Two weeks of Dota will come to an end tomorrow, as DC, EG, and Wings are the only remaining teams. Evil Geniuses, after a strong start through the group stages and the upper bracket, finally drop a series after facing Wings, who swept them in a convincing 2-0 victory. EG will be facing DC tomorrow in the lower bracket finals.
It has been a stellar run for DC, a team that was projected far from its 3rd place, minimum finish. On their road to the finals, they fell LGD, TNC, EHOME, and Fnatic, and were largely the underdog in every matchup. Part of this expectation is connected to their history, their paltry finishes in recent tournaments, and the fact that the current roster was assembled days before the lockout, from the remnant free agents of other teams. Yet, they’ve displayed a coherence and unity in their team play that has carried them into the final three of TI6.
MVP.Phoenix vs Fnatic
Regardless of who won this series, it was a collective win for the SEA region. TNC, Fnatic, and MVP.Phoenix outnumbered any other region for representation among the top 8.
MVP.Phoenix stuck to their aggressive roots, slightly diverted by Fnatic’s targeted bans for both games: Wisp, Axe, PA, Naga, and Alchemist. MVP’s strategies have been mostly one sided through the entire tournament, with casters and analysts often poking holes in their drafts before the game starts. But MVP’s singular, aggressive style has carried themselves to a top six finish, which is more than can be said about teams with well rounded drafts.
Despite MVP’s aggressive Slardar and Ogre opening, they were unable to leverage any early game advantage, which is a guaranteed disaster against a Tinker and Slark lineup. MVP had no inherent counters to either hero in their draft. It was Fnatic who found the upper hand in the laning stage, off the back of Ohaiyo’s Sand King. He was able to net two early kills in the offlane and later nailed several epicenter combos. Even a whiffed ultimate in the end was a blessing in disguise, when it baited MVP.Phoenix to overcommit.
Game 2 started off roughly for MVP again, as they their dual offlane of Faceless Void and Ogre Magi fed double kills, twice. Fnatic gained the edge in all three lanes, and soon all of MVP’s hopes all depended on perfect Chronospheres. They managed to win one fight, where a Chronosphere split Fnatic’s team, resulting in the kind of chaotic skirmish that MVP has excelled at all tournament. Fnatic managed to compose themselves afterwards and leveraged their gold advantage and their Medusa into the final base push.
Evil Geniuses vs Wings Gaming
It looked like Evil Geniuses were on a war path to the Grand Finals. They had yet to lose a game on the main stage, until they faced Wings.
Wings opened with a nostalgic, team fight draft composed of Razor, Enigma and Tidehunter. EG counter drafted with a mobile lineup, but they were unable to delay through the mid game, even with SumaiL leading the farm charts on his Sand King. EG lost all their Tier 2 towers by 23 minutes and despite Fear’s attempts to delay the game by lane cutting creeps, he couldn’t stop Wings’ inevitable push.
Game 2 saw several surprise last picks, with EG last picking Alchemist and Wings ending their lineup with a Medusa and Huskar duo. Despite a successful early start with a roaming Nighstalker and an Alchemist opting for a Solar Crest and Shadow Blade fighting build, rather than the Radiance and Manta farming build, EG still wasn’t able to hold down the early game. Wings turned a fight at Roshan and snowballed to a 23 minute victory.
Digital Chaos vs Fnatic
Like EG, Fnatic had yet to lose a game until their series opponents today. For a team that was cobbled together at the last second, Digital Chaos showed great composure and patience in their series win against Fnatic. They had accrued a 40k gold net worth advantage at 45 minutes before they ended the game. DC’s Slark and Dark Seer dual lane gave a huge early game advantage over Fnatic’s Phantom Lancer, who was continually underfarmed throughout the game. All three of DC’s cores were able to get the farm they needed. W33’s Ursa with Aghanims, Linkens, BKB, and Cheese was as immortal as you could be without an Aegis.
W33’s Invoker made a return in game 2, after finally being left in the drafting pool, and he made Fnatic pay for it. W33 made every play that you wish you could make on an Invoker, from early game solo kills, to Refresher combos, to fountain Sun Strikes. The Chaos Knight was another great draft pick by DC, which topped off the physical damage output of their draft to take care of Fnatic’s Huskar.
Monkey King Arrives
As soon as the final series ended, taiko drums boomed through KeyArena, and wushu martial artists danced onto the platform. At the end of the performance, they parted and the silhouette of Monkey King lit the stage, announcing the arrival of Dota’s first, new hero in three years. There are no details as of yet, except hints from the teaser that he’ll have a knockback ability, an illusion spell, and perhaps a way to disguise himself as a tree. He’s slated to be released in “The New Journey Update” this Fall, but knowing Valve’s history, we can consider “Fall” a soft deadline.
