OG came well prepared for Gaimin Gladiators on the fourth week of the Western Europe Dota Pro Circuit Spring Tour and put a stop to their undefeated run.
In what was a rather one sided 2-0 victory from OG, Gladiators found themselves up against a team that had made a lot of preparation for the match-up.
“We read them like an open book,” said Tommy "Taiga" Le in the winner’s interview on the DreamLeague official stream, adding that they prepared for the only team that was yet to be defeated and knew exactly how they would draft, how they would move around the map and what their general gameplay plan would be.
OGvsGladiators
In perhaps full anticipation that OG have studied them, Gladiators tried to secure the early laning stage with a position four Techies and play into their adversaries’ always aggressive stance with beefy side laners and an Io-Ember Spirit duo meant to match the early possible shenanigans.
However, they revealed both their side lane cores along with Io in the first and second phase of the draft, and were countered with a damage reduction type of line-up.
OG aligned Underlord, Lich, Dragon Knight and an elusive Phantom Lancer, who were a direct response to what Gladiators chose for themselves.
Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf went for early points in Atrophy Aura to prevent the damage output from Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov’s carry Chaos Knight. The Lich armor kept OG’s safe lane balanced and ensured the extra attack damage resistance in the team fights, while Phantom Lancer on his own has a pretty strong escape mechanism. On top of it all, Ammar made perfect use of the new Fiend's Gate portals to give his team quick recharge trips back to the base and resume the fights from full HP and mana.
After taking game one in under 30 minutes with a 25 to 9 kill score, OG continued with the same damage mitigation concept, keeping Lich and DK for game two, mixed with Kunkka and Templar Assassin and went on another flawless victory.
OG’s win over Gladiators puts the two teams tied for first place in the Western European regional league, both sitting now on four wins and one defeat. By the end of Week 4 in the league play schedule, one more squad can join them at the top of the rankings to form a three-way tie for first place. Tundra Esports are currently on a 3-1 record and will be pitted against Team Liquid this coming Saturday, April 9, at 15:00 CEST.