The Internationals SEA Qualifiers Day Three have drawn to a close, with Mith.Trust progressing on to face MVP.Phoenix tomorrow, after defeating Philippino team Mineski, 2-1.
It has been a gruelling day for all the teams participating in the SEA Qualifiers playoffs, with team Arrow Gaming making it through to the Grand Finals. Tomorrow, MiTH.Trust and MVP.Phoenix will play against each other in a best-of-three match, and the winner of the match will face Arrow Gaming.
Mineski Vs Mith.Trust (Game 1)
Game 1 on Mineski versus Mith.Trust sees Mith drafting a very tanky lineup, heroes that can take large amounts of damage before dying. Mineski however, opted for a more pushing and ganking based lineup, relying on the Batrider, Luna, and Chen to gank and push in the early game. However, a gank at the 2 minute mark by Mith on the Luna, followed by consecutive ganks was able to effectively slow down his farm. Luna's lane partner, Vengeful Spirit then proceeded to roam around the map and gank, rather than babysit the Luna. Ganking with the Sand King and Chen, they managed to find kills on Mith's Viper and Tide Hunter now and then.
Mith.Trust plays aggressively, initiating on Mineski every opportunity they could. However, Mineski strategises and compensates by having superb positioning. Baiting out the ravage at almost every engage, the Sand King waited patiently before initiating with his Blink Dagger - Epicentre - Burrowstrike combination. It was then that Mineski turned the fight around on Mith, by calculated aggression and counter initiation. With the game going evenly before both teams, Naga Siren began serious split pushing with her Boots of Travel + Manta Style + Radiance, and even if Mineski won the teamfights, they were unable to push effectively due to the threat of the split push.
Jakiro picks up an Aghanim's Sceptre, Naga Siren picks up a Linkens, Tidehunter picks up a refreshers; Both teams are playing the farm war, with Naga and Luna being the winners in terms of CS. Picking up her Butterfly and Satanic, she becomes extremely tanky in teamfights, dealing insane amounts of damage with the bouncing glaives. Fighting hard to stay in the game in terms of farm and experience even as they win or evenly take the teamfights, Mineski eventually loses out to the refresher tide and split push naga. They give up their barracks one by one as they are destroyed, and the 'GG' is called at the 48 minute mark.
Mineski Vs Mith.Trust (Game 2)
Mineski picks up their renowned Mirana - Shadow Demon hero combination, adding up a Treant to boot as well. Roaming to gank even before the horn call, a Disruption into a Sacred Arrow proves extremely fatal to Mith.Trust, getting Mineski 4 kills on Mith early in the game. By the 10 minute mark, there were the kills were 7 - 1, in favour of Mineski. Rambling on at a snail's pace, both teams pick up 2 midases on their side, a greedy item pick-up to get as much farm as possible. At the 18 minute mark, a nicely played teamfight at the middle lane went the way of Mith.Trust, giving them the gold and experience that they needed to stay in the game, against the constant threat of Mineski's gold and experience lead early into the game.
After that teamfight Mineski proceed on to be more disciplined, only taking teamfights that they would win, split pushing, and taking up as much farm as possible on their core heroes: Doom Bringer, Mirana, and Templar Assassin. Banding together, they would stick as a team whenever they could. At this point Templar Assassin picks up a heart, a unusual item choice for a hero known for her insane burst damage.
At this point in time, both teams are playing a very slow and passive game, farming the lanes, ancients, neutrals, and generally trying not to get caught out of position and ganked. After farming up, Mineski sticks together as five and barrels down the mid lane to take Mith.Trusts' barracks, only to get repelled by an efficient defence by the home side. However, it was a battle of attrition, with Mineski having the upper hand in terms of a 20k gold and experience lead. Taking one fight after the other and forcing out buybacks from Mith, Mineski eventually forces out the 'GG', at the 53 minute mark.
Mineski Vs Mith.Trust (Game 3)
Mineski once again picks up their signature Mirana - Shadow Demon combination, and a Treant on the sidelines as well. Mith.Trust on the other hand, grab their signature Morphling on their carry player. Claiming the first blood by 2 minutes into the game, Viper starts the game turning on the aggression. Later farming up on the lanes, with Morphling on the bottom lane getting free farm with a midas, and Doom getting farm with his Devour and Midas build. Whilst the Viper farms, Mineski's supports are stacking the ancients for their Tinker, which allows him to get his blink, soul ring and dagon online at a decent timing.
Both teams farm up as much as possible, but Mineski's Mirana seems to have fallen behind and was not as effective as their last game, in terms of gold, experience, kill, and items. Whilst killing the creeps and controlling their jungle, with both MiTH.Trust and Mineski are playing it safe and have only claimed 2 towers in the entire game in 20 minutes. It soon became clear that Mineski relied too heavily on the Tinker, giving all the farm to him whilst the Mirana split pushes quietly. He was their backbone, and was in almost every single teamfight. The Mirana on the other hand was surprisingly almost a non-factor, missing arrows and farming up too little to be of significance.
A mis-coordination by Mineski at the bottom lane was extrememly costly, as whilst they tried to pick off the Morphling, MiTH.Trust managed to counter-initiate superbly to Mineski's initiation, and took town a tower and almost killed their entire team. Getting back to full heath the Morphling split pushed with a Boots of Travel and his Replicate, and went for a Heart of Tarrasque with his spare gold. A brilliant play by Mineski's Treant at the 36-37 minute mark as MiTH.Trust were slaying Roshan, he blinked in and cast overgrowth at the same time calmly stealing the Aegis of Immortality as Roshan died. The rest of his team then mananged to pick off the Morphling.
However one brilliant play would not save Mineski from MiTH.Trust, and as it progressed into the late game it was evident that MiTH.Trust had the superior line-up, gold, and items. Mineski on the other hand, were starved, trapped in their base and had no solid carry heroes. The Tinker, going in to farm would result in a Blink - Lasso from the Batrider, or a Blink - Doom from the Doom Bringer. Unable to dish out the damage and win teamfights, Mineski called the 'GG' after a teamwipe by MiTH.Trust at the 47 minute mark.
The playoffs will resume tomorrow, and kicking it off will be the best-of-three lower bracket finals match between MVP.Phoenix and MiTH.Trust at 06:00 CEST (12:00 SGT). The winner of that match will already be guaranteed a trip to Seattle, and will now proceed to the grand finals of the SEA qualifier. The best-of-five championship will be between Arrow Gaming and the winner of that match, scheduled 09:30 CEST (15:30 SGT).
