Team Spirit’s Lima Major run ends in the top 8.
After China’s dreams at the title were shattered in Lima, Peru by Evil Geniuses who eliminated Team Aster, Talon Esports delivered the biggest upset of the Lima Major playoffs stage so far by eliminating the TI10 Champions, Team Spirit.
Talon Esports
vs
Team Spirit
Team Spirit started the series with a global map presence strategy revolving around Zeus and Spectre. It was their response to Talon’s Nature’s Prophet - Batrider duo core that could have taken the control of the game with early pickoffs that would have led to a snowball victory. Team Spirit’s counter worked as intended and sent Talon back to the drawing board.
Coming into the second game, the SEA team held onto their offlane NP idea, but switched things up in the mid lane. They brought a Dragon Knight for Rafli "Mikoto" Rahman, who dominated the lane against Denis "Larl" Sigitov’s Ember Spirit. With him being able to set up the tempo, and NP proving that he is a true counter to the Lina carry, Talon built a steady lead, kept control over the Roshan pit, and past the 30-minute mark, when the DK had the Aghanim's Scepter completed, they became unstoppable.
Heading into the third game, Talon seemed like they have run out of steam. Team Spirit had a lot of team fight control between Magnus and a mid lane Tiny, won all the lanes, and did everything in their power to bully Nuengnara "23savage" Teeramahanon on his Faceless Void.
However, Talon were aiming at a late game scenario, and despite being behind for 40 minutes, they managed to hold onto their high ground and patiently wait for the Void to reach level 20. Once that happened, the first time Talon decided to take a fight, they were able to take down Spirit’s Terrorblade and slowly crawl their way back into the game. 23savage’s clutch plays and multiple Reverse Polarity dodges led to a crucial Roshan contest where Team Spirit got wiped and eventually sent home.
While Talon Esports advance to top 6, Team Spirit and Team Aster head home from the first major of the year with a top 8 finish, $12,500 prize money, and 100 Dota Pro circuit points for their effort.
