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General13 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

MSI wins ESL Final! Phe`V rage quits Empr...for a while

Just when everyone thought maybe MSI's time was over, they surprise everyone by coming back from the losers bracket to take the series 2-1. KD-Gaming, missing key player Kebap, seemed struggling for direction in a lacklustre display. What probably grabbed everyone's attention though was the man who stepped in for him - Phe`V.

Joining the game tagless, it was first assumed that he was just ringing for KD-Gaming. However, it was later found out that he had in fact left his former team Empire Multigaming following some internal problems. A day after the game, Empire's manager, Rean told us that Phe`V in fact has already joined KD-Gaming. Clan drama aside, let's jump into the games.

Game 1
Europe KD-Gaming Europe FnaticMSI
Bans (Hellbourne First)
DR WitchSlayer Pharoah VoodooJester Thunderbringer WretchedHag
Picks
Glacius Soulstealer Andromeda
Valkyrie Nymphora Bubbles Gladiator
Maliken Madman Hellbringer
Lanes
Valkyrie Phe`V (Mid)
Soulstealer [KD]SemiJew (Mid)
Glacius [KD]Mag1X (Mid)
Nymphora [KD]Akke (Bot)
Maliken [KD]Black (Bot)
Hellbringer [MSI]Bot (Top)
Gladiator [MSI]Trixi (Top)
Andromeda [MSI]NoVa_ (Mid)
Bubbles [MSI]N0tail (Mid)
Madman [MSI]Freshpro (Bot)


Game 1 started on an interesting choices as KD-Gaming opted to forfeit the top lane, with Phe`V's Valkyrie roaming around the middle firing in javelins literally left right and center, forming a pseudo trilane along with Glacius and Soulstealer. Noticing this early by scouting with their courier, MSI adjusted by sending Andromeda to mid to assist Bubbles. Unfortunately for KD-Gaming, Phe`V's efforts were all in vain as all his javelins for the 1st 5 minutes missed. Meanwhile, Trixi's Gladiator at top was getting complete freefarm. With a sense of deja vu about how teams used to forfeit freefarm to Bot's Pandamonium, one could only feel nervous for KD.

Feeling the need to changes things up, still lvl 1, Phe`V roamed towards the bottom. where he set up kills on a roaming Andromeda and Madman. Freshpro, who had so far had a terrible start creep kill wise, showed signs of a quick recovery upon resurrection as he teleported to the middle lane and scored a double tap kill on Soulstealer and Glacius.

As mid game kicked in things weren't looking too good for KD-Gaming. Phe`V's Valkyrie was effectively gimped due to her choice of laning at the start, having very low DPS capacity, although he was beginning to hit javelin after javelin, setting up some very good kills for KD. A good series of mini teamfights though swung the favour of the game towards MSI. At this point the only positive thing to look at for KD is that their hard carries, Maliken and Soulstealer, were still getting a decent farm although they're getting nothing near compared to Trixi's.

By 25 minutes, MSI had gotten all of KD's outer towers and sneak a Kongor kill. The gold gap was beginning to get too much for KD-Gaming as almost everyone on MSI's team had their core items. Good initiation by Bubbles followed up with a quick Hellflower caused Soulstealer to be unable to use his Shrunken Head, sealing his fate, while Trixi displayed some top skills of anticipation as he landed a Pitfall on a sword throwing Maliken. MSI gets an easy genocide and the mid raxes. It seemed inevitable that MSI would win at this point.

Already 16k EXP and 23k Gold behind, the last straw for KD-Gaming was when they were genocided again at the top lane, as they conceded immediately after. Final hero kill score was 11-32.

Game 2
Europe FnaticMSI Europe KD-Gaming
Bans (Legion First)
VoodooJester Thunderbringer Devourer DR Pharoah WitchSlayer
Picks
Andromeda Glacius Bubbles
Soulstealer Gladiator FB Behemoth
Slither Hellbringer Pebbles
Lanes
Hellbringer [MSI]Freshpro (Top)
Soulstealer [MSI]N0tail (Mid)
Andromeda [MSI]NoVa_ (Bot)
Gladiator [MSI]Trixi (Bot)
Slither [MSI]Bot (Bot)
Bubbles Phe`V (Top)
Pebbles [KD]Mag1X (Mid)
Glacius [KD]Akke (Bot)
Behemoth [KD]SemiJew (Bot)
FB [KD]Black (Bot)


The trilanes clashed early at lvl 1 as one hero on each side fell. KD-Gaming storms into early lead this game thanks to lane domination at the top and bottom lanes plus a middle pebbles who was setting up some very good ganks. However, MSI began to close the gap with a couple of ganks, finally overtaking KD-Gaming with a teamfight bottom, taking the tower and 3 hero kills. MSI applied very early pressure on all 3 lanes, and were rewarded with 3 tower kills.

At the 16th minute, what seemed to be a good fight for MSI got turned around as N0tail on Soulstealer for some reason ported back with red health to try to finish of Bubbles. It didn't end well as he and Trixi payed with their lives. However, the EXP and gold stats were still significantly in MSI's favour. Another clash at bottom ended up in a 3 for 3 exchange. After that, both teams decided to dial down the action and settle for farming. This made the situation look grim for KD though as their 290 GPM Flint was no where near the farming speed of MSI's 400 GPM Soulstealer and 330 GPM Gladiator.

By the 27th minute, N0tail had gotten his Portal Key and Shrunken Head while Trixi had gotten his Helm and Assassin's Shroud. MSI decides to go for a push mid to force a fight. Phe`V unfortunately gets initiated on easily as MSI gets 3 hero kills. Although MSI lost Soulstealer in that fight, they managed to get 2 more tower kills, exposing the middle raxes.

Both teams continued to play cautiously for a while before MSI decided to go for a Kongor kill. Good counter initiation after Soulstealer was initiated on won MSI a huge teamfight as they get the mid raxes. By this point MSI had gotten so strong they dominated almost every fight sequence. However, KD managed to make a pretty decent defensive stand thanks to some coordinated play complemented by some poorly place Soulstealer ultimates on N0tail's part.

Good Kongor baiting on MSI's part lured KD into intiating prematurely as MSI picked off 2 heroes and end up with the Kongor kill. Unfortunately the token was wasted due to some overplay by MSI. KD-Gaming were clinging on to the match desperately by turtling, and deserve credit for putting off MSI's offences for a while. Finally a genocide for MSI with N0tail scoring a Quad Kill deep in KD's base allowed them to end the game. Final hero kill score was 36-26.

While MSI continues to reign supreme in Europe, it will be interesting to see how will KD perform in the future once they have time to gel together. Also worthy of mentioning is how will Phe`V's former team perform without one of their star players? Picking up YoImhere4you ( Vein from DotA ) not too long before Phe`V left, seems like Empire might also be able to offer something new to the current competitive scene.


UPDATE: Apparently the drama within Empire Multigaming has quelled and Phe`V has rejoined his former team.

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