The group stages came down to a tiebreaker between the two teams in the MVP organisation. In the end, MVP Phoenix join Rave, Pokerface and Team Zephyr in the playoff finals beginning December 7th.
The big news from the group stages of the Korea Dota League 4 was of the relegation that threatened MVP Phoenix. Entering the final game at the bottom of the Tier 1 group, things were looking bleak for the recent DreamLeague Season 2 attendees. A final day victory against Pokerface would have ensured survival but only a draw was managed. MVP Phoenix's last chance for survival was the tiebreaker, and a convincing victory yesterday against MVP HOT6 assured that they passed into the finals; allowing them to stay in the top teir. However they will have to play out everything if they want to progress in the finals bubble race due to them starting at the bottom against Team Zephyr. Pokerface and Rave are waiting further up the bracket.
Rave are growing into one of the stronger South East Asian teams following their MPGL SEA 2014 triumph and their current position in the grand final of this event. The Korea based Filipino team were dominant in the group stage, only dropping a point against Pokerface. They were also the team that forced the MVP Phoenix and MVP HOT6 into their tiebreaker after winning both matches against them.
With their tiebreaker loss, MVP Hot 6 are relegated back to the second tier after only one season at the top level. If the another season of KDL were to be announced, Team Zephyr will replace MVP Hot 6 in teir one as they are top of teir 2 and bottom of teir 1 respectively. The American team secured their spot in the playoffs and a return to top tier action in the playoffs with four wins and a single loss in the second tier. Team Zephyr is looking more stable with Trent ‘sLiCKz’ Tucker and Nicholas ‘xfreedom’ Lim actively playing in the lineup.
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