CIS secures at least a TI4 wildcard slot by defeating DT 2-1 in the lower bracket finals. They will be taking on LGD in the finals of the CH qualifiers, and the winner of that match will receive an outright The International 4 slot.
CIS, who finished second in the group stage, secures a trip to Seattle and at least a second place finish in the Chinese qualifiers as they defeated DT with the score of 2-1. Fresh off a hard-fought match, they will not have any time to relax as they will go straight into the best-of-five finals against LGD. While LGD's only loss so far in this tournament came in the group stage in the hands of CIS, LGD remains the favorite as they have already avenged that with a 2-0 victory in the upper bracket finals.
The winner of the Chinese qualifier will get an outright slot into the very prestigious The International 4, while the runner-up will get to compete against other regional runner-ups in the wildcard tournament. Both of those tournaments will be held in Seattle this coming July.
Head over to our wiki page for The International 2014!
Game 1
DreamTime's line-up looks to dominate the game with early pushes and numerous teamfights. They placed a Nature's Prophet in the top lane and the Brewmaster middle, while having a very potent Ancient Apparition - Vengeful Spirit - Morphling trilane bottom. This can potentially be troublesome as CIS picked four melee heroes, with an Anti-Mage, Centaur and Lifestealer as their core.
With only an offlane Lifestealer defending CIS' bottom lane, DT capitalized and took two towers on that lane within the first eight minutes of the game. They also claimed first blood, which had them racing to an early lead. They continued to press on, taking the two-remaining tier-one enemy towers by the 12th minute. CIS was starting to storm back because of Anti-Mage, but DT caught a big break in their siege attempt in the 23rd minute. CIS was able to defend well, but they committed four heroes in chasing the fleeing enemy heroes and that lead to the treants destroying the melee barracks,
CIS killed four heroes on that defense though, and that proved to be the mark of the power shift in the game. DT's gold lead plummeted down as Anti-Mage accelerates his farm and his team catches up with the towers. AM was already six-slotted by the 36th minute, completely leaving behind the enemy carry in Morphling who was behind him by 10,000 in net worth at that point.
CIS' melee range disadvantage was remedied as three of those four melee heroes have blink, and the other one can use his infest to jump in with an ally. The game took a massive dip after DT was able to take the bottom melee rax, killing only one hero in the game's next 30 minutes and losing more than 20,000 gold and 30,000 experience against CIS from that mark. Anti-Mage was impressive, finishing 11-0 with 831 GPM.
Game 2
DT made some sort of lane imbalance as they placed a two heroes mid against Templar Assassin. With the help of Lich's sacrifice and zoning-out capabilities, Anti-Mage was enjoying his time on that lane. The top went favorable for DT as well, with the ranged dual-lane of Puck and Ancient Apparition getting a lot of space against a Clockwork. CIS' hopes were pinned on their main carry, a Lone Druid, who has two supports helping him out against Centaur.
The early game went in favor of DT. Despite Lone Druid's free farm, DT was right up there as they are dominating the other lanes. They were also ahead by a good deal in experience as they claimed the games first seven kills. DT had good farm across the team, with two heroes having a dagger and another with a force staff at the 20th minute. Anti-Mage also already have a Battle Fury, Yasha, Treads and Vladimir's at this point. CIS' Lone Druid (Radiance, Vladimir's) and Sand King (Blink) are also farmed, but the other three heroes are still missing their key items.
CIS tried to push at the 28th minute, with the Anti-Mage still fragile at this point. They failed at doing so however, as they lost four heroes in exchange for just two DT support heroes. A long farming phase ensued after that, and the silence was broken with a big team fight near the Roshan pit in the 41st minute. DT won that exchange 5-3, and they were also able to get Roshan after than.
It took another ten minutes of farming before any sort of action again took place. While Lone Druid was sustaining his farm, the graphs were tilting in favor of DT because they were more efficiently spaced out. DT collected themselves and had a final push in the bottom lane near the 70th minute, and CIS called the GG as their opponents overpowered them.
Game 3
Both teams picked big carries for the last game, with CIS going for a Morphling and DT going with a Phantom Lancer. The team composition is indicative of a long game, much more so for DT's side as their carry went with a Vanguard as its first big item.
The teams played very safe in this deciding game. It took more than ten minutes before the first blood was taken, wherein an over-aggressive Centaur got punished for being way behind where he should be. As expected, the game transition was slow, having only three kills in the first 21 minutes. Both teams are interested in farming up their carries. By that time, Morphling was ahead by 1,500 in net worth against Phantom Lancer. PL was farming well though, also finishing his Radiance by this time.
CIS was able to have a successful smoke gank which translated into two kills for Morphling and a tier-3 bottom tower for their team. Morphling aslo increased his lead, and he was able to complete his Ethereal Blade. They are leading around 7,500 gold and 2,500 experience 25 minutes in. DT tried a smoke gank of their own, but they failed and lost a hero instead.
Phantom Lancer is starting to catch up because he is starting to become tanky and because of the Keeper of the Light's recall. The long period of farming was broken with a Roshan contest, and it was CIS who ended up on top. They won the exchange 4-1, even killing the Phantom Lancer, and also taking down Roshan. They were also able to win a 2-1 trade in the bottom lane on their push attempt after that, which really beneficial for them as they forced PL to buy back.
Despite the massive advantage by CIS, they were finding difficulties to push against the strong defensive line-up of a farmed Phantom Lancer, nuking Razor and Keeper of the Light and lurking Sand King and Centaur. They patiently waited for the 45-minute Roshan which they were able to take uncontested. CIS was continuing to increase both their experience and gold lead as their map control was starving out DT's heroes from farm. CIS regrouped and use that Aegis to just overpower the enemy in their middle-lane push. taking down both the middle and top lanes before backing off.
DT tried to make something happen as they engaged outside of their base, but they lost two heroes from it while killing none. They called GG after, awarding the series win to CIS.
