Team Empire overcame iCCup's rampage in the March edition of Techlabs Cup. iCCup took down Virtus.Pro and Na`Vi before having to settle for second while Empire bagged $5,000 and a free entry to Techlabs Cup main event.
Team Empire has won the March edition of the Techlabs Cup after they defeated underdog team, iCCup 2-1 with a one game advantage coming from the Winner Bracket.
Big upsets hit the event very early in Europe as iCCup took down Virtus.Pro in the first round of the Winner Bracket while Empire took down Na`Vi.
Next in the itinerary was the first round of the loser bracket between Na`Vi and Virtus.Pro. An impressive performance by Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin, who hit multiple crucial Reverse Polarities on his Magnus, secured Na'Vi the win, thus advancing to the Loser Bracket final.
Meanwhile, Empire successfully defeated underdog, iCCup in the final of the Winner Bracket and hence, advancing into the Grand Final with a one game advantage.
After much delay in the scheduling, iCCup took on Na`Vi in the Loser Bracket Final and once again stunned thousands of viewers with some amazing plays from the Wisp and the Chaos Knight. The combo made Na`Vi group up and lost a lot on experience and gold while iCCup simply took control of the map and defeated the favourites.
iCCup earned themselves a spot in the Grand Final and the chance for a revenge against Empire although Empire did have a one game advantage.
Grand Final - iCCup vs Team Empire
The game started out very dominant for Team Empire with their very gank-oriented heroes. This includes a Triple Kill by Queen of Pain before the 15th minute mark. Empire also won a big engagement near the Rosh pit and took down Roshan shortly after.
However, that was just the beginning of iCCup's massive comeback. After Magnus managed to pull off several good Reverse Polarity to win iCCup some fights, Lifestealer found space for himself to get some much needed farm.
Magnus bought Refresher Orb just slightly after 25 minutes and pulled off more impressive Reverse Polarities pushing their gold lead up to 11,000 in 28 minutes. As iCCup came knocking on Empire's base entrance just three minutes after and destroyed Empire again before they pulled out the white flag.
iCCup opted for the element of surprise in the second game, picking up the Axe. Although iCCup wanted to place Axe in the off-lane initially, Axe soon made the decision to head into the jungle knowing he is up against a solo Gyrocopter.
Pressure from the Keeper of the Light caused a quick push on the safe-lane for iCCup and the supports started moving around the map looking for a hero to be caught off guard.
iCCup's persistence on fighting the 5v5 gave the opening for Empire to return into the game as they won two team fights off great Reverse Polarities by the Magnus. Magnus picked up his Blink Dagger at 16 minutes.
The early lead gave a lot of space for Empire's Gyrocopter to farm and he dealt a huge amount of damage to iCCup heroes come mid-game. With all the big AOE spells, Empire forced themselves into iCCup's base and ended the underdog's great run in the March edition of the Techlabs Cup.
With the win, Team Empire walked away with a grand total of $5,000 and an entry pass to TechLabs Cup main event in Minsk, Belarus at the end of the year. iCCup will have to settle for second.
| TechLabs Cup March 2013 | ||
| Placing | Team | Prize |
| 1st place |  Empire | $5,000 |
| 2nd place |  iCCup | $3,000 |
| 3rd place | Natus Vincere | $1,500 |
| 4th place | Virtus.Pro | $500 |