With two series to play today the stakes were high as it was either elimination or a spot in the play-off stage on the line.
Yesterday we saw B)ears and Team Liquid claim the first two spots in the play-offs from the European DAC qualifier, while we also saw the first two teams eliminated; Ad Finem and NiP. Today's action would see Natus Vincere, Team Secret, Alliance and Cloud 9 fight it out in their respective series for the last two spots in the play-offs.
Group A
Team Secret would be looking to get some revenge on Natus Vincere after they were beaten when the two teams faced each other a few days ago. Game one saw a fairly Secret dominated match-up, while Na’Vi were able to stay close behind most of the game but were unable to ever really find a break through. Secret’s line-up was able to ensure victory for them in game one. But game two saw a very different Na’Vi come out as they consistently found their way into the lead, and while Secret were able to pick off vital members from their opponents line-up, there was always someone else to clean up.
But as the game went on, Na’Vi begun to make more and more mistakes and Secret took full advantage of this. Unable to find any more openings in their opponent’s line-up, Na’Vi fell behind and Secret marched into their base and forced out the GG call.
With that, Secret were able to claim victory in the series, 2nd place in Group A and proceed into the next stage of the qualifier. Unfortunately for Na’Vi they would be eliminated from the European Qualifiers for DAC.
Group B
The group B series for today would see another rematch as Cloud 9 would go up against Alliance. C9 went into this game looking a lot stronger than Alliance, constantly staying far ahead in farm and not allowing the Swedes to really have a chance to breathe, let alone win. With game one going to C9, Alliance went into game two hoping that they wouldn’t be exiting the qualifiers but C9 dominated them for the first thirty minutes. However, Alliance were able to completely turn the game on its head, making a complete come back and winning the game. With that brilliant come back from Alliance, over-coming an over ten thousand gold deficit, the series would be going to a game three.
Game three was quite exciting – with Alliance again making a massive comeback. C9 held the lead for most of the game, but were unable to break Alliance’s high-ground defense. In this time, the Swedes managed to find pick offs constantly and make their way back into the game. However, the power of the C9 line-up came into play again and they finally managed to break the defense – after sixty-three minutes C9 claimed victory of the game and the series 2-1.
This means that Alliance would be eliminated while C9 claim 2nd position in group B and move through into the next stage.
The play-off stage gets underway on February 8th, which is tomorrow, with B)ears taking on C9 and Team Liquid going up against Team Secret.
