joinDOTA Final - DD vs Quantic #1

PAINT bans Invoker, THE versatile hero, and they don't want to face him. miGGel replies with an Enigma ban, too unreliable for their taste, but still potentially gamebreaking, so he's better left out.
Lycanthrope and Prophet were the remaining bans for Dire's side, showing they were really concerned about keeping their game safe from a solid turtle or even gank strategy. DD ended the round taking Seer and Chen out, already with the picks in mind.

Quantic placed their trust in Leshrac, a hero that has been proven worthy of a first pick with all his pushing potential, also being able to control the enemy team's whereabouts and taking part in teambattles. Radiant took the best of Brewmaster, which would usually be banned, and Enchantress as well, without having to face Chen.
Dire proceeds to pick a solid team battle lineup with Beastmaster and Vengeful Spirit, two heroes that can switch freely between pushing, ganking and scouting, not to mention that Vengeful Spirit is one of the best supports in DotA. DD now picks their key hero, Broodmother, without room for Dark Seer to oppose her.

Dire proceeds to ban Maiden and Windrunner, heroes who could very well gank with Enchantress, and that might just have been what Radiant was looking for . Even so, already aware that Quantic wants to hold the game to have Korok dominate later on with one of his signature carry heroes, DD bans both Morphling and Storm Spirit.

PAINT now gets Tidehunter and they're clearly aiming to make a game focused on their last pick, which is Shadow Fiend. - allowing SF all the farm, most of the attention and clear teamfights with both Beastmaster and Tidehunter's initiation, with Vengeful Spirit to back him up if necessary. Radiant replies with Mirana and Earthshaker, a famous and common combination aiming to take total control of a lane.

As usual, Quantic strategy revolves around their star player, Korok, who will play the Shadow Fiend here. It's a risky pick though, the hero by himself needs to gain momentum early in the game so that he can really shine, and PAINT has it assured that Korok is going to have more than enough backup for this.

While Quantic's strength relies on the success of their Shadow Fiend, DD's obviously his downfall. Having a solid early game with constant pressure on the Dire side, getting the most out of ganks and skirmishes is what miGGel is looking for with his picks, and now it is up to PAINT to coordinate his team and reach the late game, where victory awaits.

Brewmaster faces off Shadow Fiend at mid, a rather unstable lane on both ends as a gank may get either of them down rather easily. Shadow Fiend is still inclined to get ahead in farm most of the times, as he is ranged and once he lands a few last hits, his damage just gets too out of control. However, he is also at risk of getting killed by Brewmaster at lvl 6 if he is not careful.

Broodmother goes to the easy lane, surprisingly. DD doesn't go with the usual strategy, which would be to let her struggle against a dual or tri lane. Instead, she goes against Beastmaster. The odds there are even, but at the same time Beastmaster just can't leave Broodmother alone, unless of course Quantic wants to have one less tower to account for.

DD sets up a very aggressive dual lane at top with Mirana and Earthshaker, having Enchantress on the jungle as well, facing Leshrac, Tidehunter and Vengeful, the latter hero roaming and supporting Shadowfiend mid. As much as Quantic wants to keep it safe here, DD is going all in, they want ganks, they want towers and they know very well that Beastmaster cannot leave Broodmother unchecked. Quantic also wants Korok to farm as much as possible at mid lane, so they cannot count on his ganks.

0:20: First Blood! Ryze and MaNia gave away the impression they were casually waiting for the creep wave, team Quantic fell for it and gave away the FB.

MaNia lands a nice Fissure and even though Quantic still tries to get AngeL down, the only casualty is Mikey.

2:10: Enchantress demonstrates her potential at ganking, Ryze does a great job not only giving the kill to AngeL on the Tidehunter, but also getting the kill on Leshrac, who was only trying to defend him and not expecting to lose his life at all.

3:15: Ryze, after finding himself cornered, spends all the time he can by running off into Dire's base and luring some heroes with him there, only to his eventual death.

4:20: Quantic closes the gap as they get an easy kill on Broodmother and Enchantress, who was pursuing Dire's courier.

6:05: AngeL hits an arrow on Tidehunter, takes the tower and with MaNia's help lands two kills.

At this point now, it's evident that DD is capitalizing on their heroes versatility and AngeL is farming really well, which will give him an edge on teamfights soon. Ryze and MaNia are still keeping pressure on top lane, which grants them an early tower along with kills, but are maintaining a balance on other lanes, which ultimately leads them to mid, where they find Shadowfiend yet again.

7:45: Crucial point in the early stage of the game, Korok finds himself in a bad position and gets killed. Shadowfiend will now have a tough time putting himself together.

Korok is out of position, miGGel reaches him and lands the kill along with Ryze and MaNia.

9:35: Major gank on top lane, starting with Shadowfiend getting killed by Brewmaster and Earthshaker, the countergank by Quantic didn`t go very well with Tidehunter completely missing the Ravage.

DD now shows his strategy's true strength, after a fierce skirmish involving most if not all heroes in the game, except Broodmother, who goes away unscathed, Brewmaster and Earthshaker are just too bulky to be taken down that easily. Mirana has been farming for a while at top lane without contest - even so Quantic did not have the lineup to gank her successfully, at least not without Beastmaster. And now that he went to aid Dire in the teamfight, Broodmother builds some momentum and puts some pressure on bottom tier one tower.

12:00: Quantic fights harshly Broodmother on bottom lane, when they get her down for the second time. Meanwhile, Dire loses one more tower and after Playmate comes back, bottom tier one tower gets destroyed as well.

14:09: After landing a kill on Beastmaster, Dire is left defenseless but still chooses to struggle over bottom tier two tower. miGGel contests it with his Blink Dagger, landing a kill on Vengeful Spirit and also Leshrac, who got hit by AngeL's arrow. Still having his ultimate up, Brewmaster blinks through the barracks and is able to coordinate a quick kill on Beastmaster. The outcome is not so favorable to Radiant, as Korok manages to get a double kill, with three deaths on both sides.

Radiant is sustaining itself boldly with hard to kill heroes as oposed to mostly squishy ones on Dire's side. Brewmaster is getting his spotlight, managing to initiate decently, deal vast amounts of damage and disable Leshrac as well, which is later focused down after Beastmaster is out of the way. DD's plan is working after all. With a score of 14-8, Quantic is left struggling to hold the game and waiting for a mistake to capitalize and try to turn the game in their favor.

17:11: Solara tries his luck and goes for AngeL at top lane. Unfortunately for him, Mirana is one Leap too far from getting killed and escapes with nothing but 49 HP.

20:08: Yet once again, miGGel spots someone on Dire's side out of position, this time PAINT's Tidehunter, and together with Playmate and AngeL, DD lands another kill and takes the tier three tower.

PAINT uses Ravage as a desperate last resort. miGGel dodges it using Primal Split and lands the kill.

20:40: Team Quantic stands their ground before the barracks, getting the Primal Roar on Broodmother, firing everything in her direction. Korok pulls a Requiem of Souls and Shadowraze combo, leaving only AngeL and Playmate barely alive, but goes down as well. A swift buyback makes what is left of DD rush back to base.

Requiem of Souls. Only Mirana and Broodmother manage to survive, getting Shadow Fiend down afterwards.

22:20: Radiant spoils a Roshan attempt, when Broodmother gets initiated but stays in the fight thanks to the Black King Bar. Not only did Roshan not go down, DD gets a whole team wipe on Quantic, go back for the Roshan kill right after. Now, everything depends on this next push. DD are eager to finish off the game before Quantic gains any momentum, while Quantic is holding off as hard as they can.

Arrow flying, Fissure on three heroes, Vengeful Spirit goes down and her team is very vulnerable.

26:10: A cunning Mirana ultimate initiation grants DD yet another great oportunity to get a teamfight in their bag and they succeed in doing so, leaving Quantic with no option but to forfeit.

Too much responsibility was placed in the hands of a single player. Korok displayed a solid Shadowfiend, which unfortunately was not enough here. Quantic was not able to pull that off and ended up submitting to the presure DD imposed so fiercely, taking the best out of every possible situation.

Enchantress and Earthshaker did just the trick at top lane, forcing the Dire to make mistakes, allowing Mirana to land kills, farm very well and maintain control. Brewmaster put up a performance of insight in this game - not only did he manage to always keep one hero out of the battle, usually Leshrac, he would also initiate most skirmishes and likely force Tidehunter to use his Ravage, but impressively also not getting hit himself. And we should not forget about Broodmother, who played a major role of keeping the pressure on the Dire's side, constantly and uninterruptedly farming, pushing whenever she got the chance.

Quantic left too much of a breach here for DD to capitalize on, and they did.