The second day of DreamLeague #2 LAN playoffs has taken place and Virtus.Pro, VP.Polar, Evil Geniuses and Cloud9 crossed their swords in the main double-elimination bracket. Evil Geniuses were the first team to take their place in the grand final, while Cloud 9 were forced into the lower bracket by Virtus Pro and are looking for revenge in the lower bracket final tomorrow.
DreamLeague #2 is approaching its final day, and we already know the first grand finalist of the tournament. Evil Geniuses managed to stay undefeated in the Upper Bracket of the tournament, taking down both Virtus.pro and VP.Polar to secure their spot in the best-of-five grand final. VP.Polar followed the same fate as 4ASC and Team Tinker after their loss against Cloud9, with EternalEnvy's boys being ready to fight Virtus.pro for the second spot of the ultimate battle.
Schedule - Day 2 :
14:00 - Evil Geniuses vs VP.Polar - 2:0
16:30 - Cloud9 vs Virtus.pro - 0:2
19:00 - LB Round One - VP.Polar vs Cloud9 - 0:2
21:30 - WB Final - EG vs Virtus.pro - 2:0
Evil Geniuses vs VP.Polar - 2:0
Game One
The American squad used a common push strategy they use in offline finals, with Lycan, Weaver and Jakiro as their cores. VP.Polar responded with a strong teamfight lineup, based on heavy burst damage by Ember Spirit, Chaos Knight and Elder Titan's Natural Order. While the two teams seemed pretty even in terms of gold and experience during the laning stage, the balance was disrupted when EG started to push as five. VP.Polar seemed to have the tools to get kills when they decided to commit, they were completely unable to prevent EG's massive tower damage. Even after successful teamfights, the CIS squad never managed to get offensive, losing tower after tower as the time went by. Their defense was valiant, but the split-pushing by the Familiars, Wolves, Necronomicon Warriors was just too much to handle. With a little over 38 minutes on the clock, the last remaining set of barracks went down, and EG forced the 'GG' a few moments later.
Game Two
Another game, another push strat by Evil Geniuses, with ppd's gang deciding to take the risk and focus their entire lineup on early game domination. On the other hand, the Russians selected a usual strategy with Slark, Puck and Batrider on their top-three positions. Much like the first match, the strength of EG's lineup was based on quick tower demolition and a continuous, sustainable push. Through their constant rotations, the Americans took over the Dire jungle, preventing any potential farm for Mag's Batrider. Without their initiator, the Russians relied on the Slark-Puck-Skywrath nuke combo to win their teamfights. While they did manage to take down Fear's Brewmaster in several occasions, once again they could do nothing to save their towers. Two successful teamfights during the 25-30 minute period helped EG seal the deal, and the Russians decided to forfeit the second game as well.
Virtus.pro vs Cloud9 - 2:0
Game One
Virtus.pro used a nuke-based lineup with Zeus, Ember Spirit and Centaur as their cores, enhanced by the power of Elder Titan's Natural Order. Cloud9 deployed their favorite Vengeful Spirit-Drow Ranger-Visage trio, along with Jakiro and the unusual offlane Pugna. Both teams went aggressive from the very first minutes of the game, with Virtus.pro applying a lot of pressure on EternalEnvy's fragile Drow Ranger. Since most of the ganks against him were successful, the Russians managed to shut him down completely, reducing his networth to a measly 3000 by minute 15. Lacking the security of a reliable damage dealer, Cloud9 were unable to fight properly, losing teamfight after teamfight all around the map. With their carry out of the picture and only a few nukes in their arsenal, it took only a few minutes for C9 to get overwhelmed by the Russians' continuous fights and forfeit the match.
Game Two
Cloud9 selected a semi four-protect-one lineup with Naga Siren as their main source of physical damage, while Virtus.pro deployed a large arsenal of spell damage, nukes and crowd control. The early game power of the Russians paid off, with EternalEnvy&'s Radiance being delayed significantly. However, they were unable to completely shut down the hero, and the purchase of Radiance provided enough split-pushing power for C9 to get back into the game. As the game advanced to its later stages, the Dire's teamfight potential rose quite a lot, and they even came close to taking down Virtus.pro's bottom barracks. However, a series of continuous mistakes during the 50-60 minute period cost C9 the game, as several pick-offs by the Russians allowed them to breach the Dire base, get megacreeps and win the game.
Virtus.Pro Polar vs Cloud9 - 0:2
Game One
This time Cloud9 managed to strike a victory against Virtus.Pro Polar by displaying solid plays during the whole game. They managed to get in to the game pretty certain about them winning presenting a stalwart line up consisting of both Magic and Physical damage, picking heroes as Drow Ranger and Batrider. Furthermore, during their banning phase they tried to strike out any potential threat for their core heroes such us Void and Slark, as any gap closers would have proven fatal for them. On the other hand Virtus.Pro Polar tried to surprise Cloud9 with the pocket surprise pick of Medusa and Elder Titan. In the end it turned out that their initiation power with Elder Titan wasn't enough since Fng was caught by surprise most of the times and wasn't able to allow Medusa to deploy in to the battlefield. The combination of both Cloud9's solid play throughout the game and of the inability of VP.p to respond back offered Cloud9 a rather fast win with the GG being called at the 28th minute.
Game Two
Another victory for Cloud9 has just been added to their record since they just managed to come out victorious of this Bo3 against Virtus.Pro Polar with a definite 2-0. In this second game Virtus.Pro Polar exhibited a much better performance by understanding their opponent's mentality and ruling out heroes for them either by picking or banning them. They opted for an early-mid game win by picking nuke-based heroes such as Visage and Puck. Despite their rough start, VP.Polar managed to earn a slight advantage during the early and mid stages of the game. However, Cloud9 had other plans in their minds since they simultaneously drafted for both the late-game and for the protection of their cores. Dazzle, Batrider and Vengeful Spirit were the ones charged with protecting EternalEnvy's Terrorblade while FATA and his Centaur Warruner was the one responsible for the initiation. With good execution and right timing (EternalEnvy getting a double damage rune before the 20th minute fight) provided Cloud9 a cutthroat early game against their opponents. Despite their struggling start VP.Polar managed to be the ones controlling the map up until the 30th minute, but Terrorblade ever increasing networth and inventory signaled the downfall of VP.p.
Evil Geniuses vs Virtus.Pro 2:0
Game One
It was a third appearance for a core Jakiro in Evil Geniuses' lineup and a third victory as the Americans drafted another push strategy, this time with team fight heroes Enigma and Faceless Void. Virtus Pro were able to take first blood but were unable to continue their advantage. Evil Geniuses took a dominant lead with eleven kills and five towers destroyed in the first fifteen minutes alone. The Russians fought back but a big performance from Arteezy's Death Prophet was too much for their team. Involved in twenty four of the thirty kills and with only a single death, the Canadian player guided his team to victory. Destroying two towers inside Virtus Pro's base and forcing the 'GG' just after twenty five minute.
Game Two
Another solid performance from Arteezy brought Evil Geniuses a second victory and their spot in the Grand Finals in a game that was closer than the first game, but the American team armed with Lycan, Venomancer and Tidehunter as cores were ahead after the eight minute mark. Virtus Pro looked to take a different strategy from the first game and brought in a dual lane mid with Tiny and Io and a hard carry Necrophos, but first blood went to the Americans. Evil Geniuses' Zai had a good performance in the early game with Earthshaker managing to be in multiple places at the same time. The radiant courier was killed twice through the game, but the first time were some quick reflexes by Fear's Plague Wards to shoot down the passing courier carrying a Point Booster. Being involved in kills on the top lane while seemingly roaming to mid at the right time to rescue Venomancer or assisting in team fights. Virtus Pro were able to take towers but Io relocating with Tiny to try and force towers down resulted in both heroes dying on three occasions. Tiny and Io were able to take a tier four tower but only as Evil Geniuses charged down middle lane to take the barracks and a second loss of barracks for Virtus Pro and a failed team fight forced the 'GG' and sent the Russian team down to the lower bracket for a rematch against Cloud 9.
Recaps by drouks, Gored and Hibbert
