photo credits: PGL
The debutants proved that they are one of the quality teams in Boston by eliminating one of the favourites in the tournament with a score of 2-1.
Game One
Newbee started controlling the tempo of the game with an explosive start - a first blood pick of Verros 'Maybe Next Time' Apostolos' Bounty Hunter and extremely fast bottom tower raze in two and a half minutes. Several more kills followed for them and after five minutes the score was 5-0 in their favour. By the tenth minute, all of Ad Finem’s tier one towers were down and the Bounty Hunter pick did not seem to pay off.
The first team fight in the game erupted around the 15th minute mark, but it was not much of a carnage as both teams were content with a single hero kill. The game then settled for a while with Ad Finem avoiding team fights until Templar Assassin and Luna obtained Black King Bars. Newbee also seemed content with playing passive in this time period.
The teams then clashed again in front of Newbee’s base on the top lane after about 25 minutes into the game, but Ad Finem failed to accomplish anything. Newbee took the initiative right after and focused on taking more towers. Five minutes later, Ad Finem engaged in another five versus five fight, but at the end of it, four of them were down and it was becoming clear who would win the game. Newbee did not lose any time and took down the first set of barracks on the mid lane. Ad Finem tried to resist, but lost their cores again and admitted defeat after 32 minutes.
Game Two
The second game was a lot slower in the early stages, and this time the Greeks had a much better laning stage. Ad Finem’s second Bounty Hunter pick of the series proved a lot more valuable, with the hero participating in ganks, providing intelligence to his team, and killing the courier three times by the eleventh minute. Of these contributions, the most valuable one was providing space for their Morphling to quietly farm.
Newbee finally had the chance to turn their eyes to the watery creature around the 14th minute, when three of them finally smoked for a gank on the bottom lane. As a result, the farmed Morphling not only survived, but also wreaked havoc into the enemy ranks after some great juking and a timely support arrival from his teammates.
The teams then started exchanging kills, but the Morphling was never among the casualties and was getting ahead in the net worth by a huge margin. Newbee found themselves incapable of stopping him.
With their hard carry pumped up, Ad Finem started pressing on and went for a high ground push on the bot lane after 26 minutes of play. Newbee managed to repel the first wave. Ad Finem had a go at them again and got the Ranged barracks, but were pushed back yet again after desperate, but great plays from Newbee. The Chinese eventually succumbed to the mighty Morphling after the third consecutive Ad Finem attack, where they were left with no other option but to give up after they were team wiped.
Game Three
Both teams went for a strategy built around a greedy hard carry - Ad Finem chose Alchemist, while Newbee put their trust in Luna.
The first few kills went into the hands of Ad Finem after rotations from the Shadow Demon and Mirana. The laning stage was quite contested and while the Luna was getting good farm on top lane, Alchemist was having some problems against the Timbersaw in the mid lane.
The two teams eventually started playing hide and seek in an attempt to get the enemy hard carry killed. Newbee eventually killed the Alchemist around the 14th minute, but the Luna fell two minutes later. This was bad news for Newbee, who had to be aggressive to not get outfarmed, while Ad Finem were happy to be on the defense.
The Greeks were better prepared and gained the upper hand in the engagements. In a crucial team fight around the 22nd minute, Ad Finem edged out Newbee and two minutes later, the Alchemist had Aegis after Ad Finem sent three Newbee heroes into their graves. The Alchemist was getting out of control.
Around the 28th minute, Ad Finem went high ground in the bottom lane and easily destroyed the first set of barracks by spamming illusions, which Newbee could not really handle. Only two minutes later, the mid melee barracks was down. In the meantime, Ad Finem were already getting excited in their booth, foretasting the victory in their mouths. Moments later, the Greeks regrouped on the top lane to strike the coup de grace and shatter Newbee’s dreams of a top placement in the tournament.
