Summary Day 2:
All eyes were on Cloud 9, Secret and Vici Gaming today, the three of which would determine the top two teams. Vici Gaming pulled ahead in the encounter, taking out C9, but the Europeans recovered quite admirably, taking down Secret and Team Tinker. At the bottom of the bracket, Evil Geniuses was looking to grab their first win and did so quite convincingly. Taking down Vici Gaming and Not Today, the North-Americans managed to pull themselves up to 4th place.
Vici Gaming vs. Cloud9 - 1:0
Vici Gaming's surprising Broodmother pick was able to keep the offlane in check, forcing out multiple Sentries from Pieliedie. The Chinese picked up three Hands of Midas, as well as applying a lot of pressure on the map with Black's Slark and IceIceIce's Broodmother. Although C9 did not have an appropriate answer to the pushing and ganking potential from VG, their Terrorblade still managed to keep up in farm by splitpushing. The rest of his team however was too weak and squishy, they were easy pickings for Black^. As for the teamfight side of things, VG managed to convincing win most of them quickly due to their economic superiority. C9 could not keep up, every lost teamfight meant a lost tower or rax. In the end, the Europeans were forced to call the gg.
Vici Gaming vs. Team Secret - 0:1
Team Secret pulled ahead in the laning stage as Kuroky's Drow Ranger managed to free farm and shut down IceIceIce's Timbersaw. Following this start, Secret managed to get a few crucial pick-offs while maintaining map control and pressure on VG. The Europeans gained a sizeable farm advantage with only Black^ keeping up. The lack of farm on IceIceIce hurt the Chinese a lot as their teamfight potential was next to non-existent, amplifying this problem is Dazzle's healing powers. In addition, s4 created a lot of space on his Puck, getting pick-offs by himself. As a result of all this, Vici Gaming could not take Secret head on. When they did, they lost not only the fights but also their base, eventually they tapped out.
Team Secret vs. Cloud 9 - 0:1
Cloud 9 opted for a rather greedy draft, but Secret did not pick a line-up to punish it. Aui_2000 was able to farm quite freely on his Enigma and despite trading almost evenly in kills, Cloud 9 pulled ahead in terms of farm and experience. The nature of their line-up allowed them to immediately take objectives after one or two pick-offs. In addition, they were able to keep Kuroky's Naga Siren in check, killing her three times in the first 15 minutes. Slowly but steadily, C9 took control of the map and pressured Secret back into their own base. Even though Kuroky was able to eventually top the networth chart, the rest of his team could not handle the tanky line-up from C9 and the supports fell quickly to the burst from Ogre Magi and Timbersaw. In the end, C9 was too much to handle and Team Secert ultimately surrendered.
Team Tinker vs. Cloud9 - 0:1
Team Tinker had a rough start as Cloud9's dual offlane Ogre Magi and Puck managed to grab early kills against TT's trilane. C9's dual midlane with Phantom Assassin and pieliedie's Io made sure they kept a farming advantage and bOne7 had no problems in a 1on1 encounter with EGM's Jakiro. From there on out, Tinker fell bit by bit to the burst potential from C9, getting picked off one by one. The team was still able to recover though, as C9 overextended on a few occasions, trading unfavorably and giving Loda kills which also gave him space to farm up on his Void. Alas, the glimmer of hope faded and the advantage for C9 was still too big for Tinker too handle after convincing play by the C9 boys.
Team Tinker vs. Not Today - 0:1
Not Today got the better start as Team Tinker's offlane proved to be quite ineffective. With good rotations and well executed ganks, NoT applied heavy pressure and was able to gain a sizable advantage whilst keeping SingSing's Puck from getting a timely Blink Dagger. Smash on his Legion Commander was able to create a lot of space and accumulate a lot of Duel damage as well. Tinker's saving grace was Loda on his Phantom Assassin. The Swede did in fact turn things around bit by bit as he was able to get kills on crucial targets. However, the overall teamfight potential from NoT was stronger and the Peruvians were able to immediately push after teamfights with Lycanthrope and Jakiro melting towers. Tinker had a few promising engagements, but those were always followed up by worse ones, often ending with unfavorable trades. Eventually, the disadvantage was too large and Tinker called it a day.
Not Today vs. Evil Geniuses - 0:1
Not Today opted for an aggressive trilane with iwo on Morphling but the Peruvians failed to keep Arteezy's Lycan from farming. The midlane also did not go as expected and good early rotations from Evil Geniuses made it difficult for NoT to find space to farm. However, a few well coordinated ganks from the two supports and Smash gave NoT the neccessary breathing room to farm up on their core heroes. EG on the other hand used their line-up to its full potential, pushing and taking Roshan in a swift fashion without giving NoT an opening to contest. The North-Americans pulled ahead in farm quite easily and Universe on his Timbersaw performed quite impressively. The Peruvians had only a few answers to give, but ultimately had to concede.
Vici Gaming vs. Evil Geniuses - 0:1
Vici Gaming conceded four early deaths to good rotations from EG. Especially from Fear who moved around quite a bit on his Invoker. Building from this, EG kept applying pressure, grabbing kills and immediately taking objectives such as towers or Roshan. The Drow Ranger Aura strategy helped the North-Americans take towers quite easily and Vici Gaming quickly lost control of not only the map but the game. The Chinese tried to go for smoke ganks, but EG avoided these with relative ease. 20 minutes in, EG breached highground. A few minutes later, VG admitted defeat.
Remaining matches:
Thursday, 4th December (all bo1s):
18.00 CET - Vici Gaming vs. Cloud9
19.15 CET - Vici Gaming vs. Team Secret
20.30 CET - Team Secret vs. Cloud 9
21.45 CET - Cloud9 vs. Team Tinker
23.00 CET - Team Tinker vs. Not Today
Friday, 5th December:
00.15 CET - Not Today vs. Evil Geniuses
01.45 CET - Vici Gaming vs. Evil Geniuses
Headline image by Helena Kristiansson