Defeating Speed Gaming 2-1. LGD.cn has successfully qualified for the playoffs of G-League and will be joining DK and Invictus Gaming in the final stage of the tournament. Speed on the other hand will have to play the winner of Vici Gaming versus Tongfu for the playoffs at 13:00 CET tomorrow. Vici Gaming versus Tongfu will take place at 07:00 CET.
LGD absolutely steam rolled Speed Gaming in the first game due to bad laning choices. After surrendering to the Chinese at 16 minutes, Speed had a short pep talk and went into game two more ready than ever. Their draft was solid and their defense against LGD's mid-game pushes were superb and they managed to stall until Luna got huge enough to bring it to LGD.cn. The third game was however, rather drawn out by one-sided in favour of LGD after they killed EternalEnvy before the one minute mark.
All the matches tomorrow will be streamed live by joinDOTA Red and BeyondTheSummit Studios. You can also place your bets for Vici Gaming versus Tongfu here.
Schedule (CET):
December 17th
13:00 - A2 vs B2 (BO3)
December 18th
07:00 - A3 vs B3 (BO3)
13:00 - A2/B2 loser vs A3/B3 winner (BO3)
December 19th
07:00 - Semi-finals #1 (BO3)
13:00 - Semi-finals #2 (BO3)
Speed vs LGD match report
Game 1
Many were puzzled at what Speed tried to pull in game one when they placed Elder Titan on the mid lane and Leshrac, Treant and Crystal Maiden trio on the hard lane. The flaw of Speed's trilane was truly displayed when Speed's many attempts to kill the Doom failed due to the lack of burst and lack of initiation. Due to the loss, LGD.cn has built up a substantial lead and started to apply pressure on Speed's towers by grouping up as five.
Speed's attempt to defend or split push were futile because LGD.cn seems to always be one step ahead. All their efforts ended in their own demise and by 16 minutes, another 3-man wipe on the top lane was the last straw for Speed. They surrendered and gave game one to LGD.cn.
Game 2
In game two of the series, Speed once again opted for the aggressive trilane using Luna, Visage and Crystal Maiden and that decision gave LGD.cn the slight upper hand because Luna wasn't able to farm as well as the Gyrocopter. No exchanges were killed in the initial stage of the game, only the First Blood on Visage until 9 minutes. THe game suddenly erupted and both sides kept on exchanging kills after kills with the Chinese team being the aggressor. This is due to the presence of Clockwerk and Kunkka who initiated every fight, as evident by their high kills and assists in the game.
Both teams were at stalemate for the most part of the mid-game because LGD.cn's relentless pushes on the middle tier-one were constantly repelled by Elder Titan and Mirana's stray arrows. At 17 minutes, capitalizing on LGD.cn going passive, Speed sneaked into the Rosh pit and secured the Aegis while LGD.cn was preparing to destroy the middle tier-one tower. Speed eventually denied the tier-one tower on the middle lane. LGD.cn responded by smoking up and destroying Elder Titan's Aegis but at the expense of Kunkka, Clockwerk and Rubick.
Despite that, LGD.cn kept up their aggression and continued smoking up to look for pick offs. They were successful in doing so, picking off the Visage and Crystal Maiden, and built up yet another small lead before Speed came back to kill Windranger and Gyrocopter. Speed immediately went into the Rosh pit to kill the second Roshan while the anxious Clockwerk watch on by. Despite being one item down at 28 minutes, the Luna has caught up with Gyrocopter's farm. Standing in a bad position, Gyrocopter got himself killed and Speed quickly rushed down mid lane before backing off to kill the third Roshan. The Aegis was given to Luna while the Cheese went to Mirana.
After the Roshan, Speed was in firm control of the game and picked off Kunkka before going for the final push. Windranger got picked off in LGD's own base and that sealed the game for the sole team from the west.
Game 3
Clumsy plays all around by EternalEnvy as he moved too far forward to last hit and ended up get initiated on before giving away the First Blood. Using that really small lead, LGD.cn rotated Nature's Prophet to the bottom lane and his treants to take down the bottom tier-one before LGD.cn moved middle for their second tower casualty. LGD.cn wasted no time to move all five men top to take down the tier-one tower and subsequently Roshan at 13 minutes. LGD.cn led by 5,000 gold 13 minutes into the game.
LGD start mowing down towers after towers and there was nothing Speed could do to stop the onslaught. Speed did buy a fair amount of time for Luna to farm but once Nature's Prophet got his Scythe of Vyse up, the farming stopped for Luna. Slowly but surely, LGD starved Speed within the confine of their own base and once they hit critical mass, they pushed top lane right as they picked off the Mirana. Speed threw themselves at LGD to stop their push but they were helpless.
