25.30: ROSHAN! VG take down Roshan and acquires the first Aegis of Immortal. They proceed towards the mid barracks and take it down without little contention.
27.30: NewBee fights back. Just when the situation is looking bleak for NewBee, they execute a well coordinated gank and kill 4 of VG's players, thus, prolonging the game a little.
28.00: A great anticipation from FY's Ancient Apparition kills Shadow Demon with an amazing Ice Blast at Dire's tier 3 tower at bottom lane.
32.00: GG! VG knocks on NewBee's throne and with all hopes lost, the latter calls out 'GG' and accepts their defeat. Decider game coming up next.
Note: FY was an absolute monster and was amazing to see how he took control of the game with his clutch Ice Blast's.
Game 3
Draft - Vici Gaming pick up the Luna/Tidehunter combo as their first two picks and top it off with huge burst damage from Skywrath Mage. They manage to get Ember Spirit as their last pick, which they are very comfortable with and proves so effective for them in the last game. Newbee draft Nature's Prophet and Shadow Shaman, probably looking to take early towers and either push or split push around VG's team fight. As their final pick we see a Lifestealer, which was very powerful in the past, but hasn't seen a lot of play this TI.
4:59 FIRST BLOOD - Fy and Fenrir rotate into mid smoked up and take out the Brewmaster at mid. However, Lifestealer makes the rotation into mid and actually manages to take a revenge kill on Ember.
8:16 - After a slowish start for both teams, Newbee manage to push into the VG safe lane, taking the tier one tower.
9:50 - Brewmaster pops his ultimate after Earthshaker catches Skywrath Mage in a fissure to take another kill
10:50 - Bremaster falls, but Newbee manage to take out Sand King and Ember Spirit. Meanwhile Shadow Shaman strolls up to mid and drops the Serpent Wards on the mid tier one, giving Newbee a great trade.
12:40 TEAM WIPE - Newbee decide to push into the tier two tower at bottom lane, placing the Serpent Wards again. With a Fissure stopping the VG advance it looked like another tower, but Tidehunter and Luna let loose their ultimates to turn the fight while Fy unleashes the Mystic Flair to wipe Newbee!
16:00 - Infest into Shadow Shaman by Newbee to catch out Ember Spirit, but Shadow Shaman forgets to Shackle and Ember escapes!
19:00 - Newbee manage to catch out Luna in the Radiant jungle, but they chase to look for more and Fy drops another great Mystic Flair to find return kills
20:00 - Newbee deny bottom tower and move into Roshan. Ember looks for the Aegis steal, but just ends up feeding himself after the Aegis was picked up...
22:00 - Shadow Shaman again uses the power of Serpent Wards to siege the VG highground. A fight breaks out, VG use all their ultimates, buyback the Luna and with Ember Spirit cleaning up with his Sleight of Fist to push Newbee off the barracks.
24:43 - Sylar gets completely caught out in his own jungle, using BKB and evenutally dying
25:30 - The Dire lose their first Barracks after the pick offs in their Jungle. After a great highground defence, VG end up conceding a lane for nothing
31:00 - Newbee are content to farm and take an easy Roshan
34:00 - Newbee push into the bottom barracks dropping wards and quickly blow up Sylar. They respect the buybacks from VG, but then re-engage with an Echo Slam and take another lane of barracks.
36:00 GG! - VG push into the Newbee tier one as a last desperation. They lose Sylar again and call out the GG. Newbee stayed patient, taking objectives and pushing using the power of Lifestealer to deliver the huge DPS.
Vici Gaming are out of the Winner's Bracket and go down to the Lower Bracket, while Newbee advance to be one game away from the Grand Final!
Highlight clips are aviailable on our YouTube channel. You can also visit our wiki page for more information on The International 4.
