Bucharest will start seriously heating up with some must-win matches for the teams starting with an early morning elimination match between Team Secret and Alliance. A loss means they exit the tournament at the first stage, so both teams will come out fighting to remain in the competition.
Schedule for April 25th:
Team Secret vs. Alliance: 0-2
ViCi Gaming vs. Cloud 9: 14:00 CEST
Invictus Gaming vs. Team MY: 14:00 CEST
LB Round 2: 17:30 CEST
LB Round 2: 17:30 CEST
WB Final: 21:00 CEST
LB Semi-Final: 21:00 CEST
View our Survival Guide for Day Two
A big focus today is on the lower bracket with four elimination matches in total and we begin with a big matchup between two talented European teams. Team Secret will feel like they don't belong in this situation, ranked as the top team in the world and caught in a situation that could force them out of the tournament at the first stage. But will Secret be able to handle the drafting style of Alliance after they will surely come out fighting after their embarassment last night. There will be a large amount of great games throughout the day with two interesting upper bracket matches including the inform Invictus Gaming and Team MY competing against each other. Get ready for a big day of competitive Dota, by the end of the night we'll have a big idea about who will be eyeing the main prize with more than half the teams facing elimination.
Main Stage: Team Secret vs. Alliance 0-2
GosuBet: Team Secret 75% Alliance 25%
A huge elimination match is ready to begin with two of the top European teams at the event forced to eliminate each other. Team Secret and Alliance will have a long day if they want to progress in this tournament with lower bracket matches spaced all the way through the day. But with the potential horror of exiting the tournament at the first stage, expect both teams trying to secure an advantage in the draft. Alliance are heavy underdogs looking at the GosuBets, but the team could easily bounce back to test Team Secret following their embarassment last night against Invictus Gaming.
Game One Alliance wins
Featuring a draft of Spirit Breaker and Troll Warlord for Secret and an aggressive draft with the increasingly formidable Viper for Alliance, the latter started roaming in numbers to take towers but some decent counter-initiations from Secret allowed the roster to stay in the fight. The Swedish team were controlling the map, picking off kills and secured a first tier two by 16 minutes. An aggressive smoke attempt showed their intent - they wanted to win the match as soon as possible and started hammering on the tier three tower a minute later. A 20 minute siege on the base saw a dieback from Puppey's Zeus and Zai's Spirit Breaker and left Secret crippled and a lane of barracks down. A siege on the top barracks by 25 minutes saw more losses for Secret and absolutely nothing coming in return. Secret were all but out and a push towards the final set of barracks and more death meant Alliance took the opening game in aggressive style.
Game Two Alliance wins
Secret were certain to ban out the Viper that dominated them the last game, but Alliance first picked Sniper and Clockwerk again. Despite facing another aggressive draft, Puppey was able to pick a powerful draft with some of the heroes of the meta with Shadow Fiend, Axe and Queen of Pain. Secret claimed an early first blood and managed to counter initiate and punish Alliance for diving into the range of the tier one. Every time Secret engaged they secured multiple kills as Shadow Fiend began towering over the net worth charts but Alliance started fighting back with a series of stomps from Loda's Centaur Warrunner. The biggest moment of the game came from double stomp from Loda allowing Pajkatt's Sniper to land a rampage with an incredible six kills destroying any advantage Secret had gained over time. Things were bad when the mere presence of Alliance around Roshan meant Secret had to abandon the pit without any form of defense and allow the Swedes to claim the Aegis. After some even trades between the teams it was Secret that started threatening Alliance's tier three towers - but only when they were away. A push middle by Alliance meant they claimed four buybacks and Pajkatt reached a beyond godlike status, but he died taking the middle barracks gifting large amounts of gold to the enemy team. After a cat and mouse game until the 46th minute a big team wipe in Alliance's jungle forced a dramatic end to Team Secret's time in StarLadder. An impressive win for Alliance, who push forward to into the next round.
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