Coming back from the brink of defeat, Cloud9 managed to take down Virtus.pro with a 3-2 score and become the second finalist of DreamLeague #2. Their next opponent will be Evil Geniuses, in the best-of-five Grand Final that will determine the champion of the tournament.
After almost two months of action, the troubled second season of DreamLeague is about to conclude. Cloud9 and Virtus.pro entered the arena in the best-of-five Lower Bracket final of the tournament, fighting for the second spot in today's Grand Final. The Russian squad used two very aggressive push strategies to gain a 2-0 advance in only 36 minutes of gameplay, but Cloud9 found their lost courage and turned the series around to 3-2. They will now have to endure their exhaustion and take on the most dangerous American team of the year, Evil Geniuses, in a match worth over $15,000.
Game One
Virtus.pro selected a strong early-game strategy with cores such as Jakiro, Nature's Prophet and Death Prophet. Cloud9 answered with a teamfight-oriented lineup with Batrider, Centaur and Faceless Void as their cores. The Russians showed their intentions quite early, with a lot of aggression during the first five minutes of the game. With Death Prophet hitting level 6, Virtus.pro put all their resources in a massive assault at the bottom lane, with Cloud9 being completely caught by surprise and losing their bottom barracks before the 12th minute. EternalEnvy's gang managed to take down Virtus.pro's retreating heroes, but the damage had already been done - the Russians continued their push from every lane against their weak opponents, eventually finishing the game by minute 20.
Game Two
Cloud9 chose to stay true to their previous strategy, selecting Witch Doctor to boost their Chronosphere combo. VP deployed an early game heavy push/nuke hybrid lineup, with core Zeus, Jakiro and Lycan. The game started with several questionable gank attempts by pieliedie's Vengeful Spirit that failed completely, giving G's mid Zeus a big injection of gold and experience. On top of that, Sedoy's Jakiro managed to survive and even outlevel his opponents' trilane, causing a lot of unnecessary trouble to EternalEnvy's Faceless Void. With Cloud9's forces being focused on the these two lanes, 633's Lycan was left alone, farming freely without any pressure. The time then came for the Russians to five-man and seal the deal, taking an easy Roshan by minute 12. Cloud9 only managed to delay the finishing push, with Virtus.pro destroying the middle barracks and forcing a 16-minute GG.
Game Three
Being one game from elimination, Cloud9 decided to put their trust on an old friend of theirs - Terrorblade. Their lineup aimed to protect the fragile carry from VP's dangerous gankers, with heroes such as Omniknight and Vengeful Spirit. The two teams were rather even in terms of gold and experience throughout the early game, with Russians being forced to gank in order to secure an advance. However, they were unable to shut down EternalEnvy's Terrorblade, who was allowed to farm without any danger for a large period of time. The tides changed complete by minute 33, when Sedoy was picked-off inside his jungle, allowing C9 to get an uninterrupted Roshan. The two following fights were disastrous for Virtus.pro, as EternalEnvy annihilated every target he hit using Metamorphosis. The first set of barracks went down by minute 39, and Cloud9 abused this getaway to win one more fight and go straight for the throne to finish the game.
Game Four
Virtus.pro decided to deploy a burst damage lineup with little focus on reliable crowd control. Cloud9 abused this minor weakness with another agility carry, Antimage. The four-protect-one lineup provided the utility and control required for the mandatory 4v5 fights of Antimage strategies, and EternalEnvy managed to survive the early and build a relatively fast Battle Fury. With both 633 and G being unable to snowball out of control, Cloud9 forced their own rhythm on the game, and push whenever they felt that EternalEnvy is farmed-enough. FATA-'s impressive performance on Puck created the space needed, and the luxurious inventory of Antimage soon arrived. With around 35 minutes on the clock, Cloud9 started forcing continuous fights and taking their first set of barracks by minute 41 and finishing the game four minutes later. It should be noted that this game was significantly delayed due to technical issues.
Game Five
The Russians attempted to replicate one of their first two successful push strategies, selecting Death Prophet and Luna as their main tools of tower demolition. C9 responded with a similar lineup as game three, this time boosting Terrorblade's damage with Natural Order. Cloud9 took the lead rather quickly in the game with successful rotations against G's Death Prophet. Virtus.pro attempted to retaliate using Treant Protector's shield, but the they seemed rather unprepared for the arrival of bOne7's Batrider. As EternalEnvy's inventory got more expensive by the minute, the situation reminded the spectators of the third game. Cloud9 raided Roshan at the 22nd minute mark, and pushed for victory. Once again, the Russians could not withstand the massive amounts of physical damage thrown at them. The top barracks went down by minute 28, a few seconds before VP's official elimination.
