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Day four at the International 2017 comes with elimination series only, and after Team Empire was sent home in the opening series of the day, OG got slain by LGD Gaming.
Game One
What seemed to be a strong draft opener for OG, a first pick Magnus followed by Phantom Lancer, allowed LGD to build into a heavy AoE damage lineup with Lu 'Maybe' Yao on a mid lane Leshrac and an offlane Earthshaker, all complimented with one of the strongest vision combos in the game, Night Stalker with Batrider. Through the entire laning stage LGD focused on shutting down both Anathan 'ana' Pham and Gustav 's4' Magnusson in the offlane to make sure no early shenanigans will happen, and while doing so they committed three heroes mid lane to secure three kills for Maybe before the first night time.
OG’s towers were melted down pretty fast, and the early lead allowed Maybe to rush a BkB which countered OG’s plan completely. With Ana itemizing towards a magic build, with an early Veil of Discord and Johan 'N0tail' Sundstein forced to a Manta Style first item, OG lacked in damage and simply couldn’t stay against Maybe’s Leshrac. Their fate was somewhat sealed at the 27 minute mark when they tried to contest a Roshan kill but ended up losing the Phantom Lancer while LGD claimed the Aegis and place it on their front liner, Bristleback.
However, OG kept fighting, desperately trying to catch LGD on the wrong foot, but that never actually happened and with them constantly falling behind, it all came down to high ground defense. Unfortunately for the four times Major Champions, it became nearly impossible to kill the Bristleback who by the 40 minute mark was six slotted, with Radiance and Heart of Tarrasque, and despite tremendous efforts and amazing team fights in their own base, OG were forced to admit defeat at the end of 55 minutes packed with action.
Game Two
In the second game of the series, OG opened the draft again with Magnus, but this time around they banned the Night Stalker while picking Nyx Assassin for Jesse 'JerAx' Vainikka which was meant to provide extra vision for s4. They started the laning stage in a much more aggressive stance and did manage to protect s4’s bottom lane. By the seven minute mark, OG was leading with 5 kills to 1 and the good laning allowed them to transition into a dominant mid game stage. LGD was caught off guard a couple of times as they had no response toTal 'Fly' Aizik’s impeccable Winter Wyvern plays who saved N0taiL times and times again and had a few great Winter's Curse placements.
But while OG were doing extremely well, things started to go downhill for them at the 19 minute mark when Ana was caught pushing the mid lane and got killed along with the Nyx Assassin who was in his proximity but not advanced enough to see the initiation on Ana. LGD went straight into Roshan’s Pit but got contested by OG and scattered out, leaving Roshan with less than half HP. The low life Rosh tempted OG back into the Pit to finish what LGD started and that decision alone possibly lost them the game as LGD wiped them and claimed the Aegis for themselves.
From there on, Fly was not able to make use of his spells as Maybe always initiated on him with Orchid to stop the Cold Embrace saves and by the 35 minute mark, OG were already down one lane of barracks. Despite getting nearly team wiped in the first high ground offense, LGD kept the pressure on and stopped OG’s run for the Aegis in the third round of Lower Bracket matches.
While OG ends their journey in the top eight at TI7, LGD will have to face tomorrow Invictus Gaming for a shot at top six and a little over one million dollars prize pool ensured.
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