GameReplays Season 3 final 4 set for semis

The GameReplays Tournament Season 3 Quarterfinals were played out a week ago, and the final 4 that emerged yielded some surprises, with US teams Finale, Inner Circle Elite and Evil Geniuses going into the semifinal along with Infused Gaming.

While xFin drafted a disable-heavy lineup; DskB's lineup, on the other hand, has a strong mid-game and features an interesting Corrupted Disciple pick. Just days after the 2.0.8 Patch, it would be interesting to see how Slither and Bombardier were affected by the nerfs, not to mention several heroes that we're used to seeing Geometer's Bane built on.

After xFin sends their tri-lane top, DskB adjusts and Behemoth and Glacius move to the top lane. This leaves Corrupted Disciple somewhat mismatched against Slither, while Bombardier and Defiler trade multiple deaths at mid. After xFin takes down the first bottom tower, a teamfight followed by a bit of over-extended chase from DskB results in a 5-for-1 trade.

DskB can't really recover after a series of bad fights, although there's some hope after Defiler finishes a Shrunken Head and they successfully defend xFin's unrelenting push into their base. Unfortunately, it's too little too late, and they suffer a lack of damage having no hard-carry and an under-leveled Behemoth.

---End Game 1---
Between games, a ringer for xFin is subbed out for waytosexy. DskB responds to the previous game by banning both Slither and Myrmidon while xFin is content with using the same Hammerstorm/Forsaken Archer/X tri-lane combination. DskB reveals Gauntlet as their last pick, rounding out their magic-heavy hero selection.

Game 2 proves to be a much more gank-oriented game, as you can gather from the heroes on both sides. Lanes break down quickly, and DskB needs to end the game before xFin's carries get too farmed. 22 minutes in, DskB stops xFin's middle-lane push and earns a genocide in a well-coordinated teamfight.

Things got more difficult for DskB as xFin's carries finished their Shrunken Heads. xFin goes for Kongor while they have a man advantage. DskB nearly stops the attempt, but engaging without Wretched Hag proves to be the difference, and they get wiped out.

Late-game spelled defeat for DskB. Despite some great (and rarely seen) Gauntlet play, their hero composition can't possibly out-carry both Soulstealer and Forsaken Archer. Once again, Sn3yking's farm is amazing, eclipsing 500 gold-per-minute in both games of the series.

---End Game 2---
The lanes shifted around all throughout the early-game for game 1. Infs planned on running their Swiftblade tri-lane bot, while Wahl's Voodoo Jester babysits Chronos at mid. Infs reacted by sending Myrmidon over to mid; Magmus continually roamed between mid and top.

I love how aggressive both teams are playing, getting their carries involved early in teamfights. But at one point, Dowers squanders an opportunity, using a Double Damage rune and Chronos' ultimate on only Swiftblade, turning what should have been a huge trade into an even one. Wahl gets a Kongor kill, but Infs wisely just trades it for a tower. They're already ahead and only increase their lead further with a couple of nice initiations. It's painful to watch how much Magmus' Portal Key gets delayed; he finally gets it at 37 minutes.

Wahl sneaks in another Kongor kill, but Infs executes some great teamplay and wastes the Token immediately. Wahl still looked alive after landing a good Chronofield, and are the first to take a rax - but they stay a bit too long in the Legion base. Infs makes them pay for it, pushes back viciously, and eventually seals the game.

---End Game 1---
The same bans as Game 1. Wahl chooses a more common tri-lane lineup this game, with an emphasis on push. But Infs definitely has a fair amount of anti-push with Hag, Bubbles, and Plague Rider.

Pollywog does a great job of pushing the first mid tower in under six minutes. Wahl continues to keep up the tower pressure, but get genocide'd a couple of times in the process of taking out the top towers. At 25 minutes in, Wahl catches Madman off-guard, and it looks like they'll be able to push two middle towers. But a clutch buyback from AstonL turns the fight around.

Both Shrunken Head and Portal Key on Pollywog Priest seems to be able to push the fights into Wahl's favor. They steal a Kongor kill from Infs, but another great buyback, this time by Madman, stops the push into Hellbourne's base.

Eventually, the gold and experience gap became quite large, as Infs' Wretched Hag, Madman, and Bubbles were all quite farmed. I think they realized how many buybacks they can afford, and played rather sloppily until the end. Wahl puts up a good fight in Game 2, but can't overcome the extremely large deficit.

---End Game 2---
In the other 2 match-ups Evil Geniuses exacted vengeance on rivals SK Gaming for eliminating them out of the World Cup in absolutely dominating fashion, crushing them 2-0 in 2 very quick games. The other match-up was even more shocking as top seed FnaticMSI were sent out by Inner Circle Elite featuring the help of Tarano and H4nn1. N0tail played an interesting solo mid Voodoo Jester, displaying how broken an early maxed out Mojo+Cursed Ground combination can be.


The semis will be played out tomorrow and livestreamed on HonReplays as usual, featuring many recognised faces like chapy and TheCapitalist along with competitve insights Bdiz and SMaK_. Don't forget to tune in and catch the action.

Links
GameReplays - Source