The second finalist for the World Electronic Sports Games was decided as TnC secures a top two finish and a shot at the World Champion title.
Having taken first place in their groups, both Alliance and TnC coveted for the 800,000 USD prize since the beginning. Sweden`s team had to face SEA players in the semifinals to prove the world that their country has the best players in the world. The games were difficult and totally full of hype. Let`s see what they had to go through to secure at least a second place for the WESG Grand Finals.
Game One
While Alliance went for a comfortable and familiar draft, TnC went for an explosive one, as usual.
Alliance opened up the game with the first blood against Kuku Carlo ‘KuKU-QQ’ Palad’s DK and continued to dominate all lanes in the early stages. The Filipino’s ganks were immediately counter-attacked by the Swedes who used TPs at every sign of trouble. Because of an aggressive lane formed from Gyrocopter and Venge, Slark was forced into buying an Iron Talon and go jungle. Until the 10 minute mark, the score was balanced but Jonathan ‘Loda’ Berg had accumulated a big net worth advantage.
After the first 10 minutes, the balance of the game started to swing. TnC, who had deep wards into the Radiant jungle, kept trying smoke ganks and managed to take a small gold lead. Their advantage didn’t last long, however, and by minute 15 Alliance had succeeded in destroying the top Tier 2 tower, on which they had been placing constant pressure. In an attempt to defend this tower, TnC lost 3 heroes.
Around the 20 minute mark, the Filipino team was desperate and hungry for kills. They smoked once again but somehow Alliance managed to figure out their plan and turn the resulting fight in their favor. The situation changed once again however at minute 25 when Kuku managed to get enough items in order to start fighting effectively. He got a triple kill quickly after and his team took down a Tier 3 tower. Trying to recover, the swedes smoked themselves in an attempt to kill Roshan, but unfortunately, they did this right under an enemy ward and were waited by TnC who ambushed them. Taken by surprise, Alliance lost 3 people to Kuku’s DK who was now on a Godlike streak. Even though the swedes had a substantial advantage in the early game, TnC took control in the late game mostly due to their fed DK equipped with a BKB and an AC.
Loda and his team kept waiting for a pick off or a big favorable fight that would balance the game but they only kept falling behind, losing a Tier 3 tower and a barrack at minute 37. However, DK lost his life for these objectives and Alliance saw an ideal opportunity to take Roshan. Unfortunately, he had a long respawn period, sufficient to give Kuku time to respawn and join his team in an eventual fight. For 3 or 4 minutes both teams stayed around the Rosh pit, making sure their enemies wouldn’t steal the aegis from them. During this time TnC managed to ward their top jungle incredibly well, with 5 sentries and 3 observers, making sure they won’t be taken by surprise. In the end, a fight broke out inside the Rosh pit which was won by the Filipino team, and Alliance had to retreat with only 2 heroes left alive. At minute 46, facing an impossible to kill DK, the Swedes realized that they could not defend their base and called the GG.
Game Two
Annoyed by last game's Dragon Knight which caused a lots of problems, Jonas ‘Jonassomfan’ Lindholm decides to pick it for his team while TnC came with an obvious Juggernaut response.
Game two started quickly with a new face of the SEA players. By minute 5, TnC dominated the Swedes right under their own tower, succeeding to take five kills consecutively. Boldly after their first win, KuKU and his team dove into the enemy tower continuously. Giving Alliance a good shot to recover. As we expected. this didn`t take too much, TnC were ready to take fight after fight in order to keep their dominance. Playing on Earth Spirit, Timothy ‘Tims’ Randrup proved to be Godlike because of his incredible skills. Every fight was turned into the Filipinos favor just because of him.
After a fairly one-sided game in which the SEA players showed no mercy for their opponents from the beginning and soon after the twenty eight minute mark, it was over for Alliance at WESG - and TnC entered the enemy base without any hope of Alliance fighting back.
Alongside their showing at The International 6, TnC managed to take everyone by surprise and send Alliance to fight tomorrow against Infamous for 3rd/4th place while they continued their way into the Grand Finals against the incredible Cloud 9.
