The rankings begin to solidify as day 3 of the Dota 2 Asia Championships kicks off. EG and Secret still stand undefeated atop the pile, while Cloud 9, Newbee, MVP.Phoenix, and HGT duke it out for a spot at the playoffs.
Going into day 3 of the Dota 2 Asia Championships, things have turned grim for Cloud 9, who look to be the primary victim of the great "Western Winter Shuffle." Where Evil Geniuses and Team Secret stay undefeated, invigorated by their shots of new blood, EternalEnvy and company are directionless, ending day 2 without a victory. On the other hand, Na'Vi reverse their fortunes, joining a third of the other teams at 4 wins after a disappointing opening day. As day 3 progresses, look for teams such as C9 and TI4 champions Newbee either pull themselves together or see their shot at the playoffs, and their portion of the $2.5 million dollar prize pool, dwindle.
Read quick summaries about the played games:
- Day 2, part 1: Round Robin, round 16-18
- Day 2, part 1: Round Robin, round 13-15
- Day 2, part 1: Round Robin, round 10-12
- Day 1, part 3: Round Robin, round 7-9
- Day 1, part 2: Round Robin, round 4-6
- Day 1, part 1: Round Robin, round 1-3
- Day 0: Wildcard qualifiers
Our day 3 coverage begins here with round 19-21:
Round 19
Rave vs. Cloud 9 0-1
Cloud 9 got to a good start scoring a first blood before creeps spawned, allowing C9 to pull ahead in their lanes. In order to push this advantage, C9 tried for two smoke ganks, one failed, one got two. With this advantage, C9 avoided fights and found pick offs, furthering their lead; they also took Roshan and pushed mid. This is where C9 won a teamfight 4-0. One thing led to another as C9 took control of the map and restricted Rave's farm amassing a 14k gold lead by 16 minutes and when Rave met the full force of this gold lead, they were crushed.
Big God vs. CDEC 1-0
It was a simple plan for Big God in their day 3 opener: Spin to win. After using their first two draft picks to pick two of the spin kings, Juggernaut and Axe, the old boys began their domination at minute one. CDEC, forced to secure their middle lane Sniper's farm with Garder's Skywrath Mage, had to sacrifice their offlane Faceless Void to the B-God. Still, Burning showed no mercy. Supported by some supreme Visage familiar micro from LanM, the "retired" carry burst heroes with ease, putting pressure all across the map with a surprise Shadowblade, making sure that no one on CDEC felt safe alone. Even when Mikasa's Batrider pulled off a perfect initation, Burning still appeared to clean up the remains, gaining BG a 14k gold lead at 25 minutes. While timid late game play led to some successful base defences for CDEC, it was only a matter of time before Burning and squad broke through for the game.
Secret vs. EHOME 1-0
Apparently, Puppey does well against EHOME. While the Chinese team drafted solidly against the Secret, especially in their pickup of Timbersaw versus four strength heroes, they never really seemed to have a chance. Kuroky's Io, off to an early lead through some timely bounty runes, served to remind EHOME that the Tiny + Wisp combination is still as potent as ever, pressuring the map several times more than Inflame's almost entirely useless Spiritbreaker. Combined with the Global Silence of Puppey, teamfights were a breeze for Secret as they pushed for an easy gg at 32 minutes. Arteezy's Tiny ended the game 11-0-14.
Round 20
iG vs. EHOME 0-1
EHOME, fresh off their domination by Team Secret, looked shaky entering round 20 of the group stages. It was iG, however, who were shakier. Though the match was even for the most part coming out of the laning phase, June's quick blink dagger on Axe kept down Yang's Juggernaut. This, along with their strong teamfight lineup centered around Omniknight and the immovable Ferrari Medusa, gave iG the edge for a majority of the game. But, after securing one lane of barracks, it was iG's misplays that gave EHOME the inch they needed. Immediately after losing those barracks, EHOME wiped iG on the back of Inflame's perfectly placed Death Ward. Nine minutes later, they repeated their success, killing 4 heroes and only losing the Witch Doctor in the process. Immediately, Medusa bought back, only to find himself soloing the entire EHOME team. Without their only carry, iG quickly called "GG."
With 2 kills going in the HGT's favor before 30 seconds had lapsed, HyperGloryTeam versus TongFu started off explosively. The early bloodbath continued when HGT concentrated almost exclusively on punishing Kabu's greedy Enigma pick. Midgame, TongFu was eager to fight with their teamfight heavy lineup revolving around big ultimates like Black Hole and Wall of Replicate, but HGT played around their cooldowns, securing the farm on ZSMJ's Anti-Mage until he was simply too big to deal with.
LGD opted for a very passive line-up and playstyle, centered around a core Medusa. CDEC on the other hand picked a very teamfight orientated line-up, but the game turned rather slowpaced with only little kills. By nature of both line-ups, CDEC had the advantage early on and was able to pressure LGD more. A few engagements resulted in a back and forth, but CDEC eventually made use of their advantage and took out LGD and a set of rax. LGD fought valiantly but CDEC proved to be too strong at that point.
Round 21
Both teams drafted aggressive line-ups and Big God even chose to go for an aggressive trilane with two roaming supports. The retirees had firm control over the game and kept pressuring NewBee, not giving the TI4 champions any room to recover. Big God's Moprhling and Shadow Fiend spiraled out of control and there was nothing NewBee could respond with, despite Rabbit's best effort to keep up with farm.
MVP.Phoenix vs. Team Secret 0-1
Both teams chose a rather control orientated line-up, but MVP found themselves with their backs to the walls from the getgo as Secret took control of the game early on. With a Lycan and Enigma, the Europeans were able to punish every engagement with an objective. Especially s4 on his Puck made sure to keep his team ahead and MVP had no response to his burst damage and it was just a matter of time until the team tapped out.
A very aggressive line-up from Na'Vi was able to hold its own during the laning stage, as especially Dendi was able to outlane SumaiL's Shadow Fiend. The rotation and response from Na'Vi was on point and the squad was able to outplay the North-Americans during multiple teamfights. When both teams trade rax and EG tps back to defend theirs, Na'Vi's sustain and coordination wipes EG and gives them an even bigger advantage. A final highground push eventually spells doom for EG and they call gg.
Round 22
Vici Gaming vs. Hellraisers 1-0
Vici Gaming built a line-up around a safelane Drow Ranger and a mid Shadow Fiend, resulting in a very stable laning stage for the Chinese due to the Aura. Hellraisers aggressive line-up was unable to move around the map and find necessary kills, and Black^ and Super remained the top two farmers. Attempts to bring down Vici Gaming in teamfights resulted in unfavorable trades and Vici Gaming eventually breached highground and could not be stopped.
Rather unconventionally, Rave picks up a more passive line-up, as HGT poses the aggressive draft. Rave had a lot of teamfight control with the Medusa and Warlock and was able to punish and repel any incoming aggression from HGT. It was in fact Rave that held the lead and HGT was eventually out of answers against the heavy teamfight and burst potential from Rave.
TongFu chose an aggressive trilane with an Axe to contest EternaLEnvy's farm on his Gyrocopter. The trilane however failed to capitalize on their advantage. At the same time, bOne7's Batrider dominated his lane against Bristleback, resulting in an early Blink Dagger. Together with the Blink, C9 went on to gank the Invoker; a teamfight ensued which C9 won convincingly. From there on out, C9 dominated the game and was able to burst down their opponents quite easily. TongFu realized that the disadvantage was too much to muster and tapped out.
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