Cloud9 managed to overcome the obstacle of Fnatic to reach the Semi Finals of the Dota2 Champions League. They will be facing Empire in the next round, and Natus Vincere will battle against Alliance.
The last match of the Dota2 Champions' League quarter finals took place today between Fnatic and Cloud9. Both sides came well prepared to this match, using familiar strategies and line-ups to overpower their opponents. In the end, it was Cloud9 that prevailed, using the win advantage they earned by Fnatic being late. The best-of-five series concluded with a score of 3-1 in favor of Cloud9, securing them a spot in the Semi-Finals. Cloud9 will be facing Empire, while Alliance will go against Natus Vincere for yet another "el-classico". All the Semi-Finals matches are best-of-five. Fnatic and Virtus.Pro are are eliminated.
Game One [Winner : Cloud9]
The night started with an unfortunate surprise for Fnatic, as they received a controversial default loss for being late. Fnatic were playing against RoX.KIS for XMG Captain's Draft Invitational, with the best-of-three match lasting quite long, probably causing their delay.
Game Two [Winner : Fnatic]
Despite the default loss, Fnatic were able to bounce right back into the series, using their all-time favorite Wisp+Tiny combo. This time, H4nn1 was given an Anti-Mage, a very elusive hero that is quite resistant to Cloud9's nuke-based line-up. Era and n0tail were able to create so much space for H4nn1 through their global presence, pushing Cloud9 to their limits. The presence of Fly's Dazzle and Trixi's Nyx Assassin allowed them not only to hunt squishy heroes with ease, but to relentlessly dive under towers to finish them off. Despite not dying a single time, EternalEnvy's Morphling was just not powerful enough to withstand the immense amounts of pressure applied by Fnatic. In the end, the combination of Tiny's Agahnim's Scepter and H4nn1's split pushing breached Cloud9's base, winning the second game of the series for Fnatic.
Game Three [Winner : Cloud9]
The second game was a world-class stomp by Cloud9. Fnatic were completely unable to control their opposition, despite having Disruptor and Naga Siren in their line-up. With Cloud9 running a very familiar line-up with bOne7 on Clockwerk, SingSing on Ember Spirit and EternalEnvy on Luna, everything seemed to be going wrong for Fnatic. In the end, the score was 16-1 as Fly was calling the 19 minute 'GG' for Fnatic.
Game Four [Winner : Cloud9]
Fnatic attempted to run a similar strategy to the third game, this time with H4nn1 on Magnus and n0tail on his favorite Enchantress. Fnatic seemed to have the upper hand in terms of pushing, especially after two consecutive Roshan steals (11 and 23 minutes). However, they were unable to breach Cloud9's base after repeated attempts and several worthy trades. In the end, the presence of Luna and Troll gave Cloud9 the upper hand during the late game, ultimately turning the tides and pushing to seal the deal. They were not able to take down the barracks during the last fight of the match, but they forced out the GG through a showcase of their late-game power.
