Through their victories in the first day of ASUS ROG DreamLeague finals, both Alliance and Mouz will continue in the competition. They will join Empire and Cloud9 tomorrow in the second playoff stage, and the four teams will now battle for over $170,000.
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Game 1: Alliance versus Evil Geniuses
Draft - Evil Geniuses opt for a more gank oriented draft with Arteezy on Tinker, Universe on his signature Dark Seer combined with Mason's Mirana. They are supported by PPD's Rubick and Zai's Visage. Meanwhile, Alliance go for their typical global split push oriented draft with Admiral Bulldog on Nature's Prophet, s4 on Pandaren Brewmaster, Loda on carry Silencer being supported by Akke's Chen and EGM's Treant Protector.
01.00: Universe abandons the offlane after continuous harrasment from Chen, Treant and Silencer in an attempt to catch up with some farm and level ups.
05.30: Five minutes into the game, the pushing power from Alliance begins to show up as Chen and Nature's Prophet with their army of legions marching towards the bottom tower and taking it down.
07.30: A first blood attempt from s4 through his primal split goes in vain as he misses out on first blood on Dark Seer due to some mis-micro from his end, and also courtesy of Rubick who slows down the fire spirit by lifting him up.
12.30: FIRST BLOOD! s4 manages to take down Arteezy's Tinker with the help of his newly bought blink dagger. Meanwhile, Alliance's core heroes are getting the much needed farm.
17.00: Following a quick courier sniper by Bulldog's Furion, Arteezy falls yet again with a global from Silencer combined with a stomp from Akke's Centaur. Bulldog buys a blink on his Furion.
24.00: Quick kills are exchanged as 2 more of EG's heroes fall. That helps EGM to purchase a blink dagger on his Treant, taking the total tally of blink dagger's to three. By this time around Alliance manage to take down all outer towers of EG except the bottom tier 2 tower.
27.00: After a long struggle EG finally manage to get their first kill on Treant Protector with a 5 man gank. Treant drops his gem, however, it goes unnoticed for a few seconds and a wild s4 appears with his blink and steals away the gem in front of the entire EG team.
32.30: With a Aghanim and Refresher on Loda's Silencer combined with a pipe from Treant, renders EG useless as Alliance begin to knock on their mid barracks. With the pipe up and Treant's heal, EG is unable to hold their fort and lose out mid barracks in process.
35.00: Another disastrous fight for EG as they end up losing majority of their heroes in a teamfight at bot lane. An Aegis on Mirana is also wasted, as he ends up dying few seconds later.
38.00: A double hex on Alliance helps them to secure a kill on Dark Seer after he tries to escape with a BKB charge being used.
40.00: Alliance claim the Aegis as they kill the second Roshan without any contention whilst EG are trying to farm up in their own woods.
41.30: With Aegis, 14 seconds silence, and a Scythe of Vyse on Silencer, Alliance march towards the bottom lane. They breach the highground, take the tower and end up taking one set of barracks with a kill exchange on Nature's Prophet after a long chase.
46.00: The remaining set of bottom barrack falls despite a clash between both teams with no casualties.
47.00: GG! A clutch ultimate from Treant at their mid tower, which catches 4 of the 5 EG members. EG retaliate, however, it's not enough as all of EG's heroes die. With hopes lost, EG call out the GG with Alliance going to round 2.
Game 2: Mousesports versus Fnatic
Draft - Fnatic selected their recent favorite draft with high magical burst damage coming out of Tinker, Skywrath Mage and Visage, combined with the control of Beastmaster and Panda. On the other hand, Mouz went for their signature Troll Warlord pick, using Witch Doctor, Doom, Vengeful Spirit and Wraith Knight to back him up in teamfights.
0:56 : The offensive trilane of Mousesports does its magic, as H4nn1 goes down to the three-stun combo of Witch Doctor, Vengeful Spirit and Wraith Knight. First Blood!
5:05 : Two more kills by Mouz's trilane, both Fly's Visage and H4nn1's Skywrath go down. The score is now 3-0.
7:00 : What a disaster for Fnatic! The two supports go down once again, along with Brewmaster who falls victim to Vengeful Spirit's rotation.
10:00 : We are now ten minutes into the game, and Mouz is leading with 8-0 and two tier-one tower kills. Fnatic's Excalibur is currently leading in terms of Net Worth.
12:10 : The comeback! Fnatic wins two consecutive teamfights to make the score 9-4! The Blink Daggers in their inventory are starting to have an impact!
16:20 : The plays from Fnatic just keep coming! Using Boots on Travel on the Visage familiars and Beastmaster Hawk, the teamfight strength of Fnatic is phenomenal! The latest teamfight ends 4-1 in favor of the Dire, with Pajkatt's Wraith Knight going down as well!
19:40 : For the first time in this game, Fnatic is in front in terms of kills! Both Pajkatt and MiSeRy go down to Excalibur's nuke power, helping him reach the stunning 13.000 Networth.
23:00 : Mouz is desperately trying to avoid teamfights until they get Black King Bars on their cores. With no tier-one towers left, every visible hero on the map is easy prey for 18 level Tinker, with both Ethereal Blade and Dagon-4 in his inventory.
26:20 : Roshan goes down to Fnatic and Excalibur grabs the Aegis. Mouz keeps avoiding the engagements, and FATA, MSS and Pajkatt will have their BKBs soon.
31:10 : Fnatic decides to seal the deal! After a long battle inside the Radiant base, Fnatic take their first set of barracks! Despite losing his Aegis, Excalibur turns the tides and kills four heroes using his Ethereal Blade - Dagon5 combination. We are now at 24-14 in favor of Fnatic.
34:30 : The GG is called by Mouz as Fnatic wins another 3-0 teamfight by the Radiant top barracks. Even with Doom and three Black King Bars, Tinker's burst was just too much to handle.
3. Winners Bracket Final : Alliance versus Fnatic
Game One
Draft - Both teams managed to get their hands on scary teamfight arsenals. Fnatic selected their favorite Io-Tiny duo, along with Disruptor, Skywrath Mage and Brewmaster. Alliance went for Centaur, Lich, Shadow Demon, Doom and Razor.
2:20 : Alliance gets two quick kills and starts the laning phase in the best possible way. The Tiny-Io dual lane seems to struggle against Razor and Lich.
6:30 : Tiny and Io attack s4's Razor and manage to bring him down, but the Swedes' quick rotation results in a 3-2 exchange in their favor, as Tiny, Io and Skywrath go down.
9:32 : With Loda's 6-min Blink Dagger, Alliance is forcing continuous fights in an attempt to abuse their early game strength. The result favors the Swedes, but not by a huge margin. The score is now 9-5.
12:20 : More and more kills come with every minute! Alliance is leading the race due to the immense pressure they have applied on Excalibur's Tiny. The score is now 17-9 for the Swedes, but every single tower is still standing.
17:30 : The scoreboard is now stable, and teams have ceased the bloodshed for some minutes to farm. Alliance managed to take down the top and middle tier-one towers, while Fnatic demolished the bottom one.
23:19 : Brewmaster and Skywrath get picked off, and Alliance takes down the mid tier-two tower. They are slowly building a significant gold and experience advantage, which they will use to finish the game before Tiny gets dangerous.
25:30 : Using a Double Damage rune on s4, Alliance breaches Fnatic's defenses to destroy the top Ranged Barracks. However, they are unable to finish the job and the Melee Barracks survived the first raid.
30:50 : The game is over! Alliance moves inside the Dire base, this time through the bottom lane. Using Doom and Centaur's natural tankiness, they overwhelm Fnatic with repeated assaults against the buildings, forcing buybacks as well. With Fnatic running out of resources and defensive power, Loda and his buddies destroyed the bottom Melee Barracks, forcing Fnatic to concede the game.
Game Two
Draft - A flash from the past in Game Two. AdmiralBulldog will be playing his notorious Lone Druid, backed up by Mirana, Templar Assassin, Shadow Demon and Enchantress. On the other hand, Fnatic selected Queen of Pain for H4nn1, along with Io, Keeper of the Light, Doom and a farming Naga Siren.
3:25 - A miscalculation by H4nn1 results in his death as he blinks inside AdmiralBulldog and EGM.
5:30 - H4nn1 manages to find his first kill of the game, but Alliance answer with two more pickoffs against Doom and Io. The score is now 3-1 for Alliance.
11:00 - Using the power of Relocate, Fnatic manages to even the score, as both AdmiralBulldog and EGM go down.
13:20 - EGM gets picked-off once again, and Fnatic is now in front with 4-3. With Excalibur reaching his Sacred Relic, the Swedes have to react quickly before they lose control of the game.
17:00 - Alliance on the offensive! Five-manning for the first time in the game, the Dire take down four consecutive heroes and three tier-one towers!
19:00 - A bad Relocate by Fnatic against AdmiralBulldog results in a 3-1 fight in favor of Alliance, as H4nn1, n0tail and Excalibur are slain, killing only Loda in exchange.
22:20 - Alliance's gold advantage is impressive. The Spirit Bear now possesses Radiance and Maelstrom, and Akke's Enchantress just bought a 20-minute Aghanim's Scepter.
26:00 - Fnatic's Middle Barracks get demolished by the Spirit Bear! Excalibur's attempt to defend results in his demise, as Akke and EGM take him down using Impetus and Soul Catcher.
29:00 : It is over! Alliance enter the Radiant base once again and annihilate Fnatic inside their base, easily winning a 5-0 fight!
4. Evil Geniuses versus Mousesports
Game One
Draft - Lots of signature heroes on either side, usual lineups the two teams have recently deployed. Mouz selected Troll Warlord once again, combined with Doom, Axe, Shadow Demon and Dazzle. Evil Geniuses went for the Lycan-Treant Combo they love to use, along with Beastmaster, Viper and Vengeful Spirit.
3:00 - paS's rotation against Mason results in the First Blood, about two and a half minutes into the game. Universe barely escapes Pajkatt's assault at the bottom lane.
8:00 - Two more kills by Mouz, as both PPD and Viper go down. The Europeans are currently leading with 3-0.
10:50 - EG hit the scoreboard by taking down MiSeRy's Shadow Demon. He managed to survive for quite a lot against EG's assault, by Mouz were unable to turn this into a trade.
16:00 - EG's Roshan attempt gets intercepted by Mouz, and Pajkatt manages to get the lasthit on Roshan! Nonetheless, EG secured the Aegis and grabbed two kills against Mouz's retreating heroes.
21:20 - The Americans initiate on FATA, but he is just too tanky! A 5v5 fight takes place and Mouz come out on top, taking down both Universe and Arteezy without casualties.
22:40 - EG forces another teamfight but MiSeRy's Disruption eliminates the effect of Primal Roar! The tides turn once again and three heroes go down for the Dire! The score is now 8-3 for Mouz, and only the middle tier-one tower has fallen for the Europeans.
26:00 - Both Zai and PPD go down to Pajkatt's Axe, FATA's Troll Warlord and MSS's Doom. The score is now 10-3 and the things are looking very grim for the early-game lineup of Evil Geniuses.
28:30 - Mouz enter the Rosh pit once again and FATA claims the Aegis, and they proceed to take down the middle barracks without any resistance.
29:20 - Mouz takes Game One! Winning a 3-0 fight inside the Dire base, the bottom barracks got demolished, forcing PPD to call the GG.
Game Two
Draft - Mouz selected a dangerous teamfight-oriented line-up with Invoker, Centaur, Ancient Apparition, Mirana and Bane Elemental. EG opted for a tri-core line-up, with Dragon Knight, Weaver and Doom supported by Witch Doctor and Treant protector.
2:43 - Mouz's trilane starts the bloodshed, as Pajkatt grabs the first blood against PPD. His attempt to slay Zai as well resulted in his demise, with PPD teleporting back into action to avenge himself using Leech Seed.
7:31 - With Arteezy winning the middle lane pretty convincingly, doubling FATA's creep kills, Mouz are forced to bring someone to FATA's assistance. Pajkatt's rotation is successful and Arteezy is slain. Mere seconds later, Universe uses Doom on to take down FATA, giving his own life in return. The score is now 2-3 in favor of Mouz.
12:00 - EG's attempt to demolish the bottom tier-one is interrupted by Mouz, resulting in kills on Mason and zai. Mason gets picked-off again right after respawning, making the score 2-6.
14:40 - Besides being behind in kills, EG has only lost one tier-one tower, while two towers have gone down for Mousesports. EG's attempt to finish off the bottom tier-one resulted in a deny and the death of Arteezy.
17:25 - Arteezy gets picked off again by the global spells of Mouz combined with the Centaur Stomp and Bane's Fiend's Grip. Mouz is starting to look like the DK that pulled off the same strategy throughout StarLadder Season 9 LAN Finals.
20:10 - An attempted push on the Top Tier 1 by EG goes heavilly punished by Mouz, with them able to take the Bottom Tier 1 before defending their own tower with a 3-for-0 exchange - Weaver, Dragon Knight and Treeant fall for EG.
22:10 - Mouz takes the Mid Tier 1, and Fata finds a solo pickoff on Arteezy again, this time combining Sunstrike together with the unfortunate simultaneous timing of Arteezy killing the level 3 Necronomicon.
24:45 - Zai's Witch Doctor and Mason's Weaver gets picked off on the top lane as well with the Centaur, Bane and Sunstrike Combination. This allows Mouz to take the Top Tier 2.
26:00 - Mason gets picked off again, and Mouz decide to push high ground after taking down the Mid Tier 2.
28:30 - A Sunstrike by Fata scouts out Arteezy in the mid-lane, with Bane and Mirana rotating in to stop his teleport out and killing him.
29:50 - Mouz takes down the Mid Tier 3, and also take out the Ranged Barracks.
30:55 - Mouz takes the Tier 2 Bottom, and start siege the Bottom Tier 3.
31:30 - A teamfight breaks out at the EG Tier 3 base, with DK and Doom both using BKBs and getting a kill on Invoker. However, a lack of detection stops any more EG followup as Mouz retreat with Moonlight Shadow.
34:10 - Mouz take the second Roshan, with Aegis going to Fata.
34:45 - Mason gets picked off again with the extreme single target lockdown of Mouz. Mouz decide to push forward and take the high ground on mid.
36:00 - Mouz takes out the Mid Melee Barracks and Bottom Ranged Barracks. A large teamfight breaks out at the bottom barracks, with EG taking out the Aegis and getting 3 more kills, with Invoker, Bane and Ancient Apparition dying, while Doom is forced to buy back. This happened on the back of an Overgrowth into an Aghanims upgraded Death Ward.
37:30 - Mason gets picked off again by the Mouz pickoff lineup.
38:30 - The BKB is baited out from Arteezy, and Arteezy is picked off, forcing a buyback in exchange for Mirana dying to the Death Ward again. Witch Doctor dies in the process as well.
39:45 - Mason gets picked off in his own base again.
41:00 - Mouz are leading by 20k exp and 15k gold, but find themselves unable to claim the full second lane of Barracks. They attempt another push again. Doom goes out on Pajkatt's Mirana, but Treant dies without casting Overgrowth. EG lose their bottom Melee Barracks for two full lanes of Barracks gone.
44:30 - Mouz take the third Aegis, with Invoker taking the Aegis and Cheese on Pajkatt's Mirana.
46:05 - Mouz siege the top Tier 3 and take it down. The Mouz initiation takes out Arteezy, and Zai as well, cancelling the Death Ward. EG call the GG, and have been eliminated from DreamHack.
5. Fnatic versus Mousesports
Game One
Draft - Fnatic aimed for a high AOE damage line-up with Ancient Apparition, Disruptor, Lycan, Kunkka and Elder Titan. Mouz selected Troll Warlord for the third time this day, along with Axe, Vengeful Spirit, Doom and Witch Doctor.
2:32 - Mouz grabs the first blood at the top lane, with Vengeful Spirit securing the lasthit and the bonus gold.
3.35 - A one-for-one trade takes place between the trilanes, as Vengeful Spirit and Ancient Apparition are slain. Mouz's aggression is increasing every minute.
6:00 - Mousesports go rampant, killing three heroes near the mid tier-one towers! The score is now 7-1 in favor of Mouz.
9:40 - Both teams manage to grab two kills, with Vengeful Spirit and Pajkatt going down for Mouz. With 14 kills in 9 minutes, This match is turning into a non-stop teamfight!
12:50 - The things go horribly wrong for Mousesports, as an assault against H4nn1's Kunkka turns into a 3-1 trade in favor of Fnatic. The score is now 12-7 and Mouz is still leading.
17:00 - Excalibur's attempt to sneak into the Rosh pit and solo Roshan using Smoke is unsuccessful, as Mousesports trap him inside the pit and execute him. Axe, Doom and Troll Warlord currently have ~7.5k networth each, while the richest player on Fnatic's side is Trixi with 5k.
22:30 - Fnatic found the exposed Pajkatt, taking him down near the Radiant mid tier-one tower. Despite the use of Nether Swap and Paralyzing Casks by Mouz, the Dire managed to escape with no losses.
25:40 - Fnatic finds two more pick-offs and they are now in front in terms of kills with 13-14, taking Roshan as well.
29:30 - It seems that Mouz is desperately trying to finish the game, forcing fights in tricky places. Yet another gank against Kunkka has devastating results, as Fnatic wins a 4-2 fight with only Doom escaping with his life.
36:00 - Both sides lose two heroes, in different corners of the map. Fnatic then enters the Roshan pit, but Mouz traps then inside and takes down three heroes. The game still averages more than one kill per minute.
46:00 - We are getting closer and closer to the 50th minute mark, and the teams are tied with 20-20. No team has a clear advantage right now, and it all depends on the upcoming teamfights.
48:20 - Mouz manages to take down n0tail, Excalibur and Trixi, but the buyback from Lycan scares them off.
51:00 - Mousesports attempts a second attack against Fnatic's barracks, and Excalibur with n0tail get slain once again. With both heroes having no available buyback, the middle and top barracks go down. Mouz is very close to their first victory in the best-of-three series.
52:00 - GG! Fnatic knows they can no longer fight in this game, and they decided to forfeit.
Game Two
Draft - Fnatic went for the Io-Tiny combo again today, adding the usual suspects Doom, Brewmaster and Lich in their line-up. Mouz answered a solid teamfight strategy, with Tidehunter, Enigma and Bane Elemental. Their damage dealer is the tanky Razor and the elusive Weaver.
1:50 - What a blunder! Using his Boots of Speed, Razor uses Static Link to right click Trixi's Doom to death! First Blood!
4:40 - N0tail and Excalibur dive under the mid tier-one to successfully slay FATA, but Mouz responds by taking down Excalibur in return. The score is now 2-2.
7:30 - An impressive performance by MSS's Razor! He grabs two more kills and he is now 4-0, and he also has the most creep kills so far in the game!
9:40 - Mouz's teamplay is strong! They manage to win a 3-0 teamfight, and Razor's now 5-0-1!
10:30 - Using Relocate, Fnatic bounces right back into the game! MSS goes down along with two more of his teammates, but Excalibur gets killed before he reaches safety. The score is currently 7-8 in favor of Mousesports.
14:00 - All hell breaks loose near the Dire mid tier-two tower! Both teams lose several heroes, but the final outcome of the teamfight favors Mouz, as they take down 4 heroes (including a dieback from n0tail).
16:20 - Using his Eidolons, MiSeRy destroys Roshan, but offers MSS the lasthit and the Aegis. It seems that Mouz will now look for a teamfight.
22:10 - Mouz turns up the aggressiveness, and they slay three heroes along with the top tier-two tower. Another 1-1 trade takes place a few seconds later, and the scoreboard now shows 11-17 in favor of Mouz.
27:00 - Fnatic decides to Relocate-gank MiSeRy, and he gets blown up, forcing an instant buyback. As more and more heroes join the fight, Fnatic takes down both Razor and Bane, but they lose Tiny and Doom in return. Mouz takes down Roshan immediately.
29:42 - What a disaster! N0tail and Excalibur get baited and the Relocate brings them in five heroes. Trixi's attempt to finish off MSS is also unsuccessful, resulting in a 3-0 engangement in favor of Mouz.
34:00 - GG! Mouz breaches Fnatic's base, and FATA lands a double four-man Ravage combined with MiSeRy's Black Hole. The top barracks go down, along with Fnatic's dreams of reaching the second day of DreamLeague.
Credits to Drouks and ItchyScratchyBalls for contributing towards the article.
