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Dota 210 years agoGosu "GosuGamers" Gamers

Empire triumphs over iG, to face EG in Loser's Bracket Finals

The loser's bracket small final has begun, with IG facing up against Empire. Check in here for live updates on the game!

The loser's bracket small final between Empire and EG sees both teams making a resurgence after uncharacteristically shaky showings in the group stage. Empire are looking forward to continue their run in the loser's bracket, having started in there, but taking the scalps of both RoX.KiS and Alliance in two convincing best of 1s. On the flipside, Invictus Gaming are definitely looking to avenge their loss against DK, and look to be in resurgence after methodically dismantling Na`Vi in their match yesterday. 

GAME 1

Game 1 saw Empire drafting to target the current pillar of iG by taking out two of his signature heroes: Ember Spirit and Invoker. Empire continued to draft their signature Dazzle and Luna combo, which has a perfect 10-0 record together in this patch. Empire ended up with a Dark Seer mid and a Clockwerk offlane, which countered the pickoff potential of iG's safelane trilane of Centaur, Mirana and Shadow demon, as well as Ion Shell disrupting Templar Assassin's refraction. The draft by iG was reminiscent of the draft run by DK against them in game 2 of the Winner's Bracket first round matches, with Shadow Demon, Mirana and Centaur providing good burst potential with their skills. 

iG found the first blood on Reso1ution's Dark Seer with a long range arrow from ChuaN, and another arrow found a pickoff on Sand King as he was farming the jungle with Sand Storm. The game was quiet until a failed gank by iG saw them lose two cores while attempting to pick off Sand King again, failing to get a kill and losing both Templar Assassin and Centaur. The game continued to settle into a farming game with pickoffs here and there between the teams. The only teamfight that occurred saw Empire taking a tower, but neither team lost anyone.

The game accelerated after the 21st minute, when both Dark Seer and Sand King picked up their blinks. This allowed Empire to push by finding pickoffs and transitioning into towers. Empire started to snowball extremely hard, taking most of iG's outer towers. A snowball push by Empire saw them sieging iG's top tier 3, but an amazing Blink - Vaccuum - Epicentre - Burrow Strike combination from Empire saw iG losing three cores and their top and mid barracks in the process. By then, the game was more or less over and despite a valiant last stand, they were unable to kill the Luna with aegis, losing the bot barracks and calling the GG thereafter at 35:20. 

 

 

GAME 2

iG manage to pick up Batrider for YYF with their first pick, although they end up giving Invoker away to Empire. With Shadow Demon picked by Empire, iG decide to ban out the Mirana, and Empire targets Ferrari_430 by banning out both his Dragon Knight and Storm Spirit. Empire return to their comfort zone with Luna for Silent and Clockwerk for Mag, and iG decide to pull out Shadow Fiend for Ferrari, and an unorthodox Slardar for Luo instead. 

The match started out with a quick bloodbath between the two teams at the 3rd minute mark, with rotations from each team's supports seeing kills flying both ways. At the end of it, Empire are in the slight lead, having taken both the first blood and a 5-4 kill advantage. 7 minutes in, Empire find another two quick pickoffs on iG heroes who are out of position, but no teamfight breaks out until the 11th minute.

YYF with his new Blink Dagger manages to find a good lasso on Silent's Luna, with iG finding a 3-1 trade. Another teamfight in middle goes iG's way, but their progress falters at the first Roshan fight, where the initiating Slardar only hits one Empire hero with Slithereen Crush and Batrider is unable to get his lasso off. This allows Empire a lot of breathing room having Aegis and an ultra kill on Luna. 

However, Empire seem to get complacent as Luna inexplicably gets caught out pushing iG's tier 2 alone, losing her life and Aegis, and allowing iG to mount a comeback with another good teamfight after. However, while iG gets good teamfights, they are also losing a lot of map control thanks to Empire almost always being able to kill the tower before iG's initiations. YYF's initiations continue to do work, winning iG another teamfight after they catch Luna alone farming ancients, but their lack of commitment to Roshan sees Empire taking it, although iG manage to get a good fight in the pit with Requiem of Souls.

Mistakes by Luo on Slardar sees them nearly throwing a fight when he fails to BKB in an initiation, with a fairly favourable trade going the way of Empire in the 31st minute. Five minutes later, when Empire sieged the iG tier 2, a disastruous teamfight for iG saw them lose four for Luna and Vengeful Spirit, with Empire claiming the third Roshan of the game, and beginning to threaten the high ground. 

The last teamfight occurs when Vanskor initiates with a Nether Swap of Shadow Fiend into his team. Without the initiation advantage, iG crumble, losing four heroes and Batrider again after his buyback. With only two heroes on the field, Empire proceed to take out all the barracks, forcing iG to call the GG after a back-and-forth 42 minutes. 

 


 

Starladder StarSeries Season IX Final Standings
1st: $75,000~
2nd: $35,500~
3rd: $24,000~
4th: $13,800~
5th/6th: Sweden Alliance - $6,900~
5th/6th: Ukraine Natus Vincere - $6,900~
7th/8th: Russia RoX.KiS - $3,400~
7th/8th: Korea MVP.Phoenix - $3,400~

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