FnaticMSI crowned GosuCup champions with 3-2 win over DuskBin

The final match between FnaticMSI and DuskBin E-sports to determine the winner of the $3,000 GosuCup HoN #1 was a riveting, five-game series, and ultimately ended with the crowning of the first GosuCup HoN champions.

Looking back at the previous results in the tournament, both teams were dominant in the Group Stage and eliminated some great opponents in the playoff bracket. You can only expect some amazing games to happen when these two teams meet, and this meeting resulted in five of them, with FnaticMSI winning the series.

Game 1 [42360803]
FnaticMSI		DuskBin E-sports
Bans (Legion first)
Picks
/ /		/ /
Lanes
[MSI] Freshpro (Top) [MSI] N0tail (Mid) [MSI] NoVa_ (Mid/Bot) [MSI] Trixi (Bot) [MSI] Fly (Bot)		[DskB] Mr.Swish (Top) [DskB] ninjaboogie (Mid) [DskB] jojoflow (Bot) [DskB] justawluts (Roam) [DskB] iskaputski (Roam)

FnaticMSI came out with the very strong pre-nerf Silhouette pick right away in Game 1. DuskBin notably banned Pollywog Priest and Plague Rider and picked their standard, highly-aggressive line-up. They were set up for a powerful triple-stun tri-lane, with Hammerstorm and Myrmidon able to act as roamers.

MSI's Pharaoh did some early jungling, allowing [DskB] Mr.Swish on Valkyrie to free-farm the top lane. Accursed sat behind [MSI] N0tail's Silhouette and the mid tower for much of the early game, protecting her from potential ganks by DuskBin's roamers. A couple of clutch TP's by [MSI] NoVa_ saved teammates twice, reflecting the great play shown by the support players on both teams.

After getting an early 70 creep kills and a tower kill, Valkyrie took to roaming the map, and, at the 16-minute mark, tried to initiate a gank in Legion's jungle. But four MSI players were in the area, and the poor decision led to a huge 4-for-1 trade in MSI's favor.


Both teams made clutch saves, but it ended as a costly mistake for DuskBin.
The game went into a bit of a lull, and Puppet Master's farm continued to climb. Another big engagement at 34 minutes ended in a Puppet Master Quad Kill and gave MSI the easy Kongor kill. [MSI] Trixi got a little too bold and wasted the token seconds later, but it made no real difference at that point. DuskBin conceded at 47 minutes with Puppet Master basically maxed out on items.

1-0, MSI.

Game 2 [42367456]
DuskBin E-sports		FnaticMSI
Bans (Legion first)
Picks
/ /		/ /
Lanes
[DskB] ninjaboogie (Top) [DskB] Mr.Swish (Mid) [DskB] jojoflow (Bot) [DskB] justawluts (Roam) [DskB] iskaputski (Roam)		[MSI] Freshpro (Top) [MSI] N0tail (Mid) [MSI] NoVa_ (Mid/Bot) [MSI] Trixi (Bot) [MSI] Fly (Jungle/Roam)

MSI went into Game 2 with a unique lineup prepared, while DuskBin reacted to Game 1 by banning the troublesome Silhouette and Accursed. MSI stuck with the same four bans. The odd hero lineup had strong pushing ability and individual hero picks that MSI has used here and there, but rarely all at once in the same game.

[MSI] Fly on Tempest began the game by jungling on the Legion side, catching Torturer by surprise and setting up the bloodlust kill. DuskBin's support players once again took to roaming, while MSI's Plague Rider moved between middle and bottom lane. Ten minutes in, MSI took the first top tower with the pushing power of Wildsoul and Tempest. [MSI] N0tail on Corrupted Disciple held a slight lead at mid against [DskB] Mr.Swish's Soulstealer.

MSI used their early advantage and Tempest's Portal Key to dive in and force a teamfight at mid, netting them four kills, plus the mid tower, and only giving up one. Meanwhile, Kraken pushed the bottom tower alone. MSI had an incredible 10k+ experience and gold lead before the 15-minute mark. They continued to threaten the Legion's towers, and getting caught in the double ultimate combination of Tempest and Kraken was all DuskBin needed to concede.

2-0, MSI.


DuskBin got caught in MSI's powerful "vacuum" ultimates. That had to suck.

Game 3 [42369332]
FnaticMSI		DuskBin E-sports
Bans (Hellbourne first)
Picks
/ /		/ /
Lanes
[MSI] NoVa_ (Top) [MSI] Trixi (Top) [MSI] Fly (Top) [MSI] N0tail (Mid) [MSI] Freshpro (Bot)		[DskB] ninjaboogie (Top) [DskB] justawluts (Top) [DskB] iskaputski (Top) [DskB] Mr.Swish (Mid) [DskB] jojoflow (Bot)

Bans were much the same in Game 3 for both teams, with Puppet Master being the only new ban and Andromeda becoming available. DuskBin once again first-picked Torturer, and MSI quickly snatched up Andromeda. The lineup for MSI was a bit more normal this time around, but they stuck with the same Corrupted Disciple and Kraken picks for [MSI] N0tail and [MSI] Trixi. DuskBin went with an interesting Maliken pick, allowing their team's carries to have escapes from Pharaoh's Wall of Mummies.

Finally, we saw the first tri-lane versus tri-lane game of the series. DuskBin suffered early deaths in the tri-lane two separate times while they were pulling neutral creeps, causing Maliken to fall behind in farm. [MSI] N0tail once again edged out [DskB] Mr.Swish in the middle lane, and MSI was slightly ahead with a 6-2 kill lead early on.

As the lanes broke down, ganking really started to pick up, and the teams traded kills fairly evenly. MSI got their second tower kill at around 16 minutes, giving up two kills in the process - but [MSI] Freshpro on Pharaoh avenged his teammates' deaths with a Hat-trick. A couple minutes later, and DuskBin lost two more towers. A 3-0 sweep looked like a possibility.

But DuskBin wasn't about to give up. A teamfight at the 22-minute mark was the beginning of a DuskBin comeback, when they nearly genocided MSI. The next middle lane push attempt by MSI at the 27th minute was beaten back as well, and Kraken was once again MSI's only surviving hero. A split teamfight went very poorly for MSI yet again, and Maliken had the first Token of Life before the 30-minute mark.


The beginning of a DuskBin comeback.
DuskBin rode their momentum into the late-game, having the advantage of harder carries on their side. They made a beautiful move by engaging Kongor, intercepting three of MSI's players, and securing their second Token of Life at 40 minutes in. DuskBin went straight for the Legion base, but MSI defended. The game was fairly stagnant until the next Kongor respawn, when MSI stopped DuskBin's attempt and stole Kongor. Maliken even wasted a buyback, but MSI's chance of winning at that point was low. Their final attempt at a mid push was stopped by DuskBin, and the game dragged on for a bit longer before MSI conceded.

2-1, MSI.

Game 4 [42379294]
DuskBin E-sports		FnaticMSI
Bans (Legion first)
Picks
/ /		/ /
Lanes
[DskB] ninjaboogie (Top) [DskB] Mr.Swish (Mid) [DskB] jojoflow (Bot) [DskB] justawluts (Roam) [DskB] iskaputski (Roam)		[MSI] Freshpro (Top) [MSI] N0tail (Mid) [MSI] Trixi (Bot) [MSI] NoVa_ (Roam) [MSI] Fly (Roam)

DuskBin made no changes to their bans in Game 4, while MSI banned Torturer instead of Wretched Hag. With the series on the line for DuskBin, they picked up both Valkyrie and Corrupted Disciple again, the Wretched Hag that had just opened up, and two roaming support heroes. MSI picked up Wildsoul for the second time, along with a strong mid-game ganking lineup.

The lane setups were similar to Game 2, with the same players designated to the same lanes and both teams doing a lot of roaming. MSI had an early 6-1 kill lead by the 8-minute mark, with lots of action in all three lanes. [DskB] Mr.Swish kept his team in the game with the clutch Wretched Hag play that he is known for. Valkyrie was shut down hard in the bottom lane, allowing [MSI] Trixi on Pebbles to pick up an 11-minute Portal Key.

Shortly after, though, [MSI] Trixi timed out of the game and couldn't return due to some unfortunate internet issues. MSI used the disconnected Pebbles for as long as they could, using their last seconds of hero control to initiate a teamfight at their top tower. But it resulted in a 3-for-1 trade in DuskBin's favor, and losing Pebbles proved to be a critical loss for MSI. A few minutes of 4v5, and MSI had no choice but to concede a game in which they had an early lead. DuskBin showed great sportsmanship here by agreeing to reschedule the deciding Game 5 to the next day.

Series tied at 2-2.

Game 5 [42460494]
FnaticMSI		DuskBin E-sports
Lanes
[MSI] Freshpro (Top) [MSI] Trixi (Mid) [MSI] N0tail (Bot) [MSI] NoVa_ (Bot) [MSI] Fly (Bot)		[DskB] jojoflow (Top) [DskB] Mr.Swish (Mid) [DskB] ninjaboogie (Bot) [DskB] justawluts (Bot) [DskB] iskaputski (Bot)

MSI decided that it was their turn to use Maliken, picking an otherwise magic-heavy team with lots of slows. DuskBin picked up Corrupted Disciple again, the Puppet Master and Torturer who were both banned in Game 4, and Soul Reaper. (Bans currently unavailable.)

DuskBin matched their tri-lane against MSI's Maliken tri-lane, just as MSI had done in Game 3. For the first time in the series, [MSI] Trixi went head-to-head with [DskB] Mr.Swish in the middle lane. Blows were traded, a Torturer stun missed that should have killed Maliken, but neither team gave way until a 3-for-0 fight at the 6-minute mark in favor of MSI's tri-lane. [MSI] Freshpro on Hellbringer took a slight lead over [DskB] jojoflow's Soul Reaper, avoiding an early 2v1 gank attempt and then landing a kill on Soul Reaper.

MSI's tri-lane advantage gave them an early lead, and Puppet Master was stalled at only 16 creep kills after 14 minutes. Maliken continued to farm very well, and MSI had their third and fourth tower kill and another 3-for-0 fight at around 22 minutes. Just a few minutes later, a 24-to-6 hero kill deficit and six of their towers destroyed spelled defeat for DuskBin, and a GosuCup championship for FnaticMSI!

3-2, MSI.

GosuCup HoN #1 results

1st Place: FnaticMSI, $1500
2nd Place: DuskBin E-sports, $1000
3rd Place: Online-Kingdom, $500

Congratulations to the teams on their excellent performances! FnaticMSI and DuskBin E-sports displayed some fantastic competition in the final series, but also great sportsmanship and class.

With the first Heroes of Newerth GosuCup event at an end, overall, despite server issues, drama, and the challenge of matching the best teams in the world against each other, it was a huge success. Expect more to come this year from the GosuGamers.net HoN crew!