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Dota 27 years agoIsaac "RedCrayon" Celis

Newbee are your Zotac Cup Champions

A marathon series ended with Chinese powerhouse Newbee coming out victorious after a 3-1 victory over Team NP, and the Zotac Cup win.

Game One

In game one of the best of five series, Newbee took control of the tempo, and never let go of their dominance over Team NP. Draftwise, NP looked to have a great teamfight lineup, whereas Newbee decided to go with a much faster tempo lineup.

Early on, Newbee were in control of the match’s tempo, as Hu 'KAKA' Liangzhi’s Earth Spirit decimated the top and middle lanes with his rotations. As a result, Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao’s Ember Spirit was severely hampered in farm, along with Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks’ Lina, who faced Chun 'Sccc' Song’s Shadowfiend. For much of the game, Newbee continued to hold control of the tempo, finding pick off after pick off, having done their homework on NP’s split style. But NP, not ones to be discouraged, continued to hold and split the map brilliantly—even taking a tier three tower and an aegis in a long chaotic fight in the bottom lane at 30 minutes. Even though NP were down by almost 10-20 kills, and net worth by a good margin, graphs can be deceiving, and NP were in a good position to take the game.

Despite their best efforts, however, NP could only split for so long, and with the networth gap just getting bigger, finally gave up the ghost at 52 minutes after Newbee found the fight they needed.

Game Two

In game two, Team NP had a better start, and looked much more comfortable on their heroes compared to game one. Newbee decided to stick with their guns, and picked up similar heroes to game one, such as KAKA’s crucial Earth Spirit.

Unfortunately, compared to game one, KAKA’s early rotations fell a little flat, leading to NP’s much better start. Enboldened by the classic duo of Johan 'pieliedie' Astrom’s Io and Arif 'MSS' Anwar’s Legion Commander, NP seemed to set themselves up for success. Newbee were unable to stop the characteristic early tier one tower push by NP, and the Canadians took the tower early on, and at 16 minutes, had all of Newbee’s tier one towers down—EE getting some great farm on a surprising last pick Phantom Lancer. As the contest moved into the middle stages, it settled into a war of smoke ganks, with both teams constantly fighting and trading. NP, however, seemed to be the ones to come out on top as their annoying split-pushing allowed them to keep many objectives despite losing a number of fights.

The clock passing 30 minutes signaled a turning point for NP, after they took down four from Newbee, extending that into a five-minute siege ending with a lane of barracks lost Newbee’s way. Newbee, down a set of barracks, turned up the aggression and consistently seemed to take a number of great fights, including a full teamwipe for NP at 49 after Roshan. This did little to assuage their home base problems, however, and although wiping NP—trading three in return—the Chinese couldn’t turn it into any objectives, forced to defend their dwindling objectives at home. Near the hour mark, NP decided to go for a long siege in the bottom lane, and the creeps ended up taking the victory for NP, the Newbee lineup unable to kill the tanky EE. Although unstated above, MVP absolutely goes to pieliedie for his Io play—his relocate saves and positioning absolutely crucial to keeping NP going in their chaotic fights. For any aspiring Io players, this is definitely a game to watch.

Game Three

Game three saw a much slower start compared to games one and two, but Newbee quickly ramped up the pace and took the game in just under a half hour. Newbee went with a great midgame lineup, whereas NP went with their comfort heroes again, but with a questionable Mirana pick for EE, which showed little impact in the game.

Early on, both teams were content to farm and poke at each other in the lanes, with kills only going on the board at six minutes. NP seemed to take control after that, taking their early tier one tower as usual, and taking all of Newbee’s tier one towers at 13 minutes. Newbee, however, were the ones to push the pace after a key Blink Dagger purchase on Sccc’s Dragon Knight, and Newbee grabbed a number of back to back pick offs on NP’s cores.

Despite the best efforts of the NP split push, Newbee simply committed down a lane with their huge DK frontline at 23 minutes, after taking down FATA and EE, turning the kills into more objectives and pressure on NP’s highground, but backed off as respawns came. At around 26 minutes, Newbee renewed their siege after taking four from NP, and took two full sets of barracks. Two minutes shortly after, Newbee took the game, with NP unable to get past the frontline of Sccc and the damage output of Xun 'uuu9' Han’s Juggernaut.

Game Four

In game four of the marathon series, it was the Chinese squad that prevailed after a nail biting 72 minute game, with both teams equally capable of taking the win.

Early on, Newbee seemed to be in full control of the game, with Hong 'Faith' Da Zeng’s Witch Doctor rotations proving devastating to NP’s lanes. Coupled with KAKA’s annoying Nyx Asssassin, who pestered Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling, the TI champion was unable to get the pressure that he wanted in the early game. To make matters worse, Sccc absolutely destroyed FATA in the midlane, showing his mastery of the Queen of Pain and the lane. Despite their aggression, and lead, it all changed for the worse at 16 minutes when NP decided to go for a risky Roshan and found it, allowing NP some breathing room. A few minutes after, NP turned the aegis into a ranged barracks in the top lane putting Newbee on the backfoot. From there, the game settled into passive farm but it all changed at around 30 minutes, when NP decided to go for another Roshan. Newbee contested but NP drew out the fight for almost two minutes off the back of Aui_2000, who led the Newbee cores on a wild goose chase. Despite dying, EE was able to take Roshan, and Newbee had to retreat once more.

After Newbee’s blunder, the game settled into a constant back and forth, with a period of farm, followed by a period of fighting and attempts at objectives. Newbee simply couldn’t find the kill on EE, who was constantly saved by MSS’s and pieliedie’s insane reactions and positioning. As the game moved into the 60 minute mark, however, Newbee finally found a pick off on EE at 63, and forced a buyback. A few minutes after, EE died back, and Newbee found two sets of barracks. At the 70-minute mark, NP tried to hold valiantly but failed, as the Chinese lineup could not be taken down.

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Isaac "RedCrayon" CelisLoL refugee. DOTA lover. EE fanboy. Hit me up about anime, dota and anything else you can think of

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