The first day of the Dota 2 League (D2L) pre-playoffs is over and only four teams remain. The pre-playoffs will now switch to a best-of-five format and the winner of the final match will be joining Alliance and LGD.cn in Las Vegas for the offline playoffs of D2L.
Eastern division
The day started off with a match between fourth seed DK and fifth seed Tongfu. Despite being caught by surprise from Tongfu's sudden role change - Zhou on support and ZSMJ on carry - and surprise Centaur Warrunner pick, DK was able to rally a comeback in game two and game three to eliminate Tongfu from the race to Las Vegas. DK then went on to face third seed Vici Gaming and took game one rather easily, many said Vici Gaming got outdrafted. Vici Gaming came back strong in game two, utilizing a Blink Dagger Clinkz and a Storm Spirit with an early Orchid. While it still took Vici Gaming quite a while to finish DK, they will be going into their next match happy after they utterly destroyed DK in the laning phase and subsequently the mid-game. DK called the "gg" as Vici Gaming started scratching at 17 minutes.
Vici Gaming will face Invictus Gaming next in the eastern division of the bubble race. The winner of the match-up will be joining their fellow countrymen LGD.cn in Las Vegas early next year in the offline playoffs of the D2L. Both teams have encountered one another thrice in the past month with iG coming up on top in their most recent encounter.
Western division
Fnatic, the fourth seed coming into the bubble race, played two matches yesterday night. They faced Virtus.Pro at 18:00 CET and did not had too much trouble handling the Russians as they take two straight games convincingly. Their real challenge was against third seed and DreamLeague kick-off season champion Natus Vincere. After taking game one, Na`Vi was able to stage a comeback in game two after stopping Fnatic's relentless early game push line-up in game two. Na`Vi opted for the CK-Io combo in game three but Fnatic was almost always one step ahead of the Ukrainians moving around the map.
When the fog of war cleared, Fnatic was standing on top of the corpses of Virtus.Pro and Na`Vi. They have a little more than 24 hours to heal their wounds and get sufficient sleep before they face second seed Team Liquid for the one spot that will secure their air tickets and accommodation in Las Vegas. Team Liquid has won four of their last five encounters against Fnatic.
