picture courtesy of PGL
The two sister teams, Invictus Gaming and Invictus Gaming Vitality, reached the upper bracket finals to fight each other for the first qualifying spot to the Kiev Major.
Invictus Gaming started the day with a spectacular series against Vici Gaming, where they managed a huge comeback in the third game of the series to reach the finals, while Vitality rolled over CDEC Gaming in less than an hour in their semifinals series.
Game One:
Invictus Gaming opened the first game of the series with a first pick Centaur Warrunner and built towards a teamfight lineup closing the draft with an Undying. iG.Vitality responded with a split push strategy with very good pick off potential.
Kicking off the laning stage with dual mid lanes, Invoker plus Earth Spirit versus Shadow Fiend plus Undying, both teams looked to create an early advantage by shutting down the opponent’s key hero in team fights. In the end, the SF - Undying duo proved to be much stronger, given the Decay and healing factor brought by the Undying, and after three deaths, Earth Spirit started to rotate in the other lanes along with Rubick. However, he found himself already too far behind in levels to IG’s supports and Vitality kept on failing their gank attempts.
Vitality’s only hope was Zhang 'Paparazi' Chengjun’s split push on Invoker, and he did an amazing job at taking tower and establishing map control, which forced IG to play as five and force Vitality to defend. With their first high ground attempt, IG took two lanes of barracks and retreated only to take down Roshan to make sure the final battle went their way.
Game Two:
One game away from qualifying to the Kiev Major, Invictus Gaming chose to place all the eggs in the Blink-Axe-Call basket while iG.Vitality opted for a heavily teamfight oriented draft.
Both initiators, Axe for IG and Tidehunter for Vitality, finished their Blink Daggers at the same time, ten minutes into the game, and both started to hunt for blood. Unfortunately for IG, the Axe Call didn’t catch more than one or two targets at once and Vitality punished their aggressive moves with perfectly landed Chaotic Offering into Tide’s Ravages every time the two ultimates were available. Without being able to make something big happen within the Warlock and Tide ultimates cool downs, VG tried to play a defensive game in the search of the right moment for a counter push. Despite their great efforts of holding on to their base, a failed attempt at contesting Roshan, 45 minutes into the game, got them wiped out and they had no choice but to call the GG.
Game Three:
For the decisive game of the series IG got their hands on the Warlock, gearing up for a late game scenario where the team fights would make the difference. At the same time, they focused their bans on the most annoying initiating heroes, forcing Vitality to a Weaver and Bounty Hunter last two picks.
Although in theory IG had the stronger draft, Vitality’s elusive heroes proved to be more efficient. The early mid-game stage was full of action, IG making great use of their Sand King-Earth Spirit set-up. But despite the fact that they were the ones to find the first kills, Vitality always salvaged the battle with one or two Track kills. Slowly but surely, the bounties collected allowed Vitality’s Disruptor to finish a fairly early Aghanim's Scepter for a support which put IG’s OD in a lot of trouble.
Always focused on the Batrider Lasso into Disruptor’s Static Storm, Ou 'Op' Peng efficiency dropped significantly and Vitality took the lead in the late game. The six slotted juggernaut and Weaver, along with a BKB- Blink-Force Staff item build on the Batrider, made the high ground assault a piece of cake for Vitality, who secured the mega creeps around the 40 minute mark. However, with the qualifier spot on the line, they displayed great discipline and once IG went for a desperate Rapier on the Lone Druid to defend against Megas , Vitality backed off and waited for the right moment to close the series. A last Roshan kill at the 51 minute mark, with the Aegis on Weaver and Cheese on Batrider was what Vitality needed to claim the ticket to Kiev. Their sister team will have another shot at qualifying via the lower bracket final. Invictus Gaming will face off against the winner of Vici Gaming vs CDEC Gaming, tomorrow, March 14
