In a surprising turn of events, it's the Russian Team Empire who secure the first spot in Group A, leaving Alliance and Speed Gaming to duke it out over the second place for the playoffs tomorrow in a best-of-five decider, starting at 17:00 CEST.
While Empire's win over RoX.KIS was not unexpected, the fact that Alliance fell in two straight games to Speed Gaming was very much a surprise. Some may be quick to blame the drafts from Alliance for their losses. Indeed the no-items Hand of Midas recipe start that Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao went for on his Weaver in Game 1 leading into a 3 minute completed item probably did catch the Swedes off guard, and lead to a situation where the Weaver simply got too big too fast, but for Game 2 while there was a slight lack of lockdown, the match was still largely winnable for Alliance had they played certain positions better, and had WehSing, 'SingSing' Yuen on the Queen of Pain not had quite such a brilliant day (he ended 9/0/23 in Game 2), things might have turned out differently. And then there was ofcourse Jonathan 'Loda' berg tweeting that he hadn't felt all that good during the day, having skipped the teams earlier match against aAa for the RaidCall EMS One.
Whatever the reason, Speed Gaming came out on top and looked strong going into the winner match against Empire. They even started out strong in all three games, yet each time Empire showed a remarkable resiliance and managed to claw things back, winning the first match and losing the second only due to Envy picking up a Divine Rapier on his Weaver in order to turn the tide. As this forced a third game, again Speed Gaming got ahead early with a Spectre and Elder Titan lineup, something which should demolish almost anything with the start that they had. Yet some unfortunate fights and forced buybacks caused that lead to slip, seeing instead the Luna and Nature's Prophet come out as the carrying force for the game, with especially Andrey 'Mag~' Chipenko putting in a top notch performance to help bring Empire in over the line and straight into the playoffs as winners of Group A.
Finally Alliance met up with RoX.KIS in what turned out to be an unexpectedly close affair. In both games it was RoX.KIS who took control of the early game, getting up in kills and looking like the winners of the International might well bomb out of the group in last place. But Alliance pulled themselves together during the mid portion of Game 1, turning things around through a highly farmed Gyrocopter and good teamfights. In Game 2 the story might have looked a lot of the same, but although RoX took the kill lead early on again, Loda's Phantom Lancer and Henrik 'AdmiralBulldog' Ahnberg's Nature's Prophet were both doing fairly well, resulting in them starting to claim towers and out-push their opponents. Even though Alliance never actually caught up in kills, the end result was still almost a given from 10 minutes on, as Alliance got through with a deceptive 2-0 and sent RoX.KIS out of the competition.
Second place decided tomorrow
Alliance certainly haven't inspired much confidence (and they know it) since they got home from StarLadder, but the long form best-of-five match coming up tomorrow should allow them their best chance at turning things around, as they look for revenge against Speed Gaming. While the easy prediction before the group started was for the Swedes to come out ahead, it now looks as if they'll have to take it to five games if they want to come out winners in this one. Still, until proven otherwise Alliance has to be given the benefit of the doubt, and it's not like Speed gaming impressed anyone with their mid to lategame decisionmaking against Empire today. Whatever happens, it's likely to be a close and good match, well worth tuning in for.
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