In a hotly contested series, EG showed their mettle and edged out the Canadians 2-1, sending them home with a third place finish.
Game One
In game one of the lower bracket final, Team NP dominated their lanes, and transitioned into a great midgame, giving them the victory over Evil Geniuses in just under 40 minutes. Draftwise, EG went with a big wombo combo lineup, with a Phoenix for captain Andreas 'Cr1t-' Nielsen, a Death Prophet for Syed 'SumaiL' Sumail Hassan, a Sand King for Ludwig 'Zai' Wahlberg and finally, an Earthshaker for Saahil 'Universe' Arora. Team NP went with a lineup that has been characteristic for them since the start of the tournament, with an Io for Johan 'pieliedie' Astrom, a Nyx Assassin for Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling and a Legion Commander for Arif 'MSS' Anwar.
Early, NP were in full control of their lanes, choosing to run dual lanes; EG ran a safelane trilane, hoping to secure Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev some farm, but just couldn’t seem to bully the MSS-Pieliedie duo out. Top lane was a similar story, with Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao's Ember Spirit seemingly uncontested in farm. Team NP, however, pushed the pace like their previous games, and took their first tier one tower at around eight minutes, which allowed NP to put pressure on EG’s jungle, and giving them more map control. As the contest went on, the pace settled into bouts of action, with NP getting pickoffs and EG trading as well. Despite the trades, NP were still well ahead and going into 20-30 minutes, NP were in full control.
In its final stages, EG showed signs of life after smoking a Roshan out from under NP’s nose, the Aegis giving Arteezy some well-deserved breathing room and the team some more map to farm. NP, however, with their massive lead were simply too much and a smoke at 34 minutes allowed NP to take two kills off the back of a 4v5, along with one barracks and the aegis for free via EE and Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks. A few minutes after, NP sieged up the exposed bottom lane once again and took the full set of barracks; EG sensing the need to do something, went for a hail mary smoke play, but couldn’t find the engagement as NP’s positioning was just too good. EG called GG shortly after, going back to the drawing board for game two.
Game Two
Game two of the series can only be described as a rollercoaster, as Evil Geniuses held strong on the backs of Cr1t-‘s Phoenix and SumaiL’s Storm Spirit, leading them to a victorious comeback in just over an hour. Draftwise, EG adapted quickly to NP’ style, choosing much stronger lanes. NP once again went with their characteristic EE Bristle and Aui Nyx, along with a Keeper of the Light for Pieliedie.
Early on, lanes went much better for EG, as NP were unable to bully out their lanes. In the midlane, SumaiL dominated FATA- with his signature Storm Spirit—a hero that would prove absolutely crucial in the late game. NP, once again, took an early tier one tower and a tier two shortly after to put pressure on EG’s jungle and hamper their farm. As the game continued, time and time again, EG were unable to find a good smoke engagement with some great positioning from Aui. Compounded with the mEEt shield of Bristleback, NP turned engagement after engagement until they took five barracks from their fellow North Americans.
Despite their lack of barracks, EG are no strangers to beating down structures—the only team ever to comeback from mega creeps at an International—and continually held as their lineup just continued to rack up the damage with Arteezy and Universe coming online; Universe’s +40 Duel Damage talent proving absolutely crucial to him contributing as a core. All eyes, however, fell on SumaiL, as he pulled a ridiculous number of plays to keep EG in the game from, ranging from an Aegis steal, to a five man Electric Vortex, which allowed EG to continue their climb to victory. In its final 20 minutes, the game continually shifted back and forth between the two teams, but Cri1t-‘s Phoenix’s Supernova proved to be absolutely devastating to the NP lineup, which had no way to deal with the pesky bird. Fights, continually went into EG’s favour near the 60-70 minute marks, and a final fight at 77 minutes sealed victory for EG, as NP all bought back for a desperation smoke but failed. NP now were the ones to take the time and regroup, as Evil Geniuses proved their namesake and seemingly befuddled the Canadians.
Game Three
In game three of the marathon series, both teams looked drained after the contest of game two. Team NP, however, seemed the worse of the two, and EG took the victory just after the 40-minute mark, sending the Canadians home in a respectable third place.
The early game was relatively demure compared to the pace of the last two games, but EG were the ones to take the initiative, starting the action in the midlane going up three kills to one early on. NP’s aggressive Luna trilane proved unsuccessful at contesting EG’s own, and EE was forced to rotate top to catch up on farm. Meanwhile, FATA- had a similarly tough game against SumaiL, who dominated him with his Puck in the midlane. Unlike previous games, EG were the ones to take down the first towers, and with their midgame push lineup, they continually pushed down objectives methodically.
In its final stages, Team NP showed some great farm efficiency, and continually kept the networth close to even. But gold wasn’t the story, as despite the networth, EG’s lineup was simply too tanky and too far ahead in item progression to be truly contested, along with their very strong teamfight ultimates. Around the 40-minute mark, EG sieged up NP’s last remaining set of barracks in the midlane, with the Canadians going for a failed smoke wraparound. The ensuing fight went in favour of the American squad, and NP called GG shortly after.
