photo credits: PGL
Warriors Gaming Unity ended their Boston Major run tonight, but, befitting the astonishingly beautiful Wang Theater, the Malaysian underdogs made their exit in a majestic way.
The first game of their quarterfinal series against OG will linger in our minds for a long time as it brought probably the most hype and action we got to witness at the Boston Major this far.
Game One
With Luna banned by WG Unity and Shadow Demon by OG, the first game showcased some lesser picked heroes on the big scene this week, and what a show both teams produced with them! The most outstanding performance was delivered by Tue 'Ahfu' Soon Chuan on Earth Spirit who, despite playing against the ES magician himself, Jesse 'JerAx' Vainikka, was the main factor in WG Unity’s incredible victory against the two time Major champions in the opening game of the series.
The laning phase went extremely well for WG Unity. Despite the fact the first blood was drawn only at the six minute mark, the Malaysians won all the lanes and secured map control early on. With a constant grip over Roshan’s pit as well, starting with minute 17, WG Unity ran over OG and dominated the entire early-mid game. By the 28 minute mark OG were leading with a 14-4 kill score and were playing with a 10k experience and 5k net worth disadvantage.
Although WG Unity’s lack of experience showed here and there in team fights, they recovered amazingly in every engagement and the absolutely impeccable plays from Ahfu enabled them to control OG’s Morphling and in the end brought one of the most spectacular victories at the Boston Major.
Game Two
OG’s true champion pride kicked in, and with the next game of the series the Europeans went with what could be called a greedy lineup. The entire strategy was revealed only with the last pick: an Alchemist for Anathan 'ana' Pham coming after Sven. Although WG Unity had a beefy mid hero as well in Dragon Knight and a late carry in Lifestealer, unfortunately they couldn’t stop Ana from getting an absurdly fast Radiance. Finished at the 12 minute mark, the Radiance timer was the go signal for OG’s push, and they brought all their heroes mid lane to start the heavy siege. However, they had to reconsider their plan after about ten minutes as WG Unity was able to keep them outside the base by creating Alchemist illusion of their own.
But the game ended suddenly with the first Aghanim’s gift from Alchemist to Sven. The God's Strength - Bloodlusted - Chemical Raged Alchemist on top of double Rocks from OG’s Warlock was a little bit too much for WG Unity to hold against, and the series was pushed in a decisive game three.
Game Three
Going with a first pick Shadow Demon in game three, OG forced WG Unity to pick Luna. The Europeans managed to get the Alchemist once again and surprised the Malaysians with a last pick Lina for JerAx. Nonetheless, WG Unity had their own well-tailored push strategy with a mid lane Pugna and an aggressive trilane Rubick - Undying - Luna, but unfortunately they didn’t achieve much with it.
The trilane didn’t work at all and ended up feeding Johan 'N0tail' Sundstein’s Juggernaut while the safe lane Legion Commander didn’t exactly win her lane against Gustav 's4' Magnusson’s Batrider. The only one doing well was Kam 'NaNa' Boon Seng on his Pugna who started with an unconventional level one Decrepify to prevent Ana’s farm as much as possible.
But even so, Ana was able to finish yet again a 13 minutes Radiance and with N0tail’s Juggernaut healing ward OG were the ones to start the five man heavy push and claimed their spot next to Evil Geniuses in the Boston Major semifinals.
The OG vs Evil Geniuses semifinal will open the last day of the Boston Major, tomorrow, December 7, at 10:00 EST/16:00 CET.
