After an enthralling five game series, DC claimed the first Dota 2 tournament of 2017 as well as the first significant international competition since their formation as a team.
Game One
DC went for a draft that had more of a focus on early game with the idea of getting pickoffs and snowballing later, but Newbee managed to outdraft them with a better well-rounded lineup strong both in ganking and team fight.
The game started great for DC with them getting the first blood in the trilane vs trilane scenario on the top lane. However, as the early game progressed, Newbee responded well to the aggressive rotations from DC and applied some of their own and clearly won the early game.
With the upper hand, Newbee went into the mid game as the proactive aggressor looking for a team fight, while DC seemed keen on split pushing. DC realized that they could not gain any advantage without map control or pickoffs and started engaging in team clashes. Newbee won each one of them and eventually team wiped DC into a GG call after 37 minutes of play.
Game Two
DC learned their lesson from game one and decided to go for a solid laning stage draft. DC went for a Naga Siren game while Newbee responded with Morphling and Ember Spirit.
Again it was DC that tasted first blood. The early game went heavily into favor of DC. The US team managed to win all lanes and dominate their opponents for the first Roshan kill at the 13 minute mark, which resulted in Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok completing a super early Radiance one minute later with a 10,000 net worth lead.
Newbee made use of the complacency of DC in the mid game and won two consecutive team clashes between the 17 and 19 minute marks, getting themselves back into the game. The second Roshan battle was won by DC several minutes later, and from this point on DC started pushing Newbee into their base, eliminating all tier 2 towers in the process.
Having established uncontested map control, DC started to make turned their eyes to the enemy high ground. Newbee had little to throw against their enemies, and apart from defending their base they tried to catch their opponents unprepared. The countless waves of Naga illusions, however, were very real prophets of the delayed but imminent doom. By 47:00 all of Newbee's tier 3 towers were down. DC’s final onslaught started at the 51 minute mark from all three sides and finished with a victory two minutes later.
Game Three
The third game started with Newbee banning DC’s two most dangerous heroes: Naga Siren and Meepo. Both teams went for rather balanced lineups, solid both in ganking and team fights.
The game started in a high tempo, and this time the first blood was drawn by Song "Sccc" Chun with his Shadow Fiend against the David "MoonMeander" Tan’s Dark Seer in the first minute of the game.
Ten minutes into the game, despite the score 2 to 6 in favour of Newbee, neither team seemed to be at an unreachable advantage. Both teams had razed two of the enemy tier one towers, and the net worth was slightly in favour of Newbee.
The first crucial moment in the game occurred around the 14th minute mark when Newbee traded one death for two of their opponents and secured the Aegis bearer. The Chinese seized control of the game from this point further and started adding kills to their tally, while meeting little resistance. A moment of brilliance from Sccc with the help of Hu "Kaka" Liangzhi after 24 minutes of play increased the score 12-4 in favour of the Chinese and further established their map control.
The teams clashed again near the Radiant jungle shrine three minutes later, and despite the beautiful synchronization of DC’s aoe abilities, they still lost the team fight. Newbee killed another Roshan and pressed on against the enemy base. Taking advantage of DC’s uncalculated engagement, Newbee killed Outworld Destroyer and Rubick and proceeded to raze the buildings. The two buybacks had little effect and Newbee triumphed after 29 minutes of play.
Game Four
The events of game four took a similar turn to the previous game, only in favor of DC this time.
Newbee decided to go with a composition of three heroes from the previous game, while DC went for a completely new lineup.
Things started well for DC with Moonmeander claiming stylishly first blood in the offlane versus the enemy Witch Doctor support.
Both teams traded several kills in the early game, and after 13 minutes the scoreboard was even 5-5. DC, however, managed to give plenty of space to Resolut1on’s Slark to farm, and he also picked up several kills.
Getting into the mid game, DC started to build gradual advantage in terms of kills and map control. Moonmeander played a significant split pushing role and was a constant nuisance for Newbee, while Resolution was getting solo kills on the squishy Witch Doctor and Io. The first Roshan fell into the hands of DC without being contested after 19 minutes of play. The net worth at this point was already almost 10,000 gold.
28 minutes into the game, DC’s net worth advantage was more than 20,000 gold, and Newbee decided to commit to a team fight near the Roshan pit. The result was disastrous for the Chinese squad, as they were team wiped and left with no option but to concede to their opponents.
Game Five
In a similar manner to the previous game, DC went for completely different setup while Newbee composed a lineup with heroes that they had used in the previous games between the two teams with mixed success.
The start of the game was quite promising for Newbee as the team managed to spill first blood by killing Moonmeander’s Centaur, who was soon avenged after the enemy Luna was killed not long after.
After the seemingly quiet first four minutes of the game, game five exploded. In the next several minutes DC steamrolled over their opponents, and by the 11 minute mark the score was 7-2. Luna was killed three times alongside mid and bottom tier one towers.
The high tempo continued, and so did DC’s momentum. Three more minutes into the game and the score was already 10 to 4 in favor of DC while all of Newbee's tier one towers were down.
Unsurprisingly, the victors of the first 5v5 team fight were DC, who claimed four of Newbee and lost only one hero after 16 minutes into the game. Resolut1on’s Lifestealer was getting out of control. With not much hope left, Newbee had to make a move and went for a smoke gank that ended disastrously: another four dead for only a single kill.
Despite a courageous attempt to contest Roshan around 23:00, Newbee eventually could not match DC's strength and had to pull back with plenty of casualties. The end was near. DC claimed Roshan without further ado and punished Damien "kpii" Chok's steal attempt with execution. Driven to desperation, Newbee smoked again around 31 minutes only to be mercilessly slaughtered by DC. GG was called, and DC deservedly claimed their first significant international trophy.
ESL One Genting final standings
1st Digital Chaos - $125,000
2nd Newbee - $50,000
3rd/4th Virtus.Pro- $22,500
3rd/4th Wings Gaming- $22,500
5th/6th NP - $10,000
5th/6th Execration - $10,000
7th/8th WarriorsGaming.Unity - $5,000
7th/8th Fnatic - $5,000