Only two cups remain until the North American Open Division playoffs. As the top four are now fairly clear, teams are fighting for the final four spots along with prize money and seeding going into the playoffs.
In the first semifinal, as Imported Support already ahead by one quick game over Donkeys R Us the teams headed to game two on Cursed Hollow. Imported traded a decent amount of experience but reached level 10 first right as the next tribute spawned earning them two. Donkeys R Us held a strong defense enough to deny Imported a curse along then secured the top boss for themselves. DRU earned the first curse but Imported prepared for it by taking camps to push top and mid to counter. While Donkeys R Us tried to push pressure bottom along with the boss, it wasn't enough for them to even touch the core. After a three man kill, Imported ignored the next spawning tribute and pushed all the way to the core to advance to the finals.
On the other side of the bracket, Heroes Hearth led the first game over Flame is Lame. They picked Stukov going into game two, a hero that has become quite familiar to the team. HH was simply able to keep up on experience quicker than Flame is Lame throughout the game. FiL was constantly behind at least two levels and didn't make any impressive moves enough to make a comeback as Heroes Hearth advanced to yet another finals.
In the first game of Imported Support and Heroes Hearth on Cursed Hollow HH had the early aggression but Imported split enough between lanes to level up quicker. As Imported fought for the third tribute for the curse Heroes Hearth could not deny it. With a successful push from that curse along with a boss it was all going the way of Imported Support. Finally at level 17, HH was able to engage for a fairly equal trade near the next tribute spawn. Thanks to that fight they were able to catch the boss and begin pushing the game back in their favor. While Imported took the next curse they couldn't get QUITE all the way to the core but they put enough damage on structures to leave HH bleeding. As Imported Support attempted to take the bottom boss essentially for the win, HH went for the back door and as Imported went to defend they inched away with the strong defense, leaving their core at 8% while wiping Heroes Hearth. Thanks to the boss already pushing, Imported were able to walk to the core to win the first game.
In game two the early game was very qual leading up to level 13. While Imported took control of the bottom bell towers on Towers of Doom they were able to zone out enough to take the next shots onto HH. Both teams continued to trade altars.
While game three was just as close as the previous two it was obvious Heroes Hearth would continue to be the better team. Taking Stukov as a comfort pick that treated them well in the semifinals, they also went with Chromie that turned into a DEADLY pick. Imported couldn't defend as well as they did in previous games along with punishers on Infernal Shines pushing HH over the edge to secure their fourth cup win.
While the third place match was not broadcasted on the main channel, we know Donkeys R Us defeated Flame is Lame 2-0.
From this victory, Heroes Hearth now surpass Donkeys R Us in the standings with 480 points. While the top four are just about set in stone for the playoffs the bottom four are still just about anyones game as eight teams total will advance for their chance to play in the Crucible.
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