Virtus Pro successfully defeat Alliance 2-0 after putting on a dominant show with an all round performance.
Game One
Alliance and Virtus Pro went into the game with pretty standard drafts. Virtus Pro had a pretty good start to the game as they were able to get good farm in lanes. Sergey ‘God’ Bragin on his Razor was seeing a lot of farm while Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson had difficulties in making a quick blink. Jonathan ‘Loda’ Berg on his Gyrocopter was dominating the lane and was competing with cores of Virtus Pro in terms of farm. Virtus Pro got some early kills and a quick bottom lane Range Barracks with the help of the Dragon Knight played by Ilya ‘illidan’ Pivcaev but that wouldn’t stop Alliance from getting kills and coming back strong.
The Experience and Gold Charts were almost neck to neck. Alexander ‘Dkphobos’ Kucheria on his Dark Seer and Artsiom 'fng' Barshack on his Spirit Breaker had some crucial and masterful plays which turned the game completely in favour of Virtus Pro and helping them take Game 1 of the series. Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg on his Doom and Johan 'Nuts' Andersson on his disruptor had some commendable plays but it just wasn’t enough to suppress Virtus Pro.
Game Two
As alliance came into the game 2, it was vital for them to draft to their strengths and get the appropriate bans. At the end of the drafting both teams had pretty good drafts but Virtus Pro looked a bit stronger with core picks like Shadow fiend for God, Broodmother for Dkphobos and the drow ranger of Illidan. Alliance had a good laning stage they were doing their best to keep the drow under control with the farm and AdmiralBulldog on his Doom was having a pretty good lane against the Broodmother. But this wouldn’t last with some point on initations from fng on his Bane and the extreme physical damage from Drow Ranger and Shadow Fiend. Broodmother also kept pushing the lanes with early towers.
The damage aura from Drow Ranger was just causing more pain to Alliance. Alliance did have few moments of hope as s4 on his Windranger and AdmiralBulldog on his Doom got some kills but it just wasn’t enough to win the game. A comprehensive and dominant performance helped Virtus Pro take the game , series and a spot in the next round of the playoffs against OG
Although Alliance had some prominent plays and shining moments in the series, they were unable to capitalise on them and turn the games in their favour. With many more tournaments ahead like the Dreamleague and WCA we can certainly expect Alliance to put a strong show.
Picture Coutresy : ESL
