Virtus.pro and VP.Polar are the two teams that advance from the first place of DreamLeague #2 playoffs. They will face Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses respectively in best-of-three matches. The winners advance to the Upper Bracket final, while the losers will have to survive the Lower Bracket.
The first day of DreamLeague #2 playoffs belongs to the past, and both Team Tinker and 4ASC are no longer in the race for the first place. The two Russian sister teams Virtus.pro and Virtus.Pro Polar have survived the double elimination bracket, and they will join Cloud9 and Evil Geniuses in the battle for the $110.000 prizepool. The games begin tomorrow with EG vs VP.Polar at 14:00 CET, followed by Cloud9 vs Virtus.pro at 16:30 CET.
Day 1 Bracket :
Day 2-3 Bracket :
Virtus.Pro vs Team Tinker - 1:0
The Russian squad opted for a very aggressive lineup with Storm, Slark and Tide as their cores. Tinker responded with a controversial Luna pick, accompanied by Brewmaster and the unusual Queen of Pain. Team Tinker's aim was to control the map with their heavy nukes, creating space for the fragile Luna to find farm before VP's cores get dangerous. The plan seemed to work for the first 20 minutes of the game, as they managed to get several tower kills using Leshrac and Luna. However, when Slark purchased his Blink Dagger, the Omniknight-Slark combination started having its effect : Virtus.Pro forced and won several continuous fights, including a teamwipe and Roshan steal by minute 27. From that point, it was seemingly impossible for Team Tinker to bounce back into the game, calling the 'GG' five minutes later.
4ASC vs VP.Polar - 0:1
VP.Polar deployed the old but gold combo of Medusa and Elder Titan, combined with Brewmaster and a core Ogre Magi. 4ASC responded with a common lineup with Phantom Assassin, Viper and Centaur as their cores. The two teams were pretty even in terms of gold and experience during the earlier stages of the game, with DKphobos's Brewmaster finding surprising amounts of farm against Vaalix's Viper. A few questionable dives by the Finnish met appropriate response by VP.Polar, and the Russians took a temporary lead. As the game approached the 30th minute mark, the Viper selection started losing its effectiveness, and 4ASC seemed to lack the damage to burst down their targets. The minimal pressure on IllidanSTR's Medusa allowed him to build up an impressive inventory, having Butterfly, Monkey King Bar and Eye of Skadi and Linken's Sphere by minute 35. With such a beast on their side, it was only a matter of time until the Russians force the GG, sending jerAx's company to the Lower Bracket.
Virtus.Pro vs VP.Polar - 1:2
Game One
Following the DreamLeague #2 metagame, Virtus.Pro selected Phantom Assassin, Tidehunter and Viper as their cores, backed up by the Vengeful Spirit - Elder Titan duo. On the other hand, VP.Polar opted for a nuke-based lineup with core Venomancer and Ogre Magi selections, along with Lina, Skywrath and Faceless Void. As expected by the nature of their strategy, Polar managed to dominate the early game, with constant pushing and solid teamfight. However, the tides changed completely during the 25th minute, with Virtus.Pro winning a 4-1 teamfight with an Ultra-Kill by BzzIsPerfect. This was the turning point of the match, with VP.Polar realizing that their strategy had fallen apart. It took almost 15 minutes for DkPhobos and his gang to find the courage for a head-on teamfight, but their attempt to intercept VP's Roshan raid by minute 40 also ended in a 4-1 disaster. All the Dire could do was delay the inevitable, and Virtus.Pro managed to seal the deal two minutes later.
Game Two
Virtus.Pro put their faith on Phantom Assassin once again, while VP.Polar managed to get their hands on Slark for IllidanSTR. It was not Illidan that decided the pace of the early game though - it was DkPhobos's Templar Assassin. The roaming combo of Keeper of the Light and Skywrath Mage created numerous kill opportunities during the early game, especially with the aid of Batrider's Blink initiation. The Radiant's lead was enormous, as they were ahead with a 18-2 score by minute 22. However, Virtus.pro did not give up on the game, and they kept pursuing more and more engagements. The first sign of hope came at the 27th minute mark, when Bzz managed to end DkPhobos's Beyond Godlike streak for a big chunk of gold.
With a complete Black King Bar and Battle Fury on Phantom Assassin, the Dire found their lost confidence and turn their sight on objectives. They even managed to take down the mid ranged barracks by minute 43, but they ended up losing their entire team while retreating. Six minutes later, VP.Polar caught their opponents off-guard, winning a 3-0 fight and destroying two lanes of barracks. However, their advantage was shattered shortly after, when they made a similar mistake and lost two lanes themselves. It took until minute 64 for the decisive fight to come, with VP.Polar isolating their opponent's heroes in a chaotic fight, killing both God's Death Prophet and Bzz's Phantom Assassin. With no buybacks available on their cores, Virtus.pro could only watch as their Ancient went down.
Game Three
Both teams decided to add some extra spice on their selections, with Virtus.pro picking Invoker for God and VP.Polar selecting the core Timbersaw. The two teams were dead even for the first 25 minutes of the game, going toe-to-toe in terms of hero and tower kills. This seemed to favor Virtus.pro, as the Spectre in their lineup ensured their solid late game potential. However, the plan could only work if Slark was properly shut down. This was not the case at all, as Illidan's Slark was able to snowball out of control, finishing the game six-slotted with a 17-2 score. While Spectre seemed to be tanky enough to take on the nasty fish, the rest of Virtus.pro's heroes were easy prey, especially under the effect of Mag's Reverse Polarity. Bzz did manage to find the required farm, but Polar were never in any real danger. The first lane of barracks went down a little after minute 50th, but the conclusive teamfight came four minutes later, with a teamwipe ending Virtus.pro's run in the Upper Bracket.
Team Tinker vs 4ASC - 2:0
Game One
Team Tinker deployed a very aggressive trilane with Treant Protector, Gyrocopter and Witch Doctor in order to shut down MATUMBAMAN's Medusa. Tinker's solo Tidehunter was also able to contain Centaur's farm, delaying his Blink Dagger significantly. With 4ASC's supports being focused on protecting Medusa, qojqva's Storm Spirit also had an easy time against Vaalix's Viper, so Team Tinker managed to control all three lanes and build a solid experience lead. Their advantage became obvious during the first massive teamfight of the game by minute 20, with the Dire annihilating their opposition, killing four heroes without any casualties. 4ASC's towers kept falling with minimal resistance, with qojqva, SingSing and Pajkatt topping the Networth chart. Winning yet another 3-0 teamfight under their enemy's bottom tier-two tower at the 29th minute mark, BuLba's company entered the Radiant base to finish the job. The Finnish squad attempted to save their buildings, but their assault turned into a massacre once again - the GG was called a few seconds later.
Game Two
While the first game of the series can be considered a "stomp", the second game was surely worse. Team Tinker selected a similar strategy, replacing their healers with the Drow Ranger-Visage combo. While Team Tinker's offensive trilane did its job once again, it was qojqva's Storm Spirit that surely made the difference for the Dire. The first massive teamfight of the game ended with 4-0 in favor of Team Tinker, with qojqva surviving with 2 hp due to his smart movement with Ball Lightning. The following clash three minutes later had the exact same outcome, and 4ASC completely lost control of the game. During the 18th-28th period, they only managed to find two kills on the supports, while Team Tinker won every teamfight and destroyed every outer tower. The final push came from the bottom lane, with 4ASC getting teamwiped several times inside their own base and losing their bottom barracks, together with the match.
Team Tinker vs Virtus.Pro - 0:2
(recap coming soon)