Ana and Topson fall short in TI2022 Last Chance Qualifiers

Three more teams bite the dust in The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifiers.

Day 2 in the Last Chance qualifiers playoffs kicked off with Team Secret and Virtus.pro advancing one series away from the much coveted ticket to TI11.

Following the Upper Bracket Semifinals, the elimination rounds began with Wildcard Gaming and Natus Vincere bowing out of the completion at the hands of Vici Gaming and Xtreme Gaming, respectively.

Vici Gaming fought a long and gruelling battle to survive another day in the lower bracket. After their pretty convincing 2-0 victory over Wildcard, they were put to a real test by T1 with their two time, back-to-back, TI champions Anathan "ana" Pham and Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen.

T1vsVici Gaming

First game of the best-of-three series began in an explosive way, T1 imposing a fast paced Dota 2 with a mid lane Primal Beast for Topson and a carry Slark for ana. The two of them, along with Carlo "Kuku" Palad’s Nature’s Prophet, ensured perfect initiations for T1 and overall map advantage to put VG with their back against the wall.

However, after banning Morphling themselves in the opening game, VG decided to block pick it from Topson in the first phase of the next two games. In the second game, they also picked the PB along with the Morph and managed to mount a considerable lead through the first 30 minutes. T1’s mid Tiny, carry Lone Druid and the same offlane Furion draft came to life past the 30-minute mark, when key items such BkB and Daedalus on Tiny, Basher on the bear and Scythe of Vise on Nature’s Prophet were completed. But, although Topson and ana were able to stay toe to toe with the Morph in the mid game engagements, VG’s overall team fight control with Witch Doctor and Earthshaker proved way superior.

Headed into a best-of-one situation with elimination on the line, T1 reverted to what seemed to have been comfort picks for them in the LCQ. They went for the Undying - Venomancer offlane duo, placing the win condition entirely on ana and Topson’s shoulders with a carry Faceless Void and a mid-Puck.

But, despite a fairly good laning stage for T1, VG’s carry Morphling wasn’t contested at all, his first and only death in the game coming around the 15-minute mark. That, along with VG’s simple but effective combos provided by a position 5 tusk, put T1 in the impossibility of finding the right engagements and eventually they got eliminated from the battle for a spot at TI2022.

^{headline picture courtesy of T1}