World Cup Day 3: Winner's Bracket intensifies

Things were shaping up nicely in the World Cup as the 2nd round of the winner's bracket playoff began. With epic never before seen match-ups involving South East Asian powerhouses, everyone was looking forward to what this day had to offer. One match that caught the eyes of many, was the clash between FnaticMSI, the recently crowned champions of Europe, and their struggle against iMpUniTy, Singapore's number 1.

Some carries are just harder than others
A lot of hype was generated around this game as iMpUniTy, who had so far had a perfect start (although they had to get past CNB 2-1), clashed against European giants FnaticMSI. Game 1 unfortunately went horrible for iMpUniTy as they continued their streak of slow starts in the playoffs. Although they were winning 2 lanes, Trixi's gladiator was conceded free farm. Bad things continued to snowball for iMpUniTy, including losing their flying courier while using it to scout a Kongor attempt. This resulted in FnaticMSI cruising to an easy 1-0 lead in the series with N0tail getting a codex on his Soulstealer, to add insult to injury in light of their massive lead.

Game 2 was make-or-break for iMpUniTy. As in game 1 they started by getting a slight advantage during the laning phase but FnaticMSI eventually took over with some good ganks as momentum began to build up for the Legion side. A good teamfight for iMp kept them in the game but a couple of slip ups afterwards only cost them an even wider gap. Determined to stay in the winner's bracket, iMp managed a decent Kongor intercept at the 36th minute, killing 3 heroes, including Trixi, negating his Token immediately.

All looked lost however as FnaticMSI came back to genocide iMp, and Trixi was getting insanely farmed, pretty much completing his item set. While both sides decided to just farm up, surprisingly when Kongor respawned iMp just let MSI have it. However, meanwhile Madman was getting really beefed up as well which led to iMp having the EXP lead while MSI the gold. The game was decided after the final Kongor fight as Forsaken Archer and Madman obliterated the entire Fnatic team, both emerging unscathed from the fight. Finally iMp had enough of an advantage to mount a mid push to end the game.

Despite the epicness of their comeback in game 2, unfortunately iMp sort of ran out of steam after that, as they succumbed rather easily in game 3 in 30 minutes, with FnaticMSI's Witch Slayer-Glacius-Hammerstorm trilane crushing iMp's trilane from start to finish. 32-10 was the final hero kill score.

Meanwhile, an hour earlier, iMp's SEA compatriots DuskBin eSports had stormed into an early lead against the new Druidz Qpad team, formerly known as unZ. DuskBin dominated game 1 with their cohesive teamwork and an excellent approach to teamfights. A couple of gank attempts on key heroes Valkyrie and Defiler also failed for DrDz which was unfortunate. Another factor was that the timezones of both teams forced them to play with players who had just woken up which might have affected their performances.

Regardless, DrDz decided to pull a surprise move in game 2 as twista played a roaming Valkyrie to great effect, setting up kills all over the map. Although DskB showed some signs of life when Hag was on a streak, they were unable to keep Soulstealer down. Druidz eventually got Kongor and the advantage. Even with the most ideal of initiations DskB lost a teamfight, which was when it was made clear that there was no coming back from this game for DskB. They conceded at the 40 minute mark.

The third game was fairly action packed as both sides featured quite a few gankers. The advantage swayed back and forth in this game until a good teamfight landed DskB 4 hero kills and a kill on DrDz's flying courier. Forsaken Archer and Defiler were getting too farmed while initiators Witch Slayer and Devourer had already gotten their portal keys. DrDz conceded at the 45th minute.

Empire Multigaming vs Dirty Minds
Game 1 [18547290]		Game 2 [18555321]
DM		Empr
Empr		DM

Gankapalooza
Both sides went for a gamble in game 1 as Dirty Minds, famous for their creative picks and at one time heavy associated with aggressive lvl 1 Kongor and early push strategies, decided to go for an all out gank squad with no late game carry whatsoever. Meanwhile Empire went for a team that severely lacked crowd control. It proved to be a costly decision as Empr had no means to win ganks and teamfights against DM's nuke heavy arsenal.

Game 2 featured an even more baffling decision by Empr, as Phe`V, their usual carry player was playing Glacius. For a good portion of the game he was the highest GPM on the Legion team, which is both impressive yet depressing at the same time. DM decided to go with what worked for them in the 1st game, and it seemed as if Wretched Hags continued the roll they've been on lately as WehSing went on an Immortal streak with her. The token of life proved to be a decisive factor as Hag genocided Empr in a mid push. Game ends 36-56 in an action packed game.