LGD.int had their backs against the wall as they lost game 1, but the international mix came back and defeated their Chinese teammates in a very convincing fashion.
Game 1:
With Clinkz solo on the safelane, Yao could run his Magnus on the offlane even with the recent nerf to Skewer. The international squad ran a duo-offlane with Shadow Demon and Undying, while Enchantress would rotate bottom after getting a few levels up in the jungle. This bottom lane seemed to work out for the Dire, as they got an early kill off, but one gank later they overestimated themselves and lost two heroes in return. It was this moment that turned this bottom lane completely to the Radiant's favor. Add to that the freefarming Brewmaster and Magnus and the story of the game was already writte. Clinkz even got killed very early, delaying his Orchid. LGD.cn snowballed from there, with a farmed Luna, a completely underfarmed Dire side and crucial Reverse Polarities, resulting in the Chinese' win.
Game 2:
LGD.int once again opted to go for the solo mid Nyx Assassin. In the beginning, Xiao8's Invoker seemed to have the upper hand, but a smart smoke gank from 1437 and MiSeRy- turned the tides and G had full control of his lane. Meanwhile, Brax soaked up a lot of xp on the toplane and the two supports were on spot with their ganks on the enemy's supports. Lina and Rubick were often caught out of position. When Nyx Assassin and Luna turned level 7, both of them rotated top to take the first tower. It took them quite a while, seeing Brax' Tidehunter was still not level 6, but the international squad managed to get both the tower and retreating heroes.
LGD.cn had trouble fighting the Radiant side, seeing as their Invoker was completely underleveled and early Arcane Boots on the Radiant team negated his Tornado+EMP combination. The Chinese lost their outer towers very fast and were behind by 20 kills without having killed anyone and could barely defend their base. LGD.int forced the issue eventually and equalized.
Game 3:
This time around, the Chinese squad banned out Nyx Assassin, knowing what G is capable of doing with it. They also snatched away the Shadow Demon that 1437 got to play 2 times. LGD.int secured themselves a Night Stalker, which worked out wonders for them. Even though G had a hard time farming mid in the beginning, considering he was up against a Lone Druid, starting from the first night he made things happen. An early transition from LGD.int's two supports to the bottom lane gave them the edge and they opened up the map for G, who the Chinese seemed to fear. Sylar was on par with the Dire's farm, but the rest of his team was completely underfarmed and underleveled. The Chinese quickly lost map control and were forced back to their tier 2 towers.
The international squad made sure to take away most of their farm and jungle, without scoring too many kills. When forcing teamfights, G and Pajkatt were too strong to deal with, especially since none of the Chinese' supports could afford Ghost Scepters. The longer the game went, the tankier and stronger Night Stalker and Lycan became. It was Sylar who kept his team in the game, seeing as he farmed a fast Radiance and was able to deal a lot of damage by getting some crucial Entangles off. LGD.int however was always on spot when it came to retreating with minimal amounts of casualties, trading more efficient than the Chinese. Breaking highground was only a matter of time, as the farm kept increasing on G and Pajkatt, but they eventually forced out the the gg, winning the match-up 2-1.
Final thoughts:
LGD.int has played two impressive games and a rather sloppy one. If they keep the good performances up, they are definitely on top of the scene, seeing as their coordination so far has been top notch. On top of that, they seem to have read their enemy in games 2 and 3, made the right calls by rotating accordingly and giving G the space to be effective.
LGD.cn looked very strong in game 1, won all three lanes and finished quite early. In games 2 and 3 they were at an early disadvantage and they didn't seem to be able to cope with that. Their coordination also seemed a bit off, as their Disruption into Lightstrike Array combination did not work out.
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