photo courtesy of PGL
The third best-of-one elimination matchup of the day would see Evil Geniuses going up against Wings Gaming for a spot in the next round at DAC.
Wings Gaming have not really been the same team ever since their amazing 2016 run, but they hoped to regain some semblance of form and eliminate EG to move into the next round. Evil Geniuses looked extremely shaky in their last few group stage games, and hoped to forget those performances, and beat out their opponents to move into round three of the lower bracket at DAC.
While both teams attempted to find an early first blood, it was EG who found it before the 5 minute mark as they dropped the Brewmaster in the bottom lane. EG continued to pressure the lane, claiming another kill on the Brewmaster soon after; however, just after 6 minutes, Wings managed to find a good rotation to even up the score-line. But it seemed as though EG were quickly running away with the game and they held their lead with twelve minutes passed, going up 6-3.
Both teams focused toward farming for a period, and they traded tier two towers in the top and bottom lane. EG still held control over the game, but Wings were beginning to look a bit more dangerous, finding pick offs around the map. Just after 20 minutes passed, Wings managed to take a good fight near the Radiant secret shop, killing off three and losing only two in the process. Both teams continued to find fights, which turned out almost completely even and the game seemed to hang in the balance. With thirty minutes approaching, Wings claimed an aegis but lost three in the follow up fight, giving EG an opening to push, but they backed out as Wings respawns came in.
Being on the back foot, Wings decided to use their Brewmaster and Invoker combination to sneak into the Radiant base and managed to drop the tier three tower while also taking down two from EG. With that, Wings moved out, but returned just a few moments later to claim the barracks. The Dire team now looked to be in control and their strategy seemed to be paying off as they found another great fight, killing off three of EG’s line up. Wings used their advantage to claim another set of melee barracks, this time in the mid lane, and although EG managed to claim multiple kills on the back of this, they were still heavily behind.
EG were not ones to give up easily, and immediately responded with a massive team fight going in their favour and moved to claim an aegis right after. With forty minutes gone, the game once again hung in the balance. EG managed to find some great fights with the aegis, but Wings found their footing again and ripped through the Radiant’s line up. Wings used this to push down the last tier three tower, but in the process got completely wiped by the resilience of EG. The game settled into a lull for a few minutes as neither team wanted to make an error that would cost them the game. As the hour mark closed, EG used all their ultimate abilities to drop two from the Dire line up, and managed to make their way into the Roshan Pit and claim another aegis. Now EG were looking set to attempt to end the game.
With the aegis in hand EG pushed down mid and claimed the barracks and with some fantastic composure and gameplay, they managed to destroy the Dire ancient after over an hour of back and forth Dota action. With that, Wings Gaming are eliminated from DAC, while EG move into the next round after an amazing game of Dota 2.
