MVP.Phoenix and Vici Gaming faceoff for their tournament lives in the lower bracket of the MarsTV Dota 2 League.
The result of this best-of-three series is a 2-1 score in favor of VG, who will proceed to the second round of the lower bracket. Coming in 7th-8th place, MVP have earned themselves $6,250 of the $250,000 prize pool. On the other hand, VG has guaranteed themselves at least a 5th-6th place, which awards $12,500 worth of prize money.
Game one:
Despite having a strong early game support duo, MVP's combo was negated by the enemy Faceless Void. This left the Koreans no choice and forced them to take the momentum set by VG's supports. It was only when MVP's heroes hit level six that they managed to recover from their mistake, managing to secure multiple kills on VG's Tinker. VG's answer to this came with well executed team fights, which worked well until Kim 'Velo' Taesung's Timbersaw completed some key items, allowing him to destroy them and dive their tier fours. Around the 45 minute mark, VG lost most of their barracks and called GG.
Game two:
Trading was the name of the game. Starting from the very first minute to about 15 minutes, the kill scores between both teams was roughly even despite many kills occurring. However, as the game progressed, trades fell slightly more in favor of VG, allowing them to snowball and take MVP's barracks at 25 minutes; the game ended soon after.
Game three:
MVP struggled in the starting and ending phases of this game. Losing two cores four minutes in the game, MVP was put on the back foot after and put under the pressure, the Koreans were forced to give up a Roshan kill at the 13th minute. However, a lull in activity as a result of MVP dodging VG's ganks allowed them to comeback, and at the 24th minute, VG made a blunder and lost their barracks. Following this, MVP tried to breach high ground to no avail, suffering a chain of lost team fights as a result. Utilizing the comeback mechanic, VG regained their lead and eventually capitalize on a mistake made by MVP to end the game at the 52 minute mark.
Headline and banner image by MarsTV
