The Yin kills the Yang

Gosugamers takes you back to one of the most epic clashes between Chinese juggernauts, LGD.sGty and EHOME. Relive the action, experience the excitement and dissect the strategies of the SMM Grand Finale.

Grand Finals
EHOME	LGD.sGty
Bans
Picks
Lanes
Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.820 (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.357 (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.J (Bot) EH.GIGABYTE.AAA (Top) EH.GIGABYTE.X!! (Mid)	Scourge LGD.830^^Cold (Bot) LGD.chisbug (Bot) LGD.sharingan_ (Bot) LGD.ZSMJ.sGty (Top) LGD.YYF.sGty (Mid)

Captain's Phase

From EHOME's first ban (Batrider), it's safe to assume they wanted to pick SF as a solo mid.

However, LGD.sGty reads 820's game plan and bans Vengeful Spirit, an all-round supporter which complements SF with her great damage-boosting and armor piercing capabilities.

The Sentinel then bans Beastmaster, another meddlesome hero who can wreak havoc in a solo lane with his axes and Call of the Wild. If used wisely, this fearsome hero can be the perfect initiator by taking out an isolated hero singlehandedly, including an SF.

LDG.sGty prevents the release of Doom Bringer which as we all know, is a perma-banned hero in almost every competitive match we've seen.

EHOME's third ban is Broodmother, another common ban from them as they didn't want to be out-pushed and/or get distracted to deal with those annoying broodlings.

As for LGD.sGty, they decide to ban Shadow Fiend altogether from the game thus removing one of EHOME's key heroes. It is wise of them to ban SF last or else EHOME's bans might have been completely different.

EHOME responds by picking Alchemist, one of EHOME.Burning's trademark heroes. What's so unpredictable about Alchemist is that he can play all sorts of roles depending on the situation: Tank, ganker, supporter and as well as a semi-carry. Of course, one can expect Burning to farm up an insane set of items within moments!

LGD.sGty chooses a very good combination of nukers Windrunner and Oblivion, a big threat to EHOME because of their ability to conduct early pushes and provides decent firepower during battles. Both are also immensely popular heroes, having been picked or banned in almost every game.

Necro'lic and Dwarven Sniper are EHOME's next choices. Necroli'c is by far one of the best trilane carries at the moment, having 4 very useful skills which can aid himself and deal tons of instant damage to opponents without a second's thought.

Sniper on the other hand is EHOME's ultimate late-game hero @ hard carry. His sheer prowess in the later stages of the game is almost unmatched if opponents are unable to shut down his farm.

LGD.sGty's best possible response to the Sniper is Morphling, yet another mean farming machine who can provide some competition for the old man with the rifle.

Going back to bans, SMM 2008 champs EHOME remove Clockwerk from the list of heroes. LGD's YYF is a beast with Clock and the hero itself is also a great ganker/initiator who can pick off a hero at will, forcing its opponents to do battle at the most inopportune of times.

The Scourge meanwhile bans Rogue Knight thus reducing a decent melee stunner from a dwindling pool of support/semi-carry heroes.

EHOME's fifth and final ban is Enigma, fearing it might be used by LGD against them as no hero except Silencer can stop its devastating ulti.

The last ban by LGD is the Earthshaker. In any case, this is one hero who should banned when there is chance simply because of its Echo Slam, an ultimate that can easily turn the tides of war.

To finalise the picks, EHOME chooses Crystal Maiden, a good ganker/support envied for her disables and mana-regenerating aura. It may not mean much now but it is Alchemist and Sniper who stand to gain the most from her aura.

LGD.sGty decide to include Demon Witch in the ring, a great intelligence hero with multiple disables and a burst damage ultimate to boot.

Tidehunter dives into the war as EHOME's final pick, the next best thing when Earthshaker is out of the picture. It's also unsurprising that LGD chooses Witch Doctor because of its multi-stun, and regenerating ability easily picks up during ganks and team fights.

[GAME SUMMARY]

Early Game
At the early phase, LGD.sGty placed their wards offensively in the Sentinel's jungle to take advantage of the bottom trilane against EHOME. Meawhile, EHOME place their wards defensively, one on the mid to anticipate incoming ganks, and another one on the hill to scout for runes.

LGD.sGty were clearly surprised by Alchemist's early gank on bottom lane. With 4 heroes focus-firing on the Demon Witch, EHOME made short work of him and earned an easy First Blood.

After a few minutes of farming, EHOME once again took out Demon Witch, giving Necro’lic another easy kill. At 5:20 game time, the heated trilane once again clashed with EHOME tower diving and successfully killing Oblivion, but Demon Witch avenged his teammate by killing Crystal Maiden.

LGD's support heroes decide to go on a hunting run for 2 whole minutes but failed score any kills, leaving Necro’lic to farm unopposed at the bottom lane. The final clash on the bottom lane was won by LGD, marking the end of the early game phase.

Easy first blood for EHOME.

Mid Game
The first clash of the middle game occurred at the bottom lane and was won by LGD. This left both Sniper and Morphling taking advantage of this to farm on their respective lanes.

Even though LGD.sGty successfully took the mid tower down, they failed to defend themselves resulting in a dead Windrunner who was assassinated by Dwarven Sniper. EHOME had leveled the odds by also taking LGD's mid Tier 1 tower.

The following table shows the creep score at the [15:00] minutes mark.

Creep Scores
EHOME	LGD.sGty
Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.X!!: 74/28 EH.GIGABYTE.AAA: 41/3 EH.GIGABYTE.J: 25/8	Scourge LGD.YYF.sGty: 64/8 LGD.ZSMJ.sGty: 89/30 LGD.sharingan_: 21/2

Witch Doctor worked wonders for LGD as Alchemist was quickly taken out by the former's maledict. This led to a another clash won by LGD.sGty, followed by a downed EHOME tower at the top.

After a few minutes, LGD.sGty were finally turning the tables around in favour of them, killing Dwarven Sniper on the top lane.



After an eventful 21 minutes, an intense clash occurred on the top lane in favour of LGD.sGty again, with only Dwarven Sniper surviving the clash. This clash established LGD.sGty’s dominance in the game with a score of 10/12. After a well-handled clash, LGD.sGty followed up by taking down a tower on both top and bottom lanes.

After several minutes of farming from both sides, LGD.sGty decided to kill Roshan while they still held the upper hand.

The following table shows the creep score at the [30:00] minutes mark.

Creep Scores
EHOME	LGD.sGty
Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.X!!: 194/55 EH.GIGABYTE.AAA: 112/9 EH.GIGABYTE.J: 51/9	Scourge LGD.YYF.sGty: 126/8 LGD.ZSMJ.sGty: 204/42 LGD.sharingan_: 77/4

At [31:00] LGD.sGty decided to push mid lane, thus successfully taking the Tier Two tower down but failing to survive during the clash. This resulted in precious exp and gold gain for EHOME's lineup, including the Sniper who is growing ever more powerful.
Dwarven Sniper and Necro'lic killing Morphling.
Right after, EHOME did not hesitate to push mid lane, and taking down the middle Tier 2 tower easily. Then both teams safely returned back to their lanes and continued farming. As of [39:00], you can see LGD.sGty were occupied trying to slay Roshan for a second time and rushed to defend the top lane while EHOME tries to demolish the top tower as quickly as they can.

Late Game
The early phase of the late game was more on farming. Both teams did this as a safety precaution and to make sure they only clashed when their late-game heroes 'matured'.

But at [48:30] EHOME initiated an all-out push at mid lane which led to a clash. Dwarven Sniper easily gunned down every target while Morphling had to buy out thrice but still it wasn't enough to stop a well-farmed Sniper and Alchemist. After winning the clash, EHOME immediately destroyed mid and top barracks.

The following table shows the creep score at the [40:00] minutes mark.

Creep Scores
EHOME	LGD.sGty
Sentinel EH.GIGABYTE.X!!: 316/59 EH.GIGABYTE.AAA: 197/10 EH.GIGABYTE.J: 62/9	Scourge LGD.YYF.sGty: 162/8 LGD.ZSMJ.sGty: 279/49 LGD.sharingan_: 126/4

The following table shows the hero standing at the [40:00] minutes mark

Hero Standings
EHOME	Kills/Deaths/Assists
	2/1/3
	6/2/7
	2/2/6
LGD.sGty	Kills/Deaths/Assists
	4/2/7
	1/5/5
	1/2/6

Dwarven Sniper dishing out every hero.

But still LGD.sGty were still determined to win, getting another Roshan easily. But that meant nothing to EHOME who were pushing bottom lane. LGD.sGty immediately teleported back to their base to defend their remaining barracks, resulting to a clash.

Last clash at bottom lane.

Game Conclusion: EHOME had its ups and downs throughout the game, but they made up for their mistakes thus even when LGD.sGty seemed to have snatched victory from the claws of defeat, they (EHOME) persevered and stuck to their strategy.

Lane control: EHOME
Farm in comparison: EHOME
Ganks: LGD.sGty
Team fights: EHOME

Result: EHOME > LGD.sGty
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Item Choices:


Seeing Morphling with Eaglehorn could have meant an early Butterfly. Thus making this item a good counter item. In case Morphling goes Ethereal Blade, MKB is still useful for maximizing damage.



Having purge gives you advantage in chasing and offensive purposes. If you can see during clashes, Alchemist and Dwarven focuses on LGD.sGty's only hard carry, Morphling. He used this at first for Debuffing Replicate, but since Morphling adjust to defensive play using Replicate before clashes as a escape mekanism. He used Purge as a means of slowing, debuffing, and specially mana burning to prevent Morphling from using Morph skill effectively.



Aside from this item giving Windrunner bonus attack speed, mana regenaration, intelligence, and damage, this also gives her the ability to use Soul Burn. This is to prevent Tidehunter from using Ravage that disables them most of the time.



I refer to call this kind of Morphling as Shotgun Morphling. Maxing out agility and adaptive strike to deal enormous damage. The only risk in this build is that you have 90% offense and 10% defense. But a great way to kill hard carries and specially support heroes.
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Defensive Play
Maxing out Take Aim before any other skill gives range advantage for farming and safe play plus the observer ward on mid lane gives Dwarven Sniper a hassle-free lane of ganks, thus letting him farm with ease.
As it is shown on the image above, an observer ward at mid lane on sentinel cliff gives vision from the right side of the river and a vision on sentinel path from the jungle.

Offensive Play
Rarely do we see a Crystal Maiden taking Frost Nova on higher level before her brilliance aura for the reason that most players pick CM for mana pool advantage. With its carry counter part, Necro'lic using Soul Assumption wisely. High level Frost Nova dealing high initial damage on the area with 2 or more heroes, which gives Necro'lic more charge for Soul Assumption, thus killing was very easy for them.
EHOME's trilane owning bottom with Crystal Maiden and Necro'lic.

Revenant Advantage
Visage's Revenants was used strategically for Oblivion's Nether Ward. Before this ward irritates EHOME, Visage's Revenants destroys the ward every time it is on their sight.
The image above shows how the Revenants can easily counter Oblivion's ward.

Dewarding with Gem of True Sight
Dewarding is one of the key factors in defensive and offensive play, removing the opponent's sight can be a great factor contribution in order for your team to win. Dewarding with Gem is a good strategy, but has a great risk. Usually, the one who dewards are support hero, and usually support heroes are very easy to kill due to the lack of items and less life compared to carry heroes. So getting killed would give your opponent free Gem of True Sight which can later on be used against your side.
Dewarding is very easy with Gem of True Sight, but should roam around with care.

*Strategies and analysis are based solely on the editor's opinion.

Links
GosuGamers - EHOME vs. LGD.sGty