It took four games for Cloud9 to defeat their Russian competitors Team Empire to secure a spot in D2CL Grand Finals. They will be facing Natus Vincere in a best-of-five match, while Empire will battle against Alliance for the third place of the tournament.
The semi finals of Dota2 Champions League are over, and Cloud9 will join Natus Vincere in the Grand Finals of the tournament. Cloud9's performance was quite dominant during the series, winning three games in less than 25 minutes using different strategies that mainly focused on early-game pressure. Team Empire showed exemplary resistance, but they were not capable of controlling EternalEnvy's boys.
With their loss, Team Empire can no longer seek the first two places of D2CL. However, they will be battling against Alliance, defeated by Na'Vi earlier this week. Both the consolation and grand final will be best-of-five matches. The dates of the two clashes will be announced soon.
Game One [Winner : Cloud9]
Cloud9 selected a very aggressive early-game line-up with Lycan, Puck and Alchemist as their core heroes. Empire answered with a teamfight-oriented roster with Lifestealer, Centaur and Batrider.
On paper, Team Empire had the upper hand when it came to team clashes, with Centaur and Batrider providing strong initiation and Lifestealer being almost unaffected by the numerous spells of Cloud9. However, there was one catch to this advantage - it only comes when the laning phase goes well for the team. That's where the game was decided, as Cloud9 were able to completely shut down Team Empire's core heroes, preventing Silent from getting as formidable as he should be for the transition to the middle game.
Nonetheless, a careless teamfight during the 17th minute resulted in a 4-0 exchange in favor of Empire, with EternalEnvy's Lycan escaping using his ultimate. The co-ordination and effectiveness of Team Empire's heroes helped Cloud9 realize that they should not search for massive clashes, but rather abuse their strategy's huge pushing power to slowly bring the Russians to their knees. That being said, Cloud9 proceeded to claim a solid advantage before entering the last and decisive engagement.
This advantage came with the two tier-two towers (mid-top) of Team Empire going down uncontested by minute 18, and a free visit to the Roshan pit a few minutes later. With an Aegis in hand and an astounding gold and experience lead, Cloud9 entered the Radiant base. Mag- and Resolut1on were able to properly initiate and momentarily give some momentum to Empire. In the end, Cloud9 showed their teeth, and the Russians went down one-by-one. It took 25 minutes for Cloud9 to seal the deal, and Empire forfeited the first game.
Game Two [Winner : Cloud9]
Cloud9 opted for a dual top lane with Gyrocopter and Io facing Slark and Visage. The Russians were able to grab a quick first blood on the Wisp. Despite their overall aggressiveness, Team Empire seemed to have trouble zoning out the EternalEnvy-pieliedie duo, who kept finding farm in and out of the Dire jungle.
With Gyrocopter getting stronger and stronger, and Empire repeatedly failing to take him and Io down, it was a matter of time until SingSing's Mirana comes online and starts causing trouble to the Russian team. With Silent being so far behind the two C9 carries, Empire lacked the required physical DPS to focus down their teamfight targets.
Reaching the 20th minute mark, C9 knew they have a decisive gold and experience lead, and aimed to push for the win. With the help of a two-man Reverse Polarity by bOne7, they assassinated MAg and VANSKOR, destroying the mid tier-two tower as well. It was then that Empire knew they could no longer control Mirana and Gyro, and called the 20-minute 'GG'.
Game Three [Winner : Team Empire]
Team Empire decided to take C9 out of their comfort zone and select a late-game oriented line-up with Silent on Spectre. EternalEnvy picked Naga Siren, a hero he's been practicing a lot lately, to control Spectre as much as possibly and effectively split-push using Radiance.
The initial ~10 minutes of the game were pretty calm, with neither team truly committing to early offensive actions. Both Naga Siren and Spectre got the chance to farm their Sacred Relic. In the end, both teams had a Radiance on their side by minute 18.
The first teamfight of the game went horribly for Cloud9, as they attempted to defend their bottom tier-one tower. SingSing and pieliedie were unable to co-ordinate with EternalEnvy, resulting in an unsuccessful Song of the Siren set-up. The result was a complete teamwipe with no casualties favoring Empire, with the Russians having the upper hand for the following minutes of the game.
Capitalizing on their momentum, Team Empire constantly searched for teamfights against the wounded Cloud9, EternalEnvy's beefy illusions made it very hard for Empire to take down towers. With 27 minutes on the clock, the Dire attempted to take down the top-tier two tower, but pieliedie's Fissure and EternalEnvy's well-timed Song helped Cloud9 grab four kills without casualties. Nevertheless, the tower did go down, further boosting Empire's map control.
EternalEnvy's illusions were doing a lot of work all around the map, forcing Empire to fall back and defend. He was even able to prevent Empire from picking the Aegis of the Immortal using a well-timed Song of the Siren, winning a difficult teamfight for his squad. His aim was to prolong the game enough for him and his teammates to get tanky enough to withstand the massive AOE damage output of Empire's line-up. His efforts did not pay off nonetheless, as Empire decided to ignore his split-pushing and enter the Radiant base once and for all, 58 minutes into the game.
Cloud9 attempted to burst down Silent's Spectre but in vain, as Heart of Tarasque and passive damage reflection made killing the hero a very difficult task. With Silent surviving C9's damage, Empire were able to take down EternalEnvy and breach C9's base to take down the top barracks. EternalEnvy immediately bought back, only to be isolated and focused down once again. With a respawn timer of more than 100 seconds and no other trick to prevent Empire's stampede against the buildings, EternalEnvy decided to call the game.
Game Four [Winner : Cloud9]
For the fourth game of the series, Resolut1on was able to get his hands on the controversial Ember Spirit, while Silent selected Slardar - these two choices made it obvious that Empire aimed for early aggressiveness and a strong middle game. However, they allowed Aui_2000 to control his renowned Visage.
The early-game went really well for the Russians, with a 10-minute score of 5-1. They were unable to completely shut down EternalEnvy's Drow Ranger, who managed to pick-up a fast Hand of Midas and his signature Mask of Madness. With the help of Precision Aura, Cloud9 ventured inside the Roshan pit for the first time, 15 minutes into the game.
Watching Drow Ranger and Invoker getting dangerously farmed, Team Empire attempted to force more fights in order to halt the two core heroes' item progress. Sloppy execution and bad positioning made the situation worse for the Russian challenger, especially after losing yet another 3-1 fight by minute 17.
The final engagement took place above the Roshan pit, with both teams trying to claim the big rock giant for themselves. Empire's initiation was adequate to get rid of EternalEnvy, but none of Cloud9's remaining heroes went down. In the end, bOne7 and SingSing wreaked havoc on their opponents, resulting in a 5-1 exchange in favor of Cloud9. Realizing there is little hope for a comeback, Team Empire decided to concede.
Headline image by Cloud9 HyperX twitter.
