Team DK won the final two games of the championship series against NewBee, coming back from behind and winning the CDEC Newstar Cup title with the score of 3-2. They won $9,600~ by placing first on this tournament.
Team DK claims sweet revenge after defeating NewBee on the finals of the Sunt CDEC Newstar Cup. It was the latter who entered the grand finals via the upper bracket after defeating the former with the score of 2-1 during the upper bracket finals. It was DK who has the last laugh this time, as they won the final two games of the finals to end the series with a 3-2 victory.
With the win, DK cuts its string of runner-up finishes (WPC, The Summit) and they end up taking $9,600~. NewBee and Vici Gaming, the second and third placer, will get $4,800~ and $1,600~ respectively.
CDEC Newstar Cup is a multi-stage tournament which started with an eight-team qualifier. Those teams are divided into two groups, and the top two teams per group joined the four invited teams for this double-elimination playoffs. The teams who finished top three were all part of the invited teams.
Final Standings and Prize Distribution:
1st: DK (~$9,600)
2nd: NewBee (~$4,800)
3rd: Vici Gaming (~$1,600)
Game One
DK tried a strong middle-game lineup which includes Puck, Enigma, Doom and Razor. NewBee has a strong team-fight line-up as well, featuring heroes with good AoE like Batrider, Earthshaker and Luna. It was DK who had a better start as they won a 2-1 exchange which included the first blood during the eight minute.
However, that actually marked the start for what will be a dominating stretch for NB. The team was responsible for the game's next 17 kills, and DK's third kill came more than 22 minutes after their first one. NB was better on all aspects - burst, sustainability, disable, initiation, rotation and mobility - that their enemy was not able to do much to stop their relentless attack.
DK tried to defend, but the opponent was too much ahead. After losing four heroes and the top lane, they called GG which gave NewBee a 1-0 lead in the series.
Game Two
Both teams featured a high-priority carry and a flash-farming semi-carry: the combo of Morphling and Shadow Fiend for DK, while its Anti-Mage and an Ember Spirit for NewBee. As the first game, the first blood and the second kill were literally seconds apart. This time though, it was NB who got the edge after landing the last hit to Shadow Fiend before the tower finishes off the Batrider.
With a quick Mekanasm for SF, DK tried to team fight early and often. They also continuously pressured Anti-Mage, who went with a farming build of Battlefury and Vlads. After an action-packed early game, the teams transitioned into a slow farming phase from around the twenty minute mark. NB was getting a lot more generally, while DK was content to pump up the farm for their two carries. That later proved to be the right decision, as their farmed dual-core was the difference on many team fights.
Despite an advantage, DK had troubles going high ground. They ultimately used their better sustained damage in the end to maneuver into split-pushed, and a pick-off on Ember Spirit sealed their enemy's fate. DK puts the series into a 1-1 deadlock after this win.
Game Three
NB went with their usual middle-game assault, opting for a mid Templar Assassin and a farming carry. And while DK picked out arather standard Void and Invoker, they switched it up a bit by placing BurNing on Invoker and iceiceice on Void. For the third game in a row, the first blood and the revenge kill were just seconds apart - NewBee taking the first one again this game with a Sunstrike returning the favor.
DK showed good killing potential with the Disruption-Sacred Arrow-Sunstrike combo, but their enemy was still doing a very good job overall. Despite Invoker farming very efficiently, the enemy team was also rotating effectively and thus were winning fights. While the kill score and the graphs were identical, it seems as DK's window is getting smaller by the minute considering the progression of the heroes.
Void focused on his positioning rather than trying to secure farm, giving his team limited DPS options. With only two intelligence based heroes as real damage dealers, the team was greaty troubled by the enemy BKBs and the Doom. While DK held well throughout the game, they blundered late and were rendered helpless as NB forced their way mid with their magic invulnerabilites and tankiness. Without any source of DPS aside from their skills, DK tapped out and called GG after they were nearly wiped on the middle-lane.
Game Four
Seeing high success with the Razor on the last game, NB went with it on game four. But this time, they placed that hero mid as they opted for a farming Lifestealer. DK went back to an agility carry for BurNing, this time going for a Mirana. They also picked a strong pushing hero in Death Prophet for Mushi. DK had the better start this time, claiming a couple of kills against Batrider with Shackles set-ups.
DK, with a Krobelus, tried to push every time Exorcism is on cooldown. Despite building up a good early lead, NB was oddly enough holding their own during their defense attempts. Without having any significant Black Hole by their Enigma, NB stopped DK's push by bursting down Krobelus via a Lifestealer bomb from a blinking Batrider. The death of that hero almost always stopped their team from pushing, and that also significantly reduced their damage output.
The game had an abrupt end at around the 30th minute. Enigma introduced his blink dagger with a 4-hero Black Hole - his best in this game so far. Ironically, that was the demise of his team as his teammates were a bit off position to follow-up. DK's strong counter-engagement with Echo Slam, Split Earth and Exorcism were caught by the jumping NB squad and they were wiped. NB called GG after losing the top lane and before losing the middle lane, pulling the series even to another 2-2 draw.
Game Five
With the series tied up, DK went with what worked for them on their wins. They picked Mirana, who was present on both of their wins, as well as Morphling and Elder Titan. NB opted for a pick-off and team-fight line-up which involved Tidehunter and Ancient Apparition as well as Hao's fifth different hero of this series.
DK showed one of Mirana's greatest strength, her flexibility. After playing her as a hard support on their game two win and as a hard carry on their game four win, they gave the Mirana to Mushi this time around to settle as the semi-carry. This move created good opportunities for DK as the team ended up with a good laning phase, especially on the middle-lane where Morphling-Lich went up against Batrider-Shadow Demon.
Contrary to the first four games, this one went heavily into DK's favor early. Aside from getting the first blood, they were also able to sneak into the enemy's stacked camps. They kept up with this pressure and ended up around 5,000 gold ahead just twelve minutes into the game. They were seemingly content on just dragging the game as they find themselves to have a superior late game. Meanwhile, after losing the early game, NB was content with what was happening as they want to get their core items to be able to bounce back.
The game moved into a very long farming phase, with the teams trading wins back-and-forth. DK was able to catch a break during the Rosh-pit challenge at around the 45th minute after Morphling bursted the Shadow Demon down from the get-go and Rubick being able to steal Ravage. DK used that Aegis advantage to get the bottom lane. Minutes of tension ensued on the next Roshan challenge, and NB gambled by going for it with a Rapier on Weaver. He was not able to hold it for very long, and DK claimed the Championship after catching the enemy core without buyback.
