Photo courtesy of Starladder
iG Vitality eliminated fellow countrymen Vici Gaming J from Dota 2 Asia Championships, after a hard fought best of three series.
Game One
The first game of the second round of the lower bracket at DAC2017 started with a bang, as Vici Gaming J took a textbook win over fellow countrymen iG Vitality. Draft wise, iG V looked to have a strong mid and late game, with a Shadow Fiend and Juggernaut. However, VG J looked much more mobile in their draft, with an Ember Spirit for Liu 'Freeze' Chang and a Centaur Warrunner for Fan 'rOtk' Bai. The absolute MVP of the game, however, was Lin 'fy' Sen Xu on his Tusk who put a wrench in iG V’s plans, as early on, fy-god seemed to be everywhere on the map, grabbing pick off after pick off with his rotations.
Early game started off as a relative disaster for iG V. The team looked to invade VG J Secret Shop Bounty, but came out with two losses instead: a quick Snowball save by fy mitigating most of the Blade Fury damage from Zhang 'Paparazi' Chengjun. After the early disaster, the game settled into relative passivity as both teams focused on their farm. But with fy’s aggression, compounded by some unusual rotations by Sun 'Agressif' Zheng’s Ursa which caught iG V off guard, VG J looked handily in control. At 16 minutes, iG V looked to contest Roshan early on, beating VG J to the punch - but were warded off by VG J presence in the midlane. A smoke wrap around after by IG V saw them try and take the initiative at VG J’s Ancients where Agressif was farming, but despite the initiation, they just didn’t have enough and they lost four and the first aegis. With the lead in hand, and mobility on their side, VG J continued to hammer down iG V’s lineup, grabbing pick off after pick off and turning them into objective after objective.
As the game settled into its final stages, VG J were in no trouble at all, having a distinct advantage in all aspects. Xu 'Sakata' Chen’s Shadow Fiend seemed to be the saving grace as despite the team’s deficits, still retained a sizable networth. However, his effect was muted as VG J continually locked the Dark Lord down before he could get off his BKB or ultimate, leaving iG V lacking damage in many fights. After a number of desperation smokes, a final fight at around 35 minutes sealed the victory for VG J, who took a textbook victory in game one.
Game Two
After their stomp in game one, VG J looked to be in prime position to take the series, but a relatively mute draft spelled disaster for them, as it was iG V who took the aggression to them. VG J went with a push draft in the Terrorblade for Agressif and the Tinker for Freeze. Along with the Silencer, Tusk and Centaur, VG J’s draft looked very similar to game one. iGV went with a much more mobile draft with great pickoff and team fight potential, picking up a Sand King for Dogf1ghts and Disruptor for Su 'super.' Peng. Along with an Invoker for Paparazi, iG V’s draft looked much stronger.
Early on, the game started with much more passivity, as both teams focused on farming. It was iG V however, who put VG J on the back foot, as they continually followed Agressif’s Terrorblade, who swapped lanes a number of times, with Yang 'InJuly' Xiaodong’s Dark Seer, making it difficult for the core to get some farm. Likewise, fy proved to be a nuisance in the early game once again, as his rotations turned a number of fights in favour of VG J. Despite this, it was clear that iG V had a much stronger laning setup despite being down in kills. As the game moved into its middle stages, it continually shifted between fights and farm as VG J played off of Agressif’s Metamorphosis and iG V played off their big teamfight ultimates.
The late game however, saw Sakata and Dogf1ghts truly come online, as they continually picked off a very sad Silencer played by Lu 'Fenrir' Chao with their Infest-Burrowstrike combo. And despite the strength of Terrorblade, everyone on the iG V side was far too tanky, and it took too long to take anyone down, mitigating Agressif’s impact during teamfights. Paparazi proved to be a distinct thorn in Agressif’s side, constantly disrupting Agressif’s right-click power with well-timed Tornadoes, EMPs, and Ice Walls. iG V sealed out game three around 45 minutes, after a big team wipe from VG J, moving the series into the last and final game.
Game Three
The Chinese slugfest ended in dramatic fashion, as iG V came back from what looked to be an easy victory for VG J in just under and hour. Draftwise VG J stuck to their guns once again, picking up a Tusk and Silencer, replacing the Centuar with fy’s renowned Rubick. IG V went with a much better scaling lineup, with a brilliant last pick Sniper, seeing the lack of catch in the VG J lineup.
In the early stages, the contest was quiet, as both teams simply tried to farm. Agressif got a relative free lane, as InJuly moved to the jungle to avoid giving any unnecessary deaths. With his lane free, focus was on rOtk and his Abaddon as Dogf1ghts continually tried to make something happen in the bottom lane. The game however, quickly became the fy show as fy and Fenrir’s rotations proved deadly, and showed how fy earned his f-god namesake. At one point, fy even solo killed Sakata’s Sniper with some brilliant spell steals and positioning. Riding off of fy’s performance, VG J looked to be in prime position to move on to the next round but disaster struck at 27 minutes, as VG J took two barracks at the bottom lane, while Paparazi in brilliant move, took two of VG J’s in return on his own. This compounded into a great high ground defense at 32 minutes, actually team wiping VG J. Another huge fight a few minutes later at 35 minutes saw Dogf1ghts land a huge three man stun, leading to an aegis and swinging the net worth difference from 20k to a mere 5000.
Sensing blood in the water, iG V continued to put pressure on VG J, but lost a bit of momentum around 46 minutes, as a fight broke out around the Rosh pit, Aegis and Cheese going by way of VG J. With two lanes of barracks pushed in however, and the unbreakable high ground of iG V, the aegis and cheese did very little for VG J as they struggled to find a way in. As aegis expired, VG J’s DAC journey ended after a miscalculation on Agressif’s part, leaving him without a crucial buy back at 55 minutes. Two minutes after, iG V realized this and pushed in and sealed their victory in a stunning comeback. No doubt, their perseverance and great itemization paid off in spades, as iG V move on to the next round of the lower bracket of DAC2017.
