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Dota 210 years agoAndreas "drouks" St

DK destroys Empire to earn the gold in Star Series IX

With a dominant 3-0 performance, the Chinese representative Team DK managed to overpower Empire for a first place finish in Star Series Season IX! With their victory, they secure the $85,000 prize, and Empire will go home with about $38,500.

The most prestigious season of SLTV StarLadder is over, and Team DK is the newest champion of the tournament. They managed to remain undefeated in every single game in Kiev, showing an incredible performance almost 4,000 miles away from their home. On the other hand, Team Empire made an impressive effort throughout the whole event, surviving the demanding Lower Bracket to reach the Grand Final. 

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Starladder StarSeries Season IX Final Standings
1st: China DK eSports - $85,000~
2nd: Russia Team Empire - $38,500~
3rd: United States Evil Geniuses - $26,500~
4th: China Invictus Gaming - $15,000~
5th/6th: Sweden Alliance - $7,500~
5th/6th: Ukraine Natus Vincere - $7,500~
7th/8th: Russia RoX.KiS - $4,700~
7th/8th: Korea MVP.Phoenix - $4,700~

 


 

DK vs Team Empire 

Team DK enters the series with a 1-0 advantage, so the series jumps straight to the second game. 

Game Two

Team Empire selected a familiar lineup with Lycan, Puck and Dark Seer being their three core heroes. DK answered with the notorious Faceless Void for BurNing, with Mushi and Iceiceice getting Centaur and Invoker respectively. With just two minutes on the clock, LaNm's Ancient Apparition stole a Haste Rune from Resolut1on's Puck, taking him down with Chilling Touch for the First Blood.

Abusing the early power of Sunstrike and Chilling Touch, the Chinese were able to find several early pickoffs and take down the top tier-one tower very fast. However, Empire managed to turn the tides  during the ninth minute, with a well coordinated gank against iceiceice. Three heroes of DK came to the Invoker's assistance, but Resolut1on helped his team win a 4-1 victory with a massive Dream Coil.

The European team knew they had to finish the game early. Dragging the game for too long would result in BurNing's Void getting too hard to deal with. Resolut1on proceeded to roam the map with his Blink Dagger, in an attempt to create space for his team to push safely. Nonetheless, every teamfight seemed to turn into an even trade, with BurNing being allowed to find huge amounts of farm for about 20 minutes.

The situation went from bad to worse for Empire, as a potential smoke gank against BurNing turned into a disaster, with MuShi saving his teammate using Stampede and stunning three heroes. The result was a full teamwipe for Empire, and a free Roshan and Aegis for DK. With Aegis in hand, DK started to push for the first time in several minutes - they were on the offense.

Capitalizing on their momentum, the Chinese decided it was time to seal the deal. Through a 5-man top lane push, DK entered the Dire base to take down the top barracks by minute 46, without much competition. Silent attempted to bait a solo Chronosphere, but BurNing did not fall for the mindgames. Resolut1on did manage to take him down in the end, receiving the huge 14-kill streak bounty.

Despite BurNing's first death, Empire knew it was too late to get back into the game. Their strategy was not meant to deal with a 6-slotted Faceless Void. 50 minutes into the game, Silent decided to call the 'GG', as more and more heroes were going down to the obscene damage dealt by the Chinese.

 

DK begin very aggressively, with the Ancient Apparition grabbing a haste rune, right-clicking Resolut1on's Puck to death for the First Blood.
3:30 : Iceiceice abuses the experience advantage to solo kill Resolut1on once again! The mid-lane victory goes to DK.
7:32 : Another kill goes to DK and the top tier-one tower has fallen. The score is now 4-0.
8:30 : An amazing combination and a massive Dream Coil helps Empire get back into the game, with a 4-1 teamfight in the middle lane!
10:48 : Two one-for-one trades take place between the two teams, resulting in a score of 6-7. Resolut1on keeps roaming the map for pickoffs. 
14:22 : An attempted push against the top lane by Team Empire causes the demise of three heroes, through a well placed chain of Chronosphere, Ice Blast and Static Storm.
20:00 : The Chinese seem to have the clear advantage right now. With an Aghanim's Scepter complete on BurNing, they are able to burst down any target in miliseconds.
21:29 : Empire gets caught inside the Dire jungle! They fight back to bring down MuShi and MMY, but three heroes go down for the Radiant.
24:25 : MuShi and iceiceice get assassinated by Empire, BurNing manages to isolate Resolut1on and ALWAYSWANNAFLY resulting in a 2-2 exchange. The Dire courier goes down as well. The score is currently 16-12 in favor of DK.
33:28 : Massive push by Empire, iceiceice gets blown up but a three-man Chronosphere brings down two. MuShi gets chased down and slain by Silent. The bottom tier-two tower of DK gets destroyed. Empire will attempt to finish the game as soon as possible, not allowing BurNing to get too strong.
38:25 : A smoke gank against BurNing goes wrong! BurNing escapes using the Stampede, and DK turn the fight around for a full teamwipe with only one casualty! An amazing three-man Hoof Stomp by MuShi shows the impact Centaur can have with proper positioning.
41:25 : Another initiation by BurNing, three heroes go down for Empire along with the middle tier-two tower! Mag uses Vacuum - Wall combination to bring down DK's supports, but BurNing escapes with his life.
46:25 : The core heroes of DK are just too tanky! The Chinese march into the Radiant base and take down the top barracks, and a three-man Chronosphere results in the death of three. BurNing finally gets slain while retreating, with Resolut1ion receiving the 1416 gold bounty.
49:00 : The game is over! Another fight is forced and won by DK, and the 'GG' is instantly called by Empire. DK wins!

Game Three

DK deployed one of their older strategies, with BurNing controlling Pugna and iceiceice playing the Elder Titan. Empire's response was a high mobility lineup with Silent selecting Doom for his team's main carry.

The destructive push potential by DK's bottom lane forced a lot of movement from Empire, as the Russians attempted to delay the tier-one tower's destruction as much as possible. The structure did go down in the end, despite against BurNing and MMY being assaulted from the rear.

It was time for Mushi's Ember Spirit to shine. With two well-placed Flaming Chains, he managed to give four kills to DK in less than three minutes, making the score 7-4 in their favor. Using their gold and experience advantage, DK decided to start pushing massively in every lane and overwhelm the item dependent heroes of Empire.

The continuous pushing by DK was quite efficient in terms of tower damage, but it was not that successful in terms of teamfights. Several sloppy engagements and nice plays by Empire resulted in uneven trades in favor of the Europeans. Even though the upper hand still belonged to DK, Empire managed to get some solid items on their cores (like the early Black King Bar on Silent).

The game took the wrong turn for Empire by the 23rd minute mark. A failed smoke gank on MuShi and a oddly timed Moonlight Shadow allowed DK to enter the Roshan pit and take the Aegis. VANSKOR was able to get the lasthit by placing the Serpent Wards inside the pit, but DK did not seem to care. Three heroes were isolated and brought down, resulting in a 3-0 exchange in favor of DK.

With three heroes on the sidelines, DK marched inside the Dire base and took down the middle tier-three tower. Silent was sniped outside the base and got forced to buyback to help his team, but MMY's blazing fast Telekinesis gave Silent no second chance. With Doom going down for the once again, DK took down the middle barracks with ease. After an unsuccessful attempt against the bottom buildings, rushed to push the top lane to finish the game.

BurNing's Nether Blast allowed DK to take down the top tier-three tower without much risk. Empire waited for Silent to respawn, and instantly popped the Smoke of Deceit, in a final attempt to surprise DK and win a teamfight outside their base. Silent managed to Doom and slay MuShi, but he instantly bought back and returned using a Fire Remnant. MuShi's arrival was final moment for Empire, with four of their heroes going down to the massive cleave damage coming out of the Malaysian and his team. As the top barracks were getting crushed, Empire called the 'GG'. This was the swansong for Empire in Star Series IX.

Photo from StarLadder.tv

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Andreas "drouks" StThere's really not much to say about Andreas 'drouks' Stavridakis, except that he sleeps two hours a day, plays the guitar and survives solely on Diet Coke. He also writes about DotA sometimes.

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