These games were played in the Winner Bracket Final, in a best of three format, with the loser dropping down to the loser bracket final. Each match was closely contested, with each team fighting back and worth, the winner not yet known until the very end, as displayed in the second match.
| Game One | |||
 DDT |  Nirvana.int | ||
Sentinel EnotHOME!Ducky (Jungle)  zxcvbnm83 (Top)  SKGroda (Top)  Nv.Azen (Bot)  [-_-]Loda (Mid) | Scourge TeamHome^ppy (Bot)  Nv.Fear (Top)  Nv.Merlini (Top)  TeamHome^KuroKy (Bot)  Nirvana.DeMoN^^ (Mid) | ||
| Mode: -cm Map: 6.67c | |||
| Download Replay | |||
DDT did very well to pick to their strengths in the first game, having a nice balance between anti-push, push, gank, team fight and farming abilities. It must be said that DDT were extremely strong AoE wise, and this showed in the team fights later on.
The game started off even stevens, with both sides grabbing a few kills. Panda struggled somewhat to farm against the versatile Morph/ES lane, coupled with some very well executed harassment from Ducky, but Kuroky made up for it via some superb farming bot, soon reaching double the creep stats of his opponent, Azen. As the game progressed to mid game, Kuroky and Misery were looking rather dangerous, both basically farming unhindered. DDT were ahead on map control as Loda and Ducky roamed around the map, taking towers down in quick succession, thus providing their Morphling and PoTM with free lanes to farm. Nirvana.int were often seen scrambling from one corner of the map to the other, but some calculated co-ordination saw them grab a number of kills. The longer the game went on, the more Nirvana.int stuck together, playing as a single unit.
They made progress, yes, but Misery was left to free farm top, applying serious pressure and eventually grabbing the rax tower. From here on, it was a battle of wills, with each side testing and probing their opponents, searching for a weak spot. Nirvana.int had to be careful as they always had to keep one eye of their top lane for fear of the very mobile Morphing getting the raxes. Nirvana.int soon found their chance when they caught Ducky alone in his bush and it looked as if Nirvana.int were well on the road to getting mid rax down. Creeps were clear and Manta Styles were popped. The tower was rapidly losing health but out of nowhere came Twisted's ES with a well placed ulti which all but wiped out the Nirvana.int team, with only one hero surviving the onslaught that ensued. DDT waited for no invitation as the set off on the counter-attack. In Nirvana.int's final stand, some form of bug occurred as Panda's ultimate for some reason didn't go off, even though Fear had attempted to do so. This put the international team at a severe disadvantage and the well farmed carries of DDT tore through them like a knife through butter. Scourge lost one rax, then two and it was all over, Nirvana.int calling gg.
| Game Two | |||
| Nirvana.int | DDT | ||
Sentinel TeamHome^ppy (Top) Nirvana.DeMoN^^ (Bot)  Nv.Merlini (Bot)  TeamHome^KuroKy (Mid) Nv.Fear (Top) | Scourge zxcvbnm83 (Mid)  Nv.Azen (Top) EnotHOME!Ducky (Bot)  Ks^Miracle.se (Top) [-_-]Loda (Bot) | ||
| Mode: -cm Map: 6.67c | |||
| Download Replay | |||
Here, DDT were relying on the early game dominance of Batrider in order to allow their carries, Drow and Panda to farm up and grow in strength. Nirvana.int seemed to have a somewhat gank orientated line up, where one could picture Lanaya and Chen roaming around while allowing Nevermore and Morphling to farm. This was not the case of they took quite a passive approach to the game.
Early game saw the DDT down-right winning their lanes, crippling the Nirvana.int side and all but halting their farming capability. Fear's Morphling struggled against the ranged harassment delivered by Drow and Warlock, while Kuroky lost his solo lane to a very strong performance by Misery. Bot lane was somewhat neck and neck, but some nifty maneuvering and saves from Ducky denied Nirvana.int the chance to utilize the strength of a Nevermore/Lion lane. Soon DDT were all over Puppey and his soldiers, with Batrider causing havoc around the globe and Azen farming near perfectly at top lane, looking rather fat. DDT took one tower after another, and it looked as if it was going to be an early victory for them. But Nirvana.int refused to give in. They fought tooth and nail right up to their rax tower, somehow holding off the dominant DDT pack. After some careless play from DDT (delving too far into Sentinel's base), and a well timed timed ultimate from Demon, Nirvana.int were able to net a couple kills, alleviating some pressure on them.
Kuroky was then allowed to safely farm mid, whereas Morphling and Nevermore made great use of their AoE abilities, farming up and pushing back the side lanes, allowing themselves to get back into the game. Kuroky made very controversial decision of buying Helm of the Dominator on Lanaya, but his reasoning is explained in the quote below. After their major defeat at mid, DDT were forced to attemp pushing mid with all of their heroes, which allowed SF and Morph to push the side lanes, grab a couple towers and then teleport back for the fight. Nirvana.int were slowly gaining the upperhand, their carries soon seemed too daunting for the single Drow Ranger. Nirvana.int won fight after fight, battering away at the DDT forces, and SF and Morph continued their pressure via their pushes. Nirvana.int broke through DDT by using the tri-lane push which was so popular at SMM '09. With the DDT team split, Nirvana.int picked them off easily due to Lanaya slow traps. DDT put up a valiant defence, but by now Nirvana.int were too strong for them and once again, gg was called after two raxes were down.
| Game Three | |||
| DDT | Nirvana.int | ||
Sentinel [-_-]Loda (Mid)  zxcvbnm83 (Bot)  EnotHOME!Ducky (Bot) SKGroda (Top) Ks^Miracle.se (Top) | Scourge TeamHome^ppy (Roaming)  Nv.Fear (Bot) Nv.Merlini (Bot) TeamHome^KuroKy (Mid)  Nirvana.DeMoN^^ (Top) | ||
| Mode: -cm Map: 6.67c | |||
| Download Replay | |||
When looking at Nirvana.int hero choice for this game, three words spring to mind: gank, gank, gank. It was almost certain that Nirvana.int would lose if they failed to shut down DDT's carries, but one cannot deny that the early game power that this side possesses is nothing short of frightening.
Kuroky won his lane hands down, out playing and last hitting better than Loda. This granted the German the early game farm he needed in order to be effective as a roamer mid game. Omniknight, picked solely to protect and shield Storm Spirit, failed to do so against the strong nuking bot lane that Nirvana.int had, with Puppey often popping out the bush to provide that last second stun needed to grab the kill. This applied pressure destroyed Misery's dreaded storm, as he boasted four deaths early on in the game and Fear grabbing Boots of Travel in eight minutes. Top saw Twisted farming comfortably against Beastmaster, but some intellegent play from Demon saw him win the lane as he managed to kill Nevermore a handfull of times. Once Demon and Fear had their BoT's, there was no place to hide for DDT. Nirvana.int insta-gibbed them left right and centre, somewhat taking the rug from under the feet of DDT.
Scourge were well on top of the game, with several more kills than their opponents, with Fear going Godlike with Tinker. For some reason, Nirvana.int seemed to take the foot of the gas, and for a good 5-10 minutes, there was little pressure placed on DDT. This allowed Nevermore to grab his Manta and Storm to finish off his Linken's Sphere. They were however, always covered by their support heroes, which all but took the support heroes out of the game as they were left standing around, not doing much at all. Misery was starting to pick up a few kills, and it looked as if DDT might make a come back. A crucial fight near to bottom rune spot almost saw DDT get the win they spo desperately needed, but Tinker proved to be too farmed for them, picking up a triple kill, two of which came from his March of the Goblins. By now, the combined mana burn from Necro Book 3, Diffusal and Nerubian Assassin was too much for Storm. Nirvana.int continuously picked off their enemies and it took its toll on DDT, as they were not able to defend against Nirvana.int's surge through mid. Nirvana.int had won their best of three match through a suprise turn around, guaranteeing themselves a spot in the grand final.
GosuGamers got the chance to speak to star player, Kuroky, after his team's much deserved win:
-"The games against DDT were challenging and as expected, they put up a really good fight despite their recent roster changes. I'm happy to see my old mate, Twistd, back in their roster, I'm sure he will make them stronger in the long run. About the games: first game they simply made less mistakes than we did, although we had the upperhand. This allowed them to get their Butterflies first, which handed them the win. The 2nd game started out bad for us, but our
lineup was focused on pushing and teamfights. Eventually, our picks paid off in the fights. About my item build: it's pretty simple, the Helm of the Dominator is a new way to play TA. Everybody should try it out before critisizing it! (Smiles) Jokes aside, as I said our heroes focussed on pushing and teamfight so therefore I needed to do damage in the long run, not just burst damage. So, I decided to get lifeleech and butterfly to work more as a carry than a ganker. The last game was simply played by us; we just used our hero and lane advantage and eventually won."Who would you prefer to face in the final?
-"MYM. Simply because they're more likeable."
DDT refused to provide a statement after their defeat.
As it has played out, Kuroky won't get his wish in facing MYM in the finals, but will instead play DDT for a second time in a row. The question is: Will Nirvana.int be able to pull off back to back wins? Or will DDT deny them the chance to get the better of them?
The Grand finals of Farm 4 Fame: Second Blood will be played this Sunday 18.00 CET. Place your bet NOW!.
Stayed tuned to GosuGamers, your home of DotA, for coverage of this special event.
