The grand finals for DreamLeague season 1 have concluded with Alliance defeating Cloud9 in the best-of-five series with a score of 3-2. Alliance will walk home with a hefty $73,000 whilst the runner-ups Cloud9 will go home with $41,500.
Alliance claims another Dreamhack title, going back to where it all started. The first major achievement the team earned was as NoTidehunter back at Dreamhack Winter 2012, about one and a half year ago. After an online season of so-so results, they managed to claim the very last spot to qualify for the offline finals of DreamLeague with the worst possible seeding. However, the team turned it around, beating everyone they were paired up with to once again show that they are a force when it comes to Dota.
During the tournament, Alliance returned to their roots slightly (pun partially intended) with Bulldog-heroes such as Nature's Prophet and Lone Drud. Those combined with solid execution and team decisions, they managed to overcome Cloud9 in the intense grand final series at DreamLeague. Cloud9 finished first place in the online season part, and managed to carry that along into a second place of the concluded event, thus redeeming their questionable run at WPC little over two weeks ago. The big question mark this tournament was team Evil Geniuses who not at all managed to live up to their The Summit hype.
1st - 
Alliance - $73,000
2nd - 
Cloud9 - $41,500
3rd - 
Team Empire - $31,500
4th - 
mousesports - $26,500
5th - Fnatic - $23,000
6th - 
Evil Geniuses - $20,000
7-11th - Natus Vincere, Virtus Pro, Meet Your Makers, RoX.KiS, Team Liquid - $8,250
Find the time stamp transcripts of the grand final games below.
Game One
Draft - Both teams opt for a piercing heavy damage line-up with Alliance getting all of their comfort heroes with a classic Sven-Wisp combo combined with Treant Protector, Puck and the rat master Treant Protector. Meanwhile C9 goes for Ember Spirit, Tidehunter, Jakiro, Alchemist and Dark Seer.
05.30: FIRST BLOOD! After quiet start, a mis-calculated gank attempt from Alliance allows Cloud9 to acquire 2 kills on the Swedes. Furion gives the first blood to Ember Spirit followed by Wisp. Ember secures a double kill in exchange for Jakiro.
7.30: Sven and Wisp combo gets them a kill on Tidehunter in Radiant's jungle. The score is now even with both sides focussing on farming up their core items.
11.30: A 2:1 trade exchange takes place as Wisp falls near Dire's tier one bot tower, although helps Sven in securing a double kill on Tidehunter and Alchemist.
13.40: A neat spot-on chemical rage used by SingSing to dodge Sven's stun. He escapes swiftly, however, Loda is farming up at a rapid pace after securing an ancient stack.
14.40: Alliance emerges victorious in its first team fight as they kill 4 heroes when C9 tries to take down Roshan and march towards the mid lane to take the tier one tower.
17.00: Second victory for Alliance in yet another team fight. C9 loses 4 heroes once again as they try to take down Roshan for the second time. Alliance sweep past C9 even though their ultimates are on cool down with a buyback wasted on Ember Spirit as he dies prematurely. With C9 down, Alliance take the Roshan and Sven holds the Aegis.
20.30: Loda's Sven is being a pain for C9 as Ember Spirit and Tidehunter die again on top lane despite of using ravage. Courtesy of the heavy cleave damage coming from Loda.
24.00: By this time around, C9's all tier one towers are down with Sven growing bigger with passage of time as compared to C9's Ember Spirit.
26.00: A sweet initiation from Sven-Wisp turns out to be grave for C9 as Alliance end up securing three kills near the tier 3 bot tower. The first set of barracks also falls down in process.
27.00: GG! Things go horribly wrong for C9 once again as they lose yet another team fight near the Radiant jungle. Hopes are lost and C9 calls out GG.
Game Two
00:00 - The match starts with the lanes shaping up to be very interesting. Alliance are running dual lanes on both their midlane and offlane, while Cloud9 are running a safe lane tri-lane.
03:00 - Alliance looks confused in their laning as they rotate their supports - Shadow Demon moves to mid while Skywrath Mage moves to top. However, neither rotation results in a successful gank.
05:00 - An Alliance smoke gank on middle is too slow, and instead Bone7's rotation arrives first to combine with Primal Split and get a First Blood! on s4's Kunkka.
05:40 - Alliance get a return kill on Singsing's Brewmaster with four heroes rotating in for the kill.
7:00 - Another smoke gank from Alliance is successful as they get a kill on Singsing's Brewmaster as he is stacking the ancient camp.
7:40 - EGM wanders deep into the Radiant jungle after dodging the counter-gank from C9, and wastes a lot of C9's time before successfully denying himself to the large neutral camp. In the meantime, Loda's Arrow and Starfall combo nearly nets him a solo kill but is thwarted by Glimpse.
9:25 - EternalEnvy's Tinker has picked up his Boots of Travel. Let the split-pushing and global ganking begin!
10:15 - Another Smoke Gank from Alliance finds an instant kill with Torrent and Ghost ship on the Brewmaster. Mirana's rotation to mid is successful as well as they find another kill on Disruptor, but lose Kunkka in return after a Brewmaster Buyback.
11:00 - The invis rune on Loda pays off as he scouts out Tinker farming the jungle, and Bulldog's Slark Blinks in to get an easy kill on him.
11:45 - Alliance over extend in C9's jungle as good rotations from C9 find two kills on both Kunkka and Slark. Current score - 5-5.
13:00 - Bone7 fails his solo gank on Shadow Demon, and in return Slarks rotates in for the kill. However, Tinker teleports in as well and finishes Shadow Demon. In the mid lane, Kunkka and Skywrath Mage get a pickoff on Brewmaster.
14:30 - The Skywrath Mage is really paying dividends for Alliance as they are completely shutting down Brewmaster with the Disruption into silence combination with Torrent and Ghost Ship. Brewmaster falls again.
15:50 - Both teams smoke gank at the same time and smoke into each other. The teamfight that breaks out sees Alliance getting a successful fight, taking out both Skywrath Mage and Kunkka. Loda's Mirana gets the bottom tier 1 in return.
17:40 - A trade happens at the Radiant secret shop as Alliance lose Shadow Demon in return for Disruptor.
19:00 - A large teamfight breaks out near the Radiant top tier 1, with EGM going down first. Loda's rotation in with a Double Damage nets him two kills on Jakiro and Disruptor. However, a counter-rotation by Tinker and Brewmaster allows C9 to kill Slark and Mirana in exchange.
22:00 - A Blink Impale by Bone7 couple with Disruptor's Static Storm allows them to find a pickoff on Slark.
23:30 - A teamfight breaks out at the middle river, with Alliance losing both their supports at the start of the fight in exchange for Disruptor. However, good rotations by Loda and Bulldog allow them to punish Cloud9, taking out Nyx, Brewmaster and Jakiro with their spells. An overextension by S4 sees him get perma-hexed by Tinker, and loses his life in the process. Result - Alliance loses 3 and C9 loses 4.
26:30 - C9 finds a pickoff with Primal Split and Static Storm on Kunkka, and take out the middle Tier 1 as well. Alliance's rotations in and attempted defence fails when met with the Tinker Hex and Missile spam, eventually leading to a 5 for 0 exchange in C9's favour.
27:50 - s4 denies the bottom Tier 1, but C9 already look like they are snowballing way out of control.
30:00 - C9 are laying siege to the bottom Tier 2, and a Blink Impale by Nyx finds a kill on EGM. S4 attempting to split-push is punished by Disruptor's Glimpse. Alliance lose 2 heroes but manage to deny their Tier 2.
31:00 - Blink-Hex by Tinker fails to get a kill on Bulldog. The return rotations by Alliance finds them a kill on the overextending Disruptor.
31:45 - Loda dies to Nyx and Tinker when he tries to fight Tinker 1v1, but the BKB runs out and he dies.
34:05 - C9 finds a pickoff on the Slark who was farming his own jungle with the help of Glimpse and the Blink Tinker.
34:30 - C9 dive the Top Tier 3 of Alliance, and teamwipe Alliance in their own base, forcing a Mirana buyback. However, Alliance still lose their top lane of Barracks, and manage to find a reverse teamwipe on C9 with a Mirana arrow catching out Tinker.
36:30 - Alliance start work on Roshan, and Tinker tries to stop them with March of the Machines spam. However they manage to catch him out in the trees, killing him and forcing him to buyback to deny them the Aegis.
37:20 - C9 try to take the Aegis instead, and a teamfight opens up at the Roshan pit. Alliance lose Mirana, Skywrath and Shadow Demon at the start of the fight, but Slark comes back to get kills on Tinker, Disruptor and Nyx.
38:50 - After forcing C9 away, Alliance continue on to take the Roshan. The Aegis goes to Slark.
43:30 - The game has settled into a peaceful lull as both teams are unwilling to make moves on teach other. A foray by Alliance into the Radiant jungle sees both teams dropping defensive spells and them retreating.
44:45 - Skywrath Mage and Kunkka hide in their own jungle, and manage to find Tinker farming their jungle, and get a kill. Tinker is sidelined for 75 seconds. Alliance push down the middle lane.
46:20 - A huge teamfight breaks out in the Dire jungle. Tinker is blown up instantly, but he buys back and Alliance end up losing four in return for Nyx and the Tinker Buyback. C9 push down mid and force out the Kunkka and Skywrath buybacks.
48:30 - C9 attempt to take out the second Roshan, and yet another teamfight breaks out. Slark goes down first, followed by Skywrath and Kunkka. C9 claim roshan and give the Aegis to Tinker.
50:20 - C9 push into the Alliance base and Tinker kills off Mirana. Alliance call the GG.
Game Three
Draft - Alliance opts for their typical split push lineup by picking up Furion, Treant Protector, Chen, Tidehunter and Phantom Assassin, thereby, giving them an edge early to late game. Meanwhile, Cloud9 drafts Mirana, Shadow Demon, Wisp, Invoker and Gyrocopter which is a bit odd draft.
2:31 - First Blood! Aui, SingSing and Pieliedie dive under the toplane tower to secure the first blood on Loda
2:35 - Loda after a quick respawn timer, TP's to the top lane and snags a kill on Aui during his retreat with the help of EGM
4:04 - Loda falls again, caught out in his own jungle by an Aui disruption, bodyblocked by EternalEnvy and brought down with Rocket Barrage.
6:02 - SingSing falls in the top lane as S4 dives deep undertower with a haste rune to secure the kill.
6:32 - S4 rotates back to the midlane and catches out a low health pieliedie with one gush.
7:04 - Aui, SingSing and EternalEnvy raid the radiant jungle and come up with a triple kill for Eternal envy catching EGM, S4 and Akke in a Call Down.
9:43 - Loda and S4 catch out Aui in the bottom lane as he tries to TP out, they are forced to expend the Ravage to secure the kill!
11:42 - Alliance finds pilie die in the dire jungle, he tries to tether out, AdmiralBulldog expends the Nature's Prophet Ulti to secure the kill.
14:16 - S4 blink ravages in the midlane catching SingSing, Pieliedie and Aui. Pieliedie tethers and relocates to save Aui, but Admiralbulldog cleans him up with a Nature's Wrath. SingSing Falls to a gush from S4 after being caught in the Treant Ulti.
15:37 - Pieliedie is caught out by S4 and Loda in the Dire jungle falling quickly to PA crit and a Tidehunter gush.
17:54 - An invisible Bone7 throws out a Tornado, ColdSnap combo, relocate from pieliedie and EternalEnvy to secure the kill.
18:50 - Alliance engages at Cloud 9's Top Tier 2 Tower, both teams tiptoeing around the engagement, S4 jumps in with Loda, blows the ravage and secures the kill on Aui.
19:58 - SingSing finds EGM in the midlane trees and quickly pick him off as EternalEnvy takes Roshan and the Aegis of the Immortal.
22:12- Alliance finds EternalEnvy and pilie die midlane, Cloud 9 gives chase taking down Chen with Wisp Spirits, S4 jumps in with the ravage taking down pieliedie, pops the aegis, Bone7 jumps in with a tornado, EternalEnvy turns and blows the Call Down kiling EGM, his health falls to low, he tries to retreat, but EternalEnvy falls
26:28 - Alliance pushing the tier 1 bottom tower. relocate from EE and pielie die, the give chase, S4 blows the ravage and turns the table on EternalEnvy, Alliance are now the chasers they pick off Aui and take the Tier 2 tower and begin to move back.
27:44 - Bone 7 spots out a slow AdmiralBulldog in the Dire ancients, tornado and cold snap, Bulldog runs into the trees but cant blink away. EE and pieliedie relocate in securing the kill with Rocket Barrage, Wisp spirits pick of Akke, Bone7 force staffs into the Radiant jungle and finds EGM chasing him down with cold snap and securing the kill !
31:25 - Alliance pushing the Tier 2 Mid Tower, AdmiralBulldog catches out Pieliedie he tethers away, he falls to Nature's Wrath, S4 blinks in and pops the Ravage, EternalEnvy falls, Bone7 helps to hold off Alliance's Tier 3 push, Pieliedie re-engages only to be quickly killed again before Alliance retreats.
36:05 - C9 finds EGM middle lane, Orchid Malevolence and Rocket Barrage bring him down.
37:21 - Bone7 Tornado finds Alliance in the Rosh pit, Cloud 9 moves in and drops EGM and S4 quickly with Starfall and Rocket Barrage. Cloud 9 takes the Aegis from a ravageless Alliance.
42:11 - Bone7 catches EGM out in the top side of the river, EGM fore staffs on to the highgroupnd Call Down comes out, disrutption from Aui and EGM falls
42:25 - SingSing catches out AdmiralBulldog in the top lane with an arrow, EE and Bone7 follow up securing the kill and take Alliance's Tier 2 top tower.
48:52 - S4 and Bulldog jump EternalEnvy in the top lane. S4 blows the Ravage, Pieliedie tethers in, he can't tether. EE pops the BKB and Satanic. Loda jumps in and gets a triple kill, Alliance teamwipes Cloud 9 for a triple raxing !
50:44 - Alliance overstays their welcome, Cloud 9 respawns SingSing takes down AdmiralBulldog who buys back, SingSing gets greedy chasing after Akke and gets taken down by S4, Akke and Bulldog.
51:36 - EternalEnvy picks up Divine Rapier while Alliance picks up Aegis!
54:05 - Alliance smokes up, bottom lane, moves into the Dire Base, Alliance jumps in on SingSing with an S4 ravage catching out Bone7, SingSing and Aui. EternalEnvy can't hold on the GG's come out and Alliance takes Game 3!
Game Four
Draft - Alliance tops Cloud 9 for the strange draft, picking up a Riki and Wisp combo. Still trying to stick to what they know Alliance also picks up Nature's Prophet for AdmiralBulldog. Cloud 9 pullout a Brewmaster, Faceless Void and Tidehunter, looking to be tanky with heavy disable. Game 4 is under way !
2:16 - Pieliedie and Bone7 jump EGM in the top lane to secure first blood, they lose Bone 7 as they force Admiral Bulldog to leave bottom lane to help his teammates.
4:10 - Aui wraps around to help SingSing secure a kill on S4
4:38 - Loda jumps pieliedie and secure the kill with the help of EGM and Akke.
4:41- S4 TP's back into midlane, unaware Aui was still there, BrewMaster ulti and Ice Path help secure another kill on S4.
5:59 - S4 falls again to Aui and SingSing in the mid lane, Alliance comes in to help S4, but that doesnt stop SingSing as he secures a kill on S4 and EGM before retreating.
9:14 - Cloud 9 moves to take Tier 1 mid tower, Ice Path catches S4 out once more, Illusory Orb and Silence by Bone7 secures the kill.
11:28 - EternalEnvy pops a DoubleDamage rune, jumps under the bottom Tier 2 tower, Chrono secures the kill on Akke, but AdmiralBulldog, and S4 TP in to help Loda secure the kill on EternalEnvy.
12:38 - SingSing, Bone7 and Aui move bottom, jump AdmiralBulldog and secure the kill.
13:26 - Loda and the rest of the team find Aui out of position in the Radiant jungle, with the help of tether Loda quickly brings him down.
15:10 - EGM gets caught out by Cloud 9 as the push down the Tier 2 mid Tower.
15:51 - Cloud 9 in the Dire jungle, Wisp and Riki relocate with Akke nearby. They throw down Kinetic Field and Disruptor ulti, but a Ravage from Pieliedie turns it around as Cloud 9 turns the table.
22:00 - AdmiralBulldog uses his blink dagger on NP to great effect to do damage to tier 3's while C9 responds across the map.
23:40 - Several trades by both teams leads to more tower damage by the Admiral.
23:42 - Faceless Void is ganked by Alliance at bottom lane, but C9 respond by getting Rikimaru themselves.
25:30 - Void continues to have troubles with silences and relocates as he is ganked near Radiant ancients. His buyback is ineffective.
27:50 - C9 attempts to gank Roshan, but only takes two supports and AdmiralBulldog continues to split push.
29:50 - AdmiralBulldog takes a tier 1 tower top while C9 takes Roshan.
31:00 - C9 grabs several support kills in top lane with Ravage, but Alliance responds by killing Tidehunter.
32:46 - Alliance tries to gank Faceless Void, but C9 responds and gets three return kills in bottom lane.
34:48 - Massive team fight at middle lane causes Alliance to lose several heroes and middle barracks. AdmiralBulldog Teleports bottom and does damage to C9's bottom barracks. Alliance grabs return kills and Void and Brewmaster, who gives away his godlike streak gold to Rikimaru.
37:22 - Huge Chronosphere by EternalEnvy on two heroes gets three kills as AdmiralBulldog buys back to continue his split push.
39:46 - The Rat Dota by AdmiralBulldog continues as C9 kills Loda at middle lane. However, he is caught by Brewmaster and Puck without buyback as C9 charges down middle lane.
41:42 - C9 takes top barracks and several heroes with timely use of Ravage and Chronosphere. Cloud9 backs off as they prepare to seal the deal.
44:06 - Huge team fight as C9 attempts to take Roshan. Alliance attempts to contest but loses four heroes.
44:55 - Alliance calls GG.
Game Five
0:00 - Cloud9 gets Luna and Wisp while Alliance takes a strong gank lineup with Rubick, Enchantress, and Batrider.
1:10 - Alliance takes two kills in two different lanes with smoke ganks at middle and bottom against a solo Tidehunter and Razor.
2:10 - Another gank on Tidehunter brings him low. Cloud9 is forced to play more carefully with Enchantresses Minotaurs running rampant. Score is 3-0.
6:10 - A gank goes wrong for C9 in top lane, but SingSing finds a kill on Batrider at middle. Unfortunately for C9, they lose three heroes thanks to Wraith King in top lane. At 7 minutes in, the score is 8-1 in favor of Alliance.
10:06 - C9 realizes they need a momentum swing, and go for Roshan. Batrider attempts to contest, but is brought down. Akke utilizes his Enchantress creep to deny the Aegis.
14:53 - Smoke gank by Alliances entire team at the bottom tier 2 tower leads to their own Rubick dying and C9 forcing them back.
16:34 - Alliance continues to attempt the five man push at middle, but are once again repelled by C9. C9 attempts to smoke themselves. They find themselves a Wraith King kill at bottom lane and attempt to push the tier 2 tower, but soon back off.
21:21 - C9 gets the second Aegis relatively unconstested. Alliance pushes towards top lane while farming their own jungle.
23:23 - Huge team fight at middle leads to two Alliance heroes dropping as C9 counter pushes down the tier 1 tower.
25:02 - Alliance pursues C9 all the way across the map back into their base and takes down four heroes. However, C9 instantly buys back three and and chases Alliance back into their forest, taking out two. The score is 12-8 in favor of Alliance at 26 minutes.
28:30 - A team fight goes wrong for C9 as they lose four heroes in their own jungle, including their Luna. Alliance takes their melee barracks and backs off.
31:18 - All ten players clash at bottom lane again, but C9 are forced back without their ultimate abilities as Alliance only lose their Rubick.
33:13 - Massive team fight near Roshan leads to C9 being all but obliterated as their own middle barracks are pushed into tier 4's. C9, without buybacks and the strength to fight, call GG. Alliance are your Dreamleague 2014 champions.
Also check out the following:
Photo album: DreamLeague season 1, Day 2
Photo album: DreamLeague season 1, Day 1
Event blog: DreamLeague updates
Credits to ELON.Rafi and ItchyScratchyBalls for contributing towards the live blog!
