Image from WG.Unity's Facebook page
WG.Unity and compLexity faced off in the final game of day one. What was hyped to be an intense series ended up being a dominant 2-0 performance from WG.Unity.
WG.Unity faced compLexity in the third game of day one at the Main Event of the Boston Major. compLexity came into the game as favourites after being able to defeat the juggernaut that is Evil Geniuses twice in the group stages through confident drafts. WG.Unity had shown their own strength in the groups, toppling Wings Gaming. Both teams are known for their fast-paced style, so fans were expecting a series full of action, and both teams delivered on this promise.
Game One
Kyle 'swindlezz' Freedman’s aggressive drafts showed their head right away, picking support Leshrac for Zakari 'Zfreek' Freedman, a hero that is becoming a compLexity trademark, although it is usually piloted by swindlezz himself. WG.Unity’s draft looked like a throwback to TI6, partnering Luna with Shadow Demon and a roaming Kunkka. One unusual addition for WG.Unity was an offlane Omniknight for Chua Soon 'KaNG' Khong, which was picked with the aim of improving WG.Unity’s already impressive teamfight, and to counteract the effectiveness of the Winter Wyvern ultimate.
The Leshrac pick paid off early, as the disco pony helped secure an early kill on their safelane and assisted in a gank on Kam Boon 'NaNa' Seng’s Timbersaw in the midlane. Despite this early aggression from compLexity, NaNa and Lai Jay 'Ahjit' Son farmed well and maintained the top two spots in net worth for the first 9 minutes of the game. When the first major teamfight of the game happened, compLexity managed to set up before WG.Unity initiated on Jaron 'monkeys-forever' Clinton’s Spirit Breaker. This allowed them to catch WG.Unity off-guard with a successful cast of The Swarm on Ahjit's Luna, which allowed monkeys-forever to turn back onto Ahjit. The Luna fell quickly, giving compLexity a numbers advantage. Good usage of spells from Mihai 'canceL^^' Antonio's Mirana and Zfreek allowed compLexity to clean up two more heroes, securing a gold lead, early tier one towers in bot and mid, and some damage on tier twos for the team.
WG.Unity weathered this early pressure, managing to find well-timed kills on canceL^^ and David 'Moo' Hull. Without their cores, compLexity lost tier twos in mid and top lane, and WG.Unity went onto compLexity’s high ground at 18 minutes. compLexity struggled to find a point of initiation, allowing WG.Unity to simply sit Ahjit and NaNa in complexity’s base with KaNG's heals and Repels backing them up. The power of Luna’s bouncing Moon Glaives saw compLexity’s top lane of barracks fall at 20 minutes.
WG.Unity moved the pressure to bottom lane. compLexity changed up their strategy, opting to split-push with Moo and Zfreek. However, WG.Unity’s pushing power proved superior, taking the bottom lane of barracks for a trade of only their top tier 3. After securing the bottom barracks, the target of WG.Unity’s relentless pushing shifted to the midlane. A supreme Guardian Angel from KaNG ensured one final fight for WG.Unity, forcing compLexity to concede the game just before 25 minutes.
Game Two
In the second game, WG.Unity kept Ahjit on Luna and NaNa on Timbersaw, the two heroes that dominated the first game. compLexity picked far stronger lanes than the first game, securing Treant Protector for swindlezz, Sand King for monkeys-forever, and Juggernaut. WG.Unity attempted to counter complexity’s heavy stunlock and Juggernaut by throwing out a Legion Commander.
While the Juggernaut’s role was unsure for most of the draft, canceL^^ took it mid. This proved to be a justified decision, as canceL^^ managed to solo kill NaNa at around the 2-minute mark. After spending a couple of minutes in the jungle to level up, Zfreek spent most of the early game off the map, throwing arrows onto mid and top lane. However, they were mostly unsuccessful. compLexity again tried to pressure WG.Unity’s lanes, rotating with canceL^^ and monkeys-forever on the Sand King, but WG.Unity read the map well and dodged both of these attempts, giving compLexity nothing more than wasted time. Third time proved to be lucky for compLexity, as swindlezz and Zfreek joined monkeys-forever on the bottom lane, managing to kill both Ahjit’s Luna and Yap Jian 'xNova-' Wei‘s Rubick. This successful gank led to a good series of plays for compLexity, including kills on top lane, and uncontested jungle farm for monkeys-forever to secure him a 12-minute Blink Dagger. monkeys-forever used this timing to great effect when WG.Unity went on Moo’s Lifestealer in the top lane, jumping in with an Epicenter and turning the fight from a WG.Unity gank to 3 easy kills for compLexity.
At around 16 minutes, WG.Unity found their first good teamfight of the game in the bottom lane. Tue Soon 'Ahfu' Chan’s Earth Spirit silenced canceL^^’s Juggernaut before getting off any spells, which led into 3 kills for WG.Unity. However, they stayed too long and were punished by monkeys-forever, who landed a 4-man Epicenter, allowing the newly respawned canceL^^ to finish off the kills. When the dust settled, compLexity managed to return the 3 kills. The next few minutes were packed with back-and-forth skirmishes, with teams trading ganks and kills on WG.Unity’s side of the map.
WG.Unity ended the period of poking and prodding by grouping up and pushing in the bottom lane. Moo tried to scout WG.Unity’s positioning from the safety of an Ancient Black Dragon while WG.Unity hid in the trees. When monkeys-forever jumped in on Ahjit’s Luna, the only hero outside of the foliage, WG.Unity pounced. They wiped compLexity, and took the bottom lane of barracks as their prize. Taking a major blow, compLexity tried to pull the game back by sneaking Roshan. In the follow-up fight, WG.Unity again focused the Sand King down, aware of his impact in teamfights. This was a wise decision and WG.Unity emerged from the fight the victors once more. WG.Unity tried to push high-ground again, but canceL^^ bought back into the game and compLexity repelled WG.Unity with only the loss of their tier 3 tower.
Undeterred, WG.Unity were relentless, immediately running mid once they respawned. They breached high ground with a massive gold and experience lead. One last won fight led to them cleaning up the barracks and pushing towards compLexity’s ancient, where compLexity tapped out. WG.Unity took the series 2-0.
In both games, compLexity tried to pressure WG.Unity’s lanes with aggressive ganking. In both games, WG.Unity weathered the storm, maintaining gold and experience advantages, biding their time. WG.Unity picked their fights carefully and punished compLexity when they came out ahead. The Timbersaw and Luna picks, heroes that were consistent in both games for WG.Unity proved dominant, and might be first-ban material for teams going up against WG.Unity in the next rounds.
Headline image from WG.Unity's Facebook page.
