The group stage of StarLadder Finals is in the books now, and in the aftermath of the back-and-forth group B, it is Na`Vi joining Secret in the winner bracket alongside EG and Team Tinker from group B. The remaining teams will start off in the lower bracket.
Yesterday, EG and Team Secret were off to good starts, winning both their initial matches as somewhat expected by the general masses. Cloud9's matches were postponed until today due to bOne7's medical situation, former Team Empire captain Mag will be standing in for the rest of the tournament in his place. No team is eliminated during the group stage, but securing top two is still important as teams doing so will start off in the winner's bracket. The bottom two of each group will play their first playoff match in the loser bracket, where the first two rounds are merciless best-of-ones.
Team Secret is the only team who managed to win all their matches and will face off versus Team Tinker in the first winner's bracket semi final. Evil Geniuses, despite losing their last game to Cloud9, finished first in group A due to how the rest of the matches panned out. Alliance, Virtus.Pro, Cloud9 and IAP.XctN will have to try their luck in the loser bracket.
Cloud9 got one of their flagship drafts, focused around Drow, Visage as well as another group of three ranged heroes, giving them a huge amount of early physical damage, especially with Venge in the lines. Team Tinker's response was a carry-absent line-up with lots of early aggression potential, with Centaur, Viper and Pajkatt's jungling Axe. Despite Axe getting a very good start, they did not manage to find the kills or objectives they needed, and instead, often ended up trading. Tinker seemingly underestimated the heavy physical output of Cloud9, even in early stages. In the midgame with Crimson Guard up (along side the WD heal and Io Overcharge), Tinker managed to fight better and from there on capitalized on EE's lack of BKB. In a fight just by Tinker's base, their line-up showed its true colours and destroyed Cloud9. Afterwards, Tinker's heroes were too tanky and had too much team fight control, and C9 eventually tapped out.
EternalEnvy picked Necrophos for himself and rushed a Rod of Atos by minute 8. The game saw some even trades early on but a miscalculation by Cloud9 and a lucky Backtrack by Universe's Void resulted in Arteezy getting a triple kill shortly after said Rod of Atos completion. Once Bristle and Necro started joining the same fights, however, it became tricky for EG to fight versus the massive sustain and damage over time from Cloud9. The game kept an even pace but Cloud9 managed to brute force a fight outside EG's base and took the mid barracks. Afterwards they tried to throne it directly, but got wiped after taking both tier 4 towers. They attempted the throne again but once again were wiped. After a death dance back and forth, Cloud9 managed to secure Aegis + Cheese, after which they finished EG off. Tiebreakers may be forced in both groups now if Cloud9 beats Alliance and Secret beats Na`Vi.
C9 opted for a rather greedy line-up with an Anti-Mage and a jungling Doom. Alliance answered with a very midgame orientated line-up, with a safelane Slark, a mid Batrider and an aggressive trilane. Even though the laning stage was not too bad for C9, the Swedes took the lead with Apemother's Mekanism, starting to push, gank and ultimately gain a lot of map control. Alliance proceeded to pick off multiple heroes and was able to force the issue, coordinated ganks and teamfights ensured objectives. Cloud9 was unable to keep up with the amount of farm on Alliance's side and could not defend the highground pushes, eventually conceding their second groupstage loss.
Group A has finished and will see Evil Geniuses and Team Tinker advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs, whereas Alliance and Cloud9 will be placed in the lower bracket.
Team Secret vs. Natus Vincere - 1:0
Na'Vi started with a promising draft and laning stage, which looked to counter Secret's draft. The Ukrainians opted for gank heavy heroes that would be able to dominate the laning stage and it seemed to go that way, but bit by bit Team Secret was able to get the upper hand and won all three lanes, scoring multiple kills with their aggressive trilane combo of Necrophos, Io and Mirana. Team Secret kept rolling and did not show any weaknesses whatsoever and the sustain out of Io and Necrophos allowed them to keep pressuring. Na'Vi fell behind immensely, not finding the items or the openings they needed, and eventually had to call out a GG after getting wiped multiple times.
With this result, Team Secret advances as the group winner and the rest will play out a tiebreaker. Tiebreakers will be best-of-ones all around, but if no winner can be decided, time ratings will determine who goes into the upper bracket and who drops down to the lower bracket.
TIEBREAKER - Natus Vincere vs Virtus.Pro - 1:0
Virtus.Pro selected a tanky teamfight-oriented lineup with Treant Protector, Witch Doctor and Batrider setting up the kills for Razor and Dragon Knight. The Ukrainians responded with a heavy nuke-based lineup with mid Ancient Apparition. The early game strength of Na'Vi helped them gain an early lead, going 13-3 in the first ten minutes of the game. However, several mistakes by Funn1k and the two supports allowed Virtus.Pro to eradicate the gold and experience gap, stepping right back into the game. It was XBOCT's Weaver that saved the day for Na'Vi - his impressive farm allowed them to maintain the upper hand in terms of pushing and teamfight power, imprisoning Virtus.Pro in their side of the river. The final outcome of the match was decided a little over 60th minutes into the game, with Na'Vi winning two consecutive teamfights and finally breaching Virtus.Pro's base.
TIEBREAKER - IAP.XctN vs Virtus.Pro - 0:1
Execration deployed an unusual trilane with Witch Doctor, Skywrath Mage and core Jakiro, while the Russians answered with an aggressive trilane with Ancient Apparition, Ogre Magi and Mirana. The early stages of the game were disastrous for the Philippine squad, as both the trilane and Jay's Razor were completely crushed. God's Windrunner was allowed to snowball out of control, reaching a Beyond Godlike streak rather early into the game. As the Russians controlled the entire map, XctN could do nothing but wait patiently inside their base and hope for a solid counterattack. The lack of a solid late-game carry on VP's side delayed the game significantly, but the continuous split-push eventually overwhelmed Execration and forced out the GG.
TIEBREAKER - IAP.XctN vs Natus Vincere - 0:1
IAP based their early game on their two roaming supports, Shadow Demon and Mirana, hoping to buy enough time for their Medusa to get strong. While several gank attempts were successful, the Abaddon selection by the Ukrainians allowed Na'Vi to mitigate most of the damage. This allowed Funn1k's Faceless Void to go farm uninterrupted and turn into Na'Vi's main weapon. Since the remaining four heroes of each team were fighting constantly, the game turned into a farming race between Medusa and Faceless Void. However, Void's natural utility combined with Diffusal Blade allowed Na'Vi to have a much stronger presence in each teamfight. As the game approached the 40th minute mark, it became obvious that the Filipino squad did not have enough damage and survivability to contain their opposition. The 4-0 engagement victory by Na'Vi by minute 43 put the final nail in the coffin for Execration, as the SEA representatives fell to the Lower Bracket.
Remaining matches
Friday, October 24
18.30 CEST - Secret vs Tinker (WB semi, bo3)
22.00 CEST - EG vs Na'Vi (WB semi, bo3)
Saturday, October 25
10.00 CEST - Cloud9 vs VP (LB round 1, bo1)
11.45 CEST - Alliance vs IAP.XctN (LB round 1, bo1)
13.30 CEST - Lower Bracket, round 2, match 1, bo1
15.15 CEST - Lower Bracket, round 2, match 2, bo1
18.00 CEST - Winner Bracket final, bo3
Sunday, October 26
11.00 CET - Lower Bracket, round 3, bo3
15.00 CET - Lower Bracket, final, bo3
19.00 CET - Grand Final, bo5
The team from the winner bracket will start the grand final with a 1-0 advantage
