The final day of the DAC groupstage has arrived, and both NewBee and MVP have already been eliminated from the tournament. As for the teams closest to the bottom, such as EHOME, CDEC and Tongfu, this will be their last chance to prove their worth.
Read quick summaries about the played games:
- Day 4, part 2: Round Robin, round 31-34
- Day 4, part 1: Round Robin, round 27-30
- Day 3, part 2: Round Robin, round 23-26
- 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
Round 35
Knowing they had nothing to lose, the Koreans selected Ursa for their first game of the day against the greedy tri-core lineup of the Chinese. Both teams managed to find several kills during the laning stage, but it was mikasa's Juggernaut that gave CDEC the edge. Using the power of Mask of Madness, he killed six heroes in six minutes, creating space for Maybe's Naga in the process. With Maybe completing his well-timed Radiance, the game went downhill for MVP.Phoenix, who showed little resistance against CDEC's overwhelming advantage.
The derby of the groupstage between Evil Geniuses and Secret Team managed to satisfy the spectators' expectations, as it included several impressive teamfights between the two Western giants. EG got control of the game rather early, with their well-timed rotations nullifying Secret's aggression. Using their temporary advantage and the power of Troll Warlord, they were able to take the first Aegis for themselves, forcing Secret into extend their momentum. However, several questionable decisions during their pushes resulted in a series of bad trades, helping Secret stage the comeback they were looking for. The fight over the second Roshan of the game was the beginning of the end for the Americans, as Zai grabbed the Aegis for himself, allowing him to get an Ultra-Kill in the next engagement. Fear called the 'GG' as Secret were destroying the top barracks, giving them their 14th victory of the groupstage.
EHOME vs NewBee 1-0
Much like MVP, the players of NewBee knew they had no chance of advancing to the next round, but they did not give up that easily. On the contrary, Hao and his buddies entered the game on the warpath, and managed to get the upper hand despite the troubled laning phase. However, EHOME were able to grab two consecutive kills on Rabbit's Slark by minute 25, getting an easy Roshan and the Aegis for MuShi's Troll Warlord. Abusing the pushing power of their strategy, EHOME launched a series of attacks against NewBee's buildings, eventually destroying the Dire middle barracks by minute 30. Being trapped inside their base without enough items to defend against EHOME's assault, Newbee had little chances of coming back into the game. The second set of barracks fell two minutes later, followed by the 'GG' 34 minutes into the game.
Round 36
The outcome of battle between Rave and HellRaisers was not decided by lengthy teamfights (like the other two games of the round), but it was solely based on HellRaisers' pure tactical superiority. Knowing that Rave's item dependent cores crippled their early and mid game potential, they decided to focus on taking as many objectives as they could, as fast as they could - and it worked. By the 25th minute, every Dire outter tower was gone, and thus began the siege of the Dire base. Rave attempted to defend their bottom barracks with everything they had, but HR was just too far ahead; ARTES's Juggernaut scored an Ultra-Kill, two sets of barracks went down in seconds, and the 'GG' was called by Rave (who is now dangerously close to the elimination)
This game between Big God and ViCi Gaming can be characterized as "the biggest throw" of the groupstage. ViCi selected heroes with a large arsenal of nukes, and they went on a bloodthirsty hunt during the early game that resulted in a tremendous 16-2 lead. However, it only took one small mistake during a smoke gank on BurNing for their advantage to be shattered. Using the sudden influx of gold, BurNing quickly purchased an Eye of Skadi for his Medusa, making him incredibly tanky and a very difficult target for VG's persistent attacks. From that point and no matter how much they tried, ViCi Gaming seemed unable to finish what they started, while Big God kept getting stronger and stronger each second. The result of this unforgiving delay was a 6-slotted Medusa with Divine Rapier, backed up by rOtk and his dual Chronosphere - a recipe for success for Big God.
Tongfu vs Na'Vi 1-0
Tongfu entered this match in a desperate need for points, but they did not hesitate to pick a support Juggernaut against the Lich-Phoenix offlane of Natus Vincere. Neither team had a clear advantage during the early stages of the game, with Tongfu shutting down Dendi's core Earthshaker quite effectively and XBOCT finding huge amounts of farm at the bottom lane. The situation carried on through the mid-game, with each fight being determined by the plays and position of XBOCT's Troll Warlord and XinQ's Storm Spirit (the Bloodstone pickup by XinQ supported his very aggressive playstyle, helping him jump huge distances to burst down Goblak and Dendi). It took 45 minutes for the balance to be disrupted, with Na'Vi losing a disastrous fight near the Radiant secret shop and their first set of barracks in result. Tongfu knew this was their chance. With their enemies' spells still cooling down, the Chinese forced yet another successful fight inside the Radiant forest, destroying Na'Vi once again to ensure their victory.
Round 37
iG vs Cloud9 0-1
Cloud9 used the unusual Dragon Knight selection for FATA in a lineup created for a clean and quick victory. iG responded with a Naga Siren four-protect-one strategy, that requires solid early-game execution to survive long enough. However, Luo's sloppy plays on Naga Siren gave Cloud9 the advantage they needed to take control of the game. While both ChuaN and Ferrari_430 attempted to revert the situation with their plays, it seemed impossible for iG to stop C9's powerful raid against their towers. The bottom melee barracks went down by minute 21, followed by the top set eight minutes later. The Chinese made one final attempt to push and get some towers themselves, but they got teamwiped under the Dire mid tier-two tower. The GG was called immediately by ChuaN.
It seems that MVP.Phoenix decided not to make such an effort in their closing match, giving EHOME an easy but much-needed victory. The Koreans used a teamfight lineup with Shadow Fiend, Tidehunter and Juggernaut against EHOME's physical burst strategy. EHOME controlled the map from the very first minutes of the game, coming on top in every single fight in the game. While MVP did show some minor resistance to their opponent with several teamfights near the middle tier-one towers, they forfeited the game with only 22 minutes on the clock, knowing they had nothing to lose anymore in DAC.
HGT vs LGD 1-0
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