After a full 3 game series, Newbee took a spectacular victory over Invictus Gaming, securing a top 3 finish for themselves at TI7.
With the top 8 of The International 7 now decided, no more teams would be eliminated today. But moving to the upper bracket, we will see which teams can get themselves into the top three. The first two teams vying for a position in the upper bracket finals would be Newbee and Invictus Gaming. The loser would move down into the lower bracket, not to be eliminated just yet, while the winner will plays the victor of tonight’s final series, Virtus.Pro versus LGD.Forever Young.
Game One
iG managed to get off to a great start as they smoked up and found first blood before the horn for the game’s beginning had even sounded. The game proceeded in a fairly even manner, as both teams rotated continuously around the map. By 10 minutes, Newbee had secured a bit more control of the game with a 5-6 lead on the scoreboard. The game continued with both teams drawing almost completely even across the board. As twenty minutes approached, Newbee managed to claim an uncontested aegis on Xu 'Moogy' Han's Ursa.
The game moved forward at a slow pace with kills being traded back and forth but neither team wanted to over-extend or make a mistake which could cost them a major objective. A few minutes later though after iG claimed an aegis, Newbee managed to take down four from the Radiant’s line up plus eliminate the aegis instantly, giving them a solid opening in the game.
As forty five minutes closed in, both teams had eyes on Roshan as the next objective and it was Newbee who claimed the aegis for themselves before getting ready to siege the Radiant’s base. As they moved in, Newbee ripped through the iG line up and forced them to call GG, taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
Game Two
Being down 1-0 in the series, iG would need to win the second game of the series in order to avoid the 2-0 sweep and the lower bracket of TI. But Newbee would be looking to secure their spot in the top 3 at TI7 and were standing in the way of their Chinese counterpart. Once again the game begun at an even pace, with both teams claiming kills with support rotations being perfectly on point. While Ye 'BoBoKa' Zhibiao on the Earth Spirit was making some great plays for iG, Newbee suddenly realized that they needed to get themselves into the game and begun to rotate together and claim a few kills of their own.
The game began to open up for iG as BoBoKa continued to be the thorn in Newbee’s side, making some amazing plays to give his team the advantage. The Radiant continued on the front foot, claiming kills and objectives around the map, as the game slowed down for a while. But as thirty two minutes passed, the Radiant found a great set of kills which gave them access to an uncontested aegis. With this advantage, iG moved up to the high ground mid and took down the barracks with ease.
Before forty minutes had even passed, iG tore through the Newbee line up and the Dire threw in the towel, tying up the series at 1-1 and taking us to a game three. MVP of the game has to go to BoBoKa without a doubt, as he helped at every turn to ensure his team would have one last chance to claim that spot in the top 3.
Game Three
The final match of the series to decide who moves forward to the finals of the bracket and a top three finish at TI7, and who drops to the lower bracket began with Newbee claiming first blood before a minute had even passed. Once more, the opening 10 minutes would see both teams drawing mostly even across the board and the game began to slow, as both teams worked toward the items and take that perfect fight which would give them an advantage.
Even though Newbee were able to get vital kills when the Ravage was up on Damien 'kpii' Chok's Tidehunter, as soon as it was used, iG pushed down towers across the map, playing as aggressive as possible during the downtime. The team fights were scrappy from both teams but it was Newbee who now began to make their way into the game as thirty minutes had passed. As such, Newbee showed their advantage as they found three quick kills on their opponents and claimed an aegis too.
The game looked completely in the bag for Newbee now as they choked iG into their own base, who were unable to farm anywhere on the map. With a new aegis in hand, the Dire team looked ready to take the game, as they removed the outer shrines from their opponents side of the map before taking down the mid lane barracks.
With the next jump in by Chun 'SCCC' Song on the Storm Spirit, iG had no way to keep themselves in the game and were forced to call GG, giving Newbee a 2-1 win and a top three spot at TI7. Newbee will face the winner of the next match-up between LGD.Forever Young and Virtus.Pro in the upper bracket finals.
As a side note, the Arcana vote was tallied and Pudge found himself victorious by a gigantic margin of 0.008%.
