This five game thriller left the players mentally drained and the fans begging for more. Wins were traded between the two sides, with each team probing the other's weaknesses and capitalising on their mistakes. At the same time, both teams proved themselves as worthy EDC finalists, showing a great deal of determination and personal skill. The game which started this roller-coaster journey would have to be the first and most exciting game of them all.
GAME ONE:
| Lanes | |||
 MYM |  OK | ||
Sentinel MYM|Maelk (Top) MYM|PusHer (Top) MYM|Lakost (Mid)  MYM|PlaymatE-_^ (Bot)  MYM|MaNia- (Bot) | Scourge OK|syndereN (Mid)  OK|Smiske (Top)  OK|13abyKnight (Bot)  OK|XoYnoZnU (Bot)  OK|PapaDrayich (Top) | ||
| Mode: -cm Map: 6.66b | |||
| Download Replay | |||
This was a match that can be compared to a ticking bomb. It was a race for MYM, desperately trying to end the game before Void and Medusa got their core items. MYM played with a lineup that they have used on countless occasions, especially since Mania got hold of his favourite hero, Sand King. A relatively gank orientated strategy, the solo Rhasta gave MYM just that extra pushing power, allowing their semi-carries, Priestess of the Moon and Shadow Fiend, to farm. Online-Kingdom's lineup revolved around their two strong late game heroes, Void and Medusa. They kept themselves in the game through the early game power of Zeus, the gank abilities of Vengeful Spirit and the ever present protectorate, Witch Doctor.
The early game lanes were closely contested, with the early tri-lane setup by sentinel netting a few valuable and early kills on Void and Witch Doctor, due to some well aimed arrows by Playmate. Maelk's Shadow Fiend struggled a bit against the Medusa/Venge lane, but things seemed to steady themselves once Lion arrived. Well executed ganks by Mania allowed MYM to severely weaken OK's Medusa.
As the game progressed, Sentinel started taking towers left, right and centre with Lakost teleporting all around the map. OK were on the back foot, slowly falling behind in hero kills and Mania's SK starting to look dangerously fat. Having said this, OK were not completely out of the picture as Synderen was able to grab a few kills with some well orientated team fights. Baby must be commended on some extremely intelligent farming, as he was often able to escape on minimal HP through either Timewalk or Chronosphere, on various occasions.
The game started to open up, with both teams either roaming around together, initiating team fights or hanging back and farming. However, the pressure was on MYM to finish as soon as possible. Some brilliant warding and counter warding from Witch Doctor completely nullified MYM's map mobility and dominance and therefor allowed for OK to farm in relative safety. MYM continued to pester their opponents, but before too long, OK's carries were becoming excessively hard to kill, suriving more and more team fights. An outstanding Venge from Smiske resulted in him saving himself as well as his carries a number of times. OK were beginning to get the upper hand.
MYM pressed their opponents hard and a good tri-lane push earned them the rax towers in all three lanes. OK counter-pushed and they were able to pick off MYM players that had overstayed their welcome. A seemingly penultimate team fight at Sentinel's base nearly went the way of the Scourge, but a suberb ward placement by Rhasta an a perfectly timed ultimate from Mania saved the day for MYM. It was apparent however that the Scourge's combo involving Chronosphere/Zeus/Witch was proving too much for the Danish side.
Both sides poked and prodded at various lanes, skipping around the map. With Maelk being miserably behind the Scourge carries, one could only count down the seconds until OK pushed through. At the sixty minute mark Medusa and Void were able to to tank the Sentinel's efforts and finally end the game, giving OK a 1:0 lead.
MYM hit back the next game and the cycle continued until it was drawn at 2:2, with the fifth game there to decide the well deserved winner. Briefly, the last game was a rather lengthy one. No one particularly shined for either team, but it was a solid, conserted effort from both sides, with OK's carries, Slardar and Dragon Knight eventually gaining the upperhand on MYM.
GosuGamers had the opportunity to grab an exclusive statement from both sides:
MYM|PlaymatE-_^:What went wrong yesterday? Where there any major mistakes you guys did which resulted in the 2-3 loss?
-"I think we made our picks personal rather than as a team and we kind of over-thought at the picking stage. Our captain had something in mind for himself while the players had their own stuff going on and we didn't end up playing our game; we played theirs. They were just able to utilize their picks' potential to the fullest, while we weren't.
Did you underestimate OK at all do to their recent performances? Or did they exceed your expectations?
-"To be honest, we did underestimate them and we were making fun of 1 hour max, 3-0 as final outcome. Guess karma comes and screws you right back (smile). OK is a strong team and a force to be reckoned with. Not the greatest players individually (not saying they are bad just not the greatest) but as a team they are top dollar!"
Where to from now? Are you guys over the loss?
I don't think so. Lacoste had trouble sleeping and personally...I don't know. You win some lose some (smile). I guess we'll have to see what karma has prepared for us in the future. It can't all be a fairytale with a happy ending (smile).
And now onto the winning team, a statement from Smiske
How did you prepare for the finals against MYM?
-"I dont prepare that much anymore, I watched 2-3 of the latest MYM replays and came to the conclusion that they use SA, and they have always been fond of Chen. My team watched a few others and they came to the same conclusion. As to our own strats we tried out Void in a select few games and we had some old strats that we wanted to use aswell but due to the weird bans, they didn't really fit in."
Did MYM's strategy vary from what you expected it to be?
-"Like us, MYM is getting used to the idea of three mass carry push strats which involve PoTM, SF, Storm, Dusa or Morph. This strategy is still so strong at the moment and since MYM won two games against us with Morph, we decided to ban it. Other than that, we got what we expected. They adapted to the strong late game pushers since its the safest way to play at the moment. They always play with Maelk in the long lane mid-lategame and then 4 gank-farm-push the other 2 lanes."
What encouraged the Void pick?-"As I said earlier, we played around a bit with it and Void fits our playstyle very well. We figured that bactrack always gets people frustrated, so it plays a few mind games out opponents, which is invaluable in a best of five match. Besides that, in order to beat Void, you have to stop it early. That is virtually impossible once he has his early vanguard, which Baby has been really good at doing recently."
What does it mean as a team to have beaten MYM in the final? What are you planning on doing with the money?
-"Well, to me it means alot to beat MYM as they are a very good and well respected team. To do it in a final is just so much better, especially since I played with the most of them in Ravens where they kind of abandoned me due to "bad play", so I enjoyed beating them all that more. But that's another story.
As for the money, I would like to have it before I start spending anything. A wise man once told me, 'Don't use money you dont have', so at the moment, I have no clue what it's going to be used for.
Thanks for taking the time, any shoutouts or plans for Vengeful Spirit lessons?
-"I would like to dedicate a shoutout to The Online-Kingdom organisation, and to my own dota squad and then of course, Misery and Donald from DDT for being there and giving us some valuable practise. I would like to give a extra loud shoutout to all the shoutcasters out there that are promotoing the Dota-scene and making it all that more exciting.
As for the VS lessons, I love playing venge. He's got so many cool moves you can do! I don't want to give out lessons since I think it's kind of weird. But that hero is just a tad strong at the moment. (smiles)"
A truly remarkable achievement by Online-Kingdom and to MYM for providing the community with some incredible game play. MYM now have a score to settle and the scent of rivalry is starting to fill the air.
Links
Replays 1-4 - MYM vs. OK
WDC - Tournament organizer
