In the most thrilling game of the event so far, Mineski managed to carry, or more accurately resurrect the Philippine dream of a non-Chinese SMM winner, turning around an almost lost game against MiTH in the fifth loser bracket round. Nirvana will be the last team to beat before a possible rematch against iG in the grand final.
Going into the game, the Filipinos had a good start, as bottom lane was shut down from the start, due to an aggressively playing Crystal Maiden, Earthshaker and Nerubian Weaver who knew how to execute their advantage better than MiTH in superior number on top, where a Sand King stood his scorpion against a Broodmother-Lion formation.
What should later become a big problem for the Filipinos was a farming Anti-Mage with Lich-support on mid, who had free hand against an endangered Tiny, who despite being able to toss the blinking demon back, did not have much room to farm. Mineski collected experiences with the feared carry however and know how to overcome him, as the priorly played round against LGD proves.
After the badly-running early game for MiTH, things got moving for the Thais who started to roam successfully with Lion getting the one or another kill onto Nerubian Weaver. This lead to a slightly slower ten minutes, inwhich both teams tried to farm up their carries. Biggest benefitor of this period was Anti-Mage, who completed a Heart as well as Battle Fury, leaving him fearless to solo-wipe Mineski-supporters and becoming 'the' force to potentially decide the game.
As the first team fights were won as well and the Philippine base entered, for the one or another time, it was MiTH who later threw the advantage away, after a decisive kill onto Anti-Mage who got into a fight against four opposing heroes, who battled the Nightelvish Demon for a good four minutes before taking his head.
Immediately afterwards, the Thais' moral was broken and Mineski went for the base destroying four barracks in the first attempt, before claiming the rest in the second.
It is the path of Mineski that makes this event is worth following, as only the Filipinos were able to edge out a Chinese team to now finish in top three. The high 'area-of-effect' potential that clears creeps so well, respectively puts a lot of pressure on towers, turned out to be uncomfortable for many of their opponents so far and counting.
With iG highly favoured in the grand final, the currently running loser bracket final versus Nirvana.cn now evolves to the most interesting match of the tournament, given that Mineski now get to meet a team of slightly higher caliber, yet seemingly beatable who they havent face yet.
