picture courtesy of eslgaming
Team Secret left no doubt who deserves to be the champion of the first edition of ROG Masters League after a flawless 3-0 against Execration.
Game One
First game’s drafting phase offered something that fans hadn’t seen since TI 6 – Clement "Puppey" Ivanov playing Enchantress, as well as a respect ban on Abed "Abed" Yosup's Meepo. Execration went for a core Naga strategy, while the lack of disables was seen as a good option for a Zheng "MidOne" Yeik Nai Ember Spirit.
Secret gained a head start and established control over the early game rather easily. A rotation from Puppey to the mid lane and his Enchantress got the first blood on Khim "Gabbi" Villafuerte's Batrider around the 2:30 mark. The Bat was killed again in his own jungle while farming neutrals and some of the stacks several minutes later that Jakiro had been preparing for him were stolen. Team Secret kept stalking Execration denying the Bat of farm for his crucial Blink Dagger.
The game kept going downhill for Execration after around the 15th minute they lost the first team fight alongside two towers in the offlane. The Batrider finally got his dagger in the 16th minute, but that didn’t amount to much, while the Naga managed to assemble a Radiance around the 19th minute. The Radiance did not improve Execration’s situation very much, as by the 22nd minute Team Secret had a total map control with a score of 14-0. Execration had not much farming space and few chances to farm, so they engaged in several skirmishes, all of which ended up in Team Secret’s favour. The first set of barracks were down around the 31st minute and around the 36th minute Team Secret had Mega Creeps marching down Execration’s Ancient. The game ended in a spectacular Rampage for Midone and his Ember Spirit.
Game two
The second encounter started with Execration banning the Drow Ranger again, while Team Secret had another respect ban for Meepo. Execration opted for the Naga again, but this time as a support to a carry Slardar. Djardel Jicko B. "DJ" Mampusti was given a second chance with Timbersaw, while Puppey got Bounty Hunter for himself this time.
Similarly, to the first game, Team Secret started to build their advantage from the start and never lost it. First blood came as a present for Pyo "MP" No-a's Sven who managed to whack DJ’s Timbersaw in the safe lane with the help of Io and DJ’s unjustified aggressiveness. DJ died again not long after that, as well as a third time after a Puppey rotation several minutes later.
Lanes were not working well for Execration, apart from the Slardar safe lane, but that changed too, when he got ganked and killed around the 9th minute by another successful rotation. Right after that MP stole the ancient stack in the Dire jungle with the help of his teammates, skyrocketing his net worth to almost 7k, whereas the enemy Slardar had about 3.2k at that point. Team Secret kept snowballing and around the 16th minute the score was 16-0. Execration had a glimmer of hope about five minutes later, when an isolated Io and Sven were killed in the top lane. Nevertheless, Secret’s advantage was too huge and after a successful high ground push, two sets of barracks were down by the 34th minute. A minute later Execration had no options left, but to call the “gg”.
Game three
Although it was the shortest game in the series, game three was the most contested and action-packed.
Team Secret were determined not to let Execration get a Meepo and he received another ban. The Bounty Hunter was banned by Execration this time, but Team Secret snatched the Drow Ranger right after that, which proved crucial in their strategy.
Execration were determined to fight from the very beginning and went for an aggressive trilane composed of Nyx Assassin, Phantom Assassin and Shadow Demon to slow the Drow Ranger’s progress. The Philippines managed to get first blood this time, but the Shadow Demon died right after that. After some action in the bottom lane, PA rotated to the safe lane after Drow reached level six. The two teams kept on engaging and by the 16th minute, there were quite a few exchanges of kills in-between, but Team Secret seemed prevailing overall and gaining ground. At the 19th minute mid tier 2 tower was taken down by Secret, followed by a Rosh kill right after that. Several minutes later it became evident that Secret is heading to a closure on the game and the series after they took four down from Execration and the mid lane barracks. Execration tried to repel Team Secret’s onslaught, but their efforts seemed in vain and they conceded the victory to Secret after 28 minutes of play.
