Day five of the Nexon Sponsorship League has come to an end with both FXO and Season One securing their positions for the playoffs with both StarTale and Virutal Throne to battle it out for first place in Group D in the final days of the group stage matches.
Quick recap
FXO vs Moonlight United (draft information)
Coming into the game with a win required to stay in the competition, both FXO and Moonlight United opted to pick strong tri-lane heroes with FXO opting for the strong combination of Mirana, Rubick and Sand King going up against Wuju's Natures Prophet in the top lane and Moonlight United going for Troll Warlord, Abaddon and Bane against March's Timbersaw in the opposite direction at the bot lane. In the mid lane, FXO oddly enough decided to send QQ's Visage into the mid lane against Ranng's Puck. FXO's tri lane proved to be a winning combo with first blood being spilt at just under a minute with Natures Prophet eating a five second arrow, making him easy pickings for both Mirana and Rubick to finish the job. This forced MU to rotate their tri lane back to the top lane and sending Wuju back to the bot lane to face up against a well farmed Timbersaw. Despite the move, the tri lane coming from FXO continued to pour the pain into MU as the combination coming from Sagun's Rubick and Anarchy's Sand King ensured that kills kept piling up. The odd choice of sending Visage into the mid lane was justified with QQ scoring an ultra kill in the 9th minute during the first major engagement between the two teams with March's Timbersaw diving past the mid tier one tower and slicing and dicing through MU's lineup. With their core items already secured and a snowballing lead of 15000 gold and 14000 exp by the 17th minute, FXO forced the gg after winning both the fight and destroying their opponent's tier three tower.
Ave vs StarTale (draft information)
Requiring a win to stay alive in the competition, Ave opted to select the lineup of Shadow Fiend, Warlock and Jakiro while StarTale responded in kind by sending Gyrocopter, Crystal Maiden and Visage to contest the top lane. In another case of tri lane dominance, Ave struggled to control their top lane as F.U's Visage secured both first blood and a double kill. The situation didn't improve for Ave as Tenbird's Natures Prophet join the ganking queue as StarTale constantly dived past the tier one tower and securing kills on Diamondz's Shadow Fiend as well as the supports from Ave. Meanwhile in mid, MentalProtector's Troll Warlord dominated FenShuy's Puck, securing a couple of solo kills and obtaining an 11 minute shadow blade. Ave struggled to farm their basic items for their key heroes as StarTale snowballed away with a 14-2 lead by 12 minutes. With an Aegis on Troll Warlord and complete map control, StarTale put the final nail in Ave's coffin by pushing the top lane, forcing the gg and sending Ave out of the competition.
SushiandYasha vs Season.One (draft information)
In the final match of the day, SushiandYasha gave Season.One an intimidating lineup consisting of Outworld Destroyer, Templar Assassin, Crystal Maiden, Juggernaut and Wisp before responding with their picks of Puck, Clockwerk, Alchemist, Jakiro and Bane. With Dazzle's Templar Assassin taking on the solo mid role against SouthPark.kr's Alchemist, the tri lane of Clockwerk, Bane and Jakiro went up against the strong combination of Juggernaut, Crystal Maiden and Wisp. From the start, things started to fall apart quickly for SushiandYasha as July.dota's Outworld Destroyer shut down any form of farm and harassment coming from the Puck. In the bot lane, the dangerous combination of Juggernaut and Crystal Maiden prevented anyone from approaching too close for farm. Despite farming well in the midlane, Alchemist struggled to make any impact in the game as the Season.One accelerated away in terms of gold and experience. A team fight near the radiant tier two tower proved to be fatal for SushiandYasha as July.dota and Eunwolmae's Juggernaut's ultimate blew apart the entire team. After securing the Aegis on Juggernaut, Season.One pushed the top tier 3 tower and sent SushiandYasha flying out of the Sponsorship League.
Day 6 of the Nexon Sponsorship League begins on the 15th October with StarTale, Virutal Throne, Eye of Tiger, Sym4ny, fastGG and MVP.hot6 playing on the day. With StarTale and Virtual Throne both guaranteed to play in the quarter finals and fastGG already out of contention, all eyes will turn to the match between Eye of Tiger and Sym4ny. The winner will secure their position in the next round of the Sponsorship League.
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