TnC has put up a good fight but it was not enough to net them a top two spot in The International 5 SEA qualifiers. In their do-or-die series against Rave, their tendency to get overaggressive was eventually their downfall. Rave played a smart and patient gam18 allowing TnC to run at them before wiping them whole. With the series tied at 1-1, Rave eventually took game three off a game winning Aegis steal 20 minutes into the game.
With the win, Rave will continue their road to TI5 and will be facing MVP.Phoenix again tomorrow in a best-of-three format to determine the top two in South East Asia.
The following are the top stories of day three of TI5 SEA qualifier.
Clutch Vacuum salvaged MVP.Phoenix's tiebreaker game
Rave was off to a fiery start in group A raking up kills after kills off MVP.Phoenix's daring tower dives. Due to all these unsuccessful dives, MVP.Phoenix grouped up and tried to push tower together. While they stopped dying as much as they did in the laning phase, their situation did not improve either. MVP.Phoenix's only silver lining was the Sven who was on top of the net worth despite his team's deficit.
Rave was firmly in the lead for the most part of the game until a freak Vacuum to Storm Hammer combo from MVP.Phoenix annihilated what seems like a great start to a battle for Rave. From that point onwards, MVP.Phoenix farmed up a storm and soon enough, found themselves farming on the side of the river and their opponent's jungle. Rave was unable to recover from that loss and tapped out as MVP.Phoenix came knocking.
MVP.Phoenix's win in the tiebreaker meant that they will be taking the winner bracket spot while Rave will be starting the playoffs in the lower bracket. MVP.Phoenix's first opponent is their sister team MVP.Phoenix.
MVP.Hot6 guaranteed trip to TI5
As most people would have expected out of Korean Dota, game one between MVP.Phoenix and MVP.Hot6 was an absolute bloodbath. As if the creeps don't even exist, members from both the MVP squads wailed at each other from the get-go, raking up 42 kills in mere 26 minutes. While the trades were mostly even, MVP.Phoenix had the slight advantage because they ran Midas on both the Slark and the Spirit Breaker. MVP.Phoenix quickly pulled ahead and took control of the map as soon as the skirmishes stopped while MVP.Hot6 farmed and avoided fights. Outfarmed and outmatched, MVP.Hot6 could not hold off MVP.Phoenix in game one.
However, MVP.Hot6 came back with a vengeance in game two and three. In game two, MVP.Hot6 drafted the Broodmother and a bunch of skill spamming heroes such as Leshrac, Shadow Demon and Phantom Assassin to harrass MVP.Phoenix. With no heroes to hold off the push from the Broodmother and no heroes to tank all the Lightning Storm and Shadow Poison spam, MVP.Hot6 had an easy time taking down all of the tier-one and tier-two. MVP.Hot6 used the same tactic to go high ground and took down the barracks without much retaliation.
Triple Kill is soon to follow.
MVP.Hot6's game three and series win could mostly be attributed to Jerax. Without any assistance to land his Light Strike Array, Jerax landed three consecutive stuns at level one to secure the Weaver a Double Kill on the Templar Assassin and Ember Spirit. If that was not bad enough for MVP.Phoenix, Jerax got a Triple Kill a few minutes later on the bottom lane off a two-man stun followed by a three-man Dragon Slave. Coupled with the aura from Drow Ranger, MVP.Hot6 pushed their advantage slowly but steadily until they forced MVP.Phoenix to tap out.
For winning the winner bracket final, MVP.Hot6 has guaranteed themselves their flight to The International 5 while MVP.Phoenix will have to face the winner of TnC versus Rave tomorrow.
Rave ends TnC's road to TI5
Sporting their classic 5-man style and unorthodox picks, TnC had a valiant run in qualifiers but their journey to The International 5 has been ended by their countrymen Rave. Coming into the lower bracket following their loss to MVP.Phoenix in the tiebreaker today, Rave adapted to TnC's playstyle and put their knowledge to use to win the series 2-1.
Despite a devastating loss in game one, Rave bounced back in game two by routing TnC's tendency to get overaggressive after a small lead in the early game. Whilst TnC's Bloodseeker was significantly higher in net worth in comparison to Rave's Shadow Fiend, Rave was able to kill the Bloodseeker several times as he came running past the tower for the Shadow Fiend. The net worth eventually evened and Rave was able to tank through TnC's offense. Rave continued to extend their lead and went in for the final push at 37 minutes.
In the third game, Rave drafted the Broodmother to counter TnC's heroes that are lacking in AOE spells. Although the Broodmother was not used to its full potential in the early phase of the game, Rave's line-up only came online after Queen of Pain left the top lane to participate in battles. The constant threat of the Broodmother was particularly troublesome when TnC was contesting for the first Roshan. With Broodmother pushing the top tier-two and four Rave heroes standing by to steal the Aegis, TnC blundered and allowed the Aegis to be stolen by the Ember Spirit.
Following the steal, Rave killed three escaping TnC heroes to capture their first lead of the game and they never looked back. Rave immediately placed deep wards to block out the Dire ancient and kept TnC in their base. Rave built their lead and took smart fights to make sure TnC have no chance to bounce back. At the end, Rave's Shadow Fiend and Leshrac were too much for TnC to handle as Rave pushed bot to end the series.
