Game 1:
Top lane
LGD.int - Naix, Chen, Shadow Demon
TongFu - NightStalker, Lina, Witch Doctor
Mid lane
LGD.int - Dark Seer
TongFu - Lone Druid
Bot lane
LGD.int - Luna
TongFu - Magnus
MiSery- and 1437 opted to gank Lone Druid in the early game, to give God the neccessary space and to delay the Radiance as much as possible. Luna had complete freefarm on the bottom lane, while Night Stalker had trouble on top, with Chen and Shadow Demon constantly rotating and ganking.
LGD.int was always on the foot and forcing the issue, with TongFu only being able to react. Their combination with Magnus' Reverse Polarity and Witch Doctor never worked, seeing as TongFu was always on the backfoot and 1437 was on spot with his Disruptions.
A big teamfight at the top tier 1 tower showed LGD.int's gold and xp advantage in the game, as Witch Doctor's ultimate dealt almost no damage to the Radiant side and TongFu lost four heroes. LGD.int did not stop pushing and caught two supports off guard, forcing down the tower and gaining control over the whole map, including the Dire's jungle.
Acquiring the Aegis, LGD.int pushed and a tanky Dark Seer-Naix-bomb quickly killed off two heroes and forced out two rax and the gg.
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Game 2:
Top lane
LGD.int - Lone Druid
TongFu - Windrunner
Mid lane
LGD.int - Beastmaster
TongFu - Templar Assassin
Bot lane
LGD.int - Tinker
TongFu - Naix, Rubick, Keeper of the Light
Roaming
LGD.int - Shadow Demon, Enchantress
1437 and MiSeRy- once again opened up the map for their team through ganking and roaming. Shadow Demon actually managed to snipe off the Radiant courier, delaying TA's bottle in the midlane. This way, God could get the advantage he needed and was able to farm on par, while Pajkatt and Hao both had freefarm on their lanes. The ganking from SD and Enchantress gave LGD.int the early edge, as they kill off Windrunner and TA two times in the midlane. In addition, MiSeRy- managed to kill KotL with his Harpy.
Brax kept stacking ancients and managed to get Boots of Travel within 13 minutes, keeping the lanes pushed and gaining more and more map control for the Dire. TongFu was once again on the backfoot, being behind in gold, xp and kills. They tried to get something going by ganking the Beastmaster in the midlane, but LGD.int could retreat without casualties. When attempting yet another gank, TongFu overextended and dove to far, losing two heroes for one.
They looked to maybe get a comeback with the farm on Naix, but with Beastmaster's Roar, Tinker's March of the Machine and Lone Druid's Bear, LGD.int were fully prepared to take Naix' Rage on and managed to win several engagements. TongFu could not stop the heavy push from LGD.int and called the GG after they lost two sets of rax.
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Game 3:
Top lane
LGD.int - Lifestealer
TongFu - Lone Druid, Sand King, Shadow Demon
Mid lane
LGD.int - Dark Seer
TongFu - Brewmaster
Bot lane
LGD.int - Shadow Fiend
TongFu - Nature's Prophet
Roaming
LGD.int - Chen, Rubick
Another story of how 1437 and MiSeRy gets the first blood with together with G, another successful early roam. This time though Prophet teleported in blocking their retreat, causing Rubick to fall to Dire. Pajkatt got free farm bot and G oufarmed Mu mid, the top lane was rather contested so neither Hao nor Brax could get their hands on that big chunk of farm. LGD.int tried to get some kills on the lane but it backfired with good awareness from TongFu aswell as the help of Prophet. LGD.int had to drop the aggression on the top lane, allowing Lone Druid to get farm.
Instead, LGD.int moved around the map as seen before, opting to take down all the towers on the other lane before grouping up as five and taking the towers on the "trouble lane" aswell. They ran this tactic this game aswell, Brax' Lifestealer wasn't overfarmed but he had Phase Boots and Drums and with Wounds and Rage he was always useful. TongFu wasn't really prepared for the Lifestealer play, despite facing him yesterday and despite Hao often playing it himself. An example of this was when Lifestealer infested Shadow Fiend and teleported bot to defend the tower from Prophet and Lone Druid. TongFu only expected Shadow Fiend and dusted him right away, but out popped Lifestealer and Prophet died in a few fragments. LGD.int then denied the tower and killed Hao aswell.
LGD.int had some issues while trying to take down mid raxes and was fought off and Pajkatt died, but he bought back right away since Brewmaster and Sand King both had ultis on cooldown. TongFu couldn't defend a second time without these skills and lost the barracks. The game was pretty much over, LGD.int took down top aswell and TongFu called gg and got eliminated.
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Final thoughts:
LGD.int reaches the grand final after taking down TongFu 3-0, very impressive for their first LAN tournament with this team. They are looking very strong and have shown that they have several strategies and line-ups up their sleeve. Even though TongFu banned MiSeRy-'s Chen, they could not shut down the constant rotation coming out from LGD.int's supports. LGD.int could've opted for the Luna again in game 2, were however confident in their flexibility.
TongFu has been too passive in the two first games. They always tried to secure Hao's farm and let MiSeRy- and 1437 roam too much. TongFu kept losing two lanes and didn't gain enough on their carry, making it harder and harder for them to come back. On top of that, their laning seems predictable and LGD.int has so far read their every move. In the third game, TongFu picked up Prophet for more global presence and did a few good counterganks but it was mostly due to LGD initating. They still couldn't deal with the aggressive laning and early pushing from LGD.
