Going into the semifinals you would think the second European Open Cup might end as the first did. Team Zealot and Team MAA both fought their way there undefeated, but that didn't matter to their opponents.
In the first semifinals match, Team Zealot faced against Polska Pamieta, a new team that did not participate in the first cup and who had also reached the semi-finals undefeated.
They came out determined to make a stand as they chose a triple tank composition with Sonya, Zarya and Anub'arak.
With her buff in the most recent game patch Sonys was was certainly the star of the game with a huge amount of sustain and burst damage, giving Team Zealot their first loss in the open division.
Game two was just as even as we saw on Dragon Shire, a map that has seen very little play as of late. Both teams went with a fairly typical composition, although Team Zealot came out with Xul, hoping to capitalize better on laning experience and crowd control. Once Polska reached level 16 they went out of control able to level up to a 19-17 lead taking the Dragon Knight, rolling through the bottom lane, and shutting out Team Zealot 2-0.
On the other side of the semi-finals matches Team MAA faced another team that was not present in the first cup, Tossers, who was also undefeated.
Already leading 1-0, Tossers looked to channel Polska's energy and take another sweep. Everything was on the line for Team MAA in game two and as Tossers had a stronger lead on seige damage at the beginning, Team MAA did better at rotating lanes and picking off out of position enemies. There were a ton of great team fights and skirmishes but not a lot of actual kills to pick up experience. With reaching level 13 and a webweaver push to back them up Tossers had a stronger advantage and wipes Team MAA 2-0.
While the third place decider match was not broadcasted, we do know that Team Zealot faced their Cup #1 enemies, Team MAA and beat them 2-0, taking the 50 extra standing points.
Hoping to take the early win in game one of the grand finals, Tossers picked one of the first Zul'Jin's we've seen since his release. With his damage and backup spells from Li-Ming the damage Tossers had was solidly strong but Polska had a better level lead overall.
It looked like it was all going Tossers way for a while, however Polska grabbed boss and attempted to go direct to core. Tossers had a good defense with the core getting down to 26% and a complete team wipe.
They had most of their teammmates down and still tried to put some damage on the core, but it was far too late. Death timers caught up as Polska came back to life and during a skirmish in the midlane Falstad flew to the Tossers core and took the win of game one.
Tied 1-1 after two, we had one of the few game three's throughout this cup.
Polska went with what they knew best with another triple warrior composition chosing Sonya, Zarya, and Muradin. On Infernal Shrines, Tossers pushed hard with their punisher bottom lane all the way to the core but after a 3-1 kill advantage and their allies far too low on health they couldn't complete the win. They immediately picked up the next punisher thanks to Ragnaros' Molten Core ability and after gaining two kills to none Tossers were able to take the grand finals 2-1.
Two weeks of European Open Division Cups are complete and if this second cup proved anything it's that this is certainly anyones game. The current point standings are:
170 - Team Zealot
120 - Tossers
100 - Team MAA
70 - Polska Pamieta
Think that your team has what it takes? Registration is already open for the third European Open Division Cup on February 14th.
Are you in North America? Well you're in luck! Registration for the first North American Open Division Cup is now open as well. Sign your team up here.
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