Sigma International proved themselves tonight when they finished off Natus Vincere 3-2 and secured themselves a spot in the top four of D2CL, while also denying Na`Vi any prize money in the particular tournament. And they did it without overly relying on Hands of Midas.
Sigma International at MLG Columbus
Both of the hosting organisations have now had their teams eliminated from the Dota 2 Champions League. First it was Virtus.pro who did not make it out of the group and earlier today, Natus Vincere lost to dark horse Sigma International in a quite spectacular best-of-five series. Controversially enough, the match was best-of-five to begin with even though the other quarter final played two weeks ago was just a best-of-three. Liquid then went up against Fnatic and beat them 2-1. If it would have been best-of-three, Na`Vi would have been pushed onwards in the bracket as they took the lead 2-1 before dropping two straight maps, thus ending with a final score of 2-3. Sigma continued their elegant and refined style from MLG, focusing heavily on aggressive map rotations, fast reactions to ganks and well executed team fights. Despite having the weaker late game, the weaker farm and lower Midas count, Sigma managed to pull through in some of the games with remarkable play.
They performed well at MLG Columbus over two weeks ago, but the format was all best-of-one and teams were rusty and unprepared for the various styles to come out of the wildcard teams. Tonight they proved that even in an extended series versus one of the world's finest Dota 2 teams, they can pull off an upset. The teams will face off once again this weekend at EMS One, where they are joined by mousesports and ViCi Gaming in the group. The Dota 2 Champions League continues tomorrow with yet another epic best-of-five series, this time with Sigma going up against Speed, the team that eliminated them at MLG. Alliance are already waiting for the winners of that match in the finals, which is scheduled for Tuesday. Alliance played their semi final vs Liquid yesterday and repeated their Dreamhack results, beating them three to nothing.
Headline photo: ESWC, 2013
In-news photo: GosuGamers, 2013
