Secret Team has an impressive 10-0 winning streak, while their rivals Evil Geniuses are having trouble with two losses in the second day of DAC. Despite a victory against iG, EHOME also seem unable to stand their ground after two victories agianst LGD and Secret.
Read quick summaries about the played games:
- Day 3, part 1: Round Robin, round 19-22
- Day 2, part 3: Round Robin, round 16-18
- Day 2, part 2: 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
Grab a quick glance of the venue and get an impression of the atmosphere on site:
Round 23
Big God put an aggressive trilane up against MVP.Phoenix and all lanes were in favor of the Chinese. The Koreans gave away multiple kills on their safelane and the rotations resulted in unfavorable trades. Xiao8 and rOtk farmed enough to get early Blink Daggers and the initiation from both Axe and Puck was able to catch MVP.Phoenix off guard multiple times. With both on the frontline, BurNing was able to farm freely and it was impossible for MVP to bring him down. The Koreans gut run over and had to concede.
EHOME tried to avoid LGD's teamfight centric line-up as much as possible during this game, as the control was too much to take on. For the longest time, EHOME succeeded and outfarmed their opponents while taking objectives efficiently. LGD-Gaming kept up with farm however and didn't mind waiting patiently for their opportunity and when the chance presented itself, LGD jumped in on EHOME and caught them off guard. LGD proceeded to take down the midrax and another engagement sealed the deal.
Invictus Gaming vs. CDEC-Gaming 1-0
Invictus Gaming relied on a Drow Ranger centric draft with four ranged heroes to capitalize on the aura. CDEC dominated throughout the midgame, pushing iG back and securing clutch objectives. Ferrari_430 on his Storm Spirit was however able to keep up in terms of farm and during teamfights, CDEC had to throw everything at him to control him - without much success. CDEC pushed in one lane and took rax but was unable to deliver the finishing punch. Invictus Gaming was able to repel CDEC multiple times until one teamfight went so heavily in their favor that they were able to take rax themselves and win over CDEC.
Round 24
ViCi decided to go for a very greedy lineup with both Medusa and Drow Ranger, and the Ukrainians responded with AOE lineup built around Gyrocopter and Shadow Fiend. Naturally, the presence of two scary late-game carries on the Chinese side forced Na'Vi to go aggressive very early, in order to prevent the game from lasting too long. What they did not predict, however, is the impressive Phoenix performance by iceiceice, who really made the difference in early teamfights and forced Na'Vi to go defensive. From that point, VG's three cores farmed freely, eventually overwhelming the Dire with their massive damage both on heroes and buildings.
Secret Team selected an early game domination strategy with Bristleback, Razor and Axe, hoping to finish the game early enough to prevent Hao's Medusa from becoming a problem. NewBee's performance during the early game was rather solid, and they were able to force their prefered passive pace that allowed Hao to get strong. Secret's continuous efforts to finish the game kept failing, and for some time it seemed that NewBee may actually be able to stage a comeback. It was then that the Rubick master KuroKy started doing his tricks, stealing Ravage and Stone Gaze in almost every fight. With the extra AOE disables on their arsenal, both Arteezy's Razor and zai's Bristleback were able to build up their damage on will, crushing four out of five heroes on the Dire side with ease. Even with a six-slotted Medusa, NewBee were still unable to grab a victory and prevent their elimination.
HellRaisers vs Evil Geniuses 1-0
Following the trends of tournament, HellRaisers went for Sniper, Zeus and Spirit Breaker for their core positions, while EG decided to stick to their plans and selected the uncommon Lone Druid. The Americans had the advantage for most of the early game, due to strong duo of Axe and Ember Spirit, and they were able to shut down both Zeus and Enigma quite effectively. On the other hand, ARTES's Sniper found some impressive amounts of farm, and his cooperation with gorec's Spirit Breaker played a crucial part in HellRaisers' comeback. As the game progressed, ARTES was able to kill most of EG's heroes with 4-5 hits, making it very difficult for them to burst down their targets during teamfights. While a 4-2 victory by the Americans near the Roshan pit by minute 35 did delay their demise, it only took a few more minutes for HellRaisers to finish the game.
Round 25
LGD gambled with a support Dark Seer and a position-three Doom against Secret's early game strategy. Secret showed their strength from the earliest stages of the game, with a 2-1 trade in the first minute of the game. Secret's supports did not rest, and fought continuously for the first minutes, with KuroKy having a 4-0 score by minute 5. The immense early game advantage, combined with their lineup's natural early game power gave little chances to LGD. The 15-minute Roshan by Secret was the nail in LGD's coffin, as the Radiant just pushed and destroyed the middle barracks, forcing out the 18-minute GG.
Rave vs CDEC 0-1
With their picks, Rave aimed to overwhelm CDEC with fast pickoffs all around the map and get strong before Naga Siren. Crucial early game mistakes really messed with their plan, as Maybe purchased a very quick Radiance and started the casual Naga farming fest. Knowing that Rave lacked the power to teamfight properly, CDEC knew all they had to do was delay the game until Maybe gets five or six slotted - and that is exactly what they did. The Filipinos continued their desperate assault, but CDEC eventually breached their defenses and took down the bottom barracks, forcing the 41-minute GG.
Tongfu vs EHOME 1-0
Tongfu and EHOME crossed their swords with two similar strategies, with EHOME going for two right-click carries combined with Magnus against Tongfu's Troll and Slark duo. However, it was not the carries that made the difference for Tongfu; both lpc's Phoenix and qian's Clockwerk had a massive impact throughout the entire game, applying tremendous pressure to both MuShi and Zyf. While Ohaiyo's Magnus did hit several solid Reverse Polarities for his team, he did had neither the farm nor the experience to cause problems to Tongfu, and the two carries of Tongfu were able to snowball and finish the game by minute 45.
Round 26
iG - vs Big God 1-0
For their last game of the day, iG used a double-core lineup with Necrolyte and Lycan, while Big God risked by picking three melee carries. iG's advantage started showing rather early, with ChuaN and Chisbug finding several easy kills during the early game. While Big God did display some teamfight potential during the mid-game, it was obvious that they had trouble focusing and bursting down their targets. With both Ferrari and Luo finding solid amounts of farm and kills, iG started building up on their advantage and push further and further into Big God's side. A mistake by xiao8 and an untimely death without buyback was the breakthrough iG needed, and they destroyed two sets of barracks in almost a minute, winning the game.
Newbee fell to their eighth defeat of the group stage, this time to Hellraisers who drafted the Tiny and Io combination to endure Newbee's combination of right click and AOE damage, and it was that duo that secured first blood against Mu's Templar Assassin. While Newbee attempted to compete with HR in the early game a massive team fight enforced the Russian teams advantage. While Newbee were the first team to break into an enemy base, Afoninje's farmed Tiny was capable of taking destroying towers alone simultaneously. Following a dominant team fight and some sustained pressure by HR's lineup, Newbee were forced to 'GG' before 34 minutes as they began tearing into their base for a second time.
It was another game of dominance from Na'Vi as the team continue their surprising change of form. MVP Phoenix just couldn't handle the aggressive nature of Na'Vi and were forced to turtle inside their own base from the 21st minute. The only hope for MVP was the March's Warlock, the highest net worth for the majority of the game with an Aghanim's Scepter and Refresher Orb, but Na'Vi were able to take care of his Golems to force an eventual 35th minute 'GG'.
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