As the West qualification tournament is down to just four teams left, every game can be the last. mTw and zNation were set to play the lower bracket final and both have to win three more games to get the last sport for Seattle.
Both zNation and mTw had high hopes going into the lower bracket final. The previous day was perfect for both teams. mTw was undefeated in map score, winning 2-0 against Infused followed by a 2-0 against Quantic. The Russian players of zNation were pumped because of the team's important win against Virtus.Pro.
Game 1: Stalianer removed from the game
First game between mTw and zNation is dominated by Stalianer, playing on Morphling, being successfully shut down. Just as mTw have shut down Quantic's Korok the day before, they mostly remove Morphling from the game this time.
Stalianer ended up with a 1-9-0 Morphling, which is definitely not what you want to happen in the lower bracket final of The International qualifier. Interestingly, syndereN did not play Natures Prophet in this game, but Leshrac. mTw wins game 1 after 35 minutes with Riki getting most of the kills, as intended.
mTw
zNationBANS
PICKS
Game 2: zNation outpicked - until minute 25
Second game can be seen partially as a demonstration of how to outpick a team. Broodmother gets countered by Sandking, Brewmaster by Night Stalker, Lone Druid can just as much solo push as Broodmother can and is probably even better in late game. Enchantress even allows mTw to push towers from the beginning on.
The early game of zNation gets destroyed by Sandking first ruining Enigma'f offlane play, then switching to bottom lane and fighting against Broodmother. Two highlights are notable: An almost save kill on Sandking get's prevented by Shadow Demon disrupting him at the worst timing: When Broodmother wanted to attack and finish him off. With Disruption buying Sandking time, the cooldown for Burrow Strike wears off and Sandking escapes to safety.
After half an hour, mTw want to kill the third tier 3 tower they bring it down to 10hp, but Enchantress misses six hits in a row, dying eventually without tearing down the tower. This opens up a chance for zNation out of basically nothing. They kill Sandking shortly after, who bought Veil of Discord and is unable to buyback.
zNation kill the tier 3 tower in mid after a very well placed Black Hole, avoid the barracks and attack directly the tier 4 towers. The Russians manage to kill both of them, but mTw is back with a few buybacks and defend the throne. With the momentum being back on mTw's side they push zNation back and barely destroy the Radiant throne because of Sockshka staying slightly out of the fight attacking the throne from the back. mTw win the second match and proceed into the consolation final.
zNation mTwBANS
PICKS
mTw keeps being undefeated in the lower bracket. zNation finishes the qualification in 4th place. Now, it's down to just mousesports, NEXT.kz and mTw. syndereN and his teammates will play the loser of mouz vs. NEXT.kz in the consolation final.
Get more information about the games in the match details.
