⚠️ VOD is unavailable.
ewc_legiongauntlet_en VODs on twitchBroadcasts 30+ hours are truncated. View the Raw Transcript VTT for the full version.
about extreme gaming taking on Team Falcons, a rematch of the TI Grand Finals, and Game
One definitely had some flares of it, Brian, but at the end of the day, it still wasn't
enough for Extreme.
Yeah, and watching Extreme, it shouldn't have been disappointing throughout this tournament,
because even though some of their games have gone late, it just oftentimes feels like they're
not in control of the game, and they're often kind of playing the other team's game, and
that's, for me, one of the telltale signs of a team that's going to struggle as the
tournament goes on. Yeah and then on the other side we had for group B we had
Team Liquid versus Aurora and we know Aurora has been on fire and they are
consistent in being a very very strong. Team Liquid consistency especially this
group stage if he seems pretty far away. Yeah consistency and Team Liquid are not
two words I would use in the same sentence to use. Liquid are an
incredible team oftentimes it's very hard to know what version of them that
You're gonna get and if they're gonna show up or not, but they're not known for their performance during group stages
You know, the truth has to be after yeah, and another exciting development
Of course that while this game was going on
We had another blockbuster of a match between p-time and nick my galaxy happening and basically the series with Aurora and the series with
Nick my galaxy those two teams were fighting for the top spot in the group and that ended up being Nick my galaxy because they did
2-0 their opponent even though if you watch that first game between them and p-time you would have probably thought
That p-time was gonna win that one, but that was an epic comeback and we do have some of those here this week
So the Dota is good the Dota is great
It's not the only game that's going on though because yesterday is actually the day that our first title finished
Betel fury crowned their champion the first key is locked in dark angel playing for Navi won
Fatal Fury beating out Mitsuhashi who's playing for a Virtus Pro but the
thousand points for the club championship go the way of Navi. A fantastic start and
of course keep in mind that if you are rooting for a particular club you need
them to get at least one championship otherwise they don't even have the
chance to become one because you're basically not allowed to be number one
if you can't even get number one. You know, we want consistency while being able to be at the top.
So now we off to a great start there with Dark Angel. We'll keep you informed of what else is
coming on all the other games, of course, but here we are focusing on the Dota and we are going to
show you guys how the groups have played out thus far. We did solve group A and no tiebreakers
in this one. Effie, clear favorites there with Team Falcons.
Yeah, I mean team Falcons since their formation and Dota have just been one of the best teams
if not the best for some of the years that they've played so this one here is no surprise.
They didn't necessarily have the strongest season but it was still a pretty strong season
from them and this is about the time that you would want Falcons to peek.
Yeah, they are peeking at the right time.
We said goodbye to Gamer Legion and poor rangers there at the bottom of the group.
we are taking a look at group B where they were in the end of the day. Also, no tiebreakers
with Nigma Galaxy keeping their fate in their own hands by 2-0ing P-Time yesterday.
Yeah, I mean, I think both of these groups had a bit of a surprise. Rooneyeter's getting
third in group A and then Nigma Galaxy taking first place in group B. I think that, you
know, while a lot of these groups have shaped up to be very lopsided where you see like
9-1, 1-9, 8-2-2, 8, like pretty big discrepancy between the top and bottom, there were a few
surprise placements and I think that's something that's exciting to see this early on in the tournament.
Yeah, especially in Ignite Galaxy, such a fan favorite. I don't think a lot of people would
have on their Vigno card that they would be killed first in their group. Let's take a look at what's
happening in Group C because Group C and D are not yet solved. It is looking pretty solved, though,
not gonna lie. I mean, there's like a clear, okay, bottom of the pack, middle of the pack,
and the top between P-Risen and Team Sphere, which coincidentally we're gonna watch play today.
It's going to be a banger, but between these two teams, I really do think there could be a winner here
They're both looking really solid, but he visioned just like a step above the rest so far this tournament
Yeah, they're the only team that did not drop a single game in this entire group stage as we can take a look at group D
Which is considered to be the group of death
There is quite a divide here as well
But this is the group where most things are still undecided
other than Brian, I see Insanity going out.
The rest is looking still very stacked and very even.
Yeah, 1W is going to be changing their name to 1L
as they've been winning pretty much all their games
throughout the course of this group stage.
But their last game against OG was actually the game
that they lost.
And, you know, we see that OG is only one game ahead
of fourth and fifth place.
If you could fifth year are completely out of this tournament.
So I think this is by far the most exciting group
because of this third, like obviously the first
and second place matters.
but at the end of the day both those teams are advancing.
We have 3-4-5, this is the only group
with a really meaningful like round robin potential
for the tie breakers and the fact that OG
gave themselves a leg up by taking a game off of 1W
who was previously undefeated, that's pretty awesome.
Yeah, and they're also the one responsible
for the loss, the Gatnex head.
So definitely OG having some good moments
in this group stages.
This is what we're gonna see today on this stream.
And we already said, P-Vision first team spirit,
super excited for that one.
I wanna focus our attention first a little bit
the second series of the day because 1W and Jannex, we saw them just both sitting at 7 and 1,
and that means that these two teams are in contention for first of the group. That means
if this series goes 1-1, we want more, Briar! That's not enough! Yeah, it effectively becomes a
best of five. Yeah, at that point, and it's not even the grand finals yet, Trevor. Maybe it's a
spoiler, though. Even though I agree with Mira, P-Vision and Team Spirit are definitely up there for...
I think P-Vision's my favorite out of all these teams. If I had to choose a winner today, it'd be
them, but I think that the crown will almost certainly be one of these four.
I agree completely. All of these teams are in such good form right now.
Pivison, their drafting just looks absurd to me. They've been
cooking on every single draft, and I do feel like they've delivered every single day that I
watched it happen, whereas with Team Spirit, there's been a little bit of draft fumbles here and there.
Yeah, I guess for our first series of the day, which we are also having as our Sony story of the
day we got on one side the defending champions and team spirit on the other side the team that
people think will be the future champions so very exciting match coming your way there before we
get to that series though let's focus our attention on some of the the meta things that have been
going on here in particular the start of the group stage you heard tofu say that this might be the
event with the most diverse hero pool yet and here we see the unpacked picked heroes the heroes
that you see the slight hue over are not picked, but they have been on the radar, they have been
banned, so not entirely forgotten. Any heroes, Brian, that you feel like, wow, I was not expecting
this hero to be un-picked? I thought we were going to see Faceless Void. Honestly, out of all the
carries, he's out of all the slow carries. We were seeing him a decent amount in the last month,
but I think right now the laning stage is so important in this meta of range-dominating lane
carries turning into like summons offlaners. I think the main weakness we're seeing amongst
all the carry heroes here is they buy battle fury or their slow tempoed and they would just get
ran over by what we're currently seeing picked. Yeah, what a cool catch that a lot of the unpicked
heroes on the screen I believe we still will see at some point during this EWC because heroes
is right off the bat. I'm looking at Marcy, I'm looking at Tracelesswood, I'm looking at Magnus,
And we can get Legion Commander, Troll Warlord and Tinker.
I think all of these heroes will have at least one game at this tournament.
And Nipo is the pocket pick for a lot of the carry players.
Might even say it's a day or it's a time I can play.
So for me, quite a promising graphic because only like three heroes on the screen.
I look at them and think, okay, these are awful.
Name and shame.
I'm Slark.
I'm Corden and team age.
K.O.Snipe.
Yes, Snike.
I mean, fast.
Yeah.
Yes.
No, we will probably see. I mean, I had Venture Spirit and they don't even mention that, but
I would imagine I thought we were going to see her and she was definitely popping up
in a lot of the High of the Mar pubs as a carry as well. We'll see if any of that happens
today though. We're focusing our attention on the first series of the day, the Sony story
of the day, P-Vision versus Team Spirit, Brian. Epic.
Yeah, I mean, I'm honestly so excited for the dynamic of this series because P-Vision,
They've consistent, no one himself said in the interview,
they just know how to get a goal lead.
That's just something that puppy's been kind of drilling
into them over the last few months.
And at the same time, Team Spirit's been
the comeback team of old,
but, and they've even made a couple of comebacks
throughout this tournament so far.
You know, for me, this is almost a David versus Goliath
in the sense that me and Mira,
we've just been raving about how good
P-Vision's drafts are throughout this entire tournament.
And Team Spirit is the team that always finds a way
to make a lineup that works,
and they will give themselves a win condition.
So I just hope they're still getting a chance
to effectively play Dota when the game is 20 minutes in,
because they're not so far behind with no plays.
Yeah, to me, Team Spirit very much feels
like they're in the ironing it out stage,
which is funny just maybe
because they've done really well in their group.
But a lot of their games that they've won have been combats.
And that's not necessarily a situation
that you want to be in drafts
where you get mega creeped and you win the game
you've lost the early game and you're down 10k network then you have to take the fight to make a
comeback. That means that somewhere in your drafting stage you messed up the lanes or the early game
and versus a team like P-Vision you can't mess up the lanes and the early game so I do wonder what
they have prepared today and what they've talked about because Yatoro mentioned in his interview
that they still haven't decided what to focus on in their draft. Is it lanes? Is it mid game?
They're still figuring it out. They are for sure. We are going to focus our attention first on
that pVision this is a team again they have not dropped a single game and they
look so solid they look very stable and I'm sure they're looking quite confident
going in today don't take my word for it let's take no one's word for it damn
here with no one of pVision you've got you've got a big match today how are you
feeling look okay I spoke to nine class earlier and asked him about your guys's
improvements recently because I feel like your consistency has gotten better
He credited some of that to Puppy as a coach. Would you agree with that?
Yeah, for sure.
What kind of stuff is he fixing?
He's not class-described as teaching us how to play Dota the correct way rather than maybe chaos.
Does that sound about right for you?
It sounds about exactly right.
So what was the chaos method like where you guys just individually making calls and going with the flow and sometimes things go wrong?
I would say we haven't seen the whole picture probably and he's shown us this because like probably
Me and Duka on the previous team were like the captains, both, and we were like decoiling
lots of like probably everything on the team and when Paik became we understood why this
is good and why exactly we need to do and why we don't do some other stuff.
That's really helpful, that sounds like the perfect thing that a coach should do for
team at Boston.
He's playing Dota for French for years.
I mean, you guys have played for a long time, but yeah, Puppy is definitely very good at
strategy, that's very, that's very helpful for you guys.
9 classes been playing normal heroes lately. He's in a cage. Are you guys going to let him out ever?
Coming in?
Like, 9 classes playing normal heroes, boring stuff maybe. Why don't you let him play a little weird stuff, you know?
You put him in the cage, you don't let him out, he's a trapped animal, you know?
True, but sometimes Valve is trapping this animal because the patch is like, they're killing their hero,
his hero is actually on post for like Monkey Slark, all this crazy stuff that he was playing for.
And Nexus and all that stuff, it's all fixed.
But I think Valve brought you a key recently.
They said, hey, no more spectating your friends' pub games.
True, but they didn't bring the some heroes that are good ones, you know.
Okay, so he needs good heroes and the cage to be open, okay.
And the meta as well, because meta right now is kind of fast, so he cannot play the slow heroes.
Some hero that he can like slowly farm a hand.
Dominic, sir.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Another one.
I'm a Korean.
Okay, that makes sense, yeah.
I'm glad you understand the value of your teammates.
In terms of your upcoming match against Team Spirit, very good team.
How do you expect of you?
Because I feel like both of you guys have gotten better recently.
I would say it's going to be just a decent match.
Who's going to win this all?
Okay, we'll see how it goes.
Well, thank you for joining me and good luck in your match.
Thank you, bye.
A decent match.
It could be a little bit more confident than that,
but I think that comes with the territory.
I feel like P-Vision has this air of respecting everyone that they go up against.
It probably is part of the reason why they're so successful.
Now the rest of me it's a little bit better than booms interview where he was asked how you're gonna do it against pVision
He's like yeah, we're gonna get a dude. I think he's a bit more confident than the boom was but at the end of the day
No one he he's a very insightful dude, but I feel like going into games
He you get like you'll get a different post game interview from him
Then you will a pregame interview because before the game
He's just like all eyes on the prize, but afterwards he's he's willing to share a bit more ideas usually
Yeah, I think they also just know how good they are right now
I can kind of feel it every time one of their players talks to us and
You don't want to come off as unlikable
I guess or not humble but it is it is important to respect the teams that you play against and while p-visions are looking
Like the strongest team this tournament
Everyone's left their tails right now
Everyone is on their tail and team spirit will be on their tail a very very soon team spirit only dropping one game in this group stage
so far only in the first series that they played so they have also improved and everybody always
regardless on how they do in a group stage they respect team spirit because team spirit is considered
a championship team they step up when they need to they also are your kadea title defender
team spirit one of the undisputed best teams in the history of doda are back at the esports world
Cup to defend their championship title. Their run through the eSports World Cup 2025 really
highlighted the dominance of Team Spirit and why you should never count them out.
After finishing first in the Gert stage, they went on an undefeated run through the upper bracket,
knocking out the best teams in the world without dropping a single game.
The team has been through some changes since the eSports World Cup last year,
and their current roster consists of Yutaro, Laurel, Collapse, Not Me, Rue, and with Maposhka returning as their new coach.
While they've had a rocky few months, a constant of team spirit is that you can never underestimate them in extremely high stakes of events,
where other teams fall due to pressure. Team spirit thrives.
eSports World Cup 2026 will be a chance for Team Spirit to prove that this still holds true.
Never count them out, not in a game, not in a series, and not in a tournament, no matter how
they perform throughout it. It's literally that that respect that has been there. And if you're
If you're wondering, what is it like for the players?
Well, Collapse actually for EWC feels something very particular.
How are you feeling about your player right now?
You've been a fantastic player since your breakout, obviously winning TI.
Do you have ebbs and flows about how good you're feeling about your play?
I noticed I have some buff on Reads, like on EWC tournaments, from the first one maybe.
Do you feel it or do you just feel the results?
I feel by the results and also it's like I feel just like in the air you know just I feel some buff
so I can win. I'm playing better. Sometimes I can like solo just win games by solo and just something that is.
Okay well we'll see that happening.
Some strange feeling I don't know.
Well, I'm happy. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Thank you so much for the interviewing. Good luck in your matches.
Thank you.
A buff that makes you feel like you can solo an entire game?
I need me some of that, Effie. That sounds powerful.
That sounds awesome. I would like to win some pubs,
feeling like I can solo the whole thing.
But there are so many games I can recall
off the top of my head of collapse, like turning impossible situations.
He's already had Aegis matches in this tournament.
Like there was one game where he's touched two Aegis in one game
Like he is right that there is something in the air for him when it comes to you WC
Yeah, I mean some of these teams like pVision for instance, it's like fundamentals
It almost looks like this how they win but other teams team spirit being the most notable one
Just have this like X factor where at any given moment a player can step up
I think it was really displayed at its prime when they won their first TI like there
There were just games where they were behind and Yachter would just get a rampage out of nowhere
and the most important part about this for me is that it can be really anybody on their team.
And that's something that we'll have to keep an eye out for today, if P vision lets their guard down.
Yeah, it's actually also very cool that even though since that TI, there's been some roster
changes, but they keep, they keep that vibe of always being able to close a game out, no matter
if they're up against mega creeps like we saw in the very first series where there was a mega creep
come back by them already. And we're looking very much forward to this upcoming series,
between P-Vision and Team Spirit, and to get it properly started, we're heading over to the stage.
And here we are friends, welcome back to the new Legion Gauntlet! We're here with you, it's a hell of a day,
And we are the one that matters here in our groups, the final day of it all.
And from this moment on Slacks, it all gets super complicated and survival.
So I wanted to get our emotions out of the way just for the beginning.
Yesterday, I'm sorry I wasn't here with you. I'll tell you the story.
What happened?
I got dressed, I was ready to go. I went to the door and it was locked.
Oh no.
I heard cackling on the other side of it as they're running away in the hallway.
I don't know if it was Sunspan or somebody else.
Okay.
But all I'll say is, I just got stuck watching Dota in my room the entire day.
I'm so sorry, but I missed you because I'm watching you on the stage.
You're doing great as always.
Thank you.
And I have a warm heart, and I wanted to draw something as a thank you for being a wonderful host.
Oh my god, this is for you, Slacks.
That's beautiful art.
Let's do it.
It's you and me and Rochon behind us saying great.
I'm only going to treasure this forever.
Thank you so much.
That is so wonderful.
I'm gonna put that in my nice little forever box right there. Thank you for that. I loved it Milosh
Well, we got games to go through survival and game. No, it's okay. It's okay. I love it
Go ahead today is about trying to make it out and escaping survival stage and our first match between P vision and team spirit
That is one for the age. Oh, we got P vision team spirit
I'm not joking around anymore. All right. These are the best two teams here, baby
I'm not gonna say that in front of all the other teams haven't arrived yet, obviously, but in this group it ain't no thing
All right, everybody knew that p vision was gonna be you know what forget it
I'm not gonna get into a whole speech you guys want to see some teams
I know you do so let's make some noise for our first team head to the stage. It's
P vision baby everybody said this team is gonna win top of all the tier lists top of all of our hearts and
and here they are again. They have not lost a single game at all. Nobody in the group has that
record. All right, these guys are invincible so far. They have no one touching them. 8-0, maybe,
and they're looking for that 9-0 here today. We'll see if that'll matter against their opponent.
Our EWC 2025 Dota 2 Champions Team Spirit! Yes, you heard it right, ladies and gentlemen,
and our champions from last year are back.
And they're at number two right now in their group
with a singular game loss.
That Iraqi end of 2025, but recent resurgence.
I'm gonna tell you that deadly combo,
Miposhka back as coach, then the unknown entity, not me.
I'm gonna tell you that name is a lie
because he is him.
That is a gentleman.
And he's on to show you what they've got.
They do face their toughest opponent yet in the groups.
So today is a big test for both.
Absolutely, both these teams know each other so well.
Both of them are always on the top of the brackets.
And today, there could only be one winner
to skip through survival and head to that top slot.
So please, let's get those keys in.
If you would, please.
Captains get ready to shake hands.
Now let me tell you a little something about Kota.
These two captains hate each other, all right?
They're always on telegram, talk at sp-
There we go!
The handshake is paid.
Fantastic! We shook!
I got the jibbles on it!
I'm feeling it, baby!
Alright guys, let's get ready for one of the hyphest games we've had so far as we pass it over to the panel.
We got P-Vision with an 8-0 record and Team Spirit with a 7-1 record and for the people
already doing the math, that means that if Team Spirit 2-0s this match, they are top
of the group rather than P-Vision.
So, a lot of stake here because being able to skip the survival stages is a grand prize.
Let me tell you that.
Of course, P-Vision only needs to win one game in order to do so.
We'll see how this goes.
For both of these teams, Effie, this is the toughest opponent they've had within this
group.
We always knew it was going to come down to this.
Yeah, for sure.
But I can imagine Team Spirit feel like P-Vision is this big wall to climb right now.
Like, they are definitely the team to beat here, they are the team that everyone has on their radar,
but Team Spirit are the kind of team that could wake up one day and just be the best team in the world.
You hear it from pro players all the time, I heard it from Sab on this panel, but Team Spirit in top form,
you can't win versus them, good luck.
Yeah, I think, going into the series that you mentioned, she was that they only need to win one game on the side of P-Vision,
And what I think is funny about this format with the best of twos
is the reason that is, is because Team Spirit lost a game to Maus
on the first day of the tournament.
So I think the difference between these two teams, Miro's talking about,
is that Team Spirit, they're always leveling up throughout the course of the tournament.
I always expect a team like P-Vision.
Like they usually show you their cards at the start of the tournament.
If P-Vision's looking top form, if they're going to win the tournament,
you'll usually know from day one.
And so today it's like, I think this would have been a completely different match five days ago.
And I think Team Spirit's got the best chance having it happen now
So you're saying Team Spirit is happy that they have their toughest opponents at the end whereas P vision
They might rather seen it the other way around
I think you're gonna get the exact same P vision. Yeah, no matter when it was and
Team Spirit's gonna be have leveled up at this point. So I think for P vision like obviously they're not thinking about these kind of things
Oh, we sure I'm facing them a day before but definitely
I think this favors team it's giving Team Spirit the best chance
And I say that because even though Team Spirit is a defending champion
They're one of the most legendary teams of all time like man
I if you guys have not been watching this tournament like pVision, they're the one team I've watched where not only are they executing
There's like lanes they're winning that they're not supposed to be winning
But then there's also these draft strategies where I just looking at it
I'm like I know with my dota knowledge that they're favored
But then I can't even explain why sometimes and then you get into the game and there's like this 15-minute period where
They're like 15 minutes into the game. It's an even game and suddenly it's 8k because they just hit this timing and they're so
Synchronized like they're they're a coddle team. They're a wisp team like it's just these heroes that it's not individual understanding
It's the whole team rallying around them. Well, I got a tiny bit of an update for you, Brian
Oh, I did see just things of what being picked. So you know this not in this draft come on guys
We're not even in a draft. I was saying the first case is for it. No, no, it's a game of the place
There's no longer non-picture. So your prediction there came true for sure
and I want to talk about our upcoming draft as well, as I want to know what we should be looking out for FV here.
Is there any player in particular, any role in particular, any hero in particular that you feel like is key to winning this match?
Yeah, so I think for a lot of this tournament, the two and four flexes have kind of been king in that first phase.
Obviously, we have the usual suspects like the ranged carries, the lone druids, the draw rangers.
Are you solving them? Are you dressing them within the draft?
But for P-Vision, in particular, I think about the flexes between No 1 and 9-Class.
They have this Earth Spirit that they can play on 4 and 2, that looks fantastic.
They have this Caudal that they can play on 4 and 2, and they've only played it on 4 this tournament,
but the Flex to 2 is always there, and they tend to build their drafts around these.
Yeah, I'm actually curious if Team Spirit leads Ioun.
Pretty much everybody's been banning it against 9-Class.
You know, we talked about a story of the tournament has been 9-Class not playing
the monkey kings and the slarks. He's still his own unique player. He picks heroes that
it's not that nobody else is picking them. We know some teams are also picking IO like
GH for Digma Galaxy, for instance, but they're heroes that are very particular play style
that require everyone on the team to kind of like buy into the game plan. IO more about
like the global map movements, Coddle about the macro play with the sustain from Illuminate
and the team balling around that and I just think personally watching the
Caudle there's so many things at the factor he pushes waves he stacks camps
so you have to invade them and then he also creates this insane amount of
sustain that you have to be able to actually do damage through you see them
go like Caudle plus like a Largo like one other sustained hero and suddenly it
just becomes very difficult so I'm surprised I'm not surprised per se that
they left it on the side of Team Spirit but they kind of know what they're
getting into. They've left both in Iowa and Cuddle. Yeah, we also see them taking a quiet
while to remove Lone Druid from the pool and as a first pick team, that's a big decision.
So it makes sense, but they seem to be preparing for a Shadow Fiend opening pick for themselves
or at least trying to bake P-Vision into banning out the Shadow Fiend who's now also taking
some time. There is indeed the Shadow Fiend ban. So let's see which hero they'll go for
as their opening pick with the Drown, the Earth Spirit and the Shadow Fiend ban some
of the the most bad heroes already. I think the only odd one out that might have given
then Paws, Effie is the hoodwink. We've seen hoodwink a lot, so I don't think it's that
surprising to see her banned, but to see her first face banned. Maybe that's a little
bit more surprising.
Yeah, I've noticed Puffy does this thing where he'll make, he'll kind of single out
a player and think that they have really strong heroes or one really strong hero, even if
they're not necessarily in meta. For example, versus Maus, he just banned all of Chrysalis's
heroes. So to me, this says that he's identified there are players that have less heroes to
work with, and this is the threat that he sees from the Team Spirit supports, the headwind.
Yeah, we have actually Tree and Protector, Ignore.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm like, they chose, they prioritized ban over Tree
and Protector. I think it's because it trades really well with the likes of the Caudal and
the Io, maybe they're thinking like that sort. I'm talking, even though these heroes are
are not being picked or banned yet, they're being considered on every single stage of the
draft.
And so, Ari, a repeat vision actually ends up going for the Kez.
I'm wondering out of all the carries right now, because a lot of times against Bane,
you want to pick a carry that has illusions or like multiple units of some kind so that
you can wake yourself up from the nightmare, you can still do damage while you're free
and it's a group.
If you're going to pick Kez like this, I assume they're going to go for a save, whether it's,
i think the most likely one is ringmaster
uh... that we've been seeing it's been is there any other
reliable fiend script cancels or saves mirror that you'd be prioritizing
against the bank
and then there's
things that are less popular like the shadow demon and the oracle that maybe
we would see a team like
and that's early play but i don't necessarily think we'll see
come out here so maybe that is part of the discussion of the pain
that they don't really play the heroes that are generally good against them.
That makes sense. I mean, these teams, obviously they're scouting very specifically.
I know Team Spirit often adjust their opening to the team that they're up against,
which some teams will just be like, here's what we do, hope you figure it out,
or maybe don't hope you figure it out, but Team Spirit, they usually cater to the exact team they're playing.
Yeah, I do find this Caz opening quite curious from P-Vision because they haven't done it,
the CWC so far and you look at Team Spirit's bands, the axe was in the very first phase
which is also kind of an anti-Kaz hero. You secure that band early on and Yatoro did bust
out his first Kaz vs Reconyx the other day. So maybe there's some scrim information going
on that Team Spirit would have picked Kaz. He vision decided to pick it early and they
also think it's a great hero against Collapsus Heropold.
Yeah, I also think it's I think
Kaz is like top of a tier for carries
I think s tier is literally draw shadow fiend and loner and I think they might be arguing like oh
All the top three carries are already banned out
So there's limited slim pickings left and by taking Kaz you're gonna be stuck taking a ranged carry that I think most of the other
Range carries we saw TA for instance played against Kaz a lot of them struggle against the parry mechanic the gap closing mechanic the burst damage and
And Kes with any sort of buffs, I mean, Kes without any buffs is pretty insane, but if you give him an IO overcharge,
I wouldn't even mind if they end up going for something like Invoker.
I think Team Spirit could even just take Invoker here because of the Bane Nightmare set up on Sidelanes.
And you know, if they do take the Invoker, that opens up the Faceless Void potential,
True.
Which is an EWC Taurus speciality.
And Faceless Void's quite good against Kes.
Because one of the few heroes that can actually lock him down and take him out before he gets all this free satanic free dispel free
silence and
You know in this and everything off. We don't see a lot of tight hunter this
EWC he was very popular just couple months back. What makes him good here
That's extremely good against kez because tight hunter has his built-in disfo versus the Kazari katana
Which is where all of Kazi's damage comes from so he is one of the melee heroes doesn't get bullied the same way as other
there's Dew versus Kez, and also that Shard, the Tide of the Deep, whatever it's called.
You keep forgetting names, but it's really good against Ayo as well.
Yeah, I think, I mean, the reason why Tide mentioned, for all the reasons Meera mentioned,
later on the Kazurakatana automatically just gets dispelled,
but also in the landing stage, Kez is like a chip damage hero that attacks you a bunch of times,
and having the built-in damage block as well.
So Tide Hunter does, to some degree, deal with both stages of Kez's game.
this game. What I'm seeing a lack thereof right now for Team Spirit, it's like Willow
kind of does it, but they're not. Okay, you have the, you have the Ravage, you have the
Tide Shard, you have the Willow spells to follow up, but through this IO heal, I don't
think this is enough. So where is the, you know, finishing blow coming from? And I'm
just, cause you can't really pick a hero like Phasus Void for instance. They have all the
lockdown right now. I think Yatro's hero has to be a lot of damage. Or I guess, I think
Yato and Laurel's hero both have to be a lot of damage.
I wonder if Laurel whips out something like the Lena
that we've seen a couple of times.
Just, I want to see heavily fixated on damage
because they've done so much for control
in Team Fire right now.
I still think the Invoker is quite solid
with the Varmval set up on one lane
and the Nightmare set up on another lane.
That could be the damage solution.
But I want to talk about the little bit
and her dynamic with Io.
She's a hero that's become popular more recently.
But I do think she can provide you
that little bit of early game damage boost versus Io before he gets a lot of the sustain
in and she kind of functions as an anti relocate hero in the sense that if she's ready and
the relocate's coming she can layer her brown balls on top of her terrorize and buy her
team a very valuable four seconds.
That's a good point.
Against like Willow and Dawnbreaker, these global teleport ins, it is nice to just have
stuff to throw on the ground that is often some pseudo reliable.
So they do go for the heavy sustain line.
We talked about Caudal plus Largo,
something they ran a couple days ago,
but now they're doing IO plus Largo.
The one thing I like about the Grimstroke is,
first off, you usually want Grimstroke to be in lane
with carries that have some sort of innate gap close.
Traditionally, it's like Anti-Mage, Ricky, PA.
Kez is just the better version of all of these.
He has a lot of other aspects of his kit,
but he also has that.
So he'll utilize the Ink Swall,
but then also a phantom, phantom's grasp, I think it's called the second, the second
spell for Grimstroke. That's one of the few spells in the game that is not removed by
Tidehunters Kraken so you can actually reliably silence him.
The embrace?
Yeah, the silence.
Yeah, the silence.
Yeah.
Where he shoots his wife.
Yes, his wife will shut Tidehunter up before he ravages for free.
Yeah, it's kind of like a soft disruptor ulti.
Yeah.
With much lower cooldown, so that's actually a really great point. It is also quite effective
against the Vayne, you have the means to cancel the fiend group early on. But I do like this
Largo quite a lot. You talked a lot about the sustain on this draft, Brian, but I also think
though a lot of Largos have been playing in the late game, they're taking catchy lick talents,
I've noticed in that catchy lick range. So you can also have a means to reposition away from the
fiends group later on. You can also just follow the brambles from Willow. It's a really good solution
here. And there's still the invoker that we talked about. So they've got the synergy there,
potentially a faces voidbound incoming as well because it seems like Team Spirit is very much in
agreement with you guys on how you talk about this draft. Is there any other hero other than Doom that can
really help stop some of the regeneration coming in from P-Vision because I can't see anything.
Yeah the thing when I look at P-Vision's draft is you need to go through the sustain but then you
You also need to have like staying power.
The problem I have with like a faceless void is if the Corona doesn't get like two kills
then everybody is back to full.
Yeah, then what do you do from there?
So I think I wouldn't mind they have two options.
They have like sustained damage carries like Terrorblade that just dish it out.
A lot of the Prime ones are the SS and the Drowers that are already gone.
But then you could also maybe go something like the PL that we've been seeing.
face up because right now, you know, P-Vision's draft doesn't really have a way to kill illusion
heroes. And so if you take the long fight that way where you wear them down, I think
that could work too.
I think I like the TV suggestion a little bit more than PL because in the late game,
if Grimstroke gets his eggs, then you always have the PL illusion, which is really strong.
I think with just a carry that can die in early Scotty could be very useful on TV
That's one of his natural items anyway. I always forget about the Grimstroke ads
Yeah, I mean that honestly might be another reason why they picked it is because illusion heroes are pretty good against their drafts
So Grimstroke gives them everything we said plus that if you do pick it, okay, they banned Lushrack
They want PL. I'm just saying they banned Lushrack
There's no other reason to ban Lushrack, but if if we're aware, surely P vision is also a way
Yeah, I mean then the question is do they think they have another answer to it?
Ooh, yes.
Sheaves.
I mean, I guess I don't want to say it's the only reason.
IoLush is quite a duo, so that, you know, if Quinn were here, he would be talking about
how good that duo is for the former game of Gladiators.
Is it really needed for Io to have another combo or you feel like it's enough with Kes?
I think they do need a mid-game combo.
Like right now, Kes is going to be the guy you tether when you get Aegis and you're trying
to go high ground.
somebody to run around with that's just gonna dish out a lot of damage. You have
two enabling supports and you have Largo who's also an enabler, so I think
they do need to solve the 0 to 20 minute damage problem.
Do you think faceless Blade is off the table here, Brian? I know I would give
their drafts a lot more read and a lot more cooldown dependence, but it's so hard
to not be tempted when you have that invoked. Yeah, I mean if you're... I wouldn't
be surprised if they pick it, but I do think it makes the game one mistake away
from losing at any given point. Which, if there's a team that I would trust to execute
and a player to do it, it'd be Yotaro, but I guess I would prefer not to put myself in
that position.
It's very intriguing that the two stunning carries and Tiny and Svann get banned. To
me, this says that Peavision believed that the only way to get Invoker into this game
is to just get him those Sunstrike kills with the stunning heroes on the sidelines and they're
comfortable outside of that.
Yeah, they might actually go Alchemist, I'm just realizing, like, having a stunning carry that hits a mid-game timing,
they kind of have damage issues right now on P-Vision for the early game.
Can you guys tell me why, or if, maybe Ember Spirit would still be good or not good for P-Vision?
That's a more fling, by the way, that's unusual, but I want to talk a tiny bit about the Ember Spirit,
because this is one of the most picked and still incredibly successful heroes of the CWC.
I love that you asked that question shiver because you know what the best carry in the gaming is in the spirit is more
Flee more Flee I think they actually factored that into their last pick because in the spirit has been the premier mid laner
And even if you can dispel his flame guard, they don't really have hard lockdown for him for a while
Until like tide shard and once again late limited damage in their spirit punches that as well
I think both teams are relatively low on their early to mid game damage unless they're able to chain a bunch of spells on you
they both like I think combo breaking is gonna be a big thing this game whether
it's like four staffs glimmer capes you know catchy lick I think that I think a
lot of times is gonna be does this team managed to burst the guy with a
symphony of spells when I see more fling and I'm looking me oh that Largo
mid or is that Nightstalker mid it's a lot of them wow they're taking a page
out of a gamer Legion's book who did that earlier on you know what that was
very successful when he did it. It was against Earth Spirit that time, but it did look very
good. What do we make of it? I'll go ahead, Mira.
Sorry, I just think that this Night Soccer was a great pick against Team Spirit's heroes.
Morphling is also that early Scotty fire that we mentioned that could give them a lot of
the anti-heal, but Night Soccer will always give you a way to play into Morphling with
that silence and just try to run at him in the early game. The same applies to this Night
Soccer rubbing at the invoker. So, P.V.G. we're saying we're not even going to let you
beach those item timings and we're just going to win early with this Night Stalker here.
Yeah, I've literally laning against Iow Night Stalker recently and it's a surprisingly strong
lane.
You think of Night Stalker as kind of a creep for the first five minutes of the game, but
Iow tends to get him past that stage.
I don't think Bane Morph is going to punish it too hard and then once it hits five minutes,
I think Night Stalker is one of the few heroes that can threaten to boot Morphling out of
lane.
You're not going to kill him most likely, but you are going to force him to be low and
potentially pressure his tower with any sort of extra rotation I guess they
don't really have that rotation I got I don't think a Largo is gonna like walk
to your lane I guess all you can say is this team spirit like they have really
amazing team fight but man this map is terrifying to play you're against a
Kez is gonna be playing off map I'll relocate it's gonna bring two extra
heroes in you have night stalker vision at all times so if he was gonna get the
fights that they want it's just a matter of his team spirit gonna be able to
brace themselves for it.
And to answer your question, Sheeves, it was just such a strong late-socker pick that
I think they wanted to pick it regardless, and that's why they flexed the lago, and
now you just have to play through your offlane.
You have to play through noticed on his late-socker, and no one's going to take more of a, I'm
going to farm my items, and I'll do it, and then I'll give you the auras, but noticed
is the playmaker for P-Vision in these games.
So what do we expect coming out of Spirit?
Because if there's all this stuff happening on P-Vision's side of the map, and they will
We'll try to approach obviously on Team Spirit's side of the map, like how are they going to
try to make sure that this Morphling will get the time that he needs, and the Invoker
will get the time that he needs.
Go ahead, Nero.
It's just a very classic Team Spirit game where they're going to have to weather the
storm.
This Nightstalker did create a lot of problems for them.
One thing I can think of is if you can get this Invoker some Sunstrike kills early, maybe
he can rotate, but otherwise they're going to run into this really difficult mid-game
timing against P-Vision.
This is not a fancy answer, but in the spirit of Maposhka, the coach for Team Spirit, I think Rue is going to need to tank some ganks as Bane, because at the end of the day, you lack map mobility compared to P-Vision, like if we had a map mobility score, it's like 10 to 2 in this game.
So I think that there's going to be times where somebody on Team Spirit just has to let the Nightstalker ulti kill them, and I actually think it just has to be Bane, and that's how they're going to get past the early game.
But if they manage to stall this game out, I think they scale better on the side of Team Spirit and their team fight
There will be a point where you can't fight anyone. Let's find out if Team Spirit can manage to stall the game out
Or if P vision will run all right over them. It's time for game number one of this two game series with Sunspot and Kezu
Welcome game one indeed P vision versus Team Spirit and this is gonna be a doozy and a half
Oh hell yeah, I just said I've been waiting this time
I fully believe you like this is some of the best games
I think that we will see and it is towards the end of the group stage very important match up here for both the teams because
You want to go straight to the playoffs here Shannon
You don't want to do some you know other stuff or something you have to play some other teams single them none of those shenanigans
Play clean and move on and for p-vision that means a single game victory in this series is enough to do just that spirit
Have to to all but in the meantime
They aren't pretty comfortable in that second position as well
And they played extremely well in this tournament so far despite the single game loss that they have suffered thus far
Yeah, we have some interesting picks. They're kind of a last-minute
Switch up as noticed night stalker last pick in the off lane which moves Largo played by no one to the mid lane
Honestly, a lot of very cool things here like first of all you pick the morph into the Largo because you know Largo in the off line
He doesn't pressure very much. It's one of his weaknesses
So you get a very nice small thing pick because you think he's gonna do well in the lane
But then they swap it up in the end
So it's like you know one upping each other and yeah
I own night soccer together the whole P vision early game draft my god
If you're a spirit you need to play incredibly well to not get dumpstered on your map early on
There's no one with a lick under range creep to make the Sunstrakness. I like my soul cheeky play
Does have some thick cheeks on that Largo?
Oh, he does.
Yeah, they have a lot of healing.
I mean, Io, Largo on the same team, especially when it's a mid lane Largo, like, what do
we expect to see?
What we're expecting to see is early game aggression.
Look at all of their lanes.
Largo does very well mid against the Invoker.
Nightstalker, Io as well, I guess.
Like, Mothling doesn't pressure much.
He just wants to farm on his own.
And then your safe lane is Grim, Kez.
Sure, it is up against a Tidehunter, but I play Tide against very good Kez, and they
can maneuver around the anchor smash.
like even though Tide is a good answer to Kez, Kez still free funds in this lane.
Yeah. So you were very excited to see the Morphling pick. I was not.
Of course not, because you hate like half the Dota heroes.
No, it's Morphling and Terrible. There was just a period of time for like two years straight
that they were just picked every single game. So it's just, I need a break.
No, that's true, but you've had a break for a month for a while.
It's just not enough. Give it another year.
No, no, no, because what I like now is that they changed like his base stats,
You don't have to skill like attribute your shift early on, means you can go adapt the
strike, you can go wave form, you can actually play pretty aggressive.
They also buff the innate more where the more agile you have, the more attack range you
have.
I don't think it's like crazy changes overall, but the thing is also, this is a Yatoro special.
You know in these big tournaments, you're gonna get the Yatoro draw, Yatoro faces,
or Yatoro morphling.
So I'm honestly, I'm all for it.
You know, it's funny, I was excited in part to see the morphling only because of the new
set which he did equip initially and then changed last second to this.
Hey maybe he hasn't like played it in pub sex, sometimes you have a lot of this feeling
where you know you remind yourself when I've played this skin I've won all these amazing
games I don't know if it's that or if he's just actually it's this skin it's garbage.
Mostly placebo as the sun strikes coming from nobody but 9 class will be taken out eventually
by Yatorov he can find one more right click make it 2.
Yep.
First blood to Yatorov.
I mean, they got the level advantage and just immediately get to play off it in here if you're P vision
This was certainly not a kill that you wanted to give up because night fucker. I owe you know early on
Julian's not that you're gonna beat up the more thing
But you want to damage control control through this lane don't give up anything and then play aggressive in the nighttime
Speaking of night time. Let's talk about the night stalker
To me this hero is a hit or a miss
Based on your reaction thus far. So you can't do a lot of damage will dodge the Sun strike shadow realm very fire
In the air, he's going to be able to survive as a result, but look at the pressure being made.
Not to be gifted some tangos.
Yeah, Nightstalker feels like it's either incredible or terrible and there's not much in between.
Has that changed at all?
I would say it's still similar, but it has a lot to do with the overall state of the game and what tempo you can play in.
And I like it a lot with the P-Vision draft here this time around.
Obviously, you know, you're good against Morph early on.
I will say once Morph gets his third item, fourth item, he can just stand his ground and honestly just kind of kill you.
But I do think that P-Vision are very much equipped for a good night's of the game.
No one in the mid lane, 21 and 3 versus Laurel's 14 and 2, so great start for P-Vision there.
Also like...
From Spear's perspective, if you're giving the early game to P-Vision, what's their game plan?
Well, their game plan... I don't know if they can stop it, that's a fact.
He's just dead so I think our smash takes him out via collapse
This is one thing that I need to talk about because usually when you pick tight in a smash up
It's because you know you get crack and shell level one you get level three
You have level two crack and shell and you just kind of withstand the pressure
But they're going a completely different route. They can just play aggressive with the start little plus four
Notice taking some pressure
Wait for me Toros on strike does hit, but it's shared noticed
Likely will be able to walk away
still overall a lot of pressure but yeah you can see the the full stat build
like even so your Toro and Rune doing a very good job up here but like talking
about the early game I don't know if Sver can really push back all that much
if they are doing a good job in the laning as they're not me we'll take it
there to his name
that class won't be too sad about that it's a nice solo XP as you can see his
SCS is top 2 already in the game, so he's having himself a great lane overall.
That's more action mid lane, no one missed a bit of harassment.
And in terms of the 6 minute rotations for the power runes, which team do you think has the advantage?
It should be Peavish. I think just simply the fact that you have no one mid who's winning the lane.
I also like what he has queued up currently, you know, phase boots into an urn, probably a vessel.
as 9th class is here with a play.
Yeah, Laurel, good timing from 9th class.
Gets all the spirits right on top of his face with the frog stump to help out.
Good kill from P-Vision.
Now, very, very nice move.
You can see Namita also noticed that he is perfectly in control.
This was right before the nighttime.
So if you're P-Vision and 9th class, you kind of have free real estate.
You want to keep playing with the frog in mid,
you want to rotate to notice up top later again.
You absolutely can do either.
Well, nightmare.
This is going to be a pretty difficult hero to take out,
Especially with the IO nearby no one I swung not gonna be there really, but they get the brambles is not me making the rotation
That was needed and nine class. That's right does destroy him. So two kills from Laurel
So despite that death, he's right back in the driver's seat cannot stress enough
How much these early kills actually matter because P vision they have a super aggressive early draft and if they're in a good position
They can definitely run you over so very very big counter play here on their respawn
Talk to me about this Grim. Normally we think of two things, which is the Ink Swell targets,
and we don't really think of Soul Blind targets as often, because I feel like that's kind
of an icing on the cake. It's more of the Aghanim Scepter later in the game, the Dark
Torture.
Yeah, it's definitely a big bonus. First of all, I like Grim a lot more than what the
hero used to be. I think with the innate, where if you click people, or if you have
any spells in them, you see them in the fog. It makes it super nice and easy to trade.
Titanic? Oh boy. He's gone. No, you need the Sun Strike. This lane is going swimmingly here.
Spirits are getting some outplays on the lanes currently.
Stopping. Yep, Silas right on top of Laurel, so his double kill will be thwarted,
nullified as the tier one tower, now being pressured from P-Vision.
This is a very, very heads up move from noticed. I love that.
Like, Morphling in the top lane, sure, if you go up against it, it's like a 1v1 farm fest in terms of the CS,
but if you go mid, what is Morphling's answer? And what is Tidehunter's answer?
They don't want to move from their lanes.
Yeah.
Tannock, left alone for the time being,
gonna get stunned under his Tier 1,
but happy to farm away at the moment.
I think also, so what's nice with Grimstroke is
we've seen a lot more people go for, like, the silence,
which is quite nice against a Tidehunter.
But, like, on all of this,
losing your Tier 1 Mid Tower Minut 7 in a greedy draft is...
that's a big deal.
Yeah, for sure.
Might be trouble again, Tannock.
getting ganked now from Yatoro, coming through the gate, Sunstrike does hit, but you can see
Collapses the one taking the Brunt here, there's more rotations via no one with all the heals to
work with, you can see the power of this Largo, already level 7, usually in the offlane you're
not going to be able to do anything like this, probably wouldn't have the ultimate by now.
Absolutely, not hit me lower level than this, but Rude did a very good job, he stole the enemy
whistle strength and TP's bottom and takes his own, and I do think that when you're the team that
needs time. Stealing a Wisdom Shrine is so damn strong. Like because it is the supports
they need to back up the course to make the moves in the early game, so both Nyclas and
Tukalus definitely will be slowed down here.
And what is the theory behind the IO pick, other than the fact that you have this double
heal core, or not core, but...
First of all, I think the hero is very good. It's also here that it's nearly perma-band
against P-Visit, and it works so so well in this draft with how you also want to play
at the moment. He's gonna take the ravage, stun strike as well, so another death for the
chicken man. That's three for Satanic already. And he collapse, continuing to dominate this lane.
Despite that little death he had earlier, he's gonna be very happy with how things are progressing
so far for Spirit. Ducalis trying to find his way in the tree line, but collapsing company,
he will surround and take him out. Okay, yeah, a lot of these early moves, I do think that
Spirit are getting more out of this early game than honestly they deserve getting multiple kills in this bottom lane
Trading the top for the bottom pressure at the moment and taking p-vige and safe lane power
I'm not gonna lie. They should be very happy with how the game is going at the moment
But we've had p-vige in games where even behind they don't it doesn't feel like they're rushed at all
And if they get to that mid to late game, especially with the likes of Kez
I mean, how good is their late game because just looking at the heroes that you've seen,
you know, it's not going to be there in time.
That's timing on the TP. Their late game is still honestly quite good.
Like, you've got Grim against Morph. It's a good illusion.
Obviously, it depends a lot also on like the itemization.
Can you force your Toro to like buy a Butterfly MKB within the illusion kind of owns himself
or is it going to be something different?
But a lot of Nightstalker drafts is also about the mid game, the post-lanning stage,
because if you're a P-Vision, you run somewhere, and it's hold that, 9th class in the grand vote.
So bad lump 9 class actually dead straight up. It's gonna be a trade
Will be a 1 for 1 but yet nice broker owns the minute to 20 mark
He's usually like the king of the matches using your old against these heroes like Bane willow invoker
None of these heroes can really stand their ground early on so even if he vision or slightly behind early on
I would absolutely expect them to take over the map within the next couple of minutes
Notice working on a blink dagger as his first main item after the drums
So, just looking to be ultra aggressive, we'll see how that works out for him.
I mean, it kind of aligns with what their lineup wants to do.
This does seem very early centric overall.
Yeah.
With a little bit of kez in the late game.
Because they definitely, like, eventually what they want to reach is like the IOLargo
together as, let's see, we have got a sleep setup, but I think this is more pressure than
really anything else.
Because they don't have the easiest play make, right, on P-Vision.
If you're a spirit, you're happy keeping a very stale map where not much is happening,
Tide Bottom, Yatoro stays top.
Most of the plays kind of have to be initiated through the NICE stalker.
And him having to go drums playing it, not a bad deal by any means, but it is very early
game-centric.
And does the build change at all for any of these heroes based on the positions?
Like Largo, for example, has a soul ring going for Spirit, that's why we don't see that
in the off-lane very often.
Okay.
Okay.
Terrorize, object three.
It is going to hit the IO, and that's the death of nine class.
Very nice, probably just protecting their own area, as not quite done yet as long as
throwing out a random tornado into the meteor.
That best. Looks like not me will be the eventual trade of supports.
Okay, still, we're seeing some really good things.
Like this is just players understanding kind of the limit that they can play on, you know,
not me in the jungle, gets a terrorized into the band-aim just with a Sun-Strike combo.
And while it is a 1-for-1 trade, it gives a lot of space to Team Spirit.
Well, Laps can take a nice juicy stack here, though, with the help of the Meteor Hammer from Laurel.
Also gonna have the Consecrated Wrap soon, and while they do have good heroes to, like, deal with what Spirit has,
need to say it again, and do think that this current state of the game is beneficial for Spirit.
Yep, first grip of the game, adaptive strike with the Sun Strike as well, lots of strikes in fact.
In fact, waveform to finish the job, it did call us a little bit too late to the party.
Won't suffer the consequences though.
Yeah, nice play. I do think that Ruzq, like I said before, he's getting off a lot of good plays.
First, double wisdom, shrine, steel, you get a lot of sacks going for your tide,
now finding display on note is closer to a tier one tower.
So after the meteor hammer is going to be boots of travel for Laurel and of course the blink
for the tide after the concentrated wraps nothing too crazy.
I'm still looking at how P-Vision want to progress the map currently of course you have
IOES Night Soccer all available and looks like the R-Iron collapsed here.
Very thank you with the wraps
We're gonna see the night time come from no distance. He's nearly get the slow with the void terrorize is coming
It's to his collapse. That's enough distance to get away nicely done from not me
So you say can turn this into something else?
Relocate up top, but doesn't really look like it
Yes, very able to dodge two sides of the map now
You need to commence third on the mappler here like a lot of the time when they want to keep an open map
They're playing like a 2-1-2 split. You have one of the cores that is always bothered by one of the supports
So there was not me down bottom very good terrorizing at the same time rule up top protecting your Toro
And nine class. He's a total target.
Rambles, Sun Strike should be a kill nicely done from spirit class actually changing his itemization
So after the wraps will be going for a Yule's
Very interesting
Okay
I mean it is obviously a good way for him to first of all gives you a relocate cancel
which is quite nice later on, and I think also when this Naisaka like runs on you, you can yield him, then still find a position
to also get the ravage off for yourself.
So actually, I don't really mind it.
It's also a good item when you want to play like a more open map, right?
You get more mana regen, a little bit more movespeed, if they gank you, it's easier for you to get away.
No one hasn't really found a real entry into this game yet.
He does have the vessel available and will get the 14-minute active rune.
Yeah, that's true.
I feel like Largo once he gets that second item is when he really starts to pop off
I mean question is does that change with the build that he's actually going because spear vessel like we said is not the norm
You're gonna see Kaiya. You're gonna see Agz. Yeah, I think it's still gonna be like the Kaiya
Maybe some Kaiya Sange if he wants you could look at a Lotus potentially
I think it's quite good against both the supports like if we look at both Bane and Willow
They don't really have any counter play if you pre-load this Bane can't really play if there's a terrorizer
You can always take that off as well
But at least, even though there's been a lot of kills that went way, it is only a 2K gold lead.
True.
Interesting. He just got to TP away, I don't know if the Inczo wasn't available, but not me, getting out scott free, even with the relocate being used during all of this.
Mech now online, for 9 class. It's so weird to see him play these kind of, I mean not that Io is a standard, he is not a 9 class.
9 class. No, his call in Iowa, I do think like over time this guy got to he got to calibrate,
you know, from being the weirdo hipster monkey guy who just jumps around on trees. He's starting
to definitely develop his overall hero play.
How that makes a little bit more sense just because you can kind of roam free, you can
be greedy with farm. Iowa, you're not really being greedy.
I mean, I guess the thing with Iowa nowadays is that you can play it again with Maxing's
birth. It's quite good. So if you do have a good lane, you can kind of do this or when
the game slows down, you can just farm some counts and be chilling.
He was also like some 25 game win streak as a whole that for a moment, so panic.
Yeah, already uses the XO Splash and it collapse, it's gonna be hard to do this without Rue.
Will he be spotted?
There's the fiends grip, they get everything they need, just a single fiends grip is more
than enough, so great pick off for Spirit.
As noticed, able to get out just fine.
They're going to turn their sights on the not-me, so it'll be a support for a carry.
Not exactly what you would write home about if you're P-Vision.
There's no one going to get gushed or native, not going to hit.
They get the EMP though, and I know one out of man has an Apokalano.
Big ravage coming out from Collapting 3.
His nine class gets the mech, keeping no one safe for the time being, but he dies shortly
after, noticed.
He's in the at-night merit.
Is that just in time for the relocate?
That was really close.
notice dies as a result so two core kills in favor of spirit three you can count
the cats from earlier nine glass comes back to the game and the tornado is
gonna clip them and you call us is linked up for the time being that's gonna
be a fourth kill overall and actually a full team life in favor of spirit
absolutely disgusting display from them yeah just like the understanding that
they're pressuring bottom and they do attack me at the same time because they
know if something happens there they can TP over. I also didn't I didn't quite
spot what happened at the end with the sleep on notice. I don't know if Rue got
like a dodge on like the overall relocate towards the very end but I think
just the understanding here that after killing bottom you can still fight mid
and obviously there's reinforcements right? You see collapse he's like keeping
over and making this happen because yeah I think either they're definitely
struggling here. Now bottom oh boy we got some trouble for Satanic trying to kill
off Larl. He is taking down he does fall this is really close though Satanic we'll
go down to the anchor smash so another death I mean yes they lose the invoker
but there's five deaths on Kez already they're gonna turn things on to collapse
now rotation's coming through he's outnumbered but he is quite tanky not
me in the area with the bramble still has terrorized at the ready just the
threat of that's gonna be enough for him to be able to walk away yeah that's usually
any damage really to collapse with the build that he currently has we'll say
though the play that's a time they got here definitely worth it for him like
You're behind, I think there was a streak on LL, he got like 600 gold, and like you said, here's 5 deaths, but his net growth is still very very good on the Kez.
Obviously you'd prefer not to be a thousand gold behind Yotaro's morphing. Needless to say, that guy is the hero of the game.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yotaro now with the Mantis style.
Took along with the Vlad that he picked up earlier, will be a Hurricane Pike and...
Yeah, I wanted to ask about the itemization in terms of late game versus the Grimstroke.
Do you avoid certain items? He looks like he has Butterfly Q'd up.
I mean, do you want to avoid going Butterfly and MKB together as they're fighting a Toro?
Like, into the crippling fear TP is coming. He gets the attribute shift off, there's a Raptor dance, it's more than enough.
And so terrorize a little bit too slow, notice gets the kill. Big one onto your Toro. First death of the game.
Honestly, I'm happy for them that they find this play, because their drafts absolutely can't do this.
probably could have done that even earlier as well notice looking on not me
it was very quick on the sideline. He gotched for his efforts though now stuck inside the
bramble of double route indeed Sunstrike not needed. They get the trade obviously not the one
the spirit wanted but still could be worse for sure like he said they should not be up in this
early game or at least that's not that was not the plan for p-vision. They're gonna bleed another
the hero here on the palace they get to go back to the morphling itemization so
we see that Gatorra has a pike you'd have you can you need to play with pike or
BKB against Nightstalk are very important wait hold up they're not
not here oh no satanic another grip reserve for him such right there's the
ravage I'll try to heal him up but it's not enough six deaths on Kez as they
try to turn this around a little bit notice does find himself a support but
Now Meteor coming for the frog into the gush into the anchor smash and into the death so that it's just Domino's falling over and over for p-vision
This is without your tour. I don't know how collapse does this sometimes remember the axe game he played the other day against the Necro
Like he's top net worth again on this time
Obviously tight is incredible against IO when you get there and you don't have to pay against like IO Slark IO Ursa
Like these combos that kind of own you but still like it's another one of these performances where also Rua
There's some overperforming going on from these players absolutely
When's the last time you saw satanic by six times before the 20 minute mark?
That is a rarity. It's definitely been a while, but today they just have that number in a lot of these plays right now
Yeah, like you said Yatora hasn't been eating in these fights really he's shown up for a couple here and there but
For the most part just been left uncontested
It matters a lot because when you have this Morphling come out like they have heroes that can deal with Morph
I would say more so like the early game and the mid game you can collapse on him with the relocation
So it's the Nightstalker silence
But the more you get to like the mid game the 20 minute mark the 25 minute mark
Morphling starts itemizing against Nightstalker to not die like first of all it's too far
But then it's to survive. So this is absolutely not the spot they want to be in. Yeah
See if Satanic can make a comeback we have seen many of those for this lineup
Again, they haven't yet to lose a single game at this tournament so far, they're going to turn things right on top of Laurel, he gets demolished.
Relocate, use, Satanic, desperately needing that kill.
And that is the power of some of their overall mobility. You have Nightsocker, he's got to relocate.
This is great news, they can go for Roche. They don't have to worry about Invoker for 40 seconds.
He just got the fresh Desolator.
Where's Collapse? That's all we care about.
He has a lot, he's got Blink, he's got Jules.
Oh boy.
Guys, we know the drill.
A little early, little early collapse, instinctual.
He goes into the pit, pops the crack,
and Shell gonna dodge the entirety of the Raptor dance.
Roche is not happy with this display.
He's gonna try to go for Roche himself.
He's already at half HP,
and no one's gonna get a silence on the back line.
Stroke all connecting a bit as Satanic.
He's pretty lucky to be connected by nine-class.
It collapsed still, working on this Roche,
and he's getting quite low.
He's out of the way for it.
Yatoro gets the edges.
They get the kill as well.
And now nine-class will suffer the consequences along with Satanic with his seventh death as spirit the Roche defenders
So good at it. DeCaulis will be another one to fall for p-vision
Technically wasn't collapsed stealing if we did start the trend here
Why does team gets Roche one way or the other?
I think he steals it all he makes five people hate him and then your toros like
Like, boy, bro, I got the security.
A single casual waveform, just taking that form self.
All the hard work was collapsed.
And this is the stuff that you're going to see
in like the most high-skill matches.
Like, understanding that you can go here,
even though you're not fully like stopping them
from rushing or like you're not going to be stealing it,
you make so much time.
It turns into the daytime.
Look at how much space and like effort
he's just tanking overall.
Notice as well, it's forced to jump in during the daytime.
And then your total is like, yeah, bro, nice layup.
I got this one.
Well, they do get him, which is probably therapeutic if nothing else, but Yatoro basically had nothing to do other than waveform, and then he could just clean up.
Oh man.
The table was set by collapse, and Yatoro went ham.
Devoured that buffet.
No, it's a 10k lead with the edges on hand.
I want to see what type of like plan even the P-Vision are looking for here.
Definitely not an easy game to execute from this point onward.
They do still have a lot of power spikes that are coming.
Obviously their scale is like nothing bad at all.
You have Largo, you have Nightstalker, you have Kez.
If you can get a couple of BKBs going your way, I think that would be one kind of timing
that they'll be looking for.
And of course, the Dookie-Dook Agadam Scepter on the Grimstroke, always very good against
the Morphling.
Is Satanic going to have double digit deaths this game?
He very likely could. He's at 7.
He's not far off. He's going to need to turn this around if P-Vision are going to hold on at all.
Remember, they only need a single game in a series to secure top of the groups here.
Yes, third, ain't having any of that. They like to place very high end while at EWC.
I want to get the 2-0 here.
The spirit with the Aegis for another two and a half minutes.
Jules as well.
How much they want to get out of this? Obviously just taking the Roshan General is a great deny.
I believe that they should be getting instead of two and a half minutes.
This is a very high chance we're getting all the Tier IIs and Outpost control,
which then just gives you the overall map.
There's no need to really push for a Rax.
You could hit the high ground to force people back,
but I think closing out all the Tier IIs would be the main objective.
Collapsed, found himself stuck in a tree line.
It happens.
Not as bad as one of the PGLs when he got stuck on a cliff for six minutes.
I feel like that was maybe also tight, Hunter.
I think he ended up using a ravage because nothing happened.
I vaguely remember that. You guys are teasing, but...
Collapsed doing his best effort to take the record of the cliff, man.
Still Tier 2's up and running for P-Vision.
Cute little animation on the froggy frog.
Want to see later, you know, cause you can turn into the Largo, maybe steal the croak, give it to a Largo if you want.
I don't know if that's like his main target.
I think turning into the Caz is also pretty chill if you want.
Of course, the Night Stalker, you can steal the Silence.
I mean, surely he doesn't want to turn into Largo in a fight.
It's not, can't be bad.
And you can steal the Spell and like...
I'm not saying that, it's just that surely there's better options.
Like even the Night Stalker would be better, I think.
Honestly, I don't really know.
I think if you want to like if you want to make law pop off, which I don't know if you need to help and do that because you're already owning anyway
And they know support that's a morphling carry right there. Okay, you let see a tour of the old bro
He he's big picture type of player sure, but honestly at this point, too
I think his oldest kind of a bonus. He might just go ramp and even without it
As the 50 seconds left on the agents did clear every single tier 2 tower and they picked up a gem
What's the agonist scepter timing? Oh my god
I was actually memeing, but he has a greedy enchantment on Grimstroke, so he's only a thousand away from Dark Fortunet already.
That's kind of crazy. I mean Grimform starts, you can see the ways of Inksvald.
Yeah.
Now if they find themselves a little Nightstalker meal, that's just treat.
And this is what I'm talking about with Nightstalker. If the game doesn't go extremely well early, this hero feels like...
It feels bad to have on your team. Like, might as well have just had picked any other offlaner.
They definitely expected this game to go better because Nightstalker, even with not the best early game,
if you find ways to go on the enemy draft, like collapse on a guy, you have to relocate,
I do think that maybe it has a bit to do that no one is playing Largo.
Usually he's, I think, a lot more of a playmaker for the team, set up the tempo, set up the place overall,
like get all the relocates going.
Maybe a little bit too cute from Pre-Vision?
I mean, maybe, like, you did laugh at this Nightstalker to make a lot of things, you know, happen in this early-to-mid game,
mid game and I don't really think that happened as you're told with the end of
the ages going for a lot of pressure. We'll get the tower. It is 4 to 5 so
maybe not. I'm gonna play it safe. 13k lead has truly ballooned after that
Roche fight. Now that she was online for Laurel. You have full map control.
SP vision, they set up two pretty good wards out. You can see the one here on
no one and one on the bottom side of the map but collapsed. Walking around with a
13k gold lead and the gem you will soon say goodbye to most of your map
All right
Finds himself a frog now delicious treat after delicious treat even a fiend's grip this bkb
Completely useless against that combo in nine class. Don't think they spotted him
Just on the outskirts of the dust. It's taken the correct way. It's got a couple more seconds. We'll make it out
And that's a holy lock a glimmer cape and mech
And for no one saw that BKB it'll be Ag's next so
Man this is tough to see a comeback without kez going crazy at this point my eyes are on
The dark portrait. That's you you get the morphing illusion. I'm pretty sure if you're Nicholas you're chattering that one
You're not chattering a hero anymore
You're chattering that illusion and trying to make it go ham. The only thing with morphing illusion is it's honestly like it
doesn't have the highest HP. Of course it's gonna have a butterfly which at that
point it's gonna be quite strong. Rue trying to set up but of course I
suffered. Notice just kidding. Collapse with the ULTS and it says really paid for
itself over and over. Not me gets that one. That's why Top Tier vision is so
like there's so many small things going into it like look at Spirit they're
warding their own triangle because when you are up this much gold you
understand that the enemy team they need to start being creative. They're gonna
farm your top jungle they're gonna try to squeeze in here or there without this
ward you're not finding this kill on a random night stalker in your own triangle
but this is just game sense and understanding of what the enemy team
can do well they have the axe so the question is do they just wait for a
spirit to come high ground although there's no ages so they really aren't in
any rush do they go for a smoke play it's gonna align with the butterfly which
Weirdly enough, the Grimstroke is going to be kind of happy about it.
At least about this timing, you're definitely the most you're happy about.
I would assume if you're P-Vision, I don't know if you need to smoke necessarily right now,
but you need to be contesting the second roach.
That's going to be the name of the game currently, where also you see the user relocate in a tall plane,
you know, push out some more waves, squeeze in a little more gold,
trying to get no one closer to his Agonim Scepter.
And Laurel is just looking for anyone to leave the base for P-Vision.
No one connected to Io, gonna lick off Collapse, rest his team nearby, there's the Jules.
They wanna force something here.
To the Bramble and to the Anchor and they get a Nightmare onto the cast with a Grip as
well.
Meteor is everything used, Satanic is already dead, they couldn't get anything going for
P-Vision, they're gonna lose some buildings.
Again, it's just perfect setup. They have a ward on the, you know, the gate outside the base. They see
Satanic walking immediately and they just get it. This is 40 seconds down without a no relocated available anymore as well
This is a free racks. Yeah, not even Dark Fortrait used. It's daytime
And another Yule's play onto the Grimstruck will even have time to use the Dark Fortrait. No.
45 seconds with no Ducalis
This is the best. This is two sets at the very least
If not more.
Honestly, I think without the Grim available, even if it can't be spawned, you can just keep going.
Another anchor, this time onto Aya with the damage coming up from the Dark Willow as well.
Sunstrike not needed yet again because the damage is overwhelming for Spirit now.
Alright, who's dying next? Let's keep up the one by one train.
Well, I want to see the Dark Fortune at least once.
It's going to be up in 15 seconds. This is an Alacrity morph length.
Just a casual 4 of the mega creeps, no big deal, an agatom scepter by Laurel, okay.
This is going to be cataclysm it looks like.
You've got the ravage, you know that some people are definitely going to be stacked
up, there's no summons, no illusions to tank any of that.
As the spirit will play this very cleanly, get nearly everything apart from one melee
Rats now Roche of course is going to be there for the taking.
Satanic we've seen this so many times, the only one not smoked right now.
They are scammed out.
They are killing.
Yeah they are aware but again Spirit at the major advantage now 30 seconds to the road.
You see just wait for that.
Man this is a, it's just a tough one to also contest here like how do you do it?
You know Spirit they have outpost control.
Of course, there aren't any Biobix available yet for them, but even so, you have incredibly
fat heroes.
Your Toro is well getting very close to a Skadi, your Vru who's getting close to an
Agnus Scepter.
Also, I love that Collapse.
In my opinion, this is an underbought item, the Crela's Crujir.
Just the passive where you reduce enemies health restoration by 30%, we see a lot of
Kautos, we see a lot of Mechros, there's Ios in the game.
It's like also, you get, you go very fast, you have a Ghost Scepter.
It's quite nice.
It's an item we should see more, especially when there's heals in the game.
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
There's the Roshan Belt, one of your favorites.
That's right, P-Vision, they're gonna try to go for this, but all C-Spirta already ready.
They're gonna try to go on to the Dark Willow to start things out.
Looking for the ravage, is collapsing.
Going to reset a little bit, pops a crozier.
Buy back instantly from the Dark Willow.
So P-Vision get the single kill, can they get more?
Relocate.
No one with the BKB.
Notice, also pounding the Dark Willow, but there's a Grimped this time reserve for the frog.
Gonna be cancelled, but eventually Yotaro just finishes the job double kill for him. They already called GG
They know this is over as a cataclysm is gonna be that for the style points triple kill for Yotaro
Make it an ultra and make it a rampage
Beast mode enabled for Yotaro and the likes of Spirit who are now one game away from securing themselves
Number one in there. Oh, this is gonna be a spicy next game because Spirit they aren't like this is some prime form
You know, they passed out the morphling after a long time.
I think Rue as well had a lot of small but crazy plays in this game.
Sorry from the wisdom shrine, setting up all the correct, you know, sleeves into the grips around the map.
And if you're G-Vision, I think you definitely did not get going the way you wanted,
especially with this early draft, like the IO, the Largo, the Knights of G,
you didn't really get any plays going.
Spirit, Masterclass.
I felt like it was a little all-in on the early game for G-Vision,
and things didn't go picture-perfect that they were going to suffer the consequences,
They did just that in the last second switch to Largo mid night soccer offline talked about if night soccer doesn't have a good time
He is a completely useless hero in the middle late game
Yeah, they have to be the ones that are setting the pace so that was not the case
You definitely big credit to spirit if you're P vision also
I you need to step up again like the gameplay it has to go up like what spirit did in these lanes
I think it's not normal like 304 deaths on satanic stress in the same thing by like minute 10
Yatora having a full 3k, here's one death to his name.
You picked off lane NiteSocket, at least pressure this Warfling a bit or play with more relocates.
They did not get those plays going.
A lot of Sunstrike's hit and collapsed.
Again, despite the scoreline, 4-2 doesn't look that impressive.
This guy absolutely owned this game on the Tidehunter.
That Roche play, which we'll get the highlight, I'm sure, coming up next, but...
This better be a highlight.
It is just sickening how consistent he is at doing this.
at the Aegis steal himself because they killed Roche and he died first, but Yatora was the
green boy and took it for himself.
There just has to be like a rule, when this guy is alive, you need to either kill him first,
stop Roche and find him, do something.
Because you know that this team, it doesn't matter if someone is dead, if there's something
they don't have.
If they have just a sliver of any type of chance to contest, they will be there.
And they will almost always...
I mean, I wonder what their percentage is.
It's too much.
Their success rate at taking the Aegis, it is absolutely absurd.
as we go to the panel.
Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Something in the air, indeed, Brian.
There's something in the air for collapse at AWC.
It's just magical.
Yeah, there's been a lot of serious so far
where we go in with a team that were like,
wow, on paper they could win,
but in general, the results have just gone the way
that we would have expected,
and this was such a pleasant,
I wouldn't even say it's like a surprise,
but I'm like excited to see that Team Spirit
that game because first off if they lost game one then game two wouldn't have mattered now
we're effectively in a best of one to decide who wins the group but that was that was an awesome
high level performance from Team Spirit. I was honestly a good performance from both sides but
they just I think they threw more punches effectively in the early game. Yeah the story of this game
was can Team Spirit weather the storm because we saw this really strong early mid game timing from
the double sustain here is from P-Vision but they didn't have to weather the storm they were the
storm. They were setting the tempo at some point in that early game. They made all these tiny little
moves at the start that we're going to look at earlier. I mean, we're going to look at later
that gave them a bit of that lead, but P.Vision just could not blame to them at a certain point.
And I really liked they were able to bring their morph lane through the gate and play off of him
early on. And P.Vision, they were definitely caught off surprise. Yeah, I know we're going to look at
how Spirit will be able to set the pace. But I wonder why P-Vision was not, because is it
the Largo? We haven't seen them do Largo mid before, Brian. Did you feel like it played out
the way you wanted it to? Obviously, it lost. But did you feel like it still had the impact that
P-Vision wanted from it? I mean, I thought what was really cool about the Largo mid was that,
you know, we were talking about pre-game, is Largo going to rotate to Morphling's lane?
Or like, what, how are they going to do this? But they actually brought the Nightstalker
IO2 Largo's lane, so they almost treated him like he was an offlaner in the sense of how they rotated the early game
I don't think the Largo
Was meant to have like it wasn't the pick that was meant to win them the draft like the Largo was rotated
They made I think in order to able and enable this night stalker
But at the end of the day it did not have the impact you wanted because you bought this vessel
And you did get one crucial kill on Yachter's morphing before his Manta came out, but
You know you mentioned that like why weren't they aggressive?
I honestly feel like there were so many small plays from Team Spirit,
whether it's Yachter going through the game, whether it's Rue going towards the mid lane.
Like there were just so many cool rotations and like this was by far the most enjoyable early game
for me to watch. Like I know Team Spirit came out on top, but there were just,
it was literally watching a fight where they're throwing punches back and forth nonstop.
Yeah, and I do think they just showed up very heavily on lansteader on Team Spirit.
Like, four p-visions draft to work, and we could have seen an entirely different game if the lanes hadn't gone so well.
They needed to get a couple of the early game kills, group up early and take advantage of Team Spirit's heroes needing more scaling and more time.
But that lane on top with Vayne and Morphling actually ended up doing really well against the Night Soccer, which maybe they didn't factor in,
and that Tidehunter also had a fantastic lane.
So you had two side lanes at one, and sure you got a kill on Invoker in the early game,
but because the side lanes were able to move their supports around,
and Booker also had a good start.
Yeah, so let's take a look at those moves that supports were making,
because those were instrumental to having Team Spirit be in this position.
Yeah, I just want to shout out Riven specific,
because he was everywhere on the spain,
but this is him setting up for the kill on no one's lago
after Laurel had died in that early game,
and we see not me also joining from the side,
but this was essential for Laurel to get back into the game
after him getting killed earlier on.
And this isn't the only time we're gonna see Rue
pop off here in this early game.
He actually goes and steals the Wisdom Rune,
enabling Team Spirit to get a double Wisdom Rune.
He actually just walked for free behind the Ion Night Stalker
and did the Lost Second Nightmare.
In this clip, we're gonna see Nautnee catching
Satanic's Kez with that Lost Second Bramble,
clipping him, and then they were able to take advantage
of Tidehunter's Level 6.
In this clip, we also see Nautnee
is getting the kill on IO between four heroes.
I'm sure they get the trade,
but that is a trade you take anytime, Brian.
Yeah, meanwhile, throughout all of this,
we see it 12 minutes into the game.
They're taking like a five stack ancients.
I'm just looking at all these early game rotations
and I'm like, when did he find the time on route
to stack these camps five times amongst all of these games?
The fact that they were able to, like Mira said,
they had a good start to the top lane
that allowed Rue to effectively rotate
between mid and bottom.
and then also in the meantime, be stacking a camp.
Like there's just so many little factors
that ended up there.
And I think for me, it's obviously Rue's a very good player.
I think he massively over-performed this game.
Like this is the type of thing we talked about
in the pre-game, which is that any player at any point
for Team Spirit can step up.
I feel like multiple players
at multiple different points stepped up.
And for Rue specifically,
this might have been one of the best early games
I've ever witnessed.
So where do we want P-Vision to take this?
because this was an outplay, right?
Because we looked at the draft for like, okay, on paper,
there should be P-Vision early and then Spirit late.
That's kind of like their plan
and it turned out to be Spirit all the way, basically.
So with the plan of P-Vision,
there wasn't much wrong with it per se.
How are you gonna adjust with it?
This is also their first loss to F.E.
So we don't know how they do with adjustments.
It very much was.
I do think this is not the most difficult adjustment
because their draft was very one note.
It's like, we have sustain, we're gonna run at you
and we're gonna heal and you're not gonna be able
to do anything with your late game.
It's just a matter of making sure
that you can fight at all stages of the game
and they could just change up their mid hero
and not have a lago, have something like an Ember spirit
that can play tempo and it would make it easier.
I mean, based on what Team Spirit's done this event,
which is like good performances, but nothing mind-blowing.
I was pre-vision after that game.
I'd be like, okay, you got us.
Like, I was not ready for you.
came ready to play today guys. I'll just say that there's little I always
appreciate the little item choices that players make. This was a really cool
Yul's pickup from Collapse on Tide. It's so amazing defensively against the
Silence of Grimstroke as well as Night Soccer, but also Willow as a support. Like
if you don't have Bane there and you don't have this Yul's there's no setup
for kills on the map, but because you have this Yul's that's what item Willow
usually goes for and it sets up all of her spells. So it kind of gave them this
extra kill combo on the map and I think P vision they just weren't ready for this
that I think that's why satanic died there were multiple times where if I'm looking at on paper at team spirits draft
I'm like they don't really have the setup necessary in order to kill me. They have a bunch of soft disables
I'm like a mobile guy with a dispell and everything, but yeah, just well played over all all around
I have a more fling question for you or rather a question about more fling. Okay, this was the second game
We saw more fling the first win for more fling
couldn't have been any other carry or was
Because the fact that Yutaro was morphing at deciding, the big deciding factor here.
I would say it was a big deciding factor and I really liked the confidence to get there
because I don't think many heroes could have been able to out-stay us a night's stalker
like that.
And also the self-sustained and durability of a morphing is what enables Bane to move
around.
Like if it's a typical carry hero that gets bullied out of lane and needs the babysitting,
you don't move around like that on runes.
So definitely a really cool pick.
It was the second Morphling game at the CWC, the first win.
So there's something there, Van.
Yeah, there's like this, there's like a group of five carries.
There's like Life Stealer, Morphling, Weaver, Tiny, they're like, they don't really jungle
very fast, but they're also really good at staying in their lane.
And you wanted a hero that, what like Mira said, is self-sufficient.
But also the bonus of the Morphling is against Io specifically, you want a carry that it
It sees a reload coming on top of it, and it has an escape plan.
They managed to 4-man gank him one time, but that illustrated it required a lick into a
Nightstalker silence, into like a perfectly timed ink swell.
I mean, it was just, that was the Morphling what he always creates is you need a very
specific answer in order to be able to kill him, and Yachter, I think, better than anyone
else will recognize.
Your draft is kind of awkward when it comes to killing Morphling, and the Nightstalker
Pick was amazing for P-Vision's draft, but it did not solve that individual problem unless they got momentum, which the Morphling also stopped.
So I do think it was a very pivotal little pick.
Yeah, I mean there are a few heroes and Dota that even when they're not good and they're nerfed,
I was talking to Brian about this in the green room,
but they fill you with dread. Like they fill you with a sense of despair when you're playing against them because you feel like you're racing against the clock and
Morphling is one of those heroes. Like if you don't win the early game and you look at the enemy draft and they have a Morphling, you just
Just all your hope and optimism is slowly going out the drain and I feel like that's
what it must have been for Paravision.
Well, it sounds like they have a lot to recover from.
This is their first loss in the group stage, as we said, and it's an important series.
There's only one more game left between these two teams in this group and this game will
decide because there's no chance for tiebreakers in this group.
this one game will decide which one of these two teams gets to skip the survival stage
and is instantly locked in to top eight here at this EWC.
A lot of pressure on this upcoming game.
Let's find out how our commentary team of Sunspen and Kazoo feel about this series in particular.
We were there for every click, every clutch, every respawn.
We were there for the years of grind, and we're here now, the proud founding partner
of EWC. Powering the biggest event in gaming, shoulder to shoulder with the world's best.
Making history.
Greatness deserves a stage.
Lenovo Legion.
Reach your impossible.
Hi there, SunsFan here with...
It's me, Kezu.
Well, it's just Kezu, but yes, welcome to another series of great Dots.
We have P-Vision versus Team Spirit.
One of these teams is undefeated, that's P-Vision, Spirit, that's correct, right?
Just double-checking.
You never want to be wrong here.
What do you think about this series?
These are two top dogs of the group.
True.
Like you said, P-Vision, they're still undefeated.
To me, they look a little bit better than Spirit, but at the same time, without throwing
some shade at the other teams. I don't think these two teams were tested that much yet.
So it's a good test for both of them to actually play against an S tier team.
That's right now. Has Yatoro shaved his head or changed his hair color today?
Is that a question to me?
Yes.
No, he has not.
How do you know? Have you seen him?
No, but I can tell. He waits for the final day. That's when he comes with like super
salient hair or like blue hair or bald head.
Okay. Nobody cares, Amar. This has gone for too long. So we'll see you guys for the next
series. Thanks.
This year, the EWC Dota 2 format is more cutthroat than ever.
This is how it's going to go down.
The tournament starts with the group stage.
The teams will be split into four groups of six, where they'll play in a round robin
format.
The top teams of each group qualify straight to the playoffs, and the bottom two are eliminated.
The remaining teams move on to the survival stage, which is a single elimination best
of three gauntlet style bracket.
The team's final chance of survival.
The first round of the gauntlet bracket starts with the third and fourth placing teams from
the group stage.
The winner will meet the second place team from group stage in round two.
Only four teams will move on from the survival stage to the playoffs.
The playoffs are a best of three single elimination bracket, where a single mistake can be the
difference between moving on and being eliminated from the tournament.
A third place decider will be played for a bigger chunk of the prize pool, as well as
valuable club championship points.
The grand finals match is a best of five for the two teams that have fought their way through
each stage of the tournament.
Only one of them will remain undefeated, and claim the EWC 2026 Dota 2 trophy.
Getting ready for game number two between P-Vision and Team Spirit.
A unique situation for P-Vision.
We don't know what they're gonna do when they were game down
because they have not been a game down yet.
Meanwhile, Team Spirit, when they were one game down,
they did not lose a single game since.
We know what they're doing.
What's coming our way in the draft that remains to be seen
as we're narrowing in on that one.
If you wanna know what they should be doing,
what they should be addressing,
is there anything in the opening
that you would like to see changed,
because we did see Team Spirit prioritizing
that overall first pick Vayne in this game in particular.
We saw Rue on Vayne and you highlighted him specifically
because he made it look S tier.
Yeah, he did a fantastic job.
And conceptually, it's a great hero versus P-Vision
with a lot of the strategies that they want to run.
The IO being an example,
the Kez opener that they played didn't necessarily work out.
So if Team Spirit run back,
starting Bane, I don't think we're going to see that kes into IO follow-up. I do think they're
going to fall back on their Keeper of the Light, but they just look so strong on here.
Yeah, there's so many dimensions to drafting that I remember saying this in Game 1 as a
carries perspective that if I'm playing against Bane, I'm either picking like an illusion guy,
or I'm hoping one of my supports has a reliable Fiend's Grip cancel, otherwise my game is just
generally really hard to play and I
Think p vision might have gone a little bit too all in on their own draft and there are times where
there's a healthy blend of
Dealing with the problems that are presented to you by the enemy team's draft
I I think because p vision played around their own timings almost entirely with their draft
That means that it will fall pretty short pretty
Pretty flat when you lose momentum or steam in the game like even just as simple as they open base
you have a reliable save from F easier like that's just that's the kind of simplicity that I would like to see
Inserted back into to P vision's draft
And so I'm just gonna be keeping an eye on that this game because you know
As you mentioned they haven't neither these teams have really been tested yet. Mm-hmm, and I think
It's it's it's like in theory. It's like, okay. Yeah, you're not gonna underestimate your opponents
But at the same time these are things they're probably they have been getting away with where they're allowed to play for their own draft
and you have to step it up and think about what team spirit is ready to bring it today.
So what problems is the post you're gonna present with Poppy in game 2?
Well, we have a slight change in the band. Only a very slight.
So of course the teams changed sides, but now first pick go in the way of P-Vision.
The only change in bands is that the team that has first pick instead of banning X,
they ban Doom. We did see a Doom ban in the second phase, of course.
And of course the change with the Willow position for most likely
and getting picked up first.
That's really interesting to me because I thought the support that P-Vision would try
to steal was actually the Bane, but they go for the Willow instead and they double down
on the hoodwink first phase ban.
To me, this says that they think that the Offlane is the problem actually, and that
if they ban hoodwink and take Dark Willow, then there is not a strong enabling support
for clubs.
But I still think there are some that exist like the Techies, for example.
Yeah, I do think there are potentially other options.
I think what's really fascinating for me right now is...
Oh, it's Rubik. Sorry.
Yeah, Rubik's a decent answer. I'm just thinking...
Maybe Triant's power is purely in the two carries that are banned every first round,
the Drow and the SF, because...
There's a chance of that.
We've been seeing it more and more, the teams are banning the carries first round, and then
they're just skipping Triant Protector, a hero that's been picked or banned pretty much
every game thus far and I guess I mean there's times as you go on later in the tournament
if you ban a combo piece that you're effectively banning two heroes I think people think they're
getting two for one by banning these and that's why they're doing it or effectively three for two
I guess by banning SF and drought together. Do you also think that's if you would pick
tree in first phase you can now lock yourself in a little bit in terms of what type of laning
partner you'll give with the with the triant and maybe what type of offlaner your enemy team can
play into it whereas with these two picks world's your oyster you can go anywhere. Absolutely yeah
if you have triant protector you are like okay what range carry are we gonna pick but like you said
we virtually know nothing about what the guy's gonna do I I think it's funny because sometimes you
get the okay let's just pick drow you know exactly what our strategy is but can you beat it and sometimes
It favors teams to just say, okay, we're revealing absolutely no information because Rubik and Willow, they're kind of just stand alone, strong laners.
Like, it doesn't particularly say anything about their lane duo or their counter matchups in the game.
I don't really factor this in too much. It's like both of them offer unique things, a little bit of damage, a little bit of teamfight.
What do you think so far, Mir?
Well, they do underfanning the Treen, so maybe it's just a team-specific thing for later down the line, but I definitely agree.
I mean, taking this Ruvik as a response to Lilu, I think it was just taking that strong support for NotMe before they could take everything out in that second phase.
He's had some exceptional performances on it.
And you do have good spells to steal from Lilu.
She's not the best steal, but she's pretty solid for Ruvik.
I have to ask if there's like, or I have to imagine if there's any block picking happening with Ruvik.
Like, is there anything that P-Vision would normally go for as like a synergy with Willow?
They're not really that big on the Underlord, which is really the only counter-pick that I could think of for picking Rubik.
Yeah, because it's... Yeah, it's nice to lock in Nami's hero, but why now, basically?
Like, why prioritize Rubik over all the other heroes? It's like, it makes sense as a pick, but...
I always wonder what's the reasoning for it being the best pick on this spot.
I think that, like I mentioned,
Peavision are kind of targeting this offlane by banning some fights.
So you ban Hoodwink, you take Willow, and you're essentially saying we took the best to
Oh, so they're very good for his left.
So they wanted to lock one in before they get banned out in the second fight.
This reminds me of the Maus series where Puppy bans 7 carries against Kristallus,
and he still left his hero to last.
And then there was like nothing left.
Okay, let's pick DK.
So I guess that's probably what they're perfect.
Like you said, if they don't pick Rubik here,
Then then P vision has the two bands not for the five which they banned the trend fame
But they could have banned two fours and there's likely no got too many good options left
Yeah, I think for sure that's what it is and we see a winter wyvern come out
And this hero typically is a response pick two heroes like Lundred
But I think it's also a very effective response versus lanes like axe where they want to just chip away at you
They want to press battle hunger. They want to make sure you're never at full HP winter wyvern now
but you go level 2 heal, you can counteract a lot of this style of lane.
Okay, I also...
Pats off the puppy for this one because
if I'm a carry and I'm against bane, I need a fiend script cancel.
If I'm a carry and I'm against axe, I need something that prevents me from dying to blade mail call.
Like, yes, I can play around it, I can buy SNY, I can buy QBKB, I can position myself,
but it makes it so the heroes that traditionally would just die to that no matter what,
I can pick them in the draft. I can itemize not purely for the axe. There are four other enemy heroes in this game
So the Wyvern cold embrace prevents that combo. It's like I think the laning stage is a big part of it
You have to sustain to go through the battle hunger, but for me, it's much more about that
Mid delay game if we have Wyvern standing behind the carry
It just makes axe's job a lot more difficult
You often don't want to pick Kez into axe. Am I saying it's great not necessarily, but I would say this matchup's way worse for Kez
because without the Wyvern, then it is with it.
Yeah, I think this Wyvern kind of makes
Kaz's life easy, not just on lane,
but for those blademail calls that you talked about.
And now this Wyvern is actually looking
like the most important hero so far on Pivit and Struff.
So now if you're a team spirit,
you have to think to yourself,
we gotta jump this guy,
like we gotta pick some Laurel Ember,
some Puck, something that can just run
at this backline non-stop.
I thought they were gonna go storm
because I think it's a little bit harder to counter.
I think Puck is quite susceptible to maybe like a Viper.
This is a sick Viper mid-game.
I actually think no one's gonna whip out the Viper response
because two ways to deal with Puck are two,
or three ways to deal with Puck.
One is to have so much sustain and beefiness
that Puck never does meaningful damage.
Another one is to have Instastans.
And the third one is to just dumpster it in lane.
I don't think we'll see the no one sniper.
That's like another option for really slaughtering the Puck.
I think against these specific heroes, Viper's the best, but then maybe giving away Viper
ult is bad against Rubik.
I wouldn't personally factor in the Rubik with my pick here.
Yeah, I think Ember can be solid enough.
Even if we've seen No1 have some great games on him, especially versus Puck.
But I just do want to say they have to take the Puck here, because if you don't Puck,
you're getting Pucked on 18.
Puck or be Pucked, I think is the saying.
You've got to Puck them before they Puck you.
Exactly.
Only one meaning to this
But the Phoenix does come out for a team spirit. It gives them that little layer of coverage
You know something some long-range damage to follow up on the call is some team fight control versus the winter wavering
You can't take your no time this is a tough pick I think
Like there's just a
There's a lot of different approaches you can take or you can take the lane dominance
You can take the map movement gameplay like the Ember spirit like Ember
The thing about Ember is I think he's yeah, okay
I didn't love the Ember because I wanted a hero that wanted to like play around his team
I think on the map right now if you're by yourself
You're probably gonna die no matter what hero you are so I would rather having a hero that leads the charge and has follow-up from his team
Slardar makes a bit more sense there. We've seen teams go for like Slardar or sometimes like earth shaker as a response to this puck mid
You'd think for sure it's Mid Slaughter?
I wouldn't say it's for sure, but Slaughter is almost all right-click in the laning stage.
Like, yeah, he has Slytherin Crush or whatever, but his crush is only as powerful as the amount of times he can hit you afterwards,
so picking him against attack speed slow fives like Crystal Maiden or Phoenix is not ideal, in my opinion.
Agreed. I mean, if I'm Phoenix and I'm playing against Slaughter on lane, I'm pretty happy,
But if I'm playing against the mid Slardar who's got an early blink and is forcing you to press dive
Or forcing you to use super you might even have to super no one. I don't want to that's miserable. Yeah, definitely a good fit in the mid lane here
They ban the center so it looks like Team Spirits
Anticipating the Slardar mid as well on the same page on the other side. We got the terror blade already removed
What would you like to see a tutorial play and this time around today?
he is going to get over a last pick so he is going to see which offlaner he will have
to deal with online.
Kind of an annoying pick for him right now just because of this winter lover and what's
going to be like kind of countering a lot of that physical damage and you're playing
against Kez plus Florida you know you're going to get first.
So I was thinking okay Windranger seems premier so they're probably going to ban that so here
we haven't seen too much of but I'm predicting a Moira to pick.
Ooh, that's a nice pick, Kay.
Yatra goes through the Wyvern Cold Embrace.
It's a ranged hero that has a defense mechanism against Kezra,
Ikliks as well as Slaughter, Ikliks.
That's what I actually think that's the best pick.
I don't admit, Morta's fallen off quite hard.
So we have started to see teams dip into the B and C tier carry heroes.
So I imagine it's on P-Vision's radar that they're probably going to pick a ranged guy or girl, in the case of Morta.
They have a Willow Centaur would have been nice. I think any set up stun hero for Willow and Lane
Underlord would be okay too. The ultimate Willow combo is
Ooh, they still been on the Ember just just respecting that side as well, but is the Mars
We have seen Mars come out a couple times. I don't think he's been very successful. They go with the pangalir
Okay, I mean this
Pango can be played mid, it can be played off lane, but it does feel like when it comes out no one just wants to run it on the mid lane.
The thing is, I think I would still like to see it be played on the off lane because you're playing against a puck.
It can go very wrong for you very fast.
I think TA now becomes an option.
Muerta is still good defensively, but then you have nothing to hit the roll.
They go a completely different route.
I was one of the unpicked heroes today in the graphic as well and she showed up.
On paper it's fantastic.
Not even for the hero dynamics or interactions that you'll probably mention, Brian, but just
for the map play.
Like, there's actually not that much wave clear coming out from this Lardar and Kezdraft
early on.
Like, sure, it's going to exist later, but Naga could create a lot of wave issues in
this game.
gets it's a weird timing to say but if Naga gets to treads level five then
that's the point where the illusion time is about a hundred percent you're
actually getting meaningful rip type procs when it comes to pushing the lane
like it's it's very difficult to slow the ring crush and kill the illusions in
time a lot of this lane against willow slaughter what doga does best out of all
the carries is she just shoves the lane and leaves and there's no tower pressure
from these heroes on the side of p vision if yatra gets to that point where he
can just send two illusions at the wave, he's jungling camps, Rue can just leave him alone,
they can play through collapse. I actually think those first four levels on Naga are
going to decide this game quite frankly because I think if he gets there then they don't have
any answers.
And it's quite a good carry matchup against Kaz, right? Kaz isn't really known for clearing
AoE damage early on. He's kind of big single target burst into disengaged, which you can't
comfortably deal against on Naga.
Yeah, Naga also, the build historically, and I think he will go this game, is Manta and Orcid.
And that just destroys Kez on the map. Like, the big thing for Kez is he...
There's very few heroes that can represent meaningful kill threat on him from the carry roll.
And especially when you're playing the map, like, yeah, you have like the Urshas and stuff that will burst him in teamfights,
but there's very few that will set up the kill on the Kez.
And so, basically, I'm looking at bottom lane. If Yachtaril has the start that Naga can get,
They actually nerfed Naga's early game, because in 7.41 she got some meaningful buffs and she was getting picked a lot in pubs and had a really high win rate.
They nerfed like her base attack speed and stuff like this, so that's the only question Mark I have.
If he gets to that man to Orc at Butterfly Heart, I think Naga's unstoppable this game.
Let's find out if this Naga's gonna get unstoppable and if Team Spirit can punch their ticket to the playoffs or if it will be P-Vision instead.
Before we head into the game, we're heading to a caster.
Sunspan and Kezu.
Thank you, Sheevery.
Yeah, welcome to game number two.
Sunspan here with Kezu.
We've talked a lot about collapse and his age of steals throughout his entire career.
Do you have any idea how many that may have may be?
Wow.
That's a great question.
I'm glad you asked because everybody I've got my brand new.
Oh, look at this.
So light to my Lenovo Legion.
So you want to know collapse as ages?
Yes.
Okay, WWW.Wendett Collab Steel Ages last.
Says here yesterday he's 47th Ages.
It's a record.
Damn.
This guy is pretty good.
It's definitely a record. Nobody steals as many Ages as he does.
You want to hold this? It's very light.
Oh wow, you're right.
Okay.
Are you giving it back to me?
If you want, I mean, you can cast the game at some point.
You're the castor, I'm just the analyst. I gave you the stat.
I appreciate the stat as we get into game number two, between Spirit and P-Vision.
We have some interesting picks. You let out an audible gasp when Naga Siren was selected.
Could you try to emulate the gasp while I don't?
No. Okay.
I was just saying you gasp.
No, I, like, this is the thing with Spirit and Yatoro.
I am a little bit of a fanboy because this guy just love watching him play.
And I think he has very specific, like heroes that come out, you know,
specific scenarios calls for specific heroes.
And I do think this is quite a good Naga game.
Like outside of Pango, none of these heroes really deal with it very well.
You also have a lot of good combinations like you have you can always protect the egg or set it up even with songs to siren and also
Axe loves having naga in the lineup like later on acts wants to play on pickups
You want to follow up damage naga always gives that for you so honestly?
I think it's a very very cool naga pick also the first one of the tournament and who else better to do it than your Toro
That's right and P vision on the other side again
They need to just win a single game this well now the both teams are in the exact same position
Whoever wins this game is top of their group, but P-Vision has had two attempts at it now.
Is this gonna be enough for them? They have a lot of physical damage going on here.
You got the physical damage of no one on the Pangolier, Slardar of course, and Kez on top of that.
So I'm sure itemization coming out from Spirit will be a lot of armor-heavy things such as assaults.
And I mean, is this even a blade mail game? A lot of times you don't see Axe even pick that up.
Ah, Lotus is very good. I do think it is a good Blade Mail game. It depends a little bit like, you want to go either
Hellboss, the Dominator or Blade Mail. I don't necessarily think he needs to go Dominator
It's more something you do in lanes where like you want to split up so I could see more the space, space,
Graser, go Blade Mail, Blink and just play on that. But yeah, armor is definitely something you need to get against this tired draft.
You're playing against Pango and Slaughter and a casual dish out all this physical damage.
So, you know, lotuses, you talked about the AC, whether it's any other items you can get out like
the flat or, you know, on the neutrals, if you get some medallion, all of this is definitely what you want.
Yeah.
The cost playing the Winter Wyvern, we're used to seeing that coupled with a Drow type hero, but it's going to be the Kez instead.
You think there's any different interactions between the two as we get into the later stages of the game?
Honestly, it's just very, very strong.
And to go back to the blademail part, Winter Wyvern makes blademail a lot worse of an item,
because obviously if you jump the caress, later if DuKaLis just drops the cold and prey,
like the cold and prey is satanic, isn't going to be hitting into the axe.
So we'll see what he's going to do.
Let's collapse.
He's going to take the wave and farm the wolves.
Last game we start collapse on this hero.
It was something difficult.
Oh yeah.
I mean, he just destroyed the entire game, and that was against a last pick necrophos.
Like that is not normal.
And look what he's doing right now, because he's farming the sidecamp,
He can actually steal the water moon and you can tell that you just throw the tip out because of
Who does that? No one does that. Yeah, that's true. Well, not literally him. Uh, nobody does that. Okay
As he all chases Nemo hodoms
Yep, that's definitely english. Oh, yeah, definitely
That's uh, usually that comes out when the cat's on your key. I think that might mean suck it. Oh, I see
Let's go laps gonna get gone on a bit by satanic the battlehunter applies to him. No
Well, Collapses will be able to walk it off, not me playing the Rubik this time around.
How good are his steals?
They're pretty good.
Let's see, they are decent.
I think you're definitely looking more like those kinds of collaborators.
I didn't think he was in trouble here, but Satanic, getting him onto very low HP,
he's going to get cold embraced now.
Back to a respectable amount of HP, but the battle hunger and the right clicks kind of nullify a lot of that heal.
Still quite good for a people here.
Oh, this is off as Collapses.
He's just dead.
Oh, he overplayed for sure there.
Okay, Satanic gets first blood. Meanwhile, a couple more kills happen on the bot side of the map.
Just supports fighting the Dust, is now notice versus Yatoro.
It's definitely the type of thing where Yatoro is happy the longer this lane goes,
but Slardar Willow can definitely pressure early on and they can win.
Like, you can max out the stun, which is kind of what you want to do on the Slardar anyway.
I think Willow is quite good at trading. Obviously Phoenix is pretty strong plus 5,
but there's some downtime you can play around when there's no illusions,
when there's no fire spurs, you'll be quite happy.
But yeah, I definitely do like the Winter Riven Kits combo.
We've talked about it a few times.
I mean, I'm getting going on this top lane,
very aggressive for P-Vision.
Looks like he's just gonna die.
It will be to Satanic's right click,
a much better start, let's say,
than last time around, Satanic.
Did he, how many did he end with?
It was seven last count, I saw a count right.
At least seven, maybe eight.
He did lose like more than half his treads on the career
that collapsed to get to kill, so that doesn't matter.
But I don't want to see what not me is going to be able to cook up on the Rubik.
You talked about the Spell Steals. It's definitely more so the Terrorized, the Winter's Curse, Cold Embrace, I think as well.
Especially against these heroes, like the Triple Physical is what you want to be doing because Rubik to me has looked quite atrocious in this tournament.
He's not as good as other 4s, so you got to have the correct Steals and you need to play very well.
And what kind of build can we come to expect from your Toro?
It's still very, very similar. Like when you play Naga, you always have to go Manta style.
There's still a lot of people that go for the Orchid after.
And I think it's just when you think of itemization in general or how the midgame is played.
So, Naga opens up the map. With Manta you do it even more.
Then people need to split. Then you get the Orchid for your own mana region,
but also to actually pressure on the map, which is very, very good.
And I think after that you can look for some different itemizations.
I think butterflies is always very good
Same with hard scouting later on you want a bloodthorn to just completely detonate people with your illusions
He collapsed after that death
He's back into the jungle and it will be a first item blade mail. Mm-hmm
Love to see it
Let's collapse now found by do call us
Do call us taking a lot damage. I mean what golems are excellent for this
He's gonna get a courier as well and be able to walk away although TP routes Ramble does hit with the shadow realm to follow
Is nine class able to bring collapse down for the second time this game well played by nine plus there good read and also with the
Pre-shadow realm just to buff up all this damage initially
species the panic did that is did get his career so he's got the treads unlocked. He's got the earn as well
This is what we saw pure do as well the other day. It's just great early stats
You nearly always go for plays with this hero as well
9 class back towards the mid side and it's a six minute power rune about to spawn Ducales
We go on by collapse now
You can see the swatch from quite a bit of damage and actually able to get this kill on the bucks to be close
He gets to the high ground Laurel
Maybe we'll take out nine class in turn as no one now completely surrounded although they're gonna target Ducales instead
As he will bite the dust so too dead for pVision and even the chicken man coming to play they'll get the kill on the rule
But question is at what cost the first rolling pepper from no one
What's collapsed back onto the high ground and that's gonna be not the greatest from p vision
Really good overall rotation by spirit and again. These are the small things as a yet or oh, that's a very fire available
Oh boy crotch keep this an attack verify her Lotus is not gonna spawn on your Tory desperately needed
It's a notice notice gets a solo kill onto the position one that that's a big one
I also think that's the type of play they needed because earlier you saw collapse
you know, he's respawning, he's just TP's to the mid, and this is why it's important that you look around, like what is actually happening.
You don't need to, you know, brain that TP into the top lane just because you're the off-laner, looks around, but in the meantime,
P-Vision double wisdom shrine by the looks of it.
Yeah, this is much better start for their game, and
Collapsed to only level four, he's gonna take a full Raptor Dance from Satanic under the tier two,
he will dodge one of the Echo slashes
and the Blood Grenade, it seems.
We call this a little bit worse for wear, but here comes 9-class out of nowhere.
He doesn't do that much damage at this stage of the game, so Claps does survive, but again,
these wisdom shrines, this is starting to stack up, start of a bad lane for collapse,
but then again, every time we say that, he somehow finds a way back in the game.
He knows what's up, but it's still a very nice move from them.
You know, you get to invade into the wisdom shrine, you steal half of a stack, you make
him go low HP, and Claps definitely suffering when it comes to the level department, not
even level 5 yet, where Satyna is starting to push onto level 7, being already level 6.5.
I haven't talked about Rue, I mean Phoenix, haven't seen Phoenix that much yet tournament.
It's very good against the two supports, and also against the Slardar.
Yep, you call us, gonna get bursted by Lar, we're gonna see the first coil of the game.
There's a amenor rune spawning, not me. Looks to be the sacrifice coming out from Team Spirit,
but the Illusion Orb is enough to outclass 9 class and Laurel gets that Haste Rune, so now he can play around with Satanic a bit.
We'll get back to lane. Lars is getting all the active runes. First to amplify now, the Haste, absolutely the two best runes we can kind of ask for.
At minute 6 and 8 here, we're still continued pressure onto no one.
This is half a tower down at minute 8, like this matters.
Like these early little chip downs on the tower can definitely swing some of these matchups because in the start
You're obviously not gonna commit on a full HP tower, but 10 minute ruin if you bring a couple heroes
You win a fight this half HP tower might just be gone
Every time we pan over the collapse. He's either getting pressured out or in the jungle. Yep a rough rough start for him
Bottom net worth of the cores, but I mean looking at just the net worth alone though
You can see no one is pretty far down there as well
And it happens from a lot of these mid moves right like the first time collapse goes there steals the water room
and then he doesn't get the active rune on stage, he doesn't get the active rune on 8.
But I've been very much liking how Satanic is moving here in this early game.
He's been mid a couple of times, he's invaded the wisdom shrine, now he's going into the off lane.
And this is very good and needed pressure into your Toros Naga here.
Let's announce the pressure to this tier 1 bot, Satanic and the rest of P-Vision should be able to clean this up relatively easily.
as Kes will be going for the mage slayer, so I assume Pango will not, it'll be the diffusel.
Yeah, definitely just diffusel, allow Pango to play around other things later, as they
see not me who's very deep here.
As he is in the corner now, Swashbuckles mostly misses there, it looks like, attempting a TP,
but they're only thunder who'll cancel that immediately, so eventually they will kill
him off.
I like that he cancels it, just to make sure that you don't bounce him onto like the low
or high ground up towards the side there.
10-minute rule, let's see if Laura can go 3-4-3 on this one, and I'm trying for it.
Let's not get it here.
Pressure up by Ducalus now with that Arctic burn, and the Blood Grenade really doing his job.
Laura will be able to actually lose your orb into the tree line.
I'd say can it come with a Raven's Veil, giving him vision and a kill.
What a bait from P-Vision, very nicely played.
Yeah, so this is the one like what's to call us up to but he's just slowing him down kind of baiting him to linger a little bit longer
Then laura, of course getting himself stuck in the trees
I do think he would have gone down anyway. He's satanic. We found a very nice route to connect on to it
Noticed on the slaughter second in net worth which first lord are I feel like the early game can be a struggle at times
He's not exactly a great farmer. No, it absolutely can but against this lane like Phoenix not the strongest lane
doesn't have the most pressure, doesn't really have like very high kill capabilities.
It's more the type of lane where you want levels, you want gold, you want to...
And I think if you're noticed, if you just pay attention to where Lall is on the map,
you're not really dying. Like, Arubic isn't really gonna gank you,
Norsen Axe was being shut down, so it's all about Lall's early game with the coil here,
so I expect Nautis to have a very good time.
Yeah, Nautis only about 400 away from the blinkdagger, and he can expect the aggression to come.
It's gonna align pretty nicely with the diffusably coming up in the fango,
and Satanic, I mean I'm not sure if he's even wanting to participate in fights, but
Kez is definitely a hero that can do that. He's gonna have mage slayer as well.
You definitely can. I think you're like the type of hero you generally win your lane,
which also means you can constantly push your lane, which makes it easier to look
to other sides, maybe TP to the mid tier one, go to most of these active runes. I do
also wonder if he wants to go for a specific or different item build later,
like maybe if it turns into an incredible Naga game, maybe there's some battle
the Fury or Mjolnir out later on or maybe you just commit to the Dessal, you know, with
your slaughter, with your pango, play on like speeding up the game, taking faster
rolls, she's taking faster towers.
Are we seeing Battle Fury ever?
No, not really, but perhaps, you know, maybe there's this type of hero, you know, Naga
is a hero that drastically changes the game.
That's true.
So you might have to think about some itemization.
It's an organic, opening things up onto Laurel, collapse in the air, at first the curse, though,
putting the puck in a precarious spot and the last right click is enough as to call
Ducalis claims the kill and now Collapses on the run and is stuck in No Man's Lamp Ops
the Blade Mail.
As the Cold Embrace comes out from Ducalis, Satanic looking to finish it though with the
Echo Slash.
Gets a nice call from Collapses but he's not going to have any backup.
So the Chicken Man will claim him as no one finds a little juicy stack here.
You can see it in both these games that when either team has a small edge or they know
like what they get away with they just fully execute.
Zotanic being one of the best cases, I am very impressed with his early game here.
You're at keyboard.
He's got some nice keycaps on there.
No, gotta be, gotta be dripped out.
That was a Pudge Head.
I believe.
Yeah, and that's that Rubik, level 4.
That's like it.
Notice level 10 versus the 4, yeah.
One is greater than the other.
So showing off that Blink Dagger now.
They are keeping top.
In one minute you've got a Wisdom Shrine available.
Looks like notice it's cancelled after all.
There's that Pudge again?
What is this?
That's broken. That's yeah
That might be copyrighted there, it's all good, and we'll keep showing it. It looks like I like it. That's what the orange one is
No, actually, is that we'll get a full screen of that later of course
Of course, it's getting nice to zoom in picture at some point. No one on the tier one mid
There are some teethies coming in from spirit, but
We tough to defend this it's gonna be a free tower like you've got the shield moon as well
And if you're p-vision you you know that you are so far ahead currently in this early game
And you're gonna want to keep up the pressure. There's an aga on the enemy side
There's an axe on the enemy side these guys they all need a lot of gold and a lot of time
And it's not really changing anytime soon like Manta for Naga. It doesn't change the way the game is played
It's only gonna be collapsed as blink and then maybe later the orchid so for p-vision good Lord
I looked at collapse that the blink is so far
Oh, jeez, 1500 away from that, so that's gonna put them on the, okay, the curse is so, actually
no, it does connect with the Wyvern.
Wyvern?
I think?
The Satanic is coming in, but he's completely outnumbered, might have bitten off a little
bit too much to chew.
The Egg is placed as well, there's not a pangal on the run, they're gonna get a nice
call into the chop from Collax, gonna try to turn this around onto the pangal as well
as no one falls.
So somehow, these are just gifted to Spirit, a little bit too greedy from P-Vision, and
just like that, they're back in the game.
I don't know if the last minute could have been any worse, not just if they gave up three
kills while being ahead, they lost both Wisdom Shrines.
Like, Yatoro went aggressively with Assam, stole that one, and they got their own one
on top.
Ruba's level four, when we watched him a minute ago, he's level seven now.
Yep.
He actually has a dota game to be played now.
Crazy.
Alright, let's look back at Collapsus, he's, oh yeah, a lot closer to that blinkdagger
now.
Yeah, it felt like they overstayed their welcome and then this is the domino effect, right?
One person coming to help another and then no one coming in to help save Tannick.
Yeah, it was like, everybody ends up paying the price.
Yeah, if you act on top, you get the call, you get a dunk from Collapse as well.
First one of the game for him.
Yeah, it needs a little bit more of that as no one is not happy with the turn of events.
I mean they were in a pretty good position to kind of snowball this slowly in their favor, but
See the Ravens veil stolen by not me. Well, it's quite good on Rubik, too
Use it and runs the hell out of there
Time to buy dust
Well, you do have the shark coming out pretty shortly. It actually already is online or
For notice, that's quite nice. Of course, you know helping out you start making sure you apply the corrosive to everybody
It's also nice against illusion heroes because it just means you can start with the blink crush
They're gonna have to matter then when they walk away you can still apply the actual corrosive phase on the real one
So it's always been a big fan of the shard. It's also quite good for like his overall draft right you're playing with the case
You're playing with the pango
This notice will be opting for the BKB no big surprise and after that is when it kind of opens up on what kind of
Happability you want to go for he's even opting for the Lotus so far. I
I do like it for now. I would assume that it has a lot to do with first of all Naga Siren.
The way Naga kills heroes later and Snare or Kit, at least one of the two sometimes both.
So Lotus overall is quite good. Maybe some of the supports can buy it and you can skip yours.
Could also be the type of game you know he's looking for. BKB, the Agatom Scepter later is quite good.
Bonus armor, bonus status resistance, always very nice against these heroes.
Looks like Sapanic for now. He will just go for a Dispel of his own, honestly.
It doesn't look like he's itemizing for the Naga, at least not yet, and maybe that's the play until she's a problem.
Yeah, I honestly think that it's quite good this way.
But like, late game you're not going to get battle here, so it would have to be Mjolnir, I assume.
Because Radiance doesn't have to, I mean, nothing would ever go Radiance.
Oh yeah, Radiance is a good card.
It doesn't work, you get delusions the same way it used to.
Yeah, it's quite weak.
So they're just more playing around the fact that you just killed the rest.
And you can kind of ignore Naga, I think, for a long time.
It's more about, can you survive for a map play?
And I think that's where the man that comes in, that's where the Lotus Orb will come in later.
So definitely don't mind this type of idea from P-Vision here.
And that collapsed Blank Dagger online.
He is a hero all of a sudden.
One and three start for him.
And it's not me.
I'll be picked off quite easily from P-Vision.
And again, they're really invading this triangle
over and over and over.
They are, but I'm looking, I do feel at the moment
that they are happy.
Of course, they're ahead, like 1k gold, right? Also, soon, active rune coming out on 18.
I wonder how they will look to speed up the game. Like, there is definitely an easy role for them to take.
I mean, they don't have the best, like, tower-taking capabilities, but you could look to pressure out Spirit.
And Spirit are incredibly good at this situation.
Oh, they find the rolling thunder into the crush. Terrorize will miss the face shift in time, but they have to bramble in Laurel.
Not enough to get away. Big kill for P-Vision.
They still got him. That's very nice. You don't even refer you know slight miss maybe misplay of the stun staggering there
Because you need to stop spur from being rats on the side ends. You know that what they need is time
Now it's or does get the orc. I mean when does this hero start?
Becoming fearsome as we're gonna see to call us get up not quite chopped
That little bit unlucky would love to have the chop stack in this game as bonus armor is ridiculous
That's true against the diet raft. Is it third item for Naga when you start worrying?
Orcid is like the first time that you need to actually pay attention to where she is.
I mean, I guess Naga's game doesn't really change, right?
You continuously play on map state, and when people split, that's when you can be really aggressive.
Teamfighting is never really that much up to you.
So I think until he has like hard, maybe, butterfly, I don't think we'll see him all that much.
Man, the Orcid already...
They're optimizing for this. I mean, Kez eventually is gonna get... He has the Manta.
Slarar will be getting BKB.
Pango, that's the interesting one. Do you upgrade your diffuser a little bit earlier to get that dispel or do you itemize for something else?
Like, I mean we used to see Lotus back in the day, not nearly as much now.
Yeah, I think you still can. Any type of dispel is good. Firstly, I wouldn't really mind the VKB either just because you're also playing against
like the Puck, so we'll have to see what he goes for later.
But I do think it's something that you don't need until like fourth item, maybe.
It seems for now he's queuing up the agonins and honestly, I don't blame him.
I think he needs to deal with Naga aggressively, not defensively.
Right.
I forget who we were casting with the other day, and so we're gonna see Yatoro getting gone on.
Will be able to sing his song and TP out.
Would have been a huge kill for P-Vision.
Might have to settle for Rue instead.
Prosper case will give Paul the vision they need.
Pops the egg, but they should be able to get this quite easily.
But the axe call comes in from collapse.
That's the last moment the egg does die though.
And the raptor dance to follow him is collapse will fall as well as not me.
So a really good attempt but ends up hurting them now even more than just a simple Phoenix kill.
Who wasn't in the call other than the Winter Wyvern?
Because I thought it was only the Colossus who could hit the egg.
I guess maybe Satanica the Delgeau was either a quick raptor sense or a mantisile.
So I don't blame Collapsus for this play in here.
Like, going for the egg, you know, into the follow-ups done,
because it looked like he could potentially have gone for a save here.
Speciec collapse coming on the left.
Yeah, he manted it.
Yeah, you're right.
And he does not know he was there, so that is just really nicely played by Satanic.
I think that egg would pop.
Like, the colors alone is not getting off like four hits on that egg during that time.
Yeah, that was super close.
Alright, Satanic in the zone.
Yeah, just needed a warm-up game.
True.
Instead of having seven deaths, he had seven kills.
That's right. He's flipped off that one.
Somebody told him you should be getting more kills than deaths, and he's like,
oh yeah, forgot about that mind bat.
Yep, that's definitely what Puffy said in between the game.
Have you tried killing them?
Very toxic.
Tier 2 tower will be going for P-Vision.
And Butterfly looks to be on the menu for Satanic, so against the Nagasir,
I mean the Bloodthorn, I assume, will come out at some point, though.
Definitely, and that's also where it's going to be important that the supports also look at a type of dispel.
Well, yeah, Nankas is queuing up a Yule, so I do think you want multiple lotuses later if you can, like, that is how you destroy Naga.
Naga never really wants to commit, it's always about the ensnare, the platform, the type of, you know, kiting and poking you.
So they do get the shard on the commies.
Borrow? Borrow?
Get the Luzer Orb onto 3 with the coil to follow, has to get out.
It's being pursued though, they actually get the Corrosion, hey, so they have the vision now.
Have to lose your orb, that should be enough of a gap to get away.
Yup, puck doing puck things.
Will be a Parasma into an Octorine, so going for big ticket items on Laurel.
That's definitely what they need.
We have seen Laurel pop up in a lot of games in this tournament.
I mean, I guess that's a good and cool thing about Team Spirit, right?
You can count on kind of all of them when needed to have one of those pop-off performances.
Collapse.
Just having a game-changing call there just a few moments ago, we'll be opting for the
BKB.
It is quite difficult, but he's actually queued up a Ghost Scepter after that.
Interesting.
Honestly, I don't mind him because it could turn into these type of situations where you're
kind of forced into a fight and if you Ghost Scepter, you're not really dying to anyone.
All these three cores aren't going to be killing you until there's a nullifier later, only
the Bethlehem is kind of a problem.
Okay, will this be a free roach?
Collapse?
It's rush time!
They do see him on a ward forming in the jungle, so I think for now they can...
They seem safe.
Hard rate at the steady.
I'll wait.
I'll wait.
You're hard rate up, hard rate going up.
Just kidding, we got it for free.
They'll get there in time.
As pure as Satanic or not.
Satanic got pure.
Of course.
We'll get the Aegis.
He gave you a freebie out there.
Oh, Bramble actually cancelling the TP and the Terrorize to follow Laurel, absolutely destroyed.
They have been on top of him. Four deaths, two to Puck's name.
I see that. I do think that you can tell that the top teams, they know how to close out the map.
You have a gem that's been killed by Ducales. You have 3k gold as a hold up.
I'm gonna kill him in the 1.
I'm gonna kill him in the 1.
Okay, listen to the aura, kid.
Do they have enough damage to burn Boulder Brace?
Crush comes out there at the last moment into the curse as well.
What a curse!
The counter-curse right on top of the Pangalir.
The song trying to get out, and the PKBs are mitigating all of this damage.
What a check!
And Yatoro gets the song up just in time.
They kill off the Pangalir and they get away with the curse.
Crush misses as well.
So another TP out as Rude looking to find a kill of...
He just evaporated to one right click.
He actually, he nearly got him because he has the crippling crossbow and like all the damage coming out onto the colis
I can't believe that it was a one-for-one trade and not me gets out with stolen curse
Like I don't care that he doesn't die the fact is that he lives and keeps the curse for the next fight. Yeah
That not too shabby
See a replay here
9th class, apparently, okay there we go.
Not this one.
They see a nice war two, end up catching no one here.
You can see the power of the orchid.
Like if notice isn't this close and they don't get this counter play with a very good curse
that was stolen here.
And he barely got that song up also.
And he actually dodged the shield crash with the Mantis style.
Look at this crush.
Yeah, that's as close as it gets.
to get that chasm stone I think. Would I have that one? I'm surprised we're not seeing more casual
chasm stones for any hero with AoE. It's just sometimes hard to slot in just because I mean
it's an item slot that's one of the problems. There was a while we saw it a lot unlike snapfire
early on as a support which I think is quite good obviously for the globs. It's like more when you
can build it into the bigger things later. Yeah I guess collapse will be getting sheathes at some
point in the game.
No, it's going to be a necessity, I think that you get it.
I mean, that's the worry I have for P-Vision is that they're just very one-dimensional
in the damage department.
It is true, but it's also when you're overwhelming in that damage department, you can still, like,
you can cut through some of the rest, because it is a lot of minus armor.
Like it is Sardar and Tango, and I think also at some point as a collapse, looking for a
call, like Sardar has one of these strongest 25 talents.
You know, we don't need to talk about like it's still quite far away, but
Undispellable Corral's phase.
Generally anything in Dota without counter play.
I mean, he does have Curse, but he's gonna get blown up.
Man, that would have been a really good curse.
Just didn't have the vision.
So they delete it.
No longer with that potentially game-changing ultimate steal.
That's a good and quick kill.
And they immediately also killed the Observer Ward that they just placed with this fresh gem
that Mr. Notice is currently running around with, which is gonna be a secondary gem.
a secondary ward, so this is already...
Basically you got half the gold back from the gem.
And if you look at Spirit's vision on the map now, there isn't a single observer ward.
It's all gonna be, you need to get the lanes out, you need to have illusions swarming,
and hope that you can place wards that aren't easy to find.
And Utoro getting pretty close to...
I assume, wait, what?
Did he not finish heart?
Might be on the career, he might just have too much gold, he just buys seven items at the same time.
as oblivion step and blood barn in his backpack or his stash rather so where's the recipe for the heart
okay well either way this is a shit ton farm out of nowhere he's got it on his choir i guess he's
just waiting for everything to then come out at the same time so yeah he's basically getting a
double item timing of course the heart will help stay alive how can you see that that's
you can see it sounds like ultimates if his core dies but not really all like normal heroes
Is he trying to hide it and then when the Aegis expires they smoke and take a fight?
The 2000 IQ play.
Yeah.
I mean, how often are these players, like, how fast are they clicking to see inventories?
You click all the time. I think especially, like, any type of downtime needs to be used to understand
what are enemy heroes, what are they building, what are they buying.
Right.
Satanic only has 30 seconds on the Aegis, so we'll attempt to go for this Tier 2 Tower as a VKB now online for collapse.
Sometimes with the buildings, P-Vision is still leaving a little bit to be desired with this Aegis.
Alright, do you think they got enough out of it?
I think they're fine that the game is, because they're progressing it in an okay manner.
You got bottom tier to tower, and you are taking a lot of position away still.
The double item into smoke.
Well, that's that word I think did spot the smoke so P vision should know this
But this is still a very good move from spirit because you push in a lot of the ways
You force in P vision to retreat to their own side of the map
So they are split at least for the time being and now even if the smoke doesn't hit it could give you some space
Pushing some more lanes or get out some observer boards for the secondary roge
That's not me of course will be the one to throw the observers and he's working on a ghost scepter as well
So we might be seeing multiples mm-hmm on the spirit side
Now, counter smoke from P-Vision.
No one leading the charge, noticed. Ready to pounce.
On the first target, you can see a torno, and the rest of Spirit kind of dodging this, unknowingly.
I'm sure they're aware that something is happening.
A little bit too quiet on the map right now, Rowe.
He's gonna pop the smoke, and it's the Egg Red. He's gonna get crushed and destroyed.
He's out of his fight already.
Now they get the counter initiation, collapse, already taking a ton of damage with Satanic.
With that BKB, he needs another right click to finish it, but...
He's burning out.
He does burn out eventually to the damage over time from Satanic as Notice gets the double kill, and that's three dead for Spirit.
P-Vision.
Big, big fight for them. That opens things up a little bit more.
Honestly, this two colors with Deweyman is a big problem.
Even with a good call, like, I don't think two colors of spells made that big of a difference, but it's just a threat.
Like, where is the damage coming out from Spirit?
If there's one Cold Embrace, that collapse nor Yatora are really dishing out any damage unless there's a Bloodthorn,
and even that you can dispel with a Lotus Orb, there's Eul's Scepters available,
like the Collage just blinks out, it's just immediately fine doing it.
Just look at the call, it's honestly not that much damage, there's too much Teamfight coming out from Pimager right now.
Yeah, he wasn't ready for that much damage coming out from the Phoenix, I mean, if he could replay it, I'm sure he would egg right away.
Yeah, and then the call to follow protects it and potentially they can turn the fight
But just over from the start for spirit
I mean so like you're playing this into a double BKB at least currently and on it's like test is not bad at killing
Yeah, at all. He has really high attack speed especially with the butterfly BKB to boot
You have even more attack speed from the Lurkin champion. He's also gonna go for MKB like satanic is gonna start shredding people
Oh, he already is.
Yep, it's gonna be a lot worse.
As Nullifier's next on the list for notice, he's 2K into it, so the Ghostseptors are
gonna be countered completely when that comes through.
And you can see another potential kill on it.
Let's get the egg off this time, though, and there, Laurel comes in with a nice coil onto
two, but the egg does fall collapse.
Gonna get countered by the curse immediately as no one gets chopped eventually.
So they find the two kills, another chop for Collapse and somehow they turn this around.
A spirit showing some signs of life.
How was there a 2 for 4?
Satayna had amplified damage but I think he went to kill the top tier 2 not really expecting something to come out there.
How does Collapse keep pulling out like stupid numbers?
Just gets to barely live the blade mill, gets to chop some people in the head.
Not the type of fight I'm expecting P-Vision to lose there.
So gonna replay here. So Egg comes out early this time.
Flaps his TP, but I think it's a long TP from him.
Yeah, imagine that Egg doesn't even go down there.
Very close.
And he's a tiny bit, maybe a little closer. You can absolutely take that flight, but watch this goes ham.
Really nice telekinesis. That's the shard showing the range.
Giving him that extra mobility to get that second chop.
When you go on people this close outside the base, you gotta be sure that that is a quick kill order you can disengage.
Call us in the tree lines trying to protect Satanic from potential danger.
Nothing imminent.
The other big part is too that you dropped the gem.
The reason why you could keep up the map play all this time is that you're pushing in the
lanes and they killed at least three or four Observer Wards.
Now you're handing the gem to the Naga Siren team and who gave up a few kills.
No one.
The shield crashed back down so he still does not have a dispel of any kind.
He has it soon.
Like you said earlier, he is looking at the disperser on the pango.
He's quite close to it.
Yeah, a lot of quality of life changes to that, being able to just use it on enemy and
still dispels you.
Yeah.
Very nice.
MKB completed for Satanic, which means all the eyes are going to be on the secondary Roche,
which means also buybacks are going to be highly valuable and very much talked about here from
both sides.
And Collapse, I think, is ready this time for a harsh defense.
He's got enough items to be a criminal once again.
Roche is now up.
It's going to spot it, and Naga can spot it any time she wants.
So this gets a little bit of vision here onto collapse.
And yeah, this second rush is going to be pivotal for both sides.
The Spirit are very, very good at this.
They understand.
Which team do you think needs it more, if that makes sense?
I believe it's more on P-Vision to get it.
I think there's a slight pressure building.
I don't think they feel bad by any means.
I still feel great.
I'll say it's more up to them to make sure that they get the ages on their side
It is scary to go into that pit though with a wyvern
The curse is crazy, but then on the other side you have song you have egg you have coil
Lot of a a leaf from spirit to college was growing perfectly on the map kind of understanding. That's where it are in a smoke
There's two ways that they can be going
Looks like also
Yeah, Toros deciding to not go for the butterfly as there's already a completed MKB on satanic
We'll look to go for the disperser instead.
Who's the first team to get a pick off, or do they just straight up try to go for Roche?
I wonder if P-Visible just waits for Roche to move to the bottom side, then if there's
a teamfight there you kind of have some of the buyback advantage and you can set up the
area first.
I'm going to get on the aggressive with the smoke now.
If they are doing that, scanning the Roche just to make sure that Spirit aren't sneaking it at the same time.
Spirit now with a counter-smoke as they do the old clockwork roundabout.
Look at Laurel. If you spot Laurel, just getting the smoke off of a couple of heroes.
As the crush comes in from notice, they find a connection under the puck.
Look at the damage! Just dead! Just like that Laurel.
80 seconds put in the pit, Coloss. He wants Roche.
Six seconds.
Six seconds.
Mulling Thunder coming in from Null.
If he can't be popped from Null,
does everybody get to the pit?
And now the song comes out,
he's gonna be outside the pit.
But Satanic kills off Yatoro right away,
and now collapses with the Colquette.
He's still another agent!
He gets it again!
How does he do it?
Unbelievable!
He gets a battle, and he's trying to finish the job.
The buyback came out from Laurel's downed Null
to stop the run.
P-Vision.
Trying to run away,
and his pants gets scunned up.
But he's gonna be able to use his ult now
to get some HP back.
But the counter-rasser dance coming up from not me doing massive damage and out of coil as well
The chop number one from collapse brings satanic to his knees as no one called up
Notice is still there collapse is completely surrounded here. Obviously having that Aegis
Is he gonna be able to get that?
Rue actually just dies on the sidelines to a random shield crash and just like that
It's a full team-wide with a spirit
So they lost the Aegis in the end the buyback comes up from Laurel. It looks really good at first for spirit
What happened they paid a huge huge price, but I think the fact that your Toro just died so early on in this fight
They're just running out of juice eventually like what is that 48 damage on your Naga?
It was Ruu who's actually like just leading the charge there. Oh my god, I didn't even notice you know
They just got a very nice good initial go even with collapse getting the ages again
They just keep the fight going like way too nicely, and I think this initial go-on-law is very good
Like when you have this Roche standoff, it's all about this like mid wave, how can you control it?
And even with the song and like the sun rays, look how fast your Toro just, he just melted!
Yeah.
How does Collapse do this?
I mean it wasn't a Snatch, so it's not going to add to his stats, but this was effectively one.
But if it may be slightly faster on the Curse, they're by to Khaalys,
but even so, it was a great fight for them, with Nothi,
Sealing the Curse, pushes himself out, very good telekinesis, and then also Sealing the Raptor dance.
But still didn't really change the outcome all that much and it was a very costly fight for Spirit.
Sure, you got the Aegis, but you paid with six lives for this one and a buyback?
Yeah. And the Aegis, technically.
Yeah.
I mean, that's what happens, I suppose, when your position one is not able to get anything off, really.
Really he pops the song but the DKBs were still up and running. I'm not having any effect
Little bit unlucky thing. I thought he was gonna get pushed outside the pit as collapse
I'm gonna get first now. It's not me trying to steal something
But it gets nullified and destroyed by notice as collapse now being pursued by satanic with that ravens
Valeatorial gonna get help with that coil on the other side
Just gets bursted by satanic the chicken man is out of control at this point
BKB's are down and out as Laurel in No Man's Land again, does find a kill, but now he's
gonna pay the price.
That's effectively a dieback for Laurel.
90 seconds on the deck.
And they don't lose a single core.
They're finding all the right moves at the moment and all the right connections in this
game.
Sure, you lose your two supports, but this is Laurel out again and it's not just a normal
death.
It's a death where you know he doesn't have any buyback available.
11k lead and I mean from the earlier play, you know, this is what spirit does they take risky plays this time
It did absolutely not pay off on the Roche
Is your Toro trying to cut some waves, but
Honestly, not really gonna do all that much top lane is pushing in satanic has a satanic to his name as well
This case is a major problem. Yes indeed and that's the hero I fear more than anything
Naga is just I find to be very annoying yeah games and you kind of pressure quite a bit is your Toro and
And very soon face the wrap of the chicken man are only coming from no one as well. I will find a connection
What they can it gets the tower will exit for the time being of course remember they don't have the ages
As song look for the egg as well
I'm gonna try to time this correctly with the Sunray to follow his collapses here as well
They get the stunt from the egg
Where is the call exactly the bill the burst down to call us in the meantime you're Toro out of mana though has to exit
If that's it, then Spirit not gonna be too happy.
Decent execution wasn't the best done onto Satanic, but of course you're kinda like forcing some of the back lines to come a bit closer.
Maybe Ducal is finding himself slightly out of position.
But P-Vision just unlocked one of the most OP Exodia talents on Sardar here.
Undispellable now against this Radiant Draft. Sure, you've got decent armor coming your way, but if you have haze on you, Naga only has 10 armor.
If you get lucky shot and you're gonna start being literally around neutral
Yeah, I was wondering why class wasn't hoping for a she was but that's because Laurel has it already
Mm-hmm don't want to double up on that so those for the Crella again as
Noticed he's going to notice collapse in the area. You can see real easily rolled on by no one
We're gonna go for the support so the rubik will bite the dust next just like that
No supports to work with for spirit
No one's also doing a really good job.
The Toro gets nullified, BKB from notice, trying to finish the job before the song comes up,
but it's down for 25 seconds anyway. Just needs a bash, we can get through the evasion.
There's the bash, into the Swax Buckle. Another death for your Toro, head by back, but...
He has to use it at this point, it's gonna be a rough, rough road.
Now, these are all just big moves, and you can definitely tell the strength coming up from the P-Vision heroes here.
It's very hard to deal with them. There's just a lack of damage overall from Spirit.
Also recommend no one he's covering his old very well against not me
He's trying to steal his old but he's always just roll up in for like point one seconds
So you can never get the rolling thunder
The very least that means he can't use the roll up in more meaningful situations, but it's not really needed to do
So I guess so seems a little bit too easy all of these heroes are very difficult to kill satanic on the buildings now
It's called up with Laurel to follow up. They actually have so much burst damage.
He's getting super low, trying to go for the raptor dance.
A decent amount of HP comes back to him.
He's going to turn to Scythe down with Laurel.
Who gets bashed up and killed off again, collapsed next on the list.
A good attempt from Spirit, but just too much to handle from P-Vision's side.
They had Yatoro available to buy back, but now he's going to respawn naturally without too core.
So he's just getting megaed now.
I don't know how you can hold, and I also don't know how Satanic was able to live through it.
He has like 1 HP, gets up to Satanic and just keeps nearly to full.
I don't care that this is Gatoro, I don't know how he kills his 3v5.
Not happening. They will get Magged, but again, we've seen Spirit level up against Magged.
They've come back from worse situations.
It's definitely a tough one, and remember this is a very important game.
Yeah, with his victory, P-Vision, if they're able to hold on, will secure first place in the groups.
And then Static working on the Tier 4s now, 40 seconds for Laurel, 30 for collapse.
And the rest of Spirit just wading it out in the fountain.
They start to bleed.
They have to get some pick-offs with Notish just blowing somebody up, then they're not gonna have a true 5v5 defense at any point the rest of the game.
There's so many ways for P-Vision to just protect each other.
You have Lotus Orb, you have an A on this,
and a Winter Wyvern, Cold and Brace, use the roll.
Link thunder again, just to buy some time here,
Yatora does get off the song.
Who can do that?
That's the Kez.
Rolling thunder again, no one.
And to the other side, if I knew he was on to collapse,
his nine-claps will be isolated in the very least for Spirit.
They get something, but not nearly enough.
Yeah, nine-claps kind of just give it his life
to make sure that collapse doesn't have a follow-up there,
by cancelling his blink, should give them an absolute free disengage.
And Ravens failed, there's the call from Collapse, they need a lot more damage
to attack, but notice onto the back line, looking for the supports,
as there's the curse to hold them in place, Satanic now getting all of his life back,
focusing on the egg, it's going to be close, he's got it!
Delicious egg to be consumed for Kes, Satanic now on the outskirts of the fight as the rest
just focus on Collapse, but Larl is there, they're doing a ton of damage, and Yatoro,
That's the issue, is he just cannot stay alive. They call it GG despite the buybacks coming out, and P-Vision, number one in the groups.
Yeah, these guys, they definitely leveled up in the second game. I think from the laning at the start, without their moving around early Gem, you keep taking over like all this map.
And yeah, I think Spirit, looking for this last pick Naga, it was annoying, but I think it really did what they envisioned it to do.
And yeah, I think you just have P-Vision. They stepped it up in this one.
And they looked extremely good.
I mean, it was very close to start the game.
And Collapse had a rough, rough start.
But then, as usual, he finds the place
to get back into the game.
They take two roaches that they shouldn't have really had.
It was a one.
I'm losing track of that.
They're double ages, right?
Looks like that's so.
I feel like they did.
But either way, it just wasn't enough.
P-Vision had been on another level of everybody throughout
this entire tournament thus far.
Game one was the exception, but not the rule, apparently.
I think it's just like this time around again, you had no one on a more playmaking type hero
I think the Largo and the Night Soccer combo in game one just didn't really work out
But you can tell when this team has an early game aggression that is easy to play through
I think people are the scariest team in the tournament. Yeah, absolutely
I mean if Satanic doesn't have a start like he did in game one where he ended the game with seven plus deaths
I say plus because we just genuinely don't remember anymore
Yeah, and there's no way for us to look it up. Maybe you can get out that Lenovo laptop
Check it out.
Check it out.
And Satanic, he ends this game though, 16-2 just completely opens up with the chicken
man.
I really like the itemization.
I think, you know, like the early Lotus Orb, I think notice as well, like 6-1 and 24.
I think he had perfect itemization, saying with Satanic, I mean, probably the same can
be said, I think for most of them, which is just, when you're in the zone and you understand
like what needs to be happening, I think that's definitely what they're displaying here.
They did have one or two overplays, you know, classic team spirit,
finding those type of ways where they pressure you to maybe overstep a little bit.
But apart from that, honestly, quite, quite clean display here.
I have to say, though, even though NotMe ends the game with 13 deaths,
he had some great steals in this game that gave Spirit a shot.
But people just remember just more crisp, I feel like,
as they've been throughout the tournament thus far.
This Winter Wyvern is a problem.
I think this hero needs to be respected a bit more,
especially with the chicken man, that comboed up together,
like this cold embrace and all the curses,
it just, even when they're not being used,
they're constantly a threat, you need to play around it,
you need to think about it,
you need to try and smoke on this hero and make it happen.
So yeah, I think, with Wyrick,
here we're gonna see quite a bit more.
Yeah, I would think so, as you see the end stages
of this game, or P-Vision,
we're just winning every single fight
without putting out much of a sweat,
but they end the game with pretty good performance
from everybody, I would say, and the groups as the number one.
And I think at the same time too, if you're Spirits, obviously you face up,
you did pretty well. Like, 1-1, honestly, it's fine, so I think Spirits will still
see them in the playoffs. Yeah, let's go to Slacks with an interview.
Absolutely, we are here with no one. So good to see you again.
Congratulations on that, Met. You guys only lost one single game in the entire groups.
Are you happy or are you disappointed that Spirits was able to steal one game from you?
I feel like, for now, I'm disappointed a bit, because I wanted to play Largo, but we just
lost two lanes so hard, so we cannot play Dota.
Ah, you had to be kind of serious, huh? Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
You have faced Team Spirit so many times. You must know this team so, so well by now.
Is there a specific strat where you're like, okay, we have to really focus on Collapse,
or do you just know them so well you just play your own game?
Is it more about countering them or being you?
Yeah, it's all puppy drop.
Yeah, puppy decides what to do.
You're just the puppets of the puppy.
Damn, all right, all right. Very on brand for Dota right now, very well.
So, this is a pretty rare thing.
Most teams don't come into a big competition like EWC.
Everybody knows they're the team to beat.
Everyone knows they're so good, yet they do so good in groups.
What the hell is going on with the other teams?
Did you feel pressured in this groups, or are you just that far above everybody else?
You know, to be honest, I think maybe we have the weakest group of all as well, and this
was the first time we met in the groups, and that's how I felt, at least in the games.
So the main series will be in play-off right now.
Okay, so you're expecting things to get a little tougher now that you're out of this
group, maybe face off against some people?
Who do you think is the best team besides you guys right now at this event?
I think all eight top teams can win this tournament, to be honest.
Who will go to the playoffs?
So there is not only one. It depends on the day and the draft and the feelings of the players.
I think Yandex can do it, Falikons, Wii, Spirit.
Because I know I am sure these guys will get through as well.
One win as well is super strong.
I like what you did there. There's no only one. I like that.
That very good, very good.
Alright, well, thank you for an incredible series.
It was a pleasure watching you guys play.
Last, please give it up for P-Vision one more time.
For a...
Right, I don't know what that meant, but thank you very much.
Let's go ahead and check out how that game was for the panel as we get ready for our next.
Thank you very much. I'd like a lot to break down here with this game too. We ended the draft
talking a lot about what Naga Siren should be doing or rather what she was working towards
to be able to become the unstoppable force that we sometimes see Naga Siren's get to.
We did not see her become the unstoppable force, Brian.
Yeah, the thing about Naga that's different than most of these map playing carries, like Terrablade or Phantom Lancer, is that
she doesn't really carry the game. Later on, the way that Naga wins is through the map control aspect of things.
And I mentioned when the draft came out, like, I'm looking at level 5 Powertraps Naga because that's when she starts the snowball.
Because the snowball for Naga is that you always have the lanes pushed into you, you're always playing with less information,
You're scared of the Mantle Orca timing.
You don't have your Dispels yet, but instead,
notice actually gets a solo kill on him
on Yattaro at level five at that point,
and suddenly you're losing your Tower,
Kaz hits his Mantle before that.
And the game just looks completely different.
I feel like Naga's formula does require her
to get off to a good start.
Yeah, you mentioned that Naga does feel like a weaker
laning hero, not that she's been nerfed
in the laning stage, Brian, but typically you look at
Naga plus Phoenix versus Slardar,
and you don't think that's the lane they would struggle in, but they did and now they're losing that side lane
whereas we saw how the off lane was targeted within the draft stage from P vision, that one was expected to lose.
Suddenly you're playing a lane down on the last pick that you thought would give you a lane up.
Yeah, I think this also speaks to why they picked Kez where they did because I think Team Spirit purposely picked
Axe early in the draft saying, we're kind of block picking your Kez. It does feel like there's just these carries
right now in the meta that draws the SFs that are getting banned, the longer it's, but a lot of carries right now there.
The reason why we haven't seen Naga Siren is because
there every hero has like a win condition, a situation that they thrive and I know on paper
I literally learned this lesson myself like a few weeks ago
and I was hoping that Yattaro was gonna show me how to do it. Like Yattaro just feels like a really weak
laner right now and they have targeted that with her nerfs and when a hero's formula is like you,
I think this is about as good of a lane as Naga can ask for.
You have a solid heal support that will help you trade, you're against no tower push, no
illusion clear, and yet you're still losing.
So for me, I really think this should be a lesson or it can be a signal to everybody
that I think Naga's might be one of the few heroes that it's hard to say in Dota but unpickable
or not.
Yeah, definitely getting a look great in this scenario and maybe we'll see it actually
another time, but it definitely did not work out.
I want to also point out that the 18th pick that we talked about for P vision was the Slardar.
That's their most important pick and we saw noticed on this Slardar pop off.
Yeah, he always delivers from his item drops to his gameplay. I mean, there was one small moment
that I don't even know if it was intentional, but team spirit were gearing up for a smoke
and he was standing on the high ground and he just breaks the smoke as an offline Slardar
and then goes back to farming. It's little things like that that really add up and
This starter, winning the lane, just made the game so different for them.
I do feel like a different game could exist.
And Peeves is a fantastic job in this game too.
They've shown us that when their drafts aren't one note,
that they just look like such a monstrous team.
And I do want to shout out how well they played around Laurel's Puff too.
There were a couple of times where they just chased that Puff down and killed him in that early game.
There were also moments where Laurel was trying to play them up
and he would get clipped by a brown bull into having his TP terrorist.
It's things like that that really add up, and all of a sudden you're Puck, you needed him for the map play, can't provide.
Yeah, I think Puck still had a sup 30% win rate. My count people make Puck work.
I'm a firm disbeliever in this, it's like the third, fourth pick of the draft on your side, and then the enemy team has a response pick.
I just feel like Puck is, we're learning, it's like easy to say in hindsight, right, but we're learning that Puck seems punishable,
whether that's because you shut down the puck specifically or you just pick these kind of greedy or mid laner
It's not like pango is a horrible laner or anything
But I feel like every laner that plays against puck is just getting off to a really good start and teams are realizing
Let's not try to beat the puck. Let's just play for our own tempo and then we're seeing like
I don't even think of willow as a hero to catch puck but nine-class
He had a couple sick TP moves that game
We were was mentioning where he cancels a puck TP like kills collapse when claps is level five
these type of plays, just blow them up wide open, and then it feels like Puck's
playing this annoying split push game, and you kind of, to what end is the
question? Yeah, and it kind of needed to be Naga on the side of Team Spirit that
needed to play the annoying split push game, but needed to do so
successfully. It didn't really work out that way. I believe, Brian, you're gonna
showcase exactly why and how important it is to have those fights go well. Yeah, so
I had a couple clips. They actually show the dynamic of this sort of draft, so if
If we look at this first one and we zoom in on the map, we see that Slardar is showing
himself in the bottom lane there, and that means that when Team Spirit sees their Triangles
getting invaded, they're going to protect their ward, and they're going to play around
whatever fight they can take where they have the numbers advantage.
So they go on to call us here on the Wyvern, and then even though he ends up getting cursed
on the puck, there's just not that extra follow-up from that early blank Slardar.
And Team Spirit's one of those teams that every time you give them this opening, they're
going to take it. Really nice egg placements, collapse doing the, you know, poor man's acts,
walk into call there, and this goes the way of team spirit. Now, if you take the next clip,
where if we look at the map this time, we see that team spirit is the ones that are completely
separate on that. We have Rubik here, we have Puck up top. So now, P-Vision is the one that feels
very confident to simply run at team spirit in the lanes that they are showing. They force the song
first they're gonna continue pursuing and Team Spirit gets a little bit of
savior buddy syndrome here but it just feels like when you're playing like they
even the game on Team Spirit you notice how they're actually slightly down on
pVision right now. Sick man to death by Satanic by the way but when you have all
your numbers it goes well and when we see these type of drafts like this is
what Team Spirit's gonna force you to do over and over again because we go to the
next clip it's the same story we see that Kez is actually going to be top
without but he's not with his team on Satanic and even though you don't have
of inaugural sign, it just shows that even when you're down AK, even when like your carry is literally dead.
If they don't have the numbers and you manage to get the combos, like you can win fight at any given moment.
And this for me just kind of tips my hat to P vision with there are so many ways to mess up this game.
I feel like a lot of teams would end up letting Team Spirit back into the game with these crazy walking map movements.
And you just see like you're bound to have these one or two slip ups.
You're even going to get the Team Spirit Aegis Steel that seems to happen every single game for some reason.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Pre-Visions on top for a reason.
Yeah, they are on top.
And the man that we had the interview with earlier is maybe even a step above the rest.
It is no one with the MVP for this series.
Effie well deserved on his pangolier here in game two.
Of course, also playing an okay Largo in game one.
Yeah, I mean, he said it in the interview.
is like I really wanted to play Largo and I wanted to make it work and I hope that they
don't bench it forever, that maybe it'll change with a year or two so that we can see it again
because it is a very cool flex and other teams have shown us what it works like no one on his
pango like what more is there to say about this guy we he was in a situation where he could have
gone for the slaughter mid which is more comfortable against the puck even but he goes for his pango
anyway and we saw the difference being night and day when he could set the tempo for his team be
the one controlling the background the one going in. Man this looked like a
miserable axe game I and I think for no one he was always he was the catalyst
for pretty much all these plays that we're watching that's just what Pangolier
does he's so disruptive as a hero and they didn't really have damage answers
for him in this game so he had pretty much free reign driving the wheel one
might say and even outside of his Ulta he's got the disperser I really like
the atomization from all of P-Vision here, the Naga Net Bloodthorn combo, that is the
way they're going to kill you, that's their main source of damage.
And they have like a Disperser, a Lotus, you know, Mantis, Satanic, On Satanic, and they
only even have the Wyverns, Golden Brace.
So all these fights, yes, they're pushing their buttons amazingly, but it's just so important
to note that all these little items out of so fast.
Yeah, and it also just takes me back to the draft.
praise, P-Vision's drafting over and over, but I think they did two things that
were really stand out to me in their draft phase, which is they layered the
Wyvern with the Cows, which is not something I think of as a cover hero,
but it does cover most of Cows' counters, and it shut down the offline at the
same time while targeting Nautmie's Hero Pool at the start. They ban the hoodwink,
they take the Dark Willow. Every draft, it seems like Puppy identifies one player
but he wants to kind of make the weak link through the draft.
And this time around it was position 4,
and we saw the difference in that game 1 and game 2.
Just the difference of having the Willow versus the Riddick.
Yeah, and we have now got our top spots locked in here for Group C.
We already knew that Group C was not going to have any tiebreakers,
no fans to shun out against,
but we also knew that if Spirit couldn't 2-0 P-Vision,
it would be P-Vision at the top of the group,
and they didn't get to keep the clean record.
Did drop a game, but they do get to keep their top spots and therefore secure at top 8
Not all games are done yet in this group. There's still a mouse versus Vici going on on the B stage as well
but
It's sad. We know what's happening also mouse versus Vici. Yes, they are fighting for third fourth place potentially
if Vici can 2-0 but to be honest, I don't know who's ahead right now and
And you know, don't turn and anything can still happen.
We can take a look at the schedule of today as we did get our first series done.
It was a tie.
Wonderful scene.
Now keep in mind, if our next series is a tie, 1W and Team Yandex, they will play again
because both of these teams are sitting at a 7 and 1 and that's very good.
But we need one to rise above the other.
And, you know, a tie wouldn't cut it, Brian.
Yeah, it's effectively a best of five that you can skunk them in two games.
You can what?
It's like a ping-pong term here, but basically it's a best of five that you can win if you
win 2-0.
That's basically what we're dealing with with the 1W and team here next year.
For me, these two teams, I'm very excited to watch them play as well because they're
a very different type of skill than what we just watched.
Visions a lot about the lanes and the momentum from there team spirits much more about like the team fights and the comebacks for me
I feel like yandex and 1w we're gonna see we're gonna see a farming game farming efficiency a lot of GPU
Exciting a lot as a character. I love it
Well, I am looking forward to it. This is already a grant
But we just might witness the potential grand finals are you gonna witness another one a little bit for one dollar?
Yeah, next we're also gonna find out how our commentary duo feels about them
to move. Not trapped at the desk in one singular posture for 12 hours a day.
It's time your chair evolved. This is Secret Lab Titan Evo.
Ergonomically engineered for you, gamers, hybrid workers, artists.
Back in your every move.
Hi there,
here with Kazoo. We have won W versus Yandex. The lights are bright for us here and also for the game.
You're probably seeing this in-between game number one and two and there's been a lot of positive.
I would just assume because 33 is in this series and if the lights are even on a little bit.
It will be paused.
It will be paused for his very sensitive constitution of his eyeballs. So back to the series.
What do you think?
great intro, 40 seconds of lights and one player. I'll bring it back to you. So 1W and Yandex.
Honestly, I don't even know who's favored. Yandex are really good as are 1W. And this,
like in the other one, I would have favored like P-Vision overall. But in this one, honestly,
I have no idea. All right. All depends on the lights. See you guys.
All right. Time for more trivia. I've got Malus. I've got Panto as well as Crystalis joining me.
One WT, gotta get used to that.
We've got Ari and BZM, and we have both collapsed.
And Rue here to talk about some of the past.
Do you guys remember last year's EWC?
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like it should be.
You have been memorable since you guys won and everything.
First question is, what was the most picked hero
of the Esports World Cup 2025?
No, that's right. Shadow Shaman. He remembers. Shadow Shaman 39 picks. That was with the
the broken, the inner age of the audience.
I'm gonna push that, I remember.
This next question, we're gonna ask all the players
and they might get it right, they might get it wrong.
I expect you guys to get it right
because the question is, how many total matches
did Team Spirit lose in EWC 2025?
One.
The groups, I have no idea.
So I'm gonna say two.
One.
That is good.
I was going to go like 1, 2, 3, 4 and have them be like wrong, but I just got it.
You just stopped at 1, I thought that was great.
Full accident.
I'm a jicker now.
I'm in the 16th game.
We were playing with 16, yeah.
I don't remember.
I thought they lost to Gaming.
But they almost lost to Gaming.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, they should have lost to Gaming.
Yeah, they should have lost to Gaming.
And then it went to 69 minutes, Gaming, and 10 minutes of choking.
That's the one I don't remember.
And then they got to...
That's the harsh way to put it.
What was the Shopify Rebellion roster of EWC 2025?
Hellscream, Simada, Scam.
That's right, it was Scam.
Oh, wait. This roster.
Scam, why?
Scam or Hellscream?
Yopash?
Yopash, maybe.
Oh, I remember now.
It was Yopah's.
It was Yopah's?
Was it that by Lama?
Yes.
Yes, it was.
The Vailama?
Can you?
Savorlite.
Oh, good.
I'm R.
No, no, I said Vailama.
Go through all the offlaners.
Shotgun Rebellion.
Had he is now on MiGmaGalaxy?
Uh, Lama.
Vailama.
The Vailama?
Yeah.
Really?
Vailama.
Yep.
Tomato, Yopah's, the Vailama, Hellscream, and Scam.
What the f***?
Gross story.
You said it, not me.
I didn't say that.
All right, what player this question always needs to be a lot what player had the best KDA ratio at EWC?
2025
It's not you Toro
I'm Mark no
rifle
That's a good gas, but not quite
Probably, you know, a lot of people don't know that.
Maybe fill up.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Not us?
No.
Not from our team, right?
Not from your team, you're correct.
Bro, I think it's GPK.
Yep.
GPK.
You know...
It always has to be GPK.
Of course, of course.
Even though he's like losing tournament,
he's gonna be like top one.
Of course, that's what he does.
GPK.
Really?
Yep.
He had a KDA of 10.43.
GPK?
That's right.
I thought it was EWC2K, it's like...
I thought it was EWC2K.
Did you watch EWC2024?
No, not so...
Okay, so you have to carry this question.
Yeah.
What was the most banned hero in EWC2024?
Sand King.
No...
What was it?
I remember we banned Sand King like all games.
In one game we didn't ban, we got smashed,
then picked all the tournament.
Well, I guess other teams felt differently about it.
Two years ago.
24. Okay, we played that together.
2024!
We played that one together.
The most banned hero.
Ah, claro.
Ooh, that's close, close. Not quite, not quite.
Chris Lee.
Monkey King.
Ah, Monkey King. He gets it right.
Because he plays Monkey King.
Monkey King.
Yeah. Do you remember that?
Why though?
It's because of the Ginkyo.
It's kiss-puss style right on the launcher.
I'm not sure. It had 174 bands.
We're done!
Thanks for watching, I guess. I don't know how they're doing it closest to us.
Can we get going? I've got to get to the Dota Tournament before it's over.
Dude, it's only at the end of week one.
Oh, okay.
Either way, I will need paid for this. I don't work for free.
I don't have regular money, but I do have this.
Okay, let's go.
You are watching Dota 2 live from Paris here at the Esports World Cup and we're getting
ready for potentially the final game of the day, depending on how they do and
depending on how others in Zulu have tiebreakers today, potentially. We're
talking all about a series that is also potentially also at Grand Finals. I know
a lot of potential in this one. We got 1W and Team Yandex going head to head. An
absolute blockbuster. It's a two game series and I got two people here to talk
about it. I got at the, I got BSJ. I think this is the best series of the day. I wanted
to be at the Sony series of the day. You went for the other one, but this is mine.
I vetoed you, shiver, as what we're going to see in this game is a lot of GPM and a
lot of farming, but two different ways, actually, because the index has had one of the, if not
the lowest average game time, they get off to an early lead and they, if they have that
lead, they will run at you nonstop and close out the game in about 30 minutes. Well, on
On the other hand, if 1W has the lead,
you feel like you're in that movie
where the room is collapsing on you
and eventually you'll get squashed
but you have to wait for your inevitable death.
And today I hope to see the former
because that's more exciting.
So that would mean 1W maybe falls behind a little bit early
and maybe start the game out for 60 minutes.
Mira, what are you hoping for?
I would agree with that notion.
I mean, I feel like it would be doing
at the service to team Yandex to call them a GPM team.
They're very much a fun team to watch.
Like they do like tournament enemies.
They do have interesting picks.
And while they do a lot of map efficiency plays,
they tend to group up more and hit earlier timings.
So as a spectator, I would obviously like the former,
as you mentioned,
but 1W are a rough team to go up against and do that.
1W have really stood out to me in this tournament
on one thing in particular,
is that they are excellent at staggering fights
and making sure they are never taking a fight as five
against the enemy 5. They've just been constantly making sure there's a dead hero on the map
before they make any plays and maybe that's why their games go a little bit longer.
And we saw in the groups that 7 and 1 is looking nice at the top and we'll know that one of
these will go to the first place and one of these will go to the second place but you
also saw the bottom half of that group. We don't know yet who is going to get eliminated
in that boss in there so that is going to be a very, very spooky refocusing our attention
We've done 1W first and that's with us taking a look at how they got here to begin with.
This current version of 1W team was created when they picked up the former Tundra roster
of Pure, BCM, 33, Ari, and Whitemon.
The roster is one that should be familiar to any Dota fan out there and they are definitely
no strangers to winning.
Their road to EWC was done under the name of Tundra.
Regardless, it was as expected, very smooth and painless.
The first place finishes at DreamLeague Season 28 as well as ESL One Birmingham 2026, One
W team earned their first place at the E.P.T. leaderboard and a direct invite to the E-Sports
World Cup 2026.
With all this being said, you might think 1W is by far the best team in the world.
They certainly were one of the best teams in the world and perhaps they still are, but
The last few months has been a bit of a reality check for the team, with several disappointing
results.
Time will tell if 1W team will be able to step back up to their former glory here at the
Esports World Cup 2026.
I feel like time has told already by now that 1W is back to where they were at least there
and they're making a strong case for themselves.
They've got four titles in this season, four number one finishes.
That's amazing.
Yandex has got three. They're right in their heels. They won the most recent tournament
They're doing super well for themselves as well
And I do want to focus a little bit on maybe a little rivalry here at the we got 33 versus Saksa
Yeah, this is the former off lane duo that crushed everybody being split into two
Probably due to maybe difference in ideas
That's usually why I'll find do is time to break and well
Well, Soxia did bring a lot of that former Tundra energy to his team.
I would associate him with more active play than 33.
Soxia plays the map macro wise as well, but I'll never get this out of my head.
There was one game that they were winning, and he was Nature's Prophet support, and he
t-beat on an Alchemist who was farming a camp next to his own tier 3 tower at 12 minutes
into the game, and then denied creeps in front of his face.
It wasn't a t-pea gank, it was just t-pea and deniers creeps.
For me, that was one of the most signature plays that a team like this makes because
they are super aggressive, whether it is by killing you or whether it is by invading
your farm.
And when it comes to this matchup between the two teams, I'm actually looking a lot
at Pure because I think he is going to allow 1W to get out on the map.
And I think that he's up against a very scary lane duo between DM and Soxa.
And for me, when Pyrr is having a rough game, that is the most, for me, Pyrr's performance
is the most total of how 1Ws do.
I agree with that entirely.
Not just from the team dynamic being that way, even before the patch, but in this patch,
it is the safe lane bully patch.
And you need your safe lane to come out on top.
If at any point they are in, it feels very, very difficult to play the game.
And there are a couple of moments this tournament that come to mind.
There was a moment where 1W drafted a mid-nature's profit for BZM and they had Pyrr on his case.
And Pyrr was playing more like the two.
He was going in first, tanking a lot of spells, dying in some of these fights.
But BZM just carried the game all the way to the late game.
And I think that dynamic can be replicated also for 33.
If 33 has a more difficult game, Pyrr can be the one making space for him to make a comeback.
Yeah, I want to focus a little bit on the most veteran player, one of the ten players
will have on stage.
I'm talking about Saxa, and also Purge is talking to Saxa.
Hey, I'm here with Saxa from TME Endex.
So you guys have been playing great so far this tournament.
How are you feeling as a whole skill-wise?
I think skill-wise we feel great.
We feel in good shape.
Just, I think some of our players have been sick, so that's kind of like the only part
that's kind of holding us back a bit, but overall we feel pretty good about our gameplay.
That's great.
I'm curious how much your guys' strategy has changed from the start of the tournament
until now. I know there's not that many games being played, but do you feel like you came
into this tournament knowing what the meta is, or is it changed based on games so far?
I think it hasn't really changed that much. I think the heroes are still valued and still
kind of the same. The only difference is, I guess, we try to break some of the Inba
heroes, like London Red, for example, we played in the last series of the game, so I think
just our priorities and what heroes you want to play against has changed a bit.
So I feel like in some past tournaments, you've been a part of some teams that did break medis
in terms of itemization, like Wraithback does an obvious one, or there was that one tournament,
you bought Solar Crest a ton in your pubs right before they happened.
Is that kind of development still happening often in Dota 2 tournaments, or is it very
patch dependent?
I think, yeah, it happens definitely.
I think...
Are there any outliers right now that you can think of?
Maybe essence distiller is a big one.
I think this item should be about almost every game because just the division it gives.
Other than that, I'm not really sure.
I struggle with that item personally because I don't necessarily know when I need to use it.
I mean, there's obvious reasons. This guy's invisible or whatever.
But to use it a lot to like this, they might be here.
I need to make sure they're not here before I go up a cliff type thing or is it more like teamfight initiating?
Like what's the best way to use it in your opinion?
I think, I mean, just to catch somebody is the best one usually.
usually I think also if you're doing like let's say you're doing an objective like
rush and you're doing rush and you want to you can just put this thing on the
stairs and they have to pass through it just to and it's gonna give so much
vision I think there's many different ways to use it and I think it's almost
always gonna be useful if somebody smoked and you hit him with us since the
store do you just get vision of them or do you get saw their team I think you get
the vision of the area and you get like a vision of the hero like a little bit
it's like it's like he's still smoke you don't actually see him it's like
Charging and invisible hero kind of yeah, yeah, okay. Gotcha. How do you expect to do in this upcoming match 1w is who you're playing against?
It's the best other team in your group. Do you think you're gonna be them?
I mean, I think they're tough opponent. I don't know maybe one-one and I play a tiebreaker again after okay
Well, we'll see how that goes. Good luck in your match though. Thanks for joining me. Thank you
That wouldn't be the worst scenario in my case
I love socks and hearing him talk about how he intends to or how tries to break the game and find the
the little ways that you can abuse items or find items that should be used more and for anything in particular that you've seen from him this tournament, that Saxa has been on top of?
I think, for me when I think about Saxa, I think about how he's enabling his team for success in the first few minutes. I know we're talking about items, but for me I think more about heroes and what heroes he's going to get his hands on.
Because if he gets that Keeper of the Light, it feels like such a wall for the enemy team to climb,
Brian, because he's stacking that Triangle, he's moving at the correct times, and he just opens up
for so many combinations with his Midlaner.
I mean, I like Soxa so much, because I mentioned the Nature's Prophet game, where he TP'd and died creeps.
He also went like, earn Silverage.
Like, that was his build as support Nature's Prophet.
So, he's one of the few players I've seen from the support role that's really experimenting with the items that he's buying.
Yeah, he says go for the Essence to Scylla or every single game or whatever.
but I don't think I've ever seen Silver Edge Rush on a support in my recent memory.
He's only the only Shadow Demon, I think, of AWC so far that still sees something in the hero.
Maybe we'll see it come out here. I want to talk about that Criptonite,
because both of these teams only drop the one game. Both of these teams drop that one game to OG,
which is a team that is sitting at 404, so it's not like, oh, that's the other, you know,
super high expected to do well team it is a team that we expect generally to be
in the middle of the pack how were they able to take games off of these giants
I mean OG for me at least is one of the highest absolute value between their
skill floor and skill ceiling like on their best days they we've seen them
make it foreign tournaments and then on their worst days they drop out in the
bottom four so I think largely for OG it's just they have that skill factor and
And sometimes it's that consistency with their drafts, but I think there's a reason that
they took games off these teams because they've often gone 2-1 or 1-2 in best of threes in
these tournaments because they're a team that's hard to beat twice in a row.
But it's also noted that the games that these two teams dropped to OG, they were late game
games.
They went very long and very far and I think the index in particular, it's funny to say
this because it's not like they're drafting death ball lineups, but they're ending in
30 minutes and they don't have a lot of experience at EWC going into that 50 plus a minute territory and
teams like OG they thrive and that chaos
So what are we gonna focus on for this for this giant match we got coming on is there a particular lane we have in mind that?
We're gonna we're gonna look at in their particular heroes that we're gonna be wearing up
We heard socks up talk about you know
They they have tried to let low and druid through three times in a row
They beat it FV talks about it yesterday
Do you think they're gonna do it again against a team like 1w could be risky?
Yeah, I think the annex are not afraid of laundry. They've solved it
They've beaten it like four times in a row now, and they're okay to let it through for this day is in particular
I think these mid support flexes that are in the story of the tournament are still the story of the series
We have to look at that earth spirit. We have to look at the keeper of the light and it's not fire in particular
I think they might be on loan today because I know DM in his interview said that he specifically believed LGD was a weak
Loan Druid team. So perhaps it's something like we know how to break these heroes if you're not like a master of it
One thing I really like about how they've broken the meta is first off DM is one of the most signature enigma players in the world
There's a hero that's been popping up against a loan druid. It's a really strong offlaner in general
But also Phantom Lancer. I was really surprised to see
Not many other teams picking Phantom Lancer. They've used it a couple times success on Watson really good against all the range carries right now
So, I think they're one of the few teams that I would feel really confident.
They don't have to pick the broken early carry for Watson,
that he has these like situational picks and he understands these matchups as they scale really well.
Yeah, and you mentioned the Enigma. I think a lot of teams have been banning out the Enigma against Yandex in the first phase.
That generally means that there's a lot of heroes left in the pool that we normally don't get to see.
Are there any more of those heroes that we feel like they should be banned that are not normally banned like the Enigma that comes to mind?
to mine. I've banned the Nature's Prophet. If I'm if I'm not, hmm, I'm not thinking about both teams use
this hero. So sometimes a lot of times you ban the hero that you feel that the other team utilizes
better than you do. So I guess my eyes are on Nature's Prophet this series. We're going to find out
what's going to happen. Both these two teams very familiar with facing each other, even facing each
other in the best of five grand finals at ESL Birmingham. It has mostly been 1W that comes
out ahead. Will today be the same? We are going to find out, but to find out, we need to head
over to the stage to get the players on. Welcome back my friends to the Lenovo Legion
Gauntlet. We're back in! And game number one was already great to set the stage for today,
where each one of our two teams in the game that they won absolutely smashed it. Absolutely,
man. That was what we came here to see. Two talented teams that have faced each other a
a billion times, absolutely dominating in the game they won.
It is like the one that you didn't see,
and maybe you thought that other team was bad.
But every game is different in Dota, Milo.
Absolutely.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
But our next group, where we're going to move on to group D,
it's been called the Group of Death.
Three teams that are fighting for two spots.
We got two teams at the top fighting for the number one
position.
And guess what, Slacks?
They're up next.
Oh, here we go.
All right, all right.
Are we ready to welcome it in?
Let's do it.
Alright, hit it up, my friend.
Let's bring them all, our first team to the stage, 1-W!
Well, it's 1-W, but they got 7 wins here so far with a singular game loss.
And the wind train does not seem to be stopping any time soon.
They set expectations high last CWC when you knew them.
That's Tundra, but the name might have changed.
However, ice cold and their veins as we've seen in every game so far,
This is the one they've been waiting for, the entire group stage.
These guys don't take breaks. These guys don't ever take a breath.
Yeah, sure, you know, last season we saw what happened, but they're back again.
This team is back to their full strike, so let's spray out some heck of an opponent for them.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Yandex!
Now you might recognize some of these Yandex guys.
In fact, Soxa used to be on Tundra, back when they were here at EWC, new team, new time, same revenge.
I know that guy and he's petty as hell. He wants to come in here and absolutely destroy them at EWC.
But no, as Tundra may have fallen off a little bit later in the season,
there was a team that picked up all that slack and you're looking at him.
So, two iconic teams from the last year, gonna go head to head and what is sure to be an incredible battle.
I'm telling you, this might be a preview or a final.
Don't you put that on them. Don't you put that on them!
Preview the final? I believe that could actually happen.
Alright, gentlemen, are you ready to put your keys away?
Absolutely! Please, keys to the stations, my friends.
And we will have to see if they will actually handshake.
I don't know on this one. This one is ready.
Will we see the hit?
Oh!
oh
Professionalism I can't believe it all right guys well
Let's get into the star stunted match here for you before we do though
I'll head to the panel to get their socks on the next series
Thank you very much gentlemen one dot viewing the annex I've taken their seats
And we are getting ready for the action very soon, and I do think we got a nice
You know, battle of the Dota later on.
But first, it's the battle of the Brains, Effie!
It really is, and I'm so excited to see where this goes,
because I was thinking about it this morning,
and I don't really know what direction these teams will take.
They're going to fight for a lot of the same heroes,
but they might go in different directions entirely.
We might see the, you know, the witch-doctors come out on one side,
whereas the other side just stays true to the coddle, the Isle.
It's curious
Yeah, we are at the stage of the tournament where it's the pick your poison mode
We know full well like sox has said coming into it and it's been solidified what heroes are the highest priority
But yeah, my favorite part of this tournament
Sox also said this is you get to pick the heroes you think you can be and you can break the meta that way and for these two teams
It's like yeah, you've been breaking the meta so far against teams that are not quite your caliber
I would know so at this point have their
strategies against the best heroes really been tested. I don't think so, so I would
love to see the enigmas, the PLs specifically for Yandex because I'm wondering, is it only
because you are better than the teams that you're playing against before?
Yeah, they're definitely a little bit there, their head and shoulders above the rest in
this group and it is interesting especially since we've been calling this the group of
deaths and yes, there will be deaths. Of course, there's two teams that will be eliminated
and it is not yet clear who the second team will be for that.
But these two teams, have they truly been tested?
It makes you wonder, because indeed, I agree with you, Brian.
Maybe they just haven't yet.
I mean, we were praising LGD yesterday
because they broke the record for the longest loss against Team Yandex,
which was 32-55, and then in game two, they beat it with a 33-43 win.
Wow.
We are not exaggerating with how fast this team is winning games.
And, you know, this was, in my opinion, the hardest group in the tournament.
So the fact that they looked so unchallenged up into this point is even more impressive.
I want to talk a little bit about support picks.
Actually, you did mention a lot of the cores that you would like to see,
but I think there are some support picks that if they're looked through,
you can build your entire draft round.
In the last series, we saw Train Protector basically ignored completely.
You cannot give this away to TmBex at all.
It just opens up way too many of Watson's heroes,
and Malady just pops off on it completely.
And heroes like Flapfire,
which are like the 20th most contested,
other teams don't think about her that often.
She cannot go unignored in the series.
We have two really good mid-stop Fireplayers
and two really good support Snowfireplayers.
Yeah, I think Trant, you know, last series we,
I think we saw one bad on him in game two,
but that's, I think, Mera,
when you hit the nail on the head that Trant's all about
lane pairings and the fact that Watson has so many options from the range carries, I think he might be the best TA that I know of.
And having those extra three or four and Terriblade also, these are great pairings with Shryantz and so a lot of teams it's like, okay, no Drought OSF, we feel confident enough playing against this, but I would not give that away.
There's also the Bane that Whitemon has looked monstrous on.
That Bane has put 1W through so many pick-off, late game, macro situations, and I do think
that is something that Yandex can look to steal.
Of course there's the Keeper of the Light.
Ari himself said he thinks they're probably the best Coddle team.
They understand the hero better than everybody, but come on, you're playing him soxo.
He's also an excellent Keeper of the Light.
And Nature's Prophet and the Nickman, as you guys both mentioned, they already removed
from the pool.
that you talked about and I did want to want to talk about potential first picks
there's a lot of heroes that you just mentioned all first pick material so a
lot of that is going to be considered by the by both of these squads as we have
got first pick on the side of 1W so they are going to be going for that
overall last pick for Yandex we're so far banned out the Invoker and the Bane
we're still waiting for one band coming out from 1W before we see those final
but it's already quite clear that it's going to be very different from our previous series that we've had
because both Invoker and Bane were not in those first-phase bands last time.
Yeah, I thought the Bane and Voker might be considered a pairing as well,
something we've seen very commonly from 1W.
Every time you play Invoker, you want the reliable Sunstrike set up,
so obviously it's BZM.
I think he's why they considered the best Invoker player in the competitive scene.
I actually thought if you banned out of Voker, you didn't have to ban Bane
because also you're not really afraid on DM to play the summon heroes,
which tend to do quite well against Bane.
But yeah, they're giving a lot of respect to Wyman saying it's not just about that combo.
It's about all the other things you're doing to.
You're alone, Druid. Still untouched in the mailing phase.
Yep, just like covered by shadow fiend, draw ranger.
Yeah, I prefer taking out looker space to lots of respect on these support heroes.
Now you're you were talking about the pivotal support here is like it's one of those where I'm I
Couldn't have predicted exactly what they would ban, but none of these are surprises
I think the axe might actually be the most surprising ban out of all these maybe they're planning on going for drow right now or
Kez and they want to get rid of the axe
I can't think of any other reason really
Yeah, I mean it has to be a kez to start with because I
I feel between Axe and Suntor, and you're playing as 1W, you're playing as 33 in particular.
That Suntor has been much more problematic than the Axe for a lot of the teams.
Or you could just go for Lone Druid, because we've seen Yandex beat the Lone Druid time
and time again, but as we said, that was against a different caliber of team.
Can they beat the pure Lone Druid?
And I actually thought they were going to go Underlord, because GM was saying, like they
did do it yesterday or two days ago and it is Lone Druid's worst matchup
according to the stats. But Centaur has been an absolute premier off laner
this event and I think for good reason this any time you have a hero like
Centaur is innately a very greedy hero. I think a lot of casual
dodeca players will think of him as a blink initiator that can maybe save
with the late game card. But this hero wants to play on his island and use his
to help occasionally. And the fact that people are often able to go for this
helm of the dominator into a heart of Tarasque second item, this allows him to
just spam double edge in order to farm. And that's, I think he's just a
premier pick right now and that's why he's getting picked here.
Yeah, I also think that they probably would have liked to go for the
Underlord, but you only have one ban left and we talked about the Centaur as
like 33's number one hero this patch. So if you're not stealing it, you're giving
away or you're wasting your only ban left in the second phase?
Actually, that's a really good point because I think they would have almost certainly taken
in on 1W if you don't take it there.
But also, because you picked Centaur, Centaur has been the best off-lane pick against all
of the ranged people, like because the Retaliate and Lane, the gap close that you offer your
entire team with Stampede.
So now I think they effectively forced out the draw SF Bans and then you have the Wind
Ranger access available as well. And Centaur is absolutely unplayable. Was it Nightfall
we saw yesterday, Fold of Zero himself on Retaliate Aura? I mean, I don't remember
properly, but it does check out. It was pretty funny to watch. The Retaliate Aura talent
is pretty wild at level 25, but it is an unplayable matchup, so I think they're actually doing
it to simultaneously deny pick, like Mira said, and enable Watson's hero.
You're still the Templar Assassin in the Terribler that you could play in response to Centaur,
but those are definitely harder to make work, and they go for the Hoodwink who was ignored
in the band phase.
It would have been her or Dark Below to play the Centaur, but this lane is basically unbeatable.
There's not really much you can pick against it.
Yeah, I'm actually interested because that's it.
I would agree that's an incredibly strong lane, and Lone Druid's also widely considered
the strongest safe laner just purely off a laning prowess.
So, I think even with Lone Druid you need to invest fully into lane strength here for
Whitemon.
All the premiers are taking on maybe Clockwork?
The fact that he's just in there, does it look like the Willow first?
But that's your floor, right?
So you still need to find a five hero that can play into Centaur plus Footlink.
It's kind of tough.
I guess Wyvern is an option, Stocks have been going up.
Yeah, I think the main concern always because we saw I think LGD have this problem is you need to be able to kill Centaur at 20 minutes into the game because this guy will have 3000 plus health.
And so I think Willow makes sense a lot. You mentioned like her and Hedling being the best 2-4s right now, but she also offers a lot of damage.
So they go for Urspirit. I was wondering how the mid game or the mid lane matchup dynamic was going to go here.
That's likely a mid-air spirit because Willow, I guess Willow could be 5, but I think that'd be a bit of a weird flex.
But my idea was like, if they don't pick their mid here, then the Index will probably pick their safe lane duo, and then they'll leave the overall last pick for Chura.
But now that you see this air spirit, is there anything they think they can pick to punish it?
I mean, there's all the melee punishers, like the Huskar, the Nacrophos.
Really good against Rhon Druid as well.
We've seen Lina punish it, we've also seen actually Largo punish it, but that was just the one time and still lost the game even if you won the lane.
You could also mid Slaughter versus Earth Spirit and do pretty well.
I'd be down for that, yeah.
There are options here for sure.
Ember Spirit is also the best Spirit brother against Earth.
True, and still with an exceptionally high win rate at the CWC.
Taking a lot of time to think about it, it's not just this one they're selecting, it's
also the next one.
They take two picks here and they also have to consider what 1W wants to do with their
fourth pick, which is their most important pick in the draft that they can protect with
two vans afterwards.
Yeah, and it would be really cool if Yandex stole one of the really strong waiting fives
like Lich or Winter Wyvern, that would take them away from their specialties like Witchdoctor,
that other teams don't play. And we said Wyvern was good at Gasloan Druid himself as well,
right? But they'll go for the Undying nonetheless. And the Lina does come out to counter the
airspread. Yeah, they're telegraphing so hard that they're gonna be picking Watson or ranged carry,
but like there's, so they're gonna see two bands obviously on top of the Drow and SF, but
But Lina, yeah, we really, I like that a lot
because you just need the bear kill to be convenient.
You need to have a hero that either can teleport
like Underlord, you can pick a mid-bots builder like Lina.
I'm anticipating the magic build for Lina,
the Kaia and the bots aggs.
I have a very important question.
Yes.
Because we have seen Lina against Earth Spirit
a couple of times and she does well.
However, wasn't it Watson that like reinvented slash invented Lima carry to begin with?
Is that even anywhere on the radar right now or is that dead?
I think it's like in theory it's possible
But I also feel like the range carries right now are not like maelstrom buyers for the most part
They're usually the stat builders
But I don't see why not it's definitely a like an incredibly scary lane with undying Lena
but I think with the way the map gets played right now, you generally want your carry to...
Lena's not really a lane dominator. She's strong in lane, but she isn't oppressive the way that,
like, a draw in SFR. Well, let's do a Largo, but this one is for 33.
Yeah, I mean, from his usual suspects, it would have been the Largo or the Darkseer,
and it's really hard to pick Darkseer blind with the Largo. You know, you can play for the sustain
in the mid-game you're gonna have this air spirit going in you're gonna be able to back
him up with the damage amplification on his will value blitz song which is a pretty cool
combo but there's no usual I'm gonna make Lord of those life easier hero usually it's
the keeper of the light you know with the specs of the bonus mana it's spanned out this
time so this last pick really should try to combo with him a little but that's a tall
order to do from the position five we know this will is probably before.
I think the only reason that Lena might get rotated to Kerry is if they want a
Huskar here.
I don't know if that's...
I actually don't know how if Chira Jr. plays Huskar, but I was just like looking
through matchups and stuff and I know Huskar is really good against Lone Druid.
He's also really good against Largo.
So it would potentially be a sick draft win there, but sometimes you can overcook and,
you know, for all we know, Watson hasn't played Kerry Lena in a year.
So you don't want to do that, I don't think.
And we got still a carry ban coming out from 1W with the Kez and now also the Tusk ban.
I love the Tusk ban.
The Lone Druid synergizes really well with the tag team because your bear and
the hero itself also both count for the tag team.
So you kind of have like 60 base damage as Lone Druid when you combine the bear and the hero,
but you're getting double the value out of the tag team.
It's probably just going to be a lifter or a wyvern.
But the tusk is picking up. I mean, you need something that can
right flick down a Centaur and Wyvern does allow that and the Lich would just be a nice combo with the Largo plus Earth Spirit.
We no longer like the clock that we mentioned earlier.
I think the tusk was better, but I think clock is
still a viable option. It might even be their ban here.
The Terrorblade was the other carry ban, so
only carry bans for a 1W.
There's still the TA for Watson.
Can't forget about that.
I don't think he's busted it out this tournament yet,
but that was his most played hero during qualifiers.
Okay, I was just looking around.
He hasn't played Huskar and Cher Junior in the last eight months
in a competitive match.
Okay.
We do have that clock band coming out.
That's predicted.
And we got a hero needing for 1W support,
a hero for Whitemon,
a hero that they don't need to think about too long
because they only got like 20 seconds left.
Yeah.
And a lich, as you said, Effie.
Hey, you know, you just put the armor on your green boys.
You got a couple of them that really like that frost armor,
but mostly you just need something to help you on lane,
and there wasn't much left.
I like Clinkz a lot.
For... hmm.
Maybe a little more else since we saw him.
Yeah, I've seen a couple of them this tournament.
Yeah.
But they were, I think, the first couple days.
Yeah, exactly.
Not like yesterday and today seemed to be absent,
even though he was so dominant in the first few days.
Yeah, I think the problem with Clinkz is he's easier if he flaps on than a lot of other
carries right now
But I think it's gonna be difficult to do that given the pressure from Hobo Xintar and the Undying and Lane
You have a lot of like meat shields for you. So I was just thinking maximum damage. They might just go the TA route
But I would still low if they have it in them
I think Huskar is like a free win here to be honest with you, but I
Yeah, they're they okay. They ended up going that's Slardar
That's Midslardar and Carrie Lena.
It actually is Carrie Lena, wow.
So we mentioned the Midslardar earlier, like it is just a fantastic hero to play against
Earth Spirit mid, but I didn't think they would actually flex this Lena the way that
they did.
It's very cool, it makes the Lena stronger by making her physical damage more relevant
because now she's kind of a magic damage hero.
It's going to be able to do a lot for them with that early blink dagger and it's obviously
their anti-Londruid, anti-Bear hero, but it is a bit riskier because Lena is still untested
as a carry this patch.
Yeah.
And the question is if it's going to work out.
We did see some Maelstrom buyers here and there, but that was against the PL.
So I don't know if that, if we're going to see that, but if Watson's playing it, Brian,
we have to believe it.
Yeah, I mean, the obvious Maelstrom buyers of the patch are mid-nature's Prophet and
Winranger and both of them what they have that Lena doesn't have is Winranger has
win run in lane she's very hard to gank and the nature's profit just plays off
map because you can teleport anywhere he wants. Lena doesn't have these luxuries
but also so I think Lena is much more punishable but at the same time you're
playing with a loanjure lineup loanjure just wants to increase for the first 20
minutes. Largo generally wants to just hit lane creeps or creeps in general for
the first 20 minutes as well yeah you can go like a meteor hammer or like an
earlier utility item to run around the team but I don't think they have too much
punish for this. So I think that's why they've elected to, like, I think Lina does have weaknesses
that these other meta carries don't, but I don't think they can really exploit them here.
Prophet was first phase ban, so they got that four-side already there for 1W, but yeah,
Windranger could have been an option there. They, I feel like this is, this was strategized beforehand.
It's kind of like that Nightstalker pick last series where it's like the Largo got rotated
mid and it wasn't about the Largo, it was about the Nightstalker. So I think that this Lina
is a substitute for the other carries in order to allow Chirijunin to get this awesome slower game.
Effie, is it good?
I think it's good. I mean, I think Largo's gonna have a really rough lane and a really rough time entering this mid game.
But the window for
failure is kind of high for a carry, Lena, but I think Watson can play it.
A very important game here between 1W and Yandex. Can one of the two, two of the others,
we're finding out together with Kizmin, sounds fine.
Thank you so much indeed. This is a really hype match and it's versus one W
Someone call it a doozy absolutely as we are in a pause because 33 is in the house everybody
We got the lights on right on his face means the pause needs to come
It's just tradition at this point because what do you think the meta is on the light situation with these teams?
You gotta emulate what you got at home, which is near darkness, but not full
Yeah, you can see a little light on Whitemon's face. It is probably not acceptable for him, but too much for 33
It's okay. Apparently as long as it's not him a okay as we have a smoke on both sides
Yeah, what do you think of these lines Lena carry? I'm very cool. I'm a big fan
I would I'm a bit intrigued to see what he will build
I haven't seen it yet, but I would assume that you should you could tap into a specialist's array on Lena
We heard lots of talk about the melstrom, which I think if you want split damage
Then pumping out a bit more magic could be good, but I think it's you want stats on heroes
I think specialist array could be kind of cool
Of course Watson like they talked about he was one of the og
Lena carry guys, so I trust him to know what he's doing. Okay
DM will be able to get the bounty, but he's gonna take some damage in response. We see a lich picked
I'm very excited about a lot of these here the one here. We won't mention is pure on loan druid
Nobody gives a shit but what I can tell you is that Yanix have been destroying this hero
like three or four times that's true in this tournament so they know what's up
and you know actually what's funny you know both teams have one loss each to
their name you know which team beat both of them no oh gee oh gee so it takes you
know you gotta maybe need something crazy to beat you know the teams out but
of course here these are the two best teams in the group currently that's an
interesting staff you're welcome what's their record overall they're both seven
than one. No, OG. I think four and four. Wow. So have the wins from the best teams.
That's the thing with OG that I've known. I have to talk about OG all of a sudden.
But you know, you brought it up. I feel like they overperform against teams that are just
tier one. And then when they're with teams that are supposed to be worse than them,
they actually underperform, which is weird. They're inconsistent. Not back to our game.
I want to talk about OG a little bit more. What do you think it stands for?
Original gangsters. This is something original.
All right, now we're back to the game. You of course went over the line.
33 is playing the Froggo this time around.
And it's been a very strong we saw at mid obviously in the last series,
but no one did not go well at all, but that was more of a
They were kind of all their eggs in one basket kind of deal whereas this time around you have be very traditional at this point
Offlane Largo very stable. You have BZM on the earth spirit, which is kind of that pop-off
Ganking type of hero. I like the mix that they have overall. I think both drafts is very very strong
Overall though, I would say like this is an incredible Lina game
Not just against 1w series because if you think about it against Lundrude
You want to be on high range or you want the melee guy that can man up,
Lena fits, you know, the high range.
Same with Largo, he doesn't... none of these heroes gap close very well.
It's only the airsword and even if they gap close, it's into a tombstone.
You have a Corrosa phase for more damage, you have Stampede and a potential card later on in the game.
So I do think you have a lot of weight on BZM's shoulders
and the two supports to like offset a bit of their early game and get those teamfights going.
I hope they get the...
The horse...
carts out of the site or eventually this game. I mean the tombstone save if they
want to go down I feel like that was nerfed so long ago we barely see it
now but if they take tormentor which they do have slardar so there's a good
chance that they're the ones to get it first there could see some valuable
shards coming out because boomerang as well very very good for yandexes side
yeah especially like they have a lot of damage especially within their like two
supports but can't really ever count of 33 on any lineup or any hero that he's
playing I think he's looked very good on the frog and also you know croaking up
on Earth's bird is definitely very good but CJ we've seen him on the slaughter
before not just in this tournament also before he is a menace on this hero he is
against the melee so it's gonna be a little bit easier is pure taking a lot
damage to the acorn shot bouncing several times we'll get back to his tier one
white man we'll do so as well so DM and socks are doing a good job of keeping
this aggression on bushwhack canceling the healing sal with the blood grenade to
follow as pure he will survive now he will not that was actually enough I'm
pretty sure not see that very all that was perfect damage I'm pretty sure wow
like if the tower would give any more HP region than one he would have lived
there but socks are sneaking in crazy that's an incredible kill socks of my
Oh boy, what a beast.
Let me lose some resources with the healing salvo as well.
Just a very good start on that bottom lane then and like you said, this mid lane is definitely going the way of Shira Jr. at the moment.
What can he even do as BZM here? You kind of just got to take it.
I mean, you're definitely outmatched in this matchup, but there are other lanes where we've seen Urse for its bi-bottles.
It's using a lot of trouble.
The CP is coming, BZM. One more right-click would have done it.
Ari, it's off the bramble. Not gonna get any of the water runes though. I think he's gonna get both here.
Actually, he can turn the sights onto Ari instead, and crushes there. And Ari, very low level.
And that Shadowrun will save him for a bit, gets through the treeline.
Will live.
Yeah, water rune control on Chura Jr.'s side.
See the Earth Spirit having to walk all the way back to base as well, so...
Already great advantage. It's a good perspective by CJ2. Like he doesn't die for the kill
Maybe you could have thought that you know if the Bramble connects you're gonna give up the kill. Yeah
There's no 33. He's alone in the top lane as DM taking some pressure but he is building towards the hell.
Oh, Hwak, do they try to turn this around? DM will have to hook Stomp and get out but DM does kill off Whitemon with a return, I guess.
What a little world.
It's just a Blight Stone, level 2 acorn shot, he got at least 2 bounces as he comes to undying.
Yeah, and Pure now gets Bushwak to a Tria double kill for DM, what it looked like he was about to be killed off.
Instead he gets 2 kills thanks to the rotation of Soxa, who has been all over the place to start this game.
Yeah, he's been everywhere.
And you know, just from the thing earlier, there's pressure mid, so that's why RETP does their turn to return to favor onto Watson in the top lane.
Yeah, Watson gonna get licked in.
The area with the shadow round should be able to finish it here and they will do so so at the very least for 1w
They get somebody
Now mid lane crush on the BGM. You can see the corrosive haze is already there level 6 versus level 4 and BGM dead to right
so
crushing defeat in this mid lane and
Bottom and really the only saving grace is that top lane, but you can see Lena
Despite the death still doing very well in the farm department
And I thank God they were able to squeeze in that kill on Watson in the top lane because
drew down 3k gold, now 6 minute rune should also go CJ's way, and honestly this bottom
pressure, I mean let's see on to DM because I don't really see him dying in this lane,
but you know pressuring him, well Aria's here so they blocked that.
Good watch coming out, let's get up to hoof, stop another Bramble coming in, so it's a
beautiful bush whack out to three heroes but it's not going to save the Centaur over
height.
Very much so.
Something I'm saying.
They are finding good connections though, with Aria in the safe lane and getting some kills.
Early they find it onto Watson on top and now onto DM.
Remember, 33 and Soxa used to be teammates. Soxa goes to another level when he had to face off against former teammates.
He's kind of showing it here in this early game.
All his spells kind of on point, very good on the rotations as well.
CJ is really trying to work something here into the lane as he steals all the creeps apart from a little Johnny Cobalt.
And I assume Blink Dagger will be the main item coming out of him from the mid lane.
See if he wants to rush it.
I mean, is there any other build from a Slardar mid? Not really. As Malady, I like this position here.
Just like, this guy does this in so many games.
What's on the tombstone? There ain't no way you're killing that.
Although several members now 1W have joined the party.
Malady eventually will take away.
Making it really annoying though, so we're not going to get the fast one, they get the sinister gaze, Watson comes in as well, he's going to get the Luguda blade and 33 is dead and he's going to get the shrine, what the... what happened?
Honestly what I mean, this is probably the best early game on dying play I've seen all year.
Disgusting, you wasted so much time.
Yeah, and he's instantly back up. You got a free agent on a dying, you make use of that, then make it work for like 20 seconds, so then Watson again,
We've seen a lot of these layups, you know, from the supports that make space for 20 seconds, 25 seconds, and the carry is like, yep, thank you.
Yeah, what a masterful early game from Yandex so far. Really, only the death on Lina has been the smallest thing going away of 1W.
Got a CQ because...
They're trying to get some stacks off.
They're going to need some levels on the heroes. I think the ultimates on your supports, of course, is very, very important, because Lone Druid, as we know, doesn't really interact.
I like that 33 is looking though
And they're gonna roll in with the help of the bramble sox in the area
How many bush wax you didn't get this time only the one get the lick back in as well the malady joining the party
They're gonna lose a slaughter
No gets up the sprint just in time and malady puts down the tombstone as BZM with all the vision in the world
Malady takes him out as the tombstone now being pursued, but he's all the now
He's a complete beast of burden double kill for malady. They're trying to go
Are you serious?
I'm 43 as well, they get that kill as well, this is ridiculous.
He does fall in the end, but my goodness, Yandex getting basically every trade to go
their way.
I mean, Madad, Madad is cooking.
I kind of love this guy.
You know, he pops up in interviews, he's popping off in this game, great play up top, goes
mid, gets the flesh, go to mid-fights.
He's the same level as Pure right now.
Yeah, and Pure's, he's been 8k farming the whole game as you should on a carry, but
Looking at all of this, it takes him so much to try and kill CJ, even if the Sampir comes out and again, perfect timing on the Tombstone.
This kill gives him 6, well not quite, I guess a creep died as well.
That extra HP allows him to stick around a little bit longer to secure a couple more kills.
Thank God for 33 that he gets the frox bomb off there at the end to ultimately squeeze in the kill.
Gonna kill the Dominator creep, so at least you know for one dub you've got your safe
thing going, well that smoke was definitely spotted if any one of the Yanix players have
their eyes open.
I was really looking forward to Specialist Array, it's gonna be Maelstrom though.
Okay, unlucky, maybe one of the next times.
Still think this is something that Lina could potentially go for but I think for what's
in it applies you don't judge his item build.
I've been through this before, sometimes you can.
Sometimes you can, you just gotta wait.
We're gonna take a chain frost, we'll put down the tombstone guys shortly after, since this is gonna be just free gold for 1W.
I mean good riddance, screw this guy. Like if you're 1W you just want to get this guy out of the game as quickly as possible.
What's in this peeing the top tier 1 tower? I don't think they want to just give it up too easily here.
Yep, he's got the Laguna Blades.
Of course the very classic Lina Karygill. You max out your passive. You have very good talents for Karygina.
Use damage you have magic resistance on 15 if you want you get more percentages on your fiery soul at level 20
Watson
Squad by 1w gonna be far enough away that they can't really connect no chain cross anyway
Malady comes back to lane immediately gone on don't know if this one is good
Let's see and he does not quite have his ultimate gonna try to go through the gate the rolling not quite there
But they have the damage so another death to now they really are hating on him for now to his name
You know K. Let's see because the top day one will still die like this type of delay
I don't really think it did much if they get to hold it here one
It's great, but we'll need to see if the Yanis can't pose a defense here
And they're gonna do just that at least attempt it to supports on the high ground
Bramble gonna prevent them from going any further although now blink dagger being shown from Chira
get slowed up a bit but we're gonna find at least one here surely there's
white one one more bushwhack for the road from socks I'm gonna be bushwax many
heroes per bushwhack this game is probably like 1.8% yeah it is
definitely quite high but turns out you know I take that what I said earlier the
two little place that Malady went for here did allow them enough time and
space for everyone to come back to here right on top of 33 with that blank
Cross of Haze to follow, Soxa. Can't get the bushwap this time, cast her Curse, indeed. 33 is healing up, but it's not going to be enough. Watson joins the array here. Foray, rather.
Sure. I feel like I put Specialist's Array in your brain and all.
Yeah, he did. I was really excited.
I'm sorry. You'll just get the normal build.
There's no chance he goes both then. I take it.
Ah, yeah, I don't think you can.
So I kind of have like similar things. Unless in like late game, we want to see a Hydro spread.
I guess you could, but then it also kind of depends. Do you need to upgrade your dragon lands or not?
Do you want a pike? Can you be greedy and go Hydra's breath instead?
Pure's bear in a
Bit of a battle here with Centaur and of course you didn't mention. I mean how good of a laundry game is this?
We've seen the Slardar matchup before that can be a little rough
Honestly out of the laundry games we've seen I think it's fine at best. It's not good against Lina
It's bad against Lardar. I think even un-dying is annoying for you and so is Centaur.
So how is it fine? We'll get back to your definition of fine after this.
Centaur gets gone on and killed off because the hero itself is very good.
Oh, I see. So he's just he's double S tier and he goes down to B, which is fine.
Something like that. I see.
Okay, that's a good recovery from you. Yeah, keep it up. Very good analyst. I am. Good caster, back to you.
They're smoked.
Yeah, I was about to say that.
Sure you were.
6k, 3hand axe.
I'm going to try to find a connection here.
And cheer up.
I'm going to try to backstab.
I'm going to try to increase.
Big crush comes out.
The guna blade!
Low drew it dead right off the bat.
3 dead in fact for 1W with no recovery in sight.
33 attempting to run.
But the zombies are catching up.
Not really, actually. The frog is faster than that.
Holy, that is that camera view. We need to get the bash.
And the kill goes their way. Four dead for 1W. Yandex with the backstab masterfully done.
Yeah, nicely done. You get a lot of three men, crotch into at least two or three men, LSA, immediate combo onto the long grid.
Definitely caught 1W slipping there. Not something you see too often in the early game, that.
Your dead stacked up. Like they were smoking for a while too.
Goodness. Disgusting.
Just immediately dropping like two heroes. I mean, this might as cook before it even started.
I mean, a single Laguna Blade and Crush puts pure to about 10% HP.
Yeah.
He is a squishy boy without that hole.
I mean, just find the perfect...
Yeah, 33.
...33.
Oh, oopsie.
There's a little light on his forehead. Maybe that's a bit of a misplay from him, not to pause again to take care of that.
We'll get that fixed for game two.
Hehehehe.
Well, let's see.
Pure, working on the only build that Loan Druid has, of course.
We only are rushing to the Agonist Scepter.
There he is again, close up of 33.
Yep, we see the reflection there.
It's just a bit, just a bit.
Yeah, this is out of control for the index now.
9K lead, they have a great Roche lineup as well.
In terms of push, how would you put this?
I mean, Lina, obviously long range.
Quite good, yeah, I think it's decent because Accentor, you're very tanky later, you have return.
Dina is high range and you have like Tombstone and good teamfighting.
Meteor Hammer is completed, so 33's farm will be pretty good.
He's gonna get ganked though.
Cuff Stomp finds in, Malady there.
Has a flash stone, puts down the Tombstone, but a Terrorized comes out onto 2
with the Bedlam to follow, Chainprost as well.
They do separate successfully as Malady might live through the day.
Along with the Sender, they're gonna turn this around to 33 instead
and have the Laguna Blague Reserv for White Mom.
And they do take out Felina though, but it's at the cost of three members of 1W and maybe
even more if BZM gets caught.
Bushwatt finds him into the crush and the bash.
Had another one propped up, so Chira with a triple kill on this slaughter, he is completely
dominating this game.
Man, all these plays are so expensive for 1W, like even though Watson dies and I like
his itemization, you know, he has the Mellstrom into the boost of travel, you can always just
TP in on the Dominator creep.
Even so, you lose three to four heroes in return.
I mean, this fight wasn't before BZM finished up the vessel.
You really need that one.
He doesn't have magnetized yet.
We've seen it many times where magnetized doesn't get skilled early,
but level 10 and level 11,
I feel like they needed it in these fights.
Like, imagine a magnetized rolling here.
Yeah, for sure.
They're so close to getting several kills,
but I mean, they did get an important one.
But as the case has been this game, the cost is too high for 1W.
It's also mad at me from all these plays.
He has double bracer, treads, magic wand, EZM.
This is still a replay.
Oh, sorry.
I was testing some other stuff.
I was pulling a U.
Oh, these are all pure.
Okay, there we go.
It's kind of a team wipe.
Imagine if in the replay I had talked about, I'm knowing what had actually happened, that
would have been good.
Next time.
We will not see the Hydros Breath.
The only thing we can predict are the early game pauses for lights.
But those are very easy, they're like a given.
Yeah, true.
I believe we will not be seeing a specialist array or a Hydros Breath
as he will be turning his Dragonance into a Hurricane Pike on the Lino.
Yeah, very nice.
As DM's body is just forcing three heroes to run away from him, not a good sign.
Yeah, that's true.
There are four members of 1W on the retreat now, they've seen this
Blursed set that is sent to our in the courier outfit. Just can't handle it
You know also now actually you've got a lotus or completed on on DM
So let's talk about the magnetized blood if you're quick you can just immediately dispel it and even you know kind of own all of it
Or at least take it away from one guy later
Ten K lead for Yandex one W are really grouping up right now
Are they expecting a fight?
Might be just, I think they just want to be ready for Yamaha for potential play.
They do roll on him successfully, lick him in, the crush comes out, but that's enough damage.
Great pick off from 1W.
That's an insanely good one.
I think especially also, if you look at their wards, they have a lot of decent control,
like a mid river ward that spotted CJ walk over to the top area.
Mid river in nighttime is the most dangerous area on the map.
It's definitely something that CJ needs to respect.
Now, next time, that won't be so easy.
Cheer about a thousand away from BKB.
And for Watson, you talked about the hurricane pike.
I mean, does he need a BKB this game?
Honestly, he could also play on like a...
I think satanic even later.
I mean, BKB is great.
It just depends on how greedy he wants to be.
I think if they can get him like a solar press and like a timed park,
I don't really think you need a BKB.
You can just play around like positioning maybe a shadow blade, a silver edge into data, the satanic, and play on that.
I would probably like it a little bit more.
Lee has kind of been stuck in place as we're gonna find Centaur now.
The Terrorite is not gonna be there in time, DM gets the Stampede off.
The rest of Yandex now catching up, the Wipe-On, Sacrifice for 1W.
They got owned by the neutral creep. Like, Ari was gonna connect the terrorized and they just got congregated.
Not done yet, BZM. Trying to get the roll in, but a nice position in here from Chira Jr.
Mali turns into a disgusting golem and they'll find another kill off the back of that.
Turning around onto PureNaut, already half HP as Laguna Blade available still.
They find a support on the back line, it's pure. Trying to get to the other side of the wall, he'll do so.
So it's just like that, three dead in favor of Yandex.
Another bushwax. Socks up.
Eh, what's unstuck?
Okay.
We'll TP over the gate.
I'm surprised you didn't yell about the Tombstone Shard.
As Melody just went hoppin' into it.
Oh, I didn't even notice he had it.
Did they take out the Tormentor?
It's 19 minutes.
He BOUGHT IT?!
Yeah!
Dude, Bro has been cooking this entire game!
He's been foraging-
But how often do you buy this anymore?
I feel like I never see it.
Well, not very often. This is why Lanna brought a cook.
That's awesome.
He has shards- he's about to buy up latemail.
I just had to- now I have- oh, sorry.
He's gonna die here. Weimond in the area though. Sharpshooter's enough from Soxa.
We'll position to the south as Weimond really wants to try to connect.
He gets the sinister gaze onto the Slardar, then Chira and on some trouble.
DM in the area as well. Chira does fall for the Laguna Blade. Comes out from Watson from the south.
They get one core kill as BZM trying to roll away does have the magnetized onto several heroes.
Watson with the LSA missing. And with that, I think Yandex tries to back off.
although Malady got a nice loader to try to back away here, and BZM continuing this magnetized,
but I think the fight breaks up now, so it ends up being mid laner for off lane.
Favourite for that is 1W. Absolutely, 1 for 1 trade at this point, it's very very good for them.
BZM looking to work on a BKB, and like we all know, this is not really Long's doing his
strongest timing yet. No, he's got only the Mjolnir, so first he can kind of join fights if he wants to,
but you'd still prefer to just get some more space.
Yeah, we'll be at BKB for the next item on Watson, okay?
As DM, we talked about the Lotus already.
It's going to be hard afterwards, 2K into that.
Nice save from BZM here on to Mr. Waipon.
But yeah, I think with the BKB, it's going to be quite hard to take down Watson
and also, first Roche, honestly, it should just kind of go to Yandex.
I mean, even if you go and try and contest it, you're fighting into an area
They're just flustered with the tool.
We have to see if collapse is somewhere in the crowd.
If I take over, if you see...
Otherwise, yeah, I think...
I would think that this is a free rush for you.
That would be a sick joker.
Like, if you swap in a player for like 30 seconds.
That's right.
That would be nice.
Next minus mode.
Yeah.
All right, so Undyne already has a sharp, so DM gets a free one.
That's excellent.
Oh, what a dream if you're playing Senthar.
Like, you're already very close to hard.
Also, when you play against London, it's really easy to rack up the stacks on your shard,
because you can just keep using it on the bear.
Counts as a hero unit, you just stack it up with your heart, and you're...
Do you think teams ever talk about this idea of...
If a support is off to a good start and you're able to afford a shard and then hold that thought,
Crush finds BZM, Jira showing off the BKB, it's going to be a free one.
What was I saying?
The shard is the support and the hold that thought again has a very important DM.
He licked into the chain for us, Lotus.
It's fine.
Okay, so they kite back to your great point.
Back to my point, I've forgotten now.
Shard, that's right.
Yeah, if you're up to a good start on a support...
Yep.
Did they ever talk about, let me buy a shard to give my core a chance to get the Tormentor?
It's very... it's not really something you talk about a lot.
I would say it's more about specific...
More niche.
If you have like specific heroes, where you're like, wow, if we get this now...
Yeah.
Like, let's say...
You're owning in the game, it's like, minute, I don't know.
21 you're super owning and you can get your mid viper a shark or something then you can go in
I think then absolutely you're gonna do it otherwise
I do think that support items are actually very valuable like I would rather have 1400 gold on a support more often
Well, the other reason I mentioned that is because I I can't remember the last time I've seen the first dying short actually be purchased
Yeah, it's true. I think it's still usable. It's just that saying it's bad
It's just versus the original form of it. Yeah, it's completely bonkers
No, for sure. It uses having such a good game, and honestly, it just makes sense as a pure.
Yeah, he does have an Atom Scepter. Bushwack is dodged, but Corosal A gives them all the vision in the world.
It's the bear or the lone druid. Pick a target, young man.
Nice. Pure.
Double save.
And he's gonna get saved by BZM, so they'll focus the bear instead.
He died from the bear dying.
Oh my god. I didn't...
Oh no!
Well, it was a great try by BGM and he'll be bailed out.
How much damage does that do?
That looks like 450 pure damage.
Damn.
On pure himself.
Damn.
Pure damage against pure.
It's a counter.
Nice.
Well, that is truly unfortunate for 1W.
Is there in a huge hole, 18K lead for Yandex, BKB now in line for Watson as well, so they
can get ultra aggressive, they can go for Rosh at any tactic like they could have done
this 10 minutes ago.
They could, but they're just continuously playing for the map play.
Hmm, I see that's a lot of gold. Why are they focusing the bear and not the the hero
But one Laguna blade he's low enough to die to the bear
No, that's also so much gold like you're not just getting the hero kill you're getting the bear kill first
So he's like a double kill
And that was nice
Chara
Now white mon is nice knowing you he's fine. Yeah, yeah
The lead continues to grow now, I mean surely they go for Roche now, or do they want to
get some tier 2 towers first because they don't really need the Aegis to get those?
I mean they definitely can do that first, I think the way that you go about it here
when you're up this much is that Roche is yours at any point, you want to keep like
a foothold on the map, you don't want 1W to like walk out on the map, once you know
you have them locked in with good vision, then you can do that. As the pure end BZM are farming on top of an Observer Ward.
Luckily it is.
They are. Bushwack finds BZM, DM in the area as well. Looking for the Huston will not get it.
Good roll.
But if people want to gain a HMR, if you're ahead in a Dota game, you should ward exactly like Gandex are doing.
You want to put wards on the outskirts of the map, you want to see these rats on 1W run out, you want to know where they are and go run at them and just keep forcing them back into the base.
As there is your chasm stone, of course it's not casual, because it's being built into the Shiva's Guard.
It's casual for now.
Okay. Give it... not anymore.
Damn it.
I thought we'd see a lot more of that when that originally came out.
Bring it up here, it's a free rush. Chasm stone.
Did that first blood this game?
Actually, I don't know.
Mmm, socks off, boys.
I forgot.
Fuck what how big he is. That's right. He's a tall boy
So first ages of the game goes to Watson
Having a terrific game on the Lena carry which we don't get to see all too often
Has a hurricane pike bkb maelstrom along with a boot to travel so Daedalus is next for him
cheer up
be
Not going in here. It seems
No, my CJ. It's just dodging them for now closing in on his own agitums
I feel like Essence Distiller has changed gameplay quite a bit after this.
It is such a cool item.
It's a very good item.
Great addition.
Another rolling from BZM onto several here.
Is it going to go for the bear first?
Laguna Blade applied to BZM, to some place, and I think 1W going to try to back away
to get out of the radius of that, but the Stampede, going to bring them back into the
radius of 1W.
BKB from Chara Jr. gets to crush onto 33, Watson with the LSA, and the right click's
from below should be more than enough than our BZM.
Nice block off by Chira, Jr., and BZM,
push back to a tree, another core dead for 1W,
and the LSA connection cancelling the TP,
it's all Yandex here in game number one.
It is really difficult for 1W3 to really do anything.
Also now, Watson, level 20 talent unlocked.
You love this one on Delina.
More movespeed, more attack speed as, yeah.
Yeah, I think Geese is gonna be playing with his food here.
4,000 HP on the centaur.
I don't really know if I can touch him.
Yeah, that's a beast.
Even with Pure having his bear in the fight, if your hero isn't there, you only have one bear.
And it dies within like four seconds against the Sardar and Alina.
As Watson is going to need a creep wave to get some stacks, so DM, don't touch it. It's reserved for Watson.
Now Chira with the Aghanim Scepter, going to be that much more tanky in these fights.
Slaughtering mid looked very good in the last series as well. I'm a bit surprised that it died off
Like in that sense, of course, you had a great lane against the earths bird Watson getting rolled on but BZM
Nowhere close to the range needed
Yeah, I mean it does help that it was against a melee hero obviously. Yeah, I mean if I
Mean other than the Huskars and vipers of the world. I feel like slaughter against Rangers is generally okay still, right?
He does pretty fine against more. It's not like you're gonna win the lane
Yeah, no, you just get kind of spammed by a lot of range heroes and then there's like your
Probably like some of the heroes like Vipers that are really annoying to lane against up
Most of the other ones you're fine. Of course, you want to play it into a melee
Melee isn't that how you keep telling me to say it. Thank you. You sound much more intelligent now. Surely that's that one
Great take by you
Grounding words makes you smarter. Yeah
If you try speaking a second language, uh, yeah, I'm very bad at it though. That's good. Be sure to end them over Cassie
I just cussed at you in Farsi. Back to the game we go, 22k lead for Yandex.
Chira having himself an excellent game. They're going to be met by Lena, Mr. Watson. I believe
the Daedalus is on the way, so this is a great timing overall.
It is prime time to go. If anything looks bad, you can keep using Soul Ripper Watson
get off his HP. You have a secondary Lotus Orbis while now on Malady. You can always save him.
And honestly now, with the Twosome Drop, you have full nine-time vision. You see everything.
And it's really hard to jump into this.
Free tower. What can they do? 1W. All these tankies. Look, three of the four behind them are just so
tanky. There's a roll in, a kick out. As well, Chira Jr. Deletes Arias. Watson now with the Laguna
the blade onto BZM has to roll away with the BKB and look at all the space being made by
Chira Jr. on the back line. They get another kill and this is just disastrous. 1W surely
this game's about to end. They can't do anything. The bear finally coming into play doing a
little bit of damage but a little is not going to cut at this stage. 25K lead but still the
Aegis is at least one lane. Probably two.
Why do people stop playing loan droid against the scene?
They just seem to have all the answers game after game after game.
It's true.
Well, ego is a great thing.
It sure is.
A lick in.
Watson.
That's it, that's it, that's it.
Only onto one is Watson able to right click from afar.
Grossof Hayes really helping his cause here, terrorized.
Not going to do a whole lot, as the LSA into the Laguna is enough for 33
to fight the dust one more time.
20 seconds down and out. No creeps actually.
And now they do.
Here they are. He's gonna heal all the way to full with the Aegis.
I mean, I love being the type of guy, you know, where you look for a specific plan to come back,
but I think it is really hard to come up with a realistic plan that you believe in here, if you're one done.
As this could be...
And they fake back.
Sinister Gate is not gonna do much here. They delete too.
And GG just can be called as game one goes to the Yandex and my goodness they put on a performance
They they had this game from start to finish like really sucks over some of the early rotations that they had
Matati with a super cool wisdom shrine played. I think it's well that set them up for success a lot
Honestly, I do think that this is the type of game that you can write off pretty quickly
It's like, okay, you played alone through it again
They've beat me it's so many times, you know go next try something else because this series is incredibly important
Yeah, for sure, and if I was to give to MVP, it has to be a co-MVP between Mali and Sokso, the support duo was absolutely ridiculous for Yandex.
We saw how many bushwax Sokso was getting early, he was in every single lane it felt like, on dying at that one play at the shrine.
That really capitalized their lead and they never lost the lead from there.
there. Also like when you look at the lanes overall I think it was just not that easy for 1W to play
like DM did very well down bottom, CJ obliterated the mid lane, then you had like you said you
know the two supports running around Madadi and Saksa just continuing to ramp up the pressure
Watson set up for a perfect game of one of his best heroes so yeah I think game two 1W
gotta scrap the draft and bring some better gameplay. I think the interesting talking point
here is what happens to Lone Druid because it's banned a lot right and if you're 1W you apparently
can't pick it against Yandex, so that puts Yandex in the driver seat if they want to pick it or
if they just let it be banned. I do think you can play against it too, like what they're showing
as counters. It's not like 1W can play themselves, I think also like 33 not happy. I mean this was
big. I think like you're up 6k gold and it's not usually you see a play like really hit like this,
not against a team like 1W. So I think next game they'll come in more focused, slightly different
Black, and we'll see a more even matchup. I don't think we ended up seeing really any
grab allies. No, just with himself. Yeah, it's the one that you didn't see. The one
that I didn't. That's really sad to me. He's gonna have to pick it again because
Malady started off the game just completely taking over and from there
that's exactly what you want as a core hero to have your supports kind of lead
the charge for you early on and give you space to get to this point where Watson
and just hurts big time, and Shira Junior, of course,
no slack himself.
No, like, this order is really good,
and if you look at 1W, generally speaking,
they play around like BZM a lot with their two supports,
but when you're late, it's this difficult.
It's just so hard to play through BZM.
All right, shiver!
Thank you very much, Satsuma and Kezu,
we're here to break it down,
and I think Yannick has solved it.
I'm not sure if we're gonna see a long rule again
in this matchup.
Maybe on the side of Yandex themselves, who knows?
I do think we're gonna see Lina in a carry position
potentially more often, looked very good
in the hands of Watson.
But I wanna start with the real reason why Yandex won.
I feel the support, Joe, you already knew
that there was gonna be a lot of focus on the supports
in this series, in this game, and definitely delivered.
They really did.
I wanna blaze Sox a little bit
because he's one of those players
where it feels like you can't ban all of those heroes.
But when he gets the most contested metahero in Hoodwink on 4,
he can single-handedly win lanes for DM.
That felt so easy for him.
He was getting like fast, thick kills with blood grenades.
He was making sure that Lone Druid could not get up to a good start.
Then he was going mid and owning there.
And we can talk about Malady as well as Undying,
but I know you had a couple of things to show us later, Vaim.
Yeah, I mean, both everyone on the side of the Andex executed so well.
And I also want to say strategically going into this game that it felt like we were playing six days ago when it looked at one W's draft.
Like they were just picking on the meta heroes that started out this tournament.
And something we've been talking about is that the meta is going to get figured out.
And what that means is that people are learning the responses to the heroes that are good.
And, you know, I think Puck for good reason has fallen out of favor because people are punishing it with these aggressive greedy melee heroes.
And we just saw the same story for Earthspear. We've seen it a couple of times now.
I think we saw Nightstalker have to get banned out to enable Puck.
I think we're going to have to start banning Slardar to enable these greedy midlaners,
because Puck and Earthspear specifically, they don't do anything to shut you down.
You're not really like annihilate. I mean, honestly, Chirijuna worked him in this lane.
I don't know if it's supposed to be that bad.
But at the end of the day, you're picking it because you get away with Slardar.
Slaughter has a lot of unplayable matchups like if you're slaughtered against like a poker mid or any other range hero with a slow
You just can't really play the game
And so I'm just my eyes on the draft are the fact that yandex is using the flex of heroes like Lena
They're they're really giving themselves so many options to give you that cheesy last pick
We were theory-crafting they could put a bit they could put a carry
What are their options and when you have that many options to talk about that means your draft is just really well put together
Yeah, what you mentioned about the Earth Spirit, I think Earth Spirit is very strong in this
patch, but his biggest strength is in teams that can flex him before when they need to.
That's why you don't really reveal, okay, we picked Dark Willow into Earth Spirit knowing
that the flex will never come because then he's in a position where you can get Festgaard
or Slardard or whatever anti melee hero exists.
You can exploit it.
I think maybe the mistake was the low plus Earth Spirit, but honestly for 1W, if it's
only BZM playing Earth Spirit on that team, then maybe they should move away from it in
this series because you have to ban it against P-Vision because if no one gets that or 9
Toss gets that they're going to completely pop off, but it does seem like BZM is the
only Earth Spirit player on this team.
It does, and I do agree with you Brian that it did feel a little bit like beginning of
group stage versus adapting to what has been happening a little bit on the drafting side.
I'm not sure we're going to see in game number two a little bit of a shift on both sides, of course,
but we are first going to focus on the undying, I believe, a little bit more on Maladay.
Yeah, as a core player myself, I'm going to appreciate when I get absolutely carried for the
first seven minutes of the game as we are looking at the bottom lane right now and he's going to be
going and getting gone on here on DM, but just pay attention to the minimap as you're going to see
the undying going through the Twin Gate at the start of this, the foresight coming out from
Malady as we like fast forward a little bit through this. It's like, oh, they're gonna, you know,
there, this is wrapping itself off. Here's like, I have a retreat path. No, there's a tombstone,
casual undying rotation through the Twin Gate. That's rotation number one. Rotation number two,
you guys probably saw it if you were watching the game live. This is one of the coolest plays I have
ever witnessed at the Wisdom Shrine specifically. So there's going to be some Bramble Maze on the
the ground. I want you to see how Malady is going to walk in and out of the area of the
Wisdom Shrine around the brambles. He's like doing a little like U formation such that
he's not taking that extra damage, buys just enough time for Wattson to connect and ends
up netting his team the Wisdom Shrine when there are three heroes from 1W there. And
then last but not least, the Giga Chat on dying with the start that he's had, he's going
to be very high level. He's just always right place, right time. On dying is real only impact
the early game is to walk into the middle of people and lay down a tombstone behind them
and that's what he's going to do. He's going to get level 6 from this first kill on BZM
and then he's going to, you know, you're like, ah, you're going to be able to bring it down.
But that bonus strength coming out from popping that undying ulti
and these little threshold things, one play leading into the next and yeah, I, that's about
the most you can take over. We saw Rue have a standout performance in game one for Team
Spirit last series and now we're seeing a step up from the five position for a team index.
an absolute step up and to be honest very scary I think nobody wants to face an undying like that
it gives me the question if he was this outstanding performance from sports on one side
or was laundry just figured out or because is longer it gonna be a factor because it could
have been any carry that got shut down that hard right yeah I mean I think I would look at this as
Let's just not pick LONDROID against NANDUX, they beat it 4 times in a row of 5 now, they're
a team that are clearly very comfortable with playing against LONDROID and again they have
not been playing against weak teams, they are in the strongest group in this tournament
and they're still consistently beating LONDROID so I think maybe 1W was just trying to assess
whether or not their LONDROID could withstand it or if maybe they fraud checked other teams
potentially, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't think Laundrared will be picked
in that next game if he's not banned. And do you think that in the previous series we saw the
hoodwink getting first phase banned? Do you think that's where we're heading? I mean you either take
it for yourself or you just you don't give that to Soxa. I mean he did way too much with that hero.
Yeah like in the Team Spirit series in game one I was like oh Team Spirit like they weren't really
meant to win the early game so this was like purely outplay coming from them and going into game two
it's like, okay, P vision making clean that up. In this series, like I, my first, it's a first
impression from one game. I think that Yandex is so far ahead of 1W in terms of how they're
thinking about the meta and the layers of these heroes. It's like, okay, Loanjure, what does this
hero do? He hits groups for 20 minutes. Oftentimes, you can't pick Carrie Lena because she's very
easy to invade, very easy to gank. A lot of carries just go through that twin gate
and boot her out of lane and she's useless, but that's something we can punish by,
because they have Loanjure and it's not just the lane matchups. It's not just,
just like it's everything I feel like they're thinking about and I think they got absolutely
worked strategically. They're not like, I don't even know if it's fixed. That's that's
how I am seeing this series.
1W is considered to be one of the strongest teams here. When you said it yourself this
morning after the four teams we got on this stage, one of them is probably the winner
and the rest will probably somewhere be in the top. 1W is one of those. So surely they're
going to be able to adjust to something like this.
Yeah, I would hope so. I mean, for me, the adjustments that I thought we're gonna see are not this first pick loan druid,
but also maybe just not the Earth Spirit for Museum if they're unwilling to flex it.
Because if Museum is in a position where he gets later picked within the draft, he can do a lot for 1W.
I guess to be clear, I think they will adjust by Tuesday.
Like, I think if you give them like a day and a half, they will...
I honestly sincerely believe this is like a wake-up call where it's like, wow, we have not been thinking enough about the drafts coming into the game.
The games have been too easy.
Yes, the games have been too easy.
They really came into play today.
And it's it's like, is it are they going to make adjustments?
Is it going to look better in game two?
I absolutely believe that.
But I but just strategically, it looked like the gap was too large.
And it didn't seem like the index didn't eat like it's not like they threw a curveball.
I feel like that was just a smart, well laid out draft.
So based on this, you do think that
Jannex will take the next game as well.
Yeah, it's not enough time to adjust.
I certainly feel that way, like it's one of those where for all I know you remove the loan jurid and everything's perfectly even
But just from the outside looking in it looked like a complete strategic allow class. Please share the vision, Effie
I don't know
I don't think game 2 is gonna look at all like we saw in game 1 because there are a lot of adjustments
they can make that would give them an even playing field like
Taking the center for themselves when they have that pick open instead of the loan jurid
I think would have given them something else because like the issues that I saw where
The hero pool for the often being very limited the sum towards steel until like picking Largo and not the best Largo game
I think things like that can be fixed by just prioritizing it earlier
Well, I don't think it's that dire, but I completely understand why Brian thinks so well
We're gonna find out one way or the other keep in mind that both of these teams
Well now I guess only out they wanted to oh because to oh locks them into the playoffs straight away
whereas if now 1W can get an extra win here and tie the series they'll play again against
each other in the best of three because we need to solve this tie both these teams tied
at the top spot and that matters a lot and if you're not confused by these numbers and by
Brian mentioning what's happening on Tuesday. Don't worry we got you covered
This year, the EWC Dota 2 format is more cutthroat than ever.
This is how it's going to go down.
The tournament starts with the group stage.
The teams will be split into four groups of six, where they'll play in a round robin format.
The top teams of each group qualify straight to the playoffs, and the bottom two are eliminated.
The remaining teams move on to the survival stage, which is a single elimination, best of three gauntlet style bracket.
The team's final chance of survival.
The first round of the gauntlet bracket starts with the third and fourth placing teams from the group stage.
The winner will meet the second place team from group stage in round two.
Only four teams will move on from the survival stage to the playoffs.
The playoffs are a best-of-three single elimination bracket where a single mistake can be the difference between moving on and being eliminated from the tournament.
A third place decider will be played for a bigger chunk of the prize pool as well as valuable club championship points.
The Grand Finals match is a best of five for the two teams that have fought their way through each stage of the tournament.
Only one of them will remain undefeated and claim the EWC 2026 Dota 2 trophy.
The Esports World Cup.
The most elite competition in the world.
Its trophy system is built to match.
The Club Championship Trophy awarded to the one club that rose above the rest
and reigned supreme across all EWC games.
Every participant earns a key engraved with their name.
That's their right to compete.
Raining champions hold a key unlike any other.
The Game Trophy is the ultimate prize for every game's champion,
incomplete until a champion's key is inserted.
The champion's key frame is locked into the totem, a stone marker of legacy.
Etched with every EWC champion, the losing keys are crushed.
The champion claims three, a personal reminder of who they defeated.
The rest are preserved beneath the totem in resin.
Every fallen contender captured forever.
Will you be remembered?
Or forgotten beneath the totem?
At EWC, nothing is granted.
Everything is earned.
We're getting ready of game number two it is 1WM Yandex on the stage and that game
two is coming your way it is a drafts time very soon and I want to know what to expect
and we already talked a little bit about this because game one was strategically all Yandex
It was all theirs, they were on top of things, whereas 1W
left behind in the dust a little bit, left scrambling,
trying to find a way back into a game against a team
that is not gonna be making mistakes big enough
to make a comeback off of.
Maybe this time around, though, they have had 15 minutes
to think about what to do next.
Surely, Effie, surely they'll come up with a better plan.
I think so.
I mean, I would just look at the lanes if I were 1W.
So how can I draft the most ideal lanes for us so that we can play Dota later on?
Because team Yandex right now are the fastest team in the tournament.
They draft winning lanes and then they go for the early game group up.
They don't let teams like 1W who like to play them up actually play them up.
Maybe there are other teams that have hesitancy going high ground, but this is not one of
them.
So when you face a team that wants to end around that 30 minute mark, you have to make
sure you don't let them be sprung around that time.
I have to tip my hat to Watson specifically.
I think as we're going,
I know we like praise the supports in their play last game,
but I think having a carry in this current meta
that can just whip out PL, just whip out Lena,
just kind of like he,
I think he's making their drafts much more multi,
like a dimensional
than a lot of other teams from their carry role.
Okay, like we saw Yattaro like whip out
the more fling last series
and that mated them a win on Team Spirit.
I'm kind of making the maybe not so bold prediction that the versatility of carry players is going to be a pretty huge
Factor moving forward in the tournament, especially with the love of the band out
So it seems like the kids that the bands are gravitating towards carries in the first round so far for maybe
Now we'll see probably still a dry champagne band so far. This is exactly the same other than
Who goes first?
So we have got Yandex on the Radiant side this time around,
1W on the Dire side,
and it is Yandex with first pick, that means they get 4 bats.
The 3 bats, then those are the 3.
And those are very similar to previous game, apart from the Earth Spirit.
Loan Druid does get banned out by 1W,
they still do remove the Nigma and the Nature's Prophet,
leaving in actually the two carries like Drow and Shadowfiend as just mentioned
and the Tree and Protector still in as well yeah I think if you're a 1w you
have to then lunder it you don't want to play against that you're not like
Yandex that are constantly letting it through and beating it and the Earth
Spirit Band is a bit of a surprise they won for me but I kind of understand it
with first pick on Yandex because in that last game they didn't have it and
they were able to counter pick it on a on 18 or 24 even so they counter picked
Earth Spirit with Lina and then they flexed at the very end of the slaughter in this game
They don't want to deal with like an 18 Earth Spirit coming out from the museum after they've already shown them in here
Yeah, and I of course mentry into native profile swapped around but they can both get that anyway
So it doesn't matter send to her first for Yandex
Yeah, I'm not surprised that this hero is getting
I've elevated in his priority in the draft because every time I've seen it even when teams beat it
It felt like you had to pick three specific heroes in order to kill this guy who has 3,000 HP at 20 minutes
and if you don't have that it's such a huge problem to address and if you don't address it you literally
He just runs you over because he buy they buy an early shard that strain stacks up really quickly
Your reduction feels kind of hard to come by right now
We even saw DM go back for a like stop by for a Lotus before he went for the heart
so there is a bit of versatility in the way that the serial can build and
he's also just insanely good against all the range carries and
And quite frankly, I think we're seeing the result of a meta where the carry like Slarks, Ursa's and Monkey King type carries that pick on these really tanky offlaners like Centaur, they're just unpickable it seems like right now.
I think Monkey King might be the most pickable out of all of them, so I'm curious if we potentially start to see Monkey King go up in value because of the Centaur first round picks.
Yandex, this did first phase by an axe previous game. This time it will be there as an answer to the centaur.
Another hero that I think we should keep on our radar just in case. You mentioned it many times before, I feel the keeper of the light still in.
For sure, that one's the big one here. But last time Yandex, we're like, okay, all 33 is hero pool.
We're going to ban the axe early on and we're going to take the centaur so that we make sure he doesn't have his farming mechanisms,
his ability to play behind towers, to farm the camps that free up the triangle for his own mid laner.
And between Centaur and Axe, Centaur is much easier to make work than an Axe.
Like Axe drops can go very wrong, but when they'll just go for it anyway, it doesn't necessarily interact with the Centaur in any capacity.
It's just that they want that ability to farm ahead of the tower, 433.
Yeah, maybe I'm underestimating Axe as a hero.
I mean, we saw collapse open with it two days ago, but I
I don't know I just feel like this is not a worthwhile trade from what I've seen so far this tournament
It's like a very much a vibe check for me right now like the axes have looked situationally
Impactful while every single centaur I've watched win or lose has had such immense impact in the game
So I think this is an uneven trade. I'm not sure why axes necessarily a response to centaur either
I mean I know both of them are very good against the range carry meta and like mayor said they do offer similar things in the
Landing stage and stuff, but I do think centaur is more reliable
I think the biggest thing is that like a lot of axes bad lane matchups in the support role or dispells or like any form of
Save from a call. There's not really a support equivalent
counter to centaur
And they're just picking it the fight that's and that's why I'm just I
specific response. I wasn't thinking it, I'm saying the trade like why are you
willing to give them Centaur for the sake of Axe and that's the part I don't
really understand. I think giving the trade protector would be in the state
and giving Lundred for 1W, they're not one of the teams that have been
giving it away to beat it like Yandex. So maybe they're not as comfortable playing
against it. I guess in that case you would make the argument for let's give
away Enigma instead of the Centaur and just pick something to counter Enigma
online. Yeah, it might be another situation where the heroes that traditionally count
enigma like Bristleback and Gyro, they're not really getting picked either. So these
could all just be, you know, there's so many layers to this of why they think, oh, this
hero is harder, harder to deal with than this one. Wyvern being picked against Axe once
again. I think the Wyvern cast is just like we just saw. I don't, I think that Watson
would not do that. Okay. Because I think he's so versatile. It's not that he wouldn't
do it but I think it would serve them to like pick their four position here and
hold off on Watson's pick but I think he can be given more information. The Willow
is still in. I think he wanted to go that same route.
Yeah, Willow is not bad. I mean not the easiest Willow game versus Range Carrier is like Darryn.
We've seen Marana a few times, I'll be honest. Mostly in the morning games and both of them
with cost are not a foul. Very strongly so even. But maybe a little bit different in
the hands of Saxa. Are they enough? I actually put Marana in the caudal category in the sense
that if you're not building around Marana then she is really underwhelming. I think even
more so than caudal in terms of underwhelming because if you don't have the follow-up damage
if you don't have some heavy utilization of the vision of Moonlight Shadow,
if you don't have Catch that sets up the arrow, like these are just things where Murana,
she's just kind of a worser version of every support. If she doesn't have those things,
I think she's really strong on lane. They have the Centaur set up. Even like Curse into Arrow
is pretty, is actually a pretty decent combo. It threatens heroes like Pock and stuff like this.
Yeah, I was going to mention that I think they're going to pick Clockwork with the draw ranger and
Marana you just pick a crush as a hero that can play against Cods relatively comfortably and it can be as simple as
Yandex just thinking they need strong lanes to win because they snowballed so hard. I'm not risking. Yeah, absolutely
I guess if you're going is there something you like more about Marana as opposed to like willow for instance like why?
Why Marana over willow because I think they're both strong laners, right? Or do you think she dashes a better against Claw?
I think Marana just plays better against Claw
But I also think it's hard to be Willow against heroes like Browrinder that can like gust you away
They don't necessarily get caught by your spells. They're playing from a distance. Hmm
It's it's a tough one
She's not one of the carries that are comfortable for a little unless willows snowballing gotcha
You still see Willow coming out Ari will play it two games in a row
I'm a big life stealer fan here
Yeah, now willow for 1w that's a strong willow game because you have a lot of magic damage
reverses once her library which is very important. I didn't think they would do it.
Sorry, I didn't think they would do it because Axe is traditionally a hard
PL counter. PL like absolutely destroys the rest of this lineup. Don't get me
wrong. I got told yesterday I asked his very questions I said about Axe and PL
and he said the best PL players they are able to make Axe look stupid. Yeah I
Always have a double. It's one of those in the laning stage. You just can't really do much to him
That's the thing like for me. I'm more so looking at the lane in the middle late game. It's really not that bad at all
Because he does those words by the way. He didn't say stupid
I just want to point that out
I mean peel can absolutely make you look silly because axe is a hard committal blink stuns meant to kill somebody at the
Very start of the fight hero and if you blink all five illusions
It's you look kind of goofy especially when we're playing from birds. I view and we can see which one's real
Yeah
I am shocked because PL has if you guys watch like a mortal level streamers
Pills in like half the books. He's in like every game and he's a hero that does require
It's like harder to play against PL than it is to play with PL
So I think he punishes pubs a lot more than he does professional play, but
One team that's repeatedly ran PL to success and I don't think axe is enough
So I hope that one win like they're banning out Leshrac
I hope one win fair 1w does not you know think oh, we got to cover with just axe
I hope there's a hard peel counter coming in here
And the Lush Rack is the big one that you think about what else could you pick against peeling?
Because invulper's also taken out in that first phase and that's a lee damage
Yeah, I mean generally speaking
It's mostly about heroes that are willing to walk into peel and they're not like members a great example
They had the band themselves because the index picks first.
I'm just like, it's it's really hard without a hero list.
But it's I don't think of counters as like her shaker.
I'm thinking of counters of heroes that early game, like Primal Beast, for instance,
they like walk at the PL and you can't really do anything about it.
There's this Puck count as a counter.
I know she's been bad, but Puck would dream coil everybody.
Puck is Puck would absolutely work.
It's it's not a hard counter, but it would give them answers for sure.
You mentioned Shaker, and I think that if Yandex pick a melee midlaner, we might actually
see the Shaker come out for a VZM.
Yeah, I get to that.
But that is one of his preferred heroes.
While we're waiting for this, I do want to talk about the drafts as they are now, because
while it is true that PL and Axe have nice dynamics only in the sense that you know,
PL can press Stopple Ganger, and then you can remove the Battle Hunger, and then you've
also got the Wyvern healing you.
I still think it's a great matchup for Axe later on, I mean if he's not being made to look silly like he mentioned James
and the Stralt plus clock lane is very strong. Also this is an air shaker steal which is crazy.
But before we talk about that, I just want to say that the lanes on 1W look very solid when they didn't match first game.
We'll see how the mid lane is going to look because with the Slardar ban after the Ember that shaker definitely feels like a steal.
Let's Brian tell it necrophos dude. Just go go for it. I actually think necrophos is disgusting here
I I would I was just thinking about I'm like range heroes that punish shaker and buy like radiance or punish peel
I I think it's a sick necker
I think this is like a really five-head play to like ban out the range lane dominators and pick shaker
But I think you missed one. Well, that's fine
It's not a PL counter. That's that's that was my concern
But I think they have to say it's favorable side lanes right now
Like, a PL's fighting its acts, but he does lose the lane generally, like, you're not gonna punish the acts.
Then you have Clockwork Drown on the other side lane.
I think if you were to just all in lanes with Necro here, I...
I-I do think they have other options, like, but...
I would love to see the Radiance Buyer that connects to fights.
Would, uh, if they do go for that, would they still be on a timer?
Like, those Phantom Lans are still just eventually closed out again?
Yes, but it's one of those where if you're down by 20K, all game doesn't really matter.
What do you make of the qualp?
I like it. I like it. What do you like about it?
I like that it wins lane versus shaker and I really think that's the approach that 1W needed to take in this game too.
They just needed to draft strong lanes for themselves.
I think they do have win conditions within their drafts and it is a strong axe game which was picked second.
So, all they have to do is not lose that 5k net worth advantage from the laning stage and I think their draft will play itself.
I know I know it was an 18 peel, but it doesn't look like the easiest PL game to pull off for me
if I think if you're the thing about PL is
Most games are it's similar to Naga that we just saw like it is decided in the first 15 minutes
If this game is remotely even then the index is a woman, but I don't think it's gonna be remotely even
I think they are gonna fall 5 to 10 K behind by 20 minutes on the side of the index like if they don't I think it's just gonna be a
a massive outplay on their side.
I would probably, this draft looks a lot better
for 1W than game one.
I don't think Yandex got the better half of it
this time around.
I like the PL and I like the idea of the shaker.
It's creative, but it's not nearly as much of a gotcha
as I think they got in game one.
So we feel like this game too,
the adjustments from 1W are good enough
to if they play well and then get outclassed
in the laning stage they should just begin that advantage and they should be able to
write that advantage into a win.
For sure.
I mean, in that first game they really could not play after the laning stage.
This time around they can and the big thing was was Axe going to be exploited in the laning
stage because if he gets shoved out of lane then they don't really have place to make
but I think Axe got away with his lane which is the big one for me here.
I think that's the big weakness appeal is that you are not the ranged carry that's
going to shove this Axe down.
You should get a really good game on 33.
You guys want to put a timer on this one?
Because 1W tends to slow it down, I think they're going to get a pretty massive lead, and then gradually end it at 40 minutes.
40 minutes?
Or else too much of a problem, yeah.
I see FV nodding along, going for about 40 minutes.
Let's see if this is a tie, and we'll go again.
Or if Yandex can pull ahead and take this one to a known top spot in the group, we're heading over to Sonspan and Kezi.
Thank you, Shiva. Indeed. Yandex versus 1W, game 2. If you had to guess now, will there
be a tiebreaker? Or will Yandex 2-0?
There will be a tiebreaker.
You think so?
It's a tough choice for me because I do like the chances of PL, but if 1W play well and
I think their lanes go as they are designed to and the game gets played like very nicely,
I do think it is in their hands whether they will win or lose this game.
Because while it is a very very strong PL game,
QWAP can pop off, QWAP is quite good later on.
So it's a lot about how do the early lanes go, how about the early rotations,
can Saqsa do what he did last game.
I do think it's a lot harder with Marana to try and apply similar pressure as the hoodwing.
Yeah, let's talk about some of these things here.
Let's start with the Phantom Lancer.
What does it bring to the table?
Why have we not seen more of it?
It's always been a very specific hero. He needs special requirements, but in this game he's quite good.
I would say QWAP is by far the best hero that 1WP has against him.
You're a very OG draw counter. You're very good against both supports that barely any A-week clear.
You can even farm Cogs all the time, which is also a bonus goal for you.
And the hero is very different than it used to be. No defusal.
You're nowadays just like Manta, Aghanim, into some Heart or Scotty, so very very different here. I need a lot of time.
Explain the innate.
So, the innate of PL is, first of all, I think something cool that people don't really know.
So you have a one doppelganger illusion that deals zero damage, but with the innate even this one deals damage.
So first of all, it's a lot harder to understand which one is real and which one is fake.
And when you spawn illusions, they are way stronger than they should.
Like the damage is really really high with the innate, which also goes up.
It's very close on the Rambles.
Looks like he'll be okay. Socks will not be able to take battery assault level 1 clockwork.
I never thought I'd see the day and 1 W with the first kill of the game as a result.
Watson still being pressured heavily here.
Have to wrap around. Missed a lot of CS.
Yeah, that's so sad.
Look at this one.
Look at these range creeps.
33 is very healthy.
You can see Malady also quite low. Looks like he might just fall here.
Early call, picked up from 33.
Fairy fire not going to be enough to save Malady, so already a 2-0 start for 1W.
That Socks are stuck inside the cogs.
Another kill going away with 1W.
This is why Brains need to be turned alternate.
Look at these skill bits.
You're battery assault in the top lane against a Marana who is arrow level 1.
Screw you, idiot. I'm going to kill you.
Bottom lane, you're axe against PL.
I'm not skilling Battlehunter.
You think I'm stupid?
Boog, no, you go counter healings.
You go call.
Screw your stupid doppelganger.
And he's going Ring of Health into probably Vanguard on Axe.
This is why auto-pulling in Dota is so punishable,
and if you actually think about what your heroes can do and what you're up against,
it can look like this. This is beautiful.
I feel like not even with the pro players, they still go for the Cookie Cutter builds,
but seeing this from two different heroes, yeah.
Yeah, not White Goat.
I mean, 33 is obviously a huge exception to this in general, but yeah, that's awesome to see.
It just shows like full understanding of what is happening, because this top lane,
This is gonna be a problem if you're the center and Marana first. I mean Marana's already
I'm not gonna call it a grief hero, but if you're arrow level one, you're not really adding much right now
Yeah, trust me. I played with yaps or back in the day. He would steal all my creeps with arrow
And just go into the jungle get some neutral creeps no big deal
Yep as Malady will have to cold embrace himself. That's a way in a very precarious spot as 33 gets off the call
Oh, should be a free kill.
And the other side, shadow realm,
keeping the dark willow alive
and not really threatened that much by Watson anyway.
Now they are going sicko mode in their lanes.
Socks are still level one, my goodness.
In your reliant,
now the bog's not quite there,
but the right clicks will suffice,
so still stuck on level one, Marana.
Well yours more than I's,
than the most last hits on Radiant.
That is insane.
Yeah, they are at this point.
19 and 14, wow.
2K lead at minute 3, this is a speed run of like, records.
That's for sure.
Jeez.
I mean, maybe they didn't know that they had to read what battery salt even did, because
this hasn't been a spelling for so long.
Oh wow, I have this guy probably, I wouldn't even be surprised if it's like 33 telling
him, yo, like this guy would, exactly.
This is Soxa, he's gonna go arrow level 1, I know him.
That's true, there's some inside knowledge there for sure.
Oh yeah, easy.
He gets a courier that had the gloves of haste on it, and everything going wrong for Yandex.
This is, I would say, a big arrow coming out from Soxa, that's why you go arrow early.
Oh, he's level 2 now either way, but Chirr Jr. getting that kill on the BGM.
A saving grace perhaps for Yandex?
You need that one, I'm surprised he found an angle on that one.
Very, very nicely played by Soxa, somehow he does it again.
Steal the rune.
Yeah, 33, getting everything out of this lane still.
Body blocks, queer.
Nice job, Malady.
Slowed to a crawl, but he should be okay.
Oh, this is gonna be a...
In the mid lane, it's...
It is quite even on a CS, despite that kill.
Yeah, this is gonna be an incredibly big axe.
You are not stopping this guy in this lane.
Sure, axe is very annoyed by Peel, like, later in the game,
but early and in the mid game, Peel doesn't do anything to you either,
so you're gonna...
Which is very nice for the axe.
I should mention, first Hick axe.
True. After the...
Yeah, Centra is the first pick for 1W. Exactly.
It's 33. It's gonna be fine here. I don't I don't do the numbers like the pro players again. It's pick 15, it's the start 29.
It's 9 pick axe, 8 pick Centra. That's so stupid. The other cool thing, no, this is just pro.
I can nerf. Yeah, whatever.
This is how you're the caster. Anyway, Ashley's your shield super nice.
Like if you have a free game on axe early, you're gonna need to get a neutral either more HP region as white goat with the battery assault.
running down the centaur.
Yeah, even BZM blinking in, gets the shadow strikes and now DM is going to be slowed up.
And why, man? Not able to get him inside the car. I'm not sure if that's what he wanted to do.
He definitely wanted him inside.
Yeah.
So, DM outrunning him for now.
Well, the problem for DM is, sure, you don't die, but 33 has six and a half times your CS.
Yeah, that's quite a bit.
Absolutely.
That's five.
Yeah, and he can creep-skip all he wants, which means, I mean, at the very least Watson is able to
get a lot of CS as a result of this because he can definitely last it under
the tower. Yeah he's at least getting like a little bit of space as 33 or
plus is ultra maximizing himself. Rune BZM will take that one. Just feels like
this already will fall. Just feel like when you're you have this moment this
much momentum the runes just seem to go on your side every time so you get the
free rune there for 1W. Tell me about this Earthshaker, what the purpose behind it is
supposed to be.
I do think it had to do with the fact that they were toying with the idea and they also
mentioned on the panel, it was a little bit of a steel pick for 1W, you know, definitely
could have been the case. And I think also when you look at how PL has posed that.
This is a huge kill, nice doppelganger right into, okay, EchoSlam comes out, very nice.
Did kill damage.
They do.
Like when you think about how the mid game is played or like later when these heroes
have some items. Earthshaker PL teamfighting is ultra toxic. It's just illusions running
at Duke's Shakeup with his shard. He's just going to fish your totem on the ground.
Yeah. Now they're going to find DM in the cogs this time and that's going to be an easy
pick-off for 1W. 2K lead, 7 minute wisdom shrine should be theirs as well.
Well, none of these are going to be a sneaky guy again.
Yeah, I don't think he's going to get away with it though. With BZM there to force him
out eventually, surely. And we'll be able to grab it. So, 1W, both shrines their way.
That is a call from 33, but it's just on the creeps, and yeah, his CS is still insanely good.
You can see the top net worth in the game right now. He's pure, whoever even talked about the
Drow Ranger. Feels like this hero getting off to a good start, just, it's so hard to fight back
against it. Nearly a given. You need like a very good like lane performance or you need some
like Darkseer plus one or you need your mid to pop up and go over to that lane because yeah,
Drao is an incredible hero and an insane laner and they took the safe lane tier one tower.
DM's net worth is the same as Wythemon. Been a while since I've seen that.
Yeah that's that's not good for those out there that don't know. Not good at all.
Dota 101.
Yeah.
Time to turn that centaur into a...
Okay, stopping the illusion.
...feels like, yeah, gets to move speed 33.
I mean, he's not scared of dying at all right now.
Has the Ring of Health, has the...
whatever that chain mail is called now,
Splint Mail, of course.
The worst icon in the game still doesn't look like it's from Dota.
What does it look like?
World of Warcraft?
It's just a different game entirely, yeah.
Yeah, that's CharoJunior found in the jungle inside the cogs now.
With the battery assault, they don't have that much damage.
I think he gets out, although BZM joining things up.
Yes, the Shadow Striker now that. Oh, the miss is the last moment.
And the TP should be successful here. And there's the building.
Well, TP from his tier 3 to the fountain. I don't think he needed to do that, but either way, you know,
living, forcing heroes away, 4k lead for the 1-doubbers here.
I was not expecting a series quite like this. I have to say like ultra some one way and the other
I thought this would be like some 60 minutes
I mean it still could be of course not over by any means but I feel like one thing for 1w that I appreciate is when they
Get off to lead they almost never give it
It feels like they're very very consistent at keeping this lead and growing it because I mean 33 is the biggest min-maxer in Dota
That's kind of his specialty
And turning off the lights off course well they're definitely very good
I think that understanding like what to do with your lead how to grow your lead and like to like not really hand it off
And I think here too they've been doing this a lot in this tournament when you get this tier one pressure going when you win
You're safely in this hard. It's so easy to bring your carry
Okay
Can you get echo slammed and we'll be killed off and I'll feel good for cheer of juniors just to support at the end of the day
Question is are they making stacks for this earthshaker to try to get back in this game?
I don't think they could because white one was in the triangle earlier. Yeah, it's blocked right now
He's blocking some stuff out. They have a lane ward top. They have a lane ward mid at least for Yandex
They understood their assignment, you know, it takes us some defensive wards, which earlier spot a white one walking in
It's a 5k gold lead. I mean when you look at this game as a whole like forget how the lanes have gone
Okay, does this look like a good axe game just on paper?
You do have Wyvern to counter it
You have decent follow-up damage, so it's an okay axe game.
It's an okay.
But now that he's 5k gold up, it's a good axe game.
Well, yeah, now it's a different story, of course.
Yeah.
But do you think they...
It's more the fact that they first picked it on 1W.
Mm-hmm.
Do you think they responded well enough from the Andex side?
I mean, Winter Wyvern is a good response.
PL is...
Honestly, I think their responses are okay.
The problem is that the gameplay has not added up at all.
Right.
Fuzian, going for Watson, Shadow Strike onto the correct one, into the Sonic Wave and the
Rocket Flare to follow, Watson I believe had a Lotus to stay alive, so should be okay here.
Soxa forcing the rest out.
But no kill there.
Yes, it's quite low.
But it does mean that Fuzian was kind of off the map for a while, right, like going down
bottom using all your mana does have to TP back to base and also if you're
thinking about what Yanix can do right now you don't really have any items yet
to change the pace of the game right you don't have a hook shot that you can
score for if you don't have to shake a blink yet so once CJ gets his hands on
that we should be able to see a blink because until then the whole map is
kind of 1W is really safe. Yeah for sure.
Yanix trying desperate I mean for PL as a hero when is it supposed to come
online like when do you start fighting with this hero you kind of two or three
items it feels like for most it's definitely like two like you have you
go man to acts but it's still more like you're not really engaging in the fights
yourself early on you're joining the fights that are starting so for him
he's one like a I would say put him in like a TA territory where you keep
farming until you have a couple core items and then you can look to join your
team so he's very happy if he just you know gets away with it it is a great
CPL game still.
Waiting to see it.
Might happen. We'll see if Yanix can delay it until then.
Once they have Moonlight, Shadow, Winter's Curse and the Shaker Blink, I do think we'll see Yanix pull out a couple plays.
Whitemon showing himself. Artie's gonna join as well. Whitemon will get taken out eventually.
Terrorize only on the 1, is Artie going for the damage onto the Wyvern.
But here Juni is going to share some of that, gets the Enchant Totem and the kill, so Watson double on the PL.
Vanta-style almost finished as well.
The Andriks are finding some good place here.
And the R4 goes to Slam to get the Fissure as well. The Stunlock is there in general for BZM.
Triple kill for Watson, so despite losing two, 1W walk in and just gift them more kills.
I like what the Andriks are doing, like look at the vision in like their own jungle and in the bottom lane.
This is the only territory where, honestly, they kind of want to fight to 1W.
They need to be a bit more careful what they give away, because you have a very clean lead,
and this is not the type of game that's just going to be a freebie.
There's a shaker that's a PL. These heroes scale incredibly well.
I mean, it's DM trying his best to get back into this game. It has a Helmle Dominator, of course.
We're going for Lotus as a secondary item, so...
Against the Bramble, against the Gust, against the Shadow Strike. I mean, how does...
QWAP...
I'm assuming, AGs against PL is insane.
You think they're good?
It's ultra-good. I mean...
Qwap is kind of like an infinite damage late game hero, so she is very very good as now there's a newly obtained Moonlight Shadow.
Yeah, 33 is going to be the recipient of that already at half-out as Shira Juni with the Fissure. Easy pick-off despite having play-down after 33.
Trying to go for the same play up top on DM.
Yeah, so it's going to be an off-lane for an off-lane. One is not the same as the other though. You can look at a net war.
Oh yeah.
Oh my god.
absurd difference nearly being doubled up even after these two deaths to them
you can definitely understand if you're 1W want to keep the train going as
Malady going for his SIGI play what it seems to be stealing the wisdom shrine
and he sure does love it he's got a clock set to that every seven minutes it's
also getting it very nice like even earlier you know he didn't get it but
he forced BGM there in game one he absolutely owned in that area looks like
CJ is gonna go for an early shard on the shaker can't really go wrong with either the Kaia or the shard
It's just very nice and easy setup could mean that you can just Fisher told him set up the arrow without needing to blink in with your main hero
Very nice. Oh my goodness
Damn just the sound cue alone was enough for him to blink that is insane thing baby
Hi, you're in sync items if this was a pub that guy would be reported
100% hacking that is insane. Yeah check in PC on that one
How's it even humanly possible?
That's Soxa, nice arrow, does hit onto the Shadow Realm's Dark Willow.
So it will be a kill eventually.
It's always a trade though it seems.
If it can get it, it's a bigger kill, but yeah, good TP on the high ground.
I wonder what 1W will talk about in the next couple of minutes, because this jungle,
when we'll see the blink out here...
Did he... maybe he wasn't the sound cue.
He may have just blinked after getting the creep maybe.
There's also a chance that the ward spot is on the edge.
That's easy.
Yeah, possible.
Sonic Wave, deletes Chira Jr.
And a big curse comes out.
So Malady able to take out Whitemon in turn
as pure now on the run as Watson continuing to chase,
hits the spirit lance there as well as Sox's right clicks
and a star storm.
It's an awesome initiation for 33,
but the air is going to hold in place.
Cold embrace now into Watson, still staying alive
until the chop comes through for 33.
You're trying to turn this around now on to Malady.
second shot for the axe. Nicely done from 1W despite losing their position 1.
33 came in really clutched here because that did not look good. Like if you're
handing kills to the PL right now it is you're gonna suffer a lot. We also know
what this hero does with very high net worth.
It lights on somewhere. Of course.
Initially starting this fight quite cleanly, getting CJ out of it. I mean this
This curse was also quite good.
The 33 did get enough time to move on over here.
This pure would definitely just die so cleanly to Watson.
Yeah.
The 33 counter initiation here,
perhaps a half second earlier, if you're survived,
there is a possibility of that,
but still they won't be too bothered by it.
Other than the lights, of course,
which is why we were paused.
giving the sign to DM, the gang sign, it's time for you to pause brother.
5K lead now for 1W.
The game at least did stabilize.
4 Yandex overall.
When you say that, you know, I get the lead is now growing again for 1W.
Yeah, I guess it's more so that the map stabilized a little bit.
Obviously, in terms of the game, they're still in a not a good spot whatsoever.
Cool.
Another dodged hook shot.
A little bit off the mark for Wymane.
Fancy footwork by CJ there.
He will be working on the shard now, so the fissure with the extra stun from Enchant Totem.
Always a classic.
What we see also, eventually, like, if Pure will want to work on an Agadam scepter,
It is quite good to give you any way to be clear, Soxo.
Sanpeter tried to give him some space, I don't think he's getting out of this though.
Let's see Soxo with the most emotion we'll see all day, a slight tilt of the head.
And when it comes to the Roshan eventual talk, which team has it better? I mean,
in terms of taking Rosh, surely it's 1W, but...
It's definitely 1W.
Fighting in the pit though, I mean, the Andex have some crazy spells you gotta echo and curse.
Yeah, and also like 1W, it should be easier for them.
First of all, your head means you have more items, more gold to inject into more damage.
But probably most of the 20 to 25 minute mark.
I don't think you wanna be going there yet.
You have no one really to tank.
And you would give up a lot of your map control.
Now, hookshot. This time hits White Mott.
Malady gonna try to walk it off and then my shadow will help quite a bit might actually just get out of it as a result
Unless they connect dust not gonna be there the dust I believe clipped in
Shadow strike applied now and in the tree line attempting to TP a good a good attack, but not enough
As we're approaching the 20 minute mark where I
Assume 1W will have the advantage in taking that first tormentor
Terrorize into, okay, Sonic Wave. There's a free ban event, huh?
Well, just take them out, because why not?
In the meantime, they also make sure to defend their top tier 1 tower.
Cannot stress enough, if you have this type of a grip on the game, you want to hold all your tier 1 towers.
Because the top tier 1 is slowly getting chip IDM being very annoying with his Dominator creep throughout this entire game.
Of course, needless to say, we're getting all the greedy enchantments on all of the players.
I don't think we're going to get a big path 3.4 TI at this point, but surely that gets
nerfed though.
That would be nice to see.
Post probably.
Or you have like a little bit more of a setback like we talked about, you know, it could,
maybe it should also like lower your spell damage output or something that gives you
some type of drawback.
Very true.
Because you do it for...
If it lowered attack damage and spell damage.
How popular would it be?
I think people would still take it on specific heroes, and I would also say that that's like a...
As long as it's a choice.
Yeah, like, I would say that just if you can nerf things, but people would still take it, it's a warranted nerf.
Yeah.
Because people would absolutely still take Reedy Enchantment.
It's a very, like, unique type of thing that you don't really get anywhere else.
I mean, Dota is all about gold.
Yep, true.
As most of these players would tell you.
I feel like they've been on the defense of the entire game, looking at the PL, the Agatom Scepter is done in 200, you can see Chir on the Earthshaker just starting his BKB now, just 1000 in, so kind of a ways away, the Lotus also a ways away for DM, so it feels like they're not really getting any big itemizations coming in any time soon.
I think 1W are the ones that are looking for a fight, like more so.
Yannix can definitely look for some chip or a poke, you know, a fissure into the totem,
get some illusions out there.
So Yannix are definitely the ones to, I would say they benefit a little bit more from a
slow down game and keeping it at this pace.
Do you have the Agathams completed on BZM?
Soxa, wrong place.
Yeah, wrong place.
And they're flying a few people, TP?
Ooh, that was actually close.
But 20-minute mark, we know what that means.
Tormentor will be taken by 1W.
And the Woodsome Shine, you better look at how ready they are with the two supports,
but this around Matali, making the correct call.
He's not anywhere close.
And we can see BZM on the Queen of Pain has the Agonist Scepter.
I'm also happy that pure changes item builds. He had like 3k gold saved and wanted to go
Mantis at which I don't think you need. I definitely prefer the Agatom Scepter here.
Give yourself some more damage, I'll put some illusion clear. Also the hypothermia against
the cold embrace heals later. And you also just farm way faster with the Agatom Scepter.
You can even just farm with some frost arrows on the ancients, whatever it is. Make it easier
for yourself. Yep, he's only 600 away from that now.
And 33, the last remaining core we had I mentioned, BKB, he's still a bit away.
Both teams probably gonna chill a bit until these big items are purchased up and good
to go.
The Lotus does come online a little earlier than I thought for DM.
This is a very natural move here, let's see if Yanis can find someone.
Active rune spawn timing is always a very easy way to try and use one of your timings,
touch someone off guard.
And a haste rune, I'm gonna try to bait this maybe.
1W are not biting on this one.
And Chira Junior initiated on Y-33, the hook shot to follow,
shadow strike applied to him, the goalie brace keeps him in place, the dust is there though.
As Chira getting all the right clicks he wants, Chira Junior had no chance.
It is a trade for Whitemon, but not even enough from the index's perspective.
Honestly, that was just a good read by 1W.
You see a lot of teams that in that scenario, the first guy,
Like your Queen of Pings just jumps on his haste rune and takes it, but very nice discipline,
just waiting, they break the smoke and 33 gets his own engagement, even though the enemy
team were the ones smoking.
There's the Ags, love that one, super strong on the drawranger.
Lead not growing that much though for 1W, so kind of been stagnant at the 5k mark.
Good thing for them is that their important heroes I think are getting the farm, and QWOP
That is a good answer to PL.
It's gonna be about the time I think later...
He's gonna need Watson with like what's he buying now.
He's got the Scotty Q'd up.
And I do think eventually you need a heart
to kind of like match the quads damage I'll put in the fight.
Like kind of offsetting it.
I think otherwise BZM will just plow through these heroes.
The thing I don't have a sense for right now
is how good PL is late game.
Like, let's say 45 minutes and beyond, because back when it was more popular, let's say 2-3 years ago, it would start falling off at a certain point.
I think he's still very, very strong.
Because now what's happening is that they're getting some items, you know, like the...
You have the axe on Drow, you have the couple items on the clock, so you're healed up quite well.
Oh, Jira?
You guys push to the other side, and he gets cold embrace, but he's just getting bounced left, right, and center.
Killed off easily by 1W.
And they're gonna get Malady as well and all likely it gets off the curse at the last moment, but
I wasn't buying that much time. And that should be a rush now for 1W1, I think.
It's just that the Yandex are finding the perfect start to the fight. CJ is the most important hero, like for the Radiant Wrath.
If there's no Shaker, there's no teamfighting. You need this guy to stay alive to keep the fight going for the PL.
So honestly, most of the teamfighting for Yandex will be around Watson and CJ.
So we need him to have a little bit better positioning order shaker or to wait for his BKB.
Let's see, Watson.
An ultimate oracle way from finishing the Scotty.
And then I assume after that you do some sort of damage, right?
Daedalus, butterfly mate, and I guess butterfly against Drow is not particularly good.
I don't know yet exactly what he's going to go for.
There's also a world I think where he could go hard, but I'm never a fan of going Scotty into hard
It's kind of like a
Forbidden dual combo because it's like just very survivable
But to be fair peels the type of fear that if you just stay alive throughout the fight that is how you win
You don't necessarily need to have five damage items to clean people up, but rather feels like you need one
Yeah, I mean at least what his illusions are very strong. I
Need to see what he goes for after the Scotty butterfly obviously is good damage output. You don't care about the draw in that case
I mean, I guess she won't really get to hit you all that much anyway. Obviously, she has multi-shot.
Not sure if he's done the math on what's best for him.
You don't see how much real estate 1W can get with this first Aegis of the game.
I think also that Orc at Bloodthorn could be something quite good on the PL.
Obviously, if you can squeeze it in against a lineup that doesn't have that many dispels or low-disords.
I can see the Bloodthorn being quite good.
I like that.
I think also like a potential Silver Edge.
You have a lot of options on PL.
I think that's another good thing.
Silver Edge, really.
Just like...
Just like Shard is a mini Silver Edge.
Now definitely it's true.
I would say that's like more the defensive one.
You can play more aggressive with other options.
But we'll just wait and see because honestly at this point,
this game is going to drag on.
How does the...
So if you get the Shard on PL,
I just remember the really old version of this.
That's my uncle, that thought.
As they are.
About to be in contact with each other, pure.
Obviously the Aegis and Toad, they get vision there, not quite.
Not quite in range.
Their attempt, but no connection made.
So about the shard?
Back in the day, the fact that I'm bringing this up,
it might be Dota 1, I don't even remember.
It's like so long ago.
When you went in this with his old skill,
You could tell that he used it because there's like a slight animation.
Is there anything like that?
The only in this interaction I know of PL and Dota 2 that I've played is with their shard.
The only doppelganger I know is this one.
You create one illusion that deals no damage, but takes the same damage as yourself.
And that's it.
Yeah, but the shard is with juxtaposed people.
Yeah.
You create one illusion, you go in this.
you go in this I don't know if there is like a cast animation or anything no it
just happens pretty much instantly okay illusion starts walking you go in this
you also have some movements which is quite nice obviously you want to like
start disengaging as it looks like for now he is queuing up the orchid yeah I
like that feel like he is survivable enough it's also it fits Pia's peals
This kit like very well. You're more like looking for pokes, maybe a BKB, kill a support, disengage.
Yeah, BGM.
Let's have a shield rune.
Front lining, cold embrace, okay.
Get the Eccleslam on the other side, the Hooks are trying to save him, but 33 is already dead.
Sonic Wave comes up, that's enough to take out Chira Jr.
So it's a one for one and now BGM taking the run to the damage from Watson.
He's going to turn his sights to Whitemon instead.
You're very isolated right now and look at this.
Look at the illusions. That is a big agonist sector from the PL.
PL, take out the Aegis now, as Ari with the Tear Wave comes out.
I was about to turn now onto Drow Ranger, no support coming out whatsoever from 1W.
What's that?
Actually, that's a lot of damage.
Almost kills off Watson.
Gets off the doppelganger, though.
Cold embrace there.
You can see the Shatterstrike's really starting to stack up as Ari jumps in to try to finish
the job.
Not going to have it quite yet as the double kill comes first for Watson, but the PL eventually
does drop down.
I wonder how much damage was done from the Shadow Strike Ags.
Oh, a lot, trust me.
They found a very good jump there initially on 233.
I even feel like Watson could have lived towards the end of the fight.
They're tanking some of the...
like, Ari's Vettel and with his illusions.
Just the fight recap is kind of trolling us.
Yeah, Casual's 7300.
Yeah, that's good.
Very nice.
You can see the power of Watson.
If he's not the first one that gets going on and he just gets to keep creating illusions,
he's a super nuisance for these heroes.
And you get Orchid there
Like if you could cheat some gold into himself, that'd be nice
See the replay here. That's pretty much right off the bat. Chira Jr. and Axe just trade lives and it's a 4v4
It's just like sure pure has the Aegis but DZM gets kind of forced away
And Watson just gets to go ham like they get Axe first, now the clock then he just chase down
pure on his draw ranger
Also, of course very easy setup on the Aegis with the arrow
Even with the matter, didn't luck out on his matter squad.
You're gonna terrorize missing there, kind of a big deal as well.
So much damage still though from Pure.
I wanna see the end like those illusions, if you like my brother Watson.
Maybe tank a bit, but Ari finds himself a very needed kill towards the end.
That's the most stressed I've seen him.
He fights Stolic in nature.
That's the game, it's nearly even.
Yeah, somehow, Yandex have crawled their way back into this game.
And the question is, can they continue this momentum?
Echo slam back up.
That replay, that fight was so long.
Every spell back up already.
Yeah, we're back on a new team fight.
There are a lot of things coming out there, like starting the fight overall for one, it's not that easy.
Like, if you hook in, I think you're nearly instantly dying on clock.
And even so, like if you jump in with axe, it could be an illusion, there could be a random fissure that's, like, stunning the people that want to help you out.
So I don't think that the game is getting much easier at the moment. There's a few good tools coming up for Yandex.
BZM working on Octarene next.
Alright, what's close exactly to coming? So, Drow, Butterfly, not too far away.
33 it's just gonna be an e on this and not a crazy item, but that's almost done
That's also the other thing like in the mid and like it matters what?
Actual items are coming out like what is it changing for the game state?
And I think p like every single item coming out for PL is changing what he can do
Similar also, I think for the end he finally reached the stage where he has a heart
He has a lotus he's starting to actually be a menace and staying alive
I think the biggest thing we have coming out for 1W will be GZM scaling, you know him getting
the Octary and him getting the Shiva's because it's all about his fellow usage and him staying
alive.
Now the Torments are taking for 1W and the Shard goes to Auri, it is a good Shard for
the Cursed Crown but I wonder if they were hoping for, see who's the top net where it's
pure, so BZM would have gotten it otherwise.
Yeah, honestly would have done a little bit more, I think like bonus rambles against a
line up it's just gonna be tanked by illusions it doesn't really matter
going for a smoke on smoke here oh yeah they're about to collide DM gonna lead
the way with that hard although Soxon might be the one to block the smoke
there's the blink out from DM I think a RK, DM and isolated right now is the
curse oh my god pure just destroys his teammate and white monster you got a huge
arrow onto the co-op as well and just like that too dead for 1W and Yandex
takes the lead as a result and the question is, how fast is this roast spawn? We'll find out in
five seconds because if it's a quick one, they can take that out before that co-op comes back.
Yeah, and they honestly will kill Roach pretty fast. It is not. It is not. Not at all. It's just
going to be another free kill. Yep, okay, very good slugger there. I think this is the other
problem when you play against a hero like PL. Generally, you can only kill him if you need to
to commit. This is like a 3200 HP hero with a golden brace behind him. Whereas if you look at Yandex, it's a lot more chill.
If you see any dot, blink curse with one guy next to it, we saw it there. That's a free clean.
If you see a Fischer, tow him into arrow, that's how BZM died. It's too simple, and I think it's too stressful and too hard for 1W to get the gold that they want.
Finally, this tier 1 tower is gonna die.
DM with that return, he's got shard now.
Feeling good about himself.
And is this an axe game at some points?
Not really.
Every game is kind of an axe game.
I mean, at worst case it's a save, but usually you want like a range right clicker.
Yeah, I mean, just think about how one win kills heroes.
I think you need to hookshot and then get some claps on the guy or an axe pall.
So if eventually you're shutting down like the one or two ways that they can kill, it will always be good for you.
Maybe you won't be saving the peel, because I think peel will be saved by a cold embrace or a fissure.
Or a Fissure, and most likely he will stay alive.
I guess worst case scenario is just a mini Stampede for yourself, which is fine.
Once Watson gets his heart, I know we're talking about the PL a lot and it's only a 2K lead,
but they are already having issues and once his heart is out, he's gonna have like 4K HP,
with a Winter Wyvern constantly cold embracing him in the back.
Yeah, he's not too far away.
Next fight he will certainly have it, and then I assume he'll upgrade to Bloodthorn
after that and then I mean boots are not that important for PL I would assume it is his shard not worth purchasing I
Honestly don't mind. I don't think he needs it yet. I think it's like I
Wouldn't call it luxurious, but you want to build other things first and also like you said you don't really need boots on this hero
Like with agonist you have like a 1400 range charge or like a three-second cooldown. You're constantly just zooming around
So he's definitely still got some slots to work with
I mean I guess we can look at Pure. Like Pure and BZM are gonna be the ones I think that need to deliver when it comes to the damage.
And it's 33 that needs to find a call. A good one.
Smoke from the Andex, or Hurtly VKB from Chira Jr. Oh boy, he echoed as well?
I think he got his blink chance to buy the multishot right as he was going.
Oh my goodness, that is rough.
Unfortunate timing for him and quite fortunate timing for Pure there.
That was a free go.
Pure luck.
Wow.
Alright, well that sets them back a bit.
Luck or skill.
And now the issue is you don't have EchoSlam for this rush fight.
If it happens.
It is a bonus.
I do think in other games you need it more so, because it wishes also why I like the shaker a lot for their draft.
Like, PL, Marana and shaker are all very pokey heroes in nature, like from the mid-game onwards, right?
Fisher told him there's illusions running at you, so I think the EchoMap being available is okay.
Okay, I mean one W know this right they do surely but even I mean do they know I have to see the replay
Actually, don't know if they had vision. I think they were smoked and moonlight. It's I don't think they saw it
Okay, they probably saw the BKB right like once you you saw that he was fishering and then BKB right but the echo
They may not know
Yeah, I mean based on how passive they're being I don't think they know actually I
I- I don't like that-
It's actually working out for Yandex a bit
because they can get more farm throughout the map, technically.
Because I- I think it's very difficult.
Like, you're playing into this radiant wrath
and you need a very specific...
...go.
Like, it's 1W, like, engage a fight, and it's not good.
It will be lost on the spot.
Because like I said, if you want to fight a PL,
you need your first hit of engagement to be clean.
Whereas Yandex, they can just toy around.
Man, look at this, they're still sticking around here.
I guess both sides are across the river now.
It's a quick pause, as they are back ready.
I mean, Ekko is back up in 8, so we can go back to this Roche stalemate.
We got a couple of 4 steps, of course, on 1W, so they can always try to delay the initial sort of a fight.
You have double supports, you've got the Pyke on Pure as well.
That's certainly not easy.
It could also be the type of game where it is so hard to get this initial goal that you're
not really playing for it.
You want to just poke, force back, then look for a secondary round of engagements.
He's going to line up with a DKB on DM now.
That's why Mon is...
Cogs are seen despite being in smoke, so Yandex, very aware of this.
That is one...
One W.
So weird to say will they get a W in the series is a better question and they do need it to tie it up vision of malady
You take that talent for rocket flare or not as DM
Oh, he gets in the shade of 533 the multi shot to fall on the other side museum already pop the BKB not to really any use as a
Big curse comes out. That is a lot of damage to 33 he's gonna die
It was on teammates and don't do that about the BKB in retreat now Valley trying to finish the job
DM will do so, and now the BKB TP for the draft successful, but again, it's costing you a lot of members of your team,
although on the other side, Yandex losing a couple members themselves.
Support and mid for Yandex out, meanwhile, offlane support for 1W.
Really, that's your initiators.
Yeah, it is a good hold, though, from 1W.
I think right now, if you get any gold and XP injected into BZM, it's kind of what you want.
He gives you a best answer against what you're playing into right now with this ultra-fat Watson PL.
Because he's getting close to his shielder, he got his 20 talent earlier with his Scream of Pain damage as well on the clock.
Can maybe squeeze him into the 25 territory as well later.
I'm going for Roche.
Under the noses of 1W. I don't have to worry about 33, Ari.
Nice positioning. You always have to terrorize to try and go for a steal here. White Monus will come in over.
A lot harder to make work unless you have that rocket player in there, which they do now,
and Rosh is gonna belch as a result.
And he ain't taking a lot of damage.
The Drow is ripping through him.
A nice cold embrace to save him for the time being,
but there's still enough magic damage to rip through him.
On the other side, though, Pure gets destroyed by Watson.
And that's the biggest kill of this fight.
In the end, X.
They still have two members up, and Rosh is low.
Well, R and W, despite the Drow being dead,
they had four members at the ready.
Yeah, Ari got Malady in the middle of it all.
I think with all the new 5x they can't contest these guys.
Sonic Wave finishes it, so BZM takes the Aegis as Watson.
Like some pressure, I don't know if he wants to fully commit here.
Lockwork inside the pit will be the sacrifice for 1W.
Just dying to random spells and illusions.
Oh, did they pick up the banner, I guess?
At least they picked up everything in the middle of that.
Watson pinged out the thing else.
There we go. Get something out of it.
Well, they did get the Aegis, which is the main thing that matters.
And you also have a catalyst on BZM. So honestly, very many good things going their way to try and kind of punch back here on this one.
I'm pretty, like pure die to an arrow, right? I think Saksa set him up fully on like the Glacier.
It must have been, I don't know how he otherwise dies in a sunblock.
That arrow right there, blown now into Watson's right click.
That he just dirty.
That's blown up immediately.
Are you doing a good job towards the south side of the screen here as well, killing Malady,
who's had some insane team fighting with the curses?
Here we will watch white monsters die to illusions and the Fisher and the Shard.
Yeah, disgusting.
Eh, just did that.
Okay, well, 1W coming out of that Aegis definitely doesn't equalize the game, but if the Index had gotten that,
This would have been very difficult to come back for 1W.
It's good right now. They kind of put themselves over this...
Like, PL is still very strong. Like, Watson is the strongest hero of the game,
but he kind of picked his, I would say, the Exodia moment was like five minutes ago.
It's still here now, but it is slowly tapering off.
You have the Scotty, you have the Heart to be very tanky,
but they're getting their next set of talents on the QWOP, on the Drow Ranger,
and their next set of items, so they definitely can't work with it.
I mean, this talent on PL is disgusting.
He was already hard to kill, now it's a 6 second cooldown on the doppelganger.
Yeah.
And all his illusions hurt, it doesn't even matter.
Like with the innate now, his illusions are so strong.
It levels up with his ult, right?
It's every three levels.
Oh, it's per levels, I see.
So he is rocking up quite a bit of damage.
Huh?
So getting level 30 actually matters here.
Oh, it does.
And where's the room to grow here?
So obviously the treads can be deleted and adds can be consumed.
So what two items do you want to round it up?
Because I feel like this is going late game.
Extreme late game.
Probably that I could see like a satanic also.
Later maybe like silver edge satanic.
There's also like data list plus one.
I think...
I like that though.
Like I want that where he will take it.
Like I think you could go silver edge plus one.
I would assume it's like a combination of satanic, data list, satanic, silver edge.
Unless he wants a blink to like get on top of the draw ranger.
Because how good is Silver Edge against the lineup that is already worrying about Moonlight Shadow?
I guess, yeah, Silver Edge is maybe just not that great, so maybe scrap that.
I like the Satanic Daedalus.
Yeah, I think it's probably the best.
Unless they do feel like all they need to do is for him to immediately connect on a play.
Because you're gonna play against Pure's Drowranger who's already queuing up the Blink Dagger.
And honestly, you need it.
Drowranger is very similar to PL in a way that you just need to stay alive.
People will die.
So all the Silver Edges and Blink Daggers are very good for you.
All right, going for the gold here.
Everybody has the shard.
At the very least denying it from the radiant side, as they are missing two shards on both supports.
Unacceptable.
Very unacceptable.
I want that. I'm wondering now if your wipe on, if you can swap maybe like going for an agonist scepter on the clockwork?
Oh, it's like it's not like insane against the peel, but it's good
You can cancel multiple blink daggers that you're playing against right from shaker and the centaur
Because maybe you can start thinking about bigger pictures
He is obviously going for the Lotus, which is great to take off the bloodthorn. So absolutely. I don't mind that
And we're getting to late game territory now very very even game yeah with Aegis
Right now onto BZM just for another minute
I doubt Yandex are gonna want to force a fight here, surely.
They are smoked though, a little bit early for this, considering the age of time, and
maybe that's part of the ideas, catching them off guard.
So you counter-smoked them from 1W.
They have decent vision.
They also have Moonlight Shadow if they do want to end up using it.
That rocket form, they're gonna get the stun right now onto Watts.
They'll pop the VKB.
They're trying to get the Winter Wyver for the end.
This is gonna save him.
Meanwhile, the Fissure has to drown.
Pura's already at half HP.
to try to get away, but of course, Lawson's just going to continue to pursue. They force out his BKB,
so it's a whiter for Clockwork, and has a star storm enough from Soxie to kill off 33,
and BZM getting silenced with the orchid, getting brought back into his base, but that's going to
be the Aegis, and now Pierre's still on super low HP, keeping a distance with that multi-shot.
Fissure now on BZM. Continue with the sh... No, looks like they're not going to go on top of them.
Re-initiate, actually. BZM does. The hook's not going to be there, because he's still
We still have the VKB, I hear terrorize comes out into the sonic wave BZM trying to finish this off but Watson gets the load is applied to him and now he can turn this life onto these supports.
Here's what we bought back into the right this coming up from pure the last moment and that's going to be the death of the PL.
And now Centaur left to his own devices attempting to TP out is fine.
They finally get the Phantom Lancer. It costs a lot though.
It's very much worth it. You're starting to get all these level 25s on the heroes.
BGM with the blink talent. You have also pure with his 25 against more multi-shot ways. Very good against the PL as well.
And now you've got 70 seconds to clean up the map a bit if you want.
Looks like Sox wants to go for a Wind Waker, which honestly makes sense.
This was a good fight overall because they did kill Malady nearly instantly, which is...
I'm pretty sure this is their best fight. Like, taking this Winter Wyvern out of the fight is incredibly good for them.
Got a E on this formality, keeping him alive a little longer.
But, it does get chopped in the end.
I think that Pure Survive is kind of shocking.
Very necessary so as well. And you can see BZM got a ton of damage out of this fight.
Of course, they did have the DKB to cover him on the respawn.
Purely great positioning. Like going to base and then keeping to the outpost
to come from the south side here, to clean this fight up.
Ultra necessary, just clips him barely with the silence.
I like that Watson is queuing up the disperser.
Kind of forgot about that one, to be honest.
I think it's an ultra good laking item,
more mobility for yourself for all the illusions,
and another dispell.
Yeah, that's true.
Get some close-ups here of the rivals, of course.
That's right.
Ooh, and a swift flank coming out for pure.
It makes sense. Good late game item, it's all about the positioning.
And honestly, him staying alive is quite good for his team.
Like obviously, Drao getting to hit is great, but also giving Drao Aura out there to BGM who's getting to hit.
Obviously, it's more about the spells, but just pumping up some armor into your allies with the Willow and the Quap is great.
This Tier 2 being pressured just a bit.
Chira Jr. didn't mention, he did get it a while ago, the refresher, as BZM arrowed up.
This is going to be a lot of damage applied.
At some distance though, and a load of supply to him, he will blink out.
That was with very little commitment from Yandex though.
BZM is going to have to be very careful.
He's been known to be a bit of a YOLO type of person.
It's definitely been keeping it together, but as we can see, it doesn't take a lot
from Yandex to force out quite a reaction.
Watson, 5.5k gold obviously wants to retain buyback for these fights.
So it'll be a while until he gets another item.
Oh, I guess he could sell treads to get a little injection as well.
Yeah, he's still gonna need quite a bit more.
at least like 2k, maybe 2 and a half, even with setting the treads.
Well, this is one of the more even games we've had lately.
Who's shoes would you rather be in at this stage?
I think maybe still slightly radiant, I think, like on Yandex.
It's definitely getting like, it is getting closer.
71% real.
I'm not even know why we look at this percentage.
Honestly, I'm not that surprised.
I think at the least it should be 60-40 because it is still by nature just easier
I think for Radiant because like even so let's say the fight starts
There's a card available if they find a good go with a Fisher arrow
Like you can just double echo someone out of the game as well if you want to
Like I think if any of the course die instantly on 1W the fight is kind of cooked
But to reach that
Like type of scenario. I think it's just way easier for Yandex to have it as it is for
1W
Definitely eyes on BZM though.
His scaling is working out quite well here for them.
Nice illusion rune coming out now.
A few heroes that absolutely loves to see that.
It's a very early Roshan spawn.
And Soxa has a Wind Waker. So if they all in Malady, they can still try to save him.
Of course, I think when he drops, there's still a lot of shit flying his way.
Yeah.
Queen of Fame, all his BZM spells, multi charge.
I thought he had an E on this.
We're gonna see the arrow come in.
Full arrow duration.
A 33 coming in with the counter initiation
with the call as well.
BZM staying alive.
That's the sonic wave on it.
Looks like nothing here.
As Pure getting on him by the centaur
along with Soxon nearby.
The Ekko slam was off camera.
As Pure now on the run.
The solo curse they're gonna surround tactics on him.
The BKB runs out and the arrow finishes the job.
33 now has to try to run away.
Huston knocking the head because of the BKB.
Waimon gets the calls out.
the buyback now comes out from Pure as 33 is going to be seen thanks to the sentry
placed by Soxa at DM. They have to leave Soxa to his own death as he drops to the
deck 90 seconds out. And Nandex now on the run. BZM gets hoof stomped. No more
arrow follow-up though. Into the fissure. Do they have the vision? Doppelganger
has Jarrah Jr. with the Aqua Slam onto 2. Trying to apply some pressure on the BZM
but he's going to heal up thanks to the Bloodstone and it's a now attempted TP from the
Centaur DM out as Watson will leave Maladie to his death
Splitting the uprights to try to play a little bit of havoc for BZM
Looks like the PL will live in the end. Looks like we got another BZM show on our hands because he really is popping off
This cost him a buyback of four eight thousand damage by a centaur that's pretty good
Yeah, he's just getting a lot of double-edges off with multiple stacks, same as the Stampe damage is very, very high, so sure he did have to use the Vibeck, but he's just getting an Aegis in return.
And EZM now as well, I like the choice of the Bloodstone, he is like, you go full HP instantly if there's some PL illusions out in this fight.
Honestly, at these round of items, they are pushing 1W quite high up there when it comes to their own strength in the teamfighting.
At least that was a fight where they killed Matty first, was queuing up a Shadowblade at the moment to maybe help him out with some mobility.
Am I crit? I thought he had E on this, girl. Did he sell it? Did he not have it before?
I once think he had it.
I thought he had E on this. Maybe it was Axe.
I'll be surprised if he had it and sold it to have it.
It's possible it was 33 Q that was right on top of him.
It's only him.
You were talking about the one mid fight where Wyvern got jumped, right?
Yeah. It must have been Axe right on top and I just...
I don't know.
Yeah, because now that sounds a little bit familiar.
Either way, Aegis now, for Pure, they have the Cheese, they have the Roshan's Banner,
and of course the other Roshan Banner from the second Rosh is on Chira still, very important.
Damn.
5k health going for the upgraded Blink, so gonna have a lot more of that came from.
People are starting to get really fully slotted here.
Very low cooldown on the multi-shot as well for pure of course with all of his talents.
Late game on the drown. Very very very strong.
You can see all the left side, just full multi-shot.
It seems Satanic is the final item that he is going to try to grab here.
here.
I mean, it will help him...
And you're starting to rise to space.
Yeah, it will help him stand his ground, of course.
On pure.
He's dealing a lot of damage.
That's...
Look shot missing.
Well, CJ's been having a pretty good dodge rate on that one.
That's true.
Level 24 on the airshake.
What is the 25 talents on him?
He's put the enchant, totem, cooldown, and the Ecclestain cooldown.
I think they're full fine.
I mean, whenever you have ags, you always take the left one.
Yeah, he does not have ags.
But I think also once you have refresher, the Echo stand cooldown becomes a little more redundant.
Cause like, you kinda wanna only fight with double Echo anyway.
And X looking for a fight, BZM onto the south side, blinks right into them unknowingly though.
Pure, pop them Antons, pick up the Orc.
There's a hook stop from DM.
Pops the Ghost Scepters, stay alive, gets four staffs as well.
There's the curse.
Is this enough to take out the Clockwork? Not really.
The Drow is not in range. Eon just procs for White Mon.
Intermediate is going to be cancelled up as see the clockwork is just taking heavy damage just from the illusions
and a nice wind waker to save his life.
White on, but the Fisher comes in. One more star storm for the road and the wind waker for Sox is going to keep him safe.
Sonic Wave, flipping a couple heroes, but I think this is retreat mode for 1W or at least the soft reset.
Ah, this is nice. It's been a while since I've seen a late game where both teams can play on a lot of poles,
jump in, wind waker out, and when people stay alive you still get the Fisher into error.
33 look for the call only onto creeps though BZM jumping back in with that bloodstone activated a little bit isolated right now
It's gonna be along with the echo
Arrow is coming as well, he pops the BKB and he's able to blink out just barely getting four staff blinks again
And now Watson they find the clip onto the Drow Ranger
Look how fast Watson is, he's going after BZM, he's gonna kill him though, he gets to the high ground again
Finally out of vision, but now the Aegis is down his pure pops the BKB on top of his vision
taking a ton of damage now from Watson. Do they have the vision though? Trying to get away,
or Sapp gets on the glacier now, but that's too much damage.
And it's 33 TP's out in the cover of his BKB. Great fight again from Yandex.
Well, that chase down was ridiculous. He nearly got BZM towards the end of it, but pure.
After respawning... He's there for two minutes!
He chose the wrong way to blink out after respawning. He blinked right into Watson's hands.
And they know there's no buyback available like if you maybe you don't time it the second directly
But his buyback is still down for two minutes and 40. Yeah, you should know it's down. Yeah, for sure
Let's see if BZM can pull up another show
It is hard to push into an axe and a co-op with axe wants an ordea half-health here
Building damage is not particularly great sonic wave a hookshot from white mod BGM slinking in as well
Well, I'm on with the 4-Seph, orcated up though, another win-waker, keeping him alive.
Ian, this procs as well, hooks up from DM.
There's the curse though, and the other side 30-3 with a call, but he's taking a huge amount
of damage attempting to get out, but he gets chopped to the ground himself.
Does have buyback though.
And now, Bramble's being quite the nuisance.
He's like, DM needs to just tank this tower to be able to take it, because Watson, it
would be very difficult for him to do it alone.
50 seconds no drought, but this is such an annoying line if I push him to
Workhorse for the centaur is easy and just brushing it off and this tower is taking like no damage at all
This is what all the practice comes into play and my role is just using
Hookshot why don't I push the center back in but there's the eggless and right on top of BZM. They have the damage
He's dead. Okay. I'll tell you why back though
So three dead now including the drought from earlier, so that makes four you're doing a math with me
I'm doing the math and this is gonna be a full set of racks and they're gonna have to force these buybacks out
You don't have to buy that something or you're losing probably all sides of your ass here
Yeah, they're waiting for the drought to be up. I'm sure and then they're gonna buy back in
Full and the question is how much can they get out of it first buyback comes out from the clock
Okay, all right bad luck doing quite a bit of damage stocks is actually just dead
Can he edge? Not quite. There's about 133, chops him to the ground.
And with that, everybody buying back, except for Pure, of course, all they get is the support.
So Yandex gonna be extremely happy, and now a late-game butterfly.
And it's against the drought, but once you eat that axe...
Honestly, more so for him, it's more about his own damage output, I think, than it is for surviving against the drought.
Wow, that guy who's killing him anyway is kind of BZM, who's really putting on a show, but now you have multiple wind conditions, no bi-begon ads, no bi-begon clock, and no bi-begon BZM.
Batch, you actually did go for the Enchant Totem cooldown, so I assume he's going aggs, and now he's not.
You'll eventually go aggs, so it's fine.
Interesting.
It's definitely the better of the two.
Once you have a refresher, who cares, also like the Yashakaya.
It's all about getting your fish out there quickly, followed up with the Totem.
Let's see what 1W can do here.
40 seconds for Soxa.
Any hero being out of the game right now is a big deal.
And the Andex just...
From their perspective, just gotta chill.
There's 1W obviously looking for a pick off.
No rush for a bit.
Well, no in a minute.
Malady links out.
And speaking of annoying lineups to push into, the Andex is even more annoying, I think.
It's both of them.
There's just so much stuff flying your way.
They are doing a good job rewarding the map right now though, 1W, during this downtime.
Another Wind Waker.
I wonder if eventually someone will look into thinking or talking about a nullifier.
Of course it's a good way how you stop these Wind Wakers from coming out.
But then the other part, it's annoying buying a nullifier at this point and slotting it
into your inventory.
Remember, if Yandex wins this game, then they secure first place in the groups.
If 1W wins, then it's going to be tiebreakers.
You're going to see this all over again.
It's a juicy one.
I'm sure the viewers wouldn't mind, because this is a very good series.
Now, Fissure.
DM not able to make the connection there.
There's 33 with the berserkers call, but to get the Wind Waker,
Ackles slam onto several heroes.
Dark Willis first to fall, and 33 is already super low now.
Able to get up away to the north as DM getting saved by Wyvern, Clockworth dead to right so no buyback ran out of faith.
Smokedy shot from Pure just decimating everybody.
Cursed comes out of the last moment, not gonna turn into a kill though as BZM keeping the pressure on Wyvern now onto DM.
They kill up the Wyvern no buyback to speak of as Pure, he's dead, does have buyback this time.
Well, certainly using here shortly as BZM, haven't used the BKB, faking the Sonic wave,
I'm trying to find the correct target, gets it off, but not able to get the kill.
Gets up to full HP from DM.
Looks like the Cursed Crown is not going to be activated.
Actually, the Lotus is there, and Dark Willow gets absolutely thrown, about 3 dead for 1.
W, only 2 alive now, and that's going to be their defense.
2 versus 4, Wyvern could buy back if needed.
2v4, you have no buybacks on these two heroes.
Radiant have buybacks on at least two of the guys, so Watson could go ham.
I honestly think Malady chose just buyback.
But even so, it's a 2v4, you need to hold for at least a minute until you get a third guy.
Yeah, this is monumental task for 1W, as DM's just gonna tank up these tier 4s.
And we'll see what the cores can do.
Pure and BZM.
He's got a Raker queued up, but you don't have time, son, to get this one.
And fortification, likely the final one of the game.
Sure.
Not sure if he was spotted quite yet.
What can BZM do here?
It needs to get like five sonic waves right in a row, multi-shot.
You have really a good amount of damage at the end, but now the ancient is exposed.
BZM blinking in, gets fissured though as pure, has to go back to fountain.
You can see the ancient is already at half HP. There's no way they can defend this shortly.
The hub-ston may be two on top of that, and now they're turning onto BZM.
Gets off a nice sonic wave though. They're trying to keep this game defended,
but it's not going to happen. You have to blink back to base.
Backdoor protection. They're coming. They've done for a little bit, but the creeps are coming.
They're actually health, but are you serious?
Real life now for what? W, 15 seconds for the axe.
Do they have anything left in their tank? They can just try to go from the throne completely,
it feels completely ignoring everything except the throne, and that's going to be game.
Yandex take it 2-0, and that means they are cursed by Yandex Group.
Nearly put a hold to that. FBZM got it fermented even though they're on the losing side.
doing a very good job at holding this home on the IA Dex.
Proving that even in these difficult games, they just know what they need to do to come back.
Because their early game was not good. DM had like no game at all.
They just found a couple of picks in the mid game, got a little bit of a comeback and Watson on his PL.
Honestly, big, big delivery performance here by him.
Yeah, he ends the game 19 and 3.
Question.
Dex a question, why do we not see more PL right now? This looked like a masterful performance.
It's such a specific hero, but this CIS PL has always been the best one.
Even DM himself, he plays a crazy PL, Nightfall probably the best PL in the world.
I think Watson's got something to say about that now as well.
Honestly, banger of the game, 1W still looking very good. You can see there's a couple of cracks in their armor.
Yeah, absolutely. Soxa, he knows about those cracks in the armor.
He talked about the inside information here in Kazoo, and he played with them for quite a while.
At least most of the members on the team.
And comes out on top of this, I'm sure we'll see them face each other.
I'd be shocked if they don't later on in the tournament.
But so far, at least at this stage for the group stage, Yandex take number one.
There's definitely some things for 1WP to take away.
There's some stuff here where you're up 5k, 6k gold.
I do think they found themselves dying a little too much in this radiant jungle early on.
Early on kind of handing a bit of goals in XP into the radiant draft and it's usually something 1w is very very good about
You know keeping your lead steady not overplaying, but yeah
Yeah, next they found those openings and they definitely made use of them melody as well
Some insane Winters versus in this game. Yeah, I mean melody
I feel like if I had to pick a single player for MVP in this series
It's him he he always absurdly good in game one as well
Well, Soxa as well, but this time around, I mean, Soxa had a really rough first few
minutes.
That was really bad.
Yeah, that was not the best part of the performance, but this is again, you know, where some of
the individual plays can come out, you know, it was like clockwork, like why am I going
for the bad re-assault, not something you always see, but yeah, Yandex looking clean.
Yeah, when you get to this really late game situation, the heroes that they have, very
different, so 33, a lot of emotion there actually.
It turned on the light, I guess, and really rage-baited him, as some would say.
Oh yeah, Yandex.
Very, very good right now.
Let's go to the stage and get a nice little interview.
Thank you, my friends, on the Contra desk, and welcome back to the stage at 2-0 victory
here.
And look at what we have with us from Team Yandex here, Junior.
Thanks so much for being on here with us.
I want to ask you a technical question.
First, VR Shaker Man has only been played three times and won in all three times.
The third one was in this game here. Why the pick? What's the reasoning behind it?
AirShaker, you've won three times and won today, including me. Tell me, what's your secret? Why did you do it today? Tell me.
I mean, we wanted to steal Shaker from them. I think they really want to pick this hero. We just think what's better, and we decide Shaker.
So it's very much a target pick in this game.
Yeah, I think so.
All right, very good. Now you're moving on to the quarterfinals
You're gonna be the big boss to kind of stop anybody going into that
There's a feel good to be back in the upper echelons because you've been thriving over the past year as a team
I mean it's always feels good to be came just to play on stage just
In front of you. Yes, it's always good. You feel nerves are leaving bit by bit as you head deeper into the tournament
No, I don't have any pressure. I love to hear it and to be in a which at this point you and 1w
have been playing against one another one in a million times do you consider them
your big rivals overall hmm I don't know they're just good and they always coming
for us and we for them is this revenge for Birmingham not yet do you expect to
play them in the final we expect them very much thank you very much thank you
thank you appreciate it that's cheer that's team and that's victorious and
thank you very much a solo translator we'll send it back to our panel thank
Thank you very much, Jandex, taking this to a zero victory means they are not undefeated
but they are undoubtedly the best team in the group of death.
Congratulations to them for securing first place and therefore also skipping the survival
stage and going straight to the playoffs.
This game number two though was quite crazy, quite mental here, Brian.
This was a good one to end on and we could see why these two teams are so close.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, 1W definitely showed us much more of what they're capable of in that game too.
I still think Yandex, like they were, I think they were in a comfortable position that entire game.
Like I think we all expected their laning stage to not go so hot.
They did not draft for the lanes at all.
And we did see a couple of those key slip-ups coming from 1W in the mid game there.
And I think that even with like even foot, I think if the drafts,
I would even argue is slightly in favor of 1W in the draft.
And I think if the drafts were reversed, I would almost believe that Yandex would have won
That's like the vibe I got from that game
But it was very close later on compared to what I thought it would be like I thought the field would get out of control
But we'll play from both teams at the end of the day. I'm watching Yandex is so fun and
CJ is
Becoming one of my favorite mid players very very rapidly
I think that the way he's been playing this tournament is so decisive. He has his own flair
He looks so good on the Sardars, but stealing the Earthshaker was such a bold
Call by him and it worked out beautifully in every player on yandex delivered today
But I do think CJ is the most improved out of this whole roster
Yeah, I want also taking moments to talk a little bit
I'm gonna talk about them later as well but to talk about the safe lane of yandex with what's in a melody
I feel like this is the safe lane
You know, we knew that they were comfortable together
together. We heard the stories, they joined gaming together. We knew that, you know, they're
kind of like a package deal. They enjoy laning, playing together, and we've seen them do well.
We've seen them do very well. But I feel like this series, they smashed it. They knocked
it out of the park.
Yeah, Mira backstage, you were talking about the fact that they look like more, more like
gaming gladiators than they were on Game Gladius. You want to go talk about that a bit?
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because we're like, oh, you could say they have the game and gladiators DNA.
But when they were on that team, they did not look like this.
I feel like they've leveled up together and Watson is an extremely talented player,
but he never really was in the right team to make him shine.
And at this tournament with the index, he's been playing very fast,
but he's also been doing it with the hard carries.
And then this game, too, we've seen him in a position that we're used to seeing him
on previous teams, or he's the only one doing well in the game.
He's the one win condition and he has to drag his team through a hellish early to mid game
Which is basically what happened. There was the taking time bomb at the PL
But there was also every lane losing and him having a lot on his shoulders. We really delivered. Yeah, he delivered
Malady delivered. I think
Both games we heard our commentary team say like on the on dying and on the why for an in this game as well Brian
Absolutely, Chinese star. Yeah, there's one guy that I don't think he bought a single support item that entire
You know once you're like 18k melody was Frank one on leaderboards for quite some time especially before he was you know when he had a reason to grind for that before he was on a tier one professional team this guy is something else when I looked at his inventory and why but I'm like
Reds, Blake, Hurricane bike.
He was well positioned throughout the course of that game.
There were a few cold embraces
that I think might have gotten Watson in trouble,
but I think that was an incredibly difficult game
for him to execute.
So I think it takes a lot of confidence to play here
like Wyvern who can effectively grief your team
in multiple different ways,
either cursing targets that you're trying to disable
or by cold embracing your own teammates
when they're trying to run away.
But his, I think his undying performance like that,
That was a class probably the best support performance
I've seen in the first eight minutes.
And I just watched Rue earlier own on that one game.
So that says a lot.
And it does say a lot.
And still, it's not enough because he is not the MVP.
I'm so sorry, Malady.
My pain maybe got a little bit robbed,
but I'm also a little bit biased towards support.
But it is Watson that gets the MVP here.
Well deserved, Alina carry game.
We did kind of see it coming as an option,
but were we truly expecting it?
Not really, if you would ask me at the start of the day,
I'm like, maybe 5% chance.
We saw it in action and I now think
we're gonna see it in action more so.
His PL, he delivered and knew what he had to do
and overall very much on the ball.
He's such a top class player
and it just makes me so happy to see him on a team
that enables him and understands him
because I feel like ever since he came
into the competitive scene, he always had it in him
He was always owning Impons, but it just never translated to professional Dota in the same way until he found his team
And it really was just a matter of chemistry and all of the pieces connecting
But having a carry that can basically do anything for you is so ideal
If you want to play fast, he will play fast if you want to pick him something like a Lena to carry flex
Guess what? He invented that like three years ago, you know, you want to pick him something to play in the ultra late game
that he can do it. So he's just owning right now. Yeah, I feel like it's his early stages
of his career. He was he was known to be the guy that was gonna have a thousand CS on
Terriblade and seeing him in here on heroes like Lena and like Mira mentioned, if he's
offering you a lot of things are struggling to find those crucial flexes in the draft
that give you the gotcha pick. And I think in game two, he was the wing condition. But
in game one, he allowed for the slaughter on chair junior to be the game winning condition.
There are a lot of teams where in theory there's something you could pick that would absolutely destroy the game
But a lot of times you have some player limitation somewhere that makes that not possible
And yeah, I really I think he's shown a tremendous growth over the years
Yeah, he also said that you think that 1w needed a little bit more time to adjust
Brian Bennett on Tuesday they'll be back in action luckily for them
And they have one extra day because I think in the survival states
They get to be seated into the second day because they get second in the group with this
So they got until Wednesday, but this is a team that we know if we can adjust and we'll adjust and will be very scary
for sure, I mean
They looked a lot better in this game too already
That was an incredibly dominant winning stage and they just had a very difficult late game scenario to be put in because when you're playing
Drawranger against PL in the late game, that's just miserable. I mean you were talking about it Brian how it's impossible
there's no item you can really buy to help you and
And with all that being said, the fact that it was that competitive at 50 plus minutes says a lot about them.
It does say a lot about them.
We can take a look at the group standings here for the group of Death Group D.
It is not completely over yet.
Right now, OGN Virtus.Pro are actually playing an incredibly important game,
because as you can see, they're tied.
Whoever wins this game too, that they are playing right now on the B stage,
Whoever wins, makes it through.
Whoever loses gets their key crushed and gets a ticket home.
It's a painful reality for them.
Yandex gets a 9-1 and 1-1 now, of course, sitting in 2nd place.
And LGD there as well in 3rd place, guaranteed after their 2-0 victory today against IC Insanity.
So that is Group D almost done, as you were able to tell.
There's no chance of tiebreakers in this group.
But of course we will wait regardless until OGNVP are done because after that is the only time
when we'll be able to show you guys the bracket and when I say show you guys there will be a
bracket reveal show so make sure you stick around. I want to hear some final thoughts on the day we
just had though. I mean obviously we sub two amazing series I do see frying it up. A little bit
biased but if we look at both series, the second series delivered a little bit more.
Yeah, I think so. I mean, at the end of the day, I think we we were saying at the start of the day that these four teams were likely going to be
Very likely going to be one of the people at the podium at the end of this tournament. And I think that today showed it, especially
I think p vision talked about the fact that they
experimented a little bit giving
No one Largo in the first game and he just wanted to try it, but then it fell flat
I really do think pVision and in the index show set themselves apart from the group right now and
Truly, I don't think any of these teams are tested to the fullest going into today
and I think that the meta was developing enough that
When we see the best teams played against each other and then they're all like now
We get a much better gauge of what is actually good with the heroes
like what are the counters that are worth being concerned about and
I think that homework that these teams have like the next day or two
You're gonna it's gonna be really important because you can't you can't afford to lose one game for free and a
Format that is so unforgiving like this one. Yeah single elimination all the way through from this point onward
It is indeed unforgiving
Do you think that it's a good thing that pVision dropped a game FV considering they haven't dropped a game before today
And Team Spirit made them drop a game and obviously they can blame it on the Largo mid
but you know sometimes
It's nice to get that check and to be able to at least experience the process of adjustment and getting better.
For sure. I mean for them, it's a good thing for them to learn, but it's also a good thing for other teams to see what works against them potentially.
They have to face off of them, but going through a group stage undefeated
isn't as good for a team as it sounds because that's usually when you have more margin for error and
you don't want to be exposed in what your weaknesses are.
far too late into the tournament.
So, P-Vision are going to learn a lot from their series today,
and they're going to apply it in the next few days or so.
And we said about all these teams
we're expecting to see them at the top.
Now that we've seen them do well,
P-Vision and Yannix, they do look very good.
We also have Falcons and NygmaGalaxy,
the other two teams that are directly seeded into the playoffs.
You have a favorite.
I'll put them on spot.
Out of all the teams.
out of the four teams that are guaranteed in the playoff record.
I'm still sticking with P vision with index in a post second.
I like the index a lot, actually.
They're they're they're really one me over.
There's nobody believes in my galaxy.
Come on. I dream to be fair.
They did. I did not fluked their way to the top of the group.
They did not.
Like they looked good in the few games that I saw them play.
Some males fitting quite well into the carry role.
And I feel like Nigma in the past always found a way to lose the game.
That was the Saturday. They put themselves in a favorable position, but something's different about this roster where they're actually closing it out, Mira.
They are, Brian. Not anymore. That Nigma does not exist.
Yeah, we forget about that one.
It's a new era.
All right, well, we're obviously going to see who takes it in our Grand Finals next week Sunday.
But right now, there's also Grand Finals happening, just not in Dota 2.
They're happening in Valorant on the STC Arena and we are going to check in with Chris, who found Jeneiro to talk about it.
We'd like to make our way into the crowd here in the STC Arena. We've got Ian Chambers yapping in my ear here, Ian Chambers, as usual.
Valorant concludes today. We just had our third-fourth place matchup going down. That was a great game.
But let me know what's going on over here on Valorant today.
Yeah, a lot of upsets I would say here in Valorant specifically, especially when we're looking at the title defenders.
which were heretics. They had a thousand club championship points last year,
but they actually winning the Valorant title. This year, however, they made it out of the group stage
just to be eliminated on that first game on the stage, which is quite painful. Vitality as well.
They got eliminated in the quarterfinals. A lot of question marks there too.
Yeah, so I suppose with all these teams, they're not on the door to side of things, but club championship
wise, these teams are expecting to be at the very, very top. But we have our finals today,
we're already good to go on that front. How do you think that's going to go down?
Yeah, it's 100 Thieves against NRG, honestly the favorites I would admittedly say would probably NRG.
They are the champion defenders when it comes to Valoran, they won that last international.
So 100 Thieves got that workout out for them. But when it comes to the grand ski machines,
I do believe that 100 Thieves has more teams competing. So for them to be able to get that first
win makes them eligible to be club championship winners because of course you need that one win,
right? That's all you've got to do. Of course, of course. Well, let's see if they're going to be
able to do it. Good championship. He's not already here in week one. We've got six more
weeks to go, though. We'll check in you, well, quite a little bit more after an hour of
emergency, but thank you very much. And we'll speak to you a little bit later. Thanks, guys.
Thank you very much, Chris and De Niro. And we are going to continue on with the Dota because
it's not yet done. We will have the bracket reveal show, but we cannot show a bracket
without OG and VP finishing their series. Keep in mind that whoever wins this game stays
in the competition whoever loses is eliminated so a lot on the line we're gonna have you watch that
game right here so you don't need to move anywhere and we'll of course be back afterwards so enjoy
OG versus VP. Complicated thanks for Raven and his growers have been a very big part of finding
some of these openings here on the side of OG. For Mentor is there the side of OG actually looking
to swing back up top as the side of VP do back off completely so what what do they want to do
with these with these ages right now i mean surely they have to look for an opportunity to
hide around the drawing lines up top and just a straightforward push it would be best to get a pick
off if you could they are smoked up i've got the refresher on the beast master as well
grab himself the alpha wolf that is a lot of damage for the terror blade and for himself
you know we'll see if they can actually find the opening mid lane ember they saw the slight
to motto this is kind of for a
house cream is nearby if you start the fight on hell scream
I feel like that would be best case scenario I didn't see each other just gonna see I mean
they're gonna like force them back I guess that's your threes about to die and well VP's
He's gonna smoke and do their own wrap around here, see what they can get.
Wifi head on into the Aegis if you can surprise them.
There's the Lincoln Sphere being replicated over.
Moonlight.
Moonlight Shadow.
And they're starting, they're going in with the gem first.
The Link to Safety, but they managed to find Skenn to start this fight.
He's gonna go down, not to me, goes right onto the motto, but he's got a lot of damage,
but there's the Roar Tuck.
He's supposed to pull him back, but he goes right into the magnetized the second roar
They need to get tomato to safety. They're trying their absolute best, but it's not enough. They've just surrounded him
He's doing a lot of you're kidding me. He still lives
Not so he's not all alone
Oh
Saberlight, how do you keep him alive?
Just way too many dis belts on hand. It's all that loathes is it's a two charges on the
The catchy lick it's just too much. So we keep you to have to play into they couldn't focus that damage down
and VP
Swing out with an 8k lead. There's no way
That's just too much. It's all good the spells. Yeah, it's standing in the middle. He gets the satanic off
They get some control get catchy like in the back right there. Say what she's always next to him giving a lick
Keeping him healthy lick again. And just all
Just not enough to kill.
I can't believe it.
It's unbelievable how much he's able to keep himself alive in turn.
All of this you have Abed and Fly just completely
ripping through the back line.
And it's just an immediate turnaround.
The high ground crumbling here for OG and it's potentially their tournament lives.
Fortification is going to come out. This is the last one that you've got.
They're looking for Abed. He has a BKB at the ready. You have to open with a stun. Terrorize, it's not going to connect.
Able to dodge it out. Their respawns are coming through. Terrorblades up in 7. They want the mega creeps, but is it too greedy to stick around?
I think VP are going to take it safe and back away.
That is just insane. That was OG.
I can't believe that happened.
O.G. with the Aegis, O.G. with the Refresh, and it just is all so good.
I like they roared the Satanic, but he is his side gunner was hidden here in spirit.
Yeah, and then they roar him again. I don't know what you do here if you're O.G.
That because we've talked about what you've had to do. You've had to look for the backline.
This Rubik was an issue earlier on. The Largo is an issue now as well.
The Largo is so strong. How are you supposed to focus on all of these heroes at once?
You have to get the Rubik or the Largo. And then Tomato just gets to do whatever he wants in the fight, which is even scarier. I don't know.
The Largo is so tanky, too. If you go onto Saberlight, it's like, what, 3.6 PHP?
Something like that, yeah.
It's just so hard to kill him. Lots of armor as well, because he's got the Lotus.
That Divine's coming for Tomato. He's got his Ag Synth available. He's just locked the Ag and Inceptor for the moment.
Just rolling on to the gold just in case.
No high ground defense has to be perfect somehow.
They know the buyback probably more important at the moment.
Ovid gets his level 25, a big pick up for him on the Ember spirit.
With the Croke of Genius he's going to be doing a lot of work in these fights.
As that refresher completed.
They're going to pop another Moonlight Shadow here on OG, see what they can find, vision
onto AWB at mid.
Telekinesis, it's going to come out immediately.
Great stun comes in from Yopaj, but he still gets the fear off.
Can they take down the Ember?
They do, Natsumi.
Doing a ton of damage on Yopaj, trying to get Hellscream.
Trying to get the roll away, he does for now.
But they're onto Tamano, the helicopter needs help, he's trying to up, but he can't do it.
They get the kill, Natsumi.
He's too damn strong, take it down fly, we'll be next.
He gets the Thunder onto Tim's Abad with an exchange able to get out for now.
This is the fight OG was looking for.
Arrow!
Oh my goodness.
I mean that's what you need to get done, right?
Like they do manage to get the control onto Abad, but that's when from Yopaj into the
back, finding the health screen, forcing him to roll away, and interrupting the backline
shenanigans. That's what allows them the isolation onto Tomato. All those saves. All you need to do is
somehow break it apart and this forcing of the health scream away suddenly played a pretty darn
big part. Table light as well. It's not the comfiest that I didn't have the mix. He was trying to save
health scream first without lick. The damage was there from Natsumi and again a nice thunder at the
And just to ensure you wouldn't die having to sacrifice is good for him, Tim.
But, OG, back in the picture, there's still 8K behind.
It doesn't feel like it, right?
Like, it feels like it's anybody's game.
Like, there's no difference here.
We're just going to go right back up the other side of the graph.
But the concern is still these racks.
Like, you've got two lanes of Supercreep shoving in.
If you've got some time until next rush on, response will be back up for it.
And I have to say heads up from tomato again holding on to that buyback not fully assembling up
Just yet, you know
Jiro's gonna be respawning here, so tomato
This size okay, maybe I don't go divine raper. He's gonna take the accent and go for
The monkey King bar instead. He's just got to get to the side shop. He's gonna hold his buyback again for now, but I
Think the butterfly from the terabyte absolutely caught them off guard
Like you don't have that evasion Pierce you don't have a way of just going through that e HP or not
So me a little bit of a smoke out quick shot as well
Everyone from streaming hello as we are going into a big fight here
It's a good time to get here tomorrow under the cover of the smoke
He's got the link ins from that Largo on top of them
They're just going to run back the other way. They're paying in the bottom lane of racks. They just need to cut the waves.
And then maybe they can threaten mega creeps, or at least force OG back into the base.
I could use ocean here, though.
Yeah, mid lane's cut. Terriblade cutting the mid lane, though, as well.
They're not going to let those minions end up towards their base.
Darius, bottom tower is under attack.
for everyone who is just joining us this is potentially the elimination one of
these teams could be going home here depending on who wins as Raven once
again continue to threaten these racks just split pushing on this beast master
with the help of the terror blade illusions it's doing a lot of work he's
gonna get him sooner rather than later I was actually forced to go back just a
tad bit that's the tier 3 falls yeah Roshan's up oh which he's got the long
Smoke around but they're gonna have to come in from the low ground. Oh
Rubik went straight across he's gonna try and take out post
It's a smart outpost take because they know Roshan's about to move but hell screams gonna get found instead and he's all alone
Cleaned it off for OG and he's dead for it 75 seconds
We've seen how big the rubik has been in these fights with these saves. Can you find more scab?
It's the leaf away for now
That call down doing some damage
The racks are exposed now, by the way, as well, right?
The tier-3 fall creeps are pushing in.
They've done a good job of just shoving the creeps away,
like they've managed to cut through
while the creep wave is running in as well.
So you've got a 50-second window,
Roshan switching sides.
OG should be able to kill Roshan in that time period.
They are setting up for that top Rosh.
They have to wait in about 10 seconds before Roshan
will get into the pit.
You do have to be careful,
because Tomato could push mid
in and threaten the mega creeps on the bottom racks.
They're going to scan.
That is a scary high ground to go into.
They've got great ward vision.
Tomato with the Lincoln's will get them on the ULs.
Gets catchy lick.
Safety number one, trying to get him out.
Four staff comes out with the Lotus.
Yopas forced the BKB.
They don't manage to connect on this.
And Rubik's coming up in about 15 seconds.
I think this is so.
Not a lot of commitment, though, from OG.
They still have plenty in the tank here.
Yeah, no BKB in the opage, it's pretty good, pretty good.
Your base, you gotta go back and address the base.
We'll get the D-Words.
Who's gonna go back and repair?
Maybe they can send them illusions, it's pretty fine.
Yeah, it's gotta be the TV illusions.
They've got to keep an eye on that Roshan, the moment that gets picked up here.
Full MKB on Tamato, that's gonna make the difference.
Yeah.
You don't quite have that yet on Otsumi.
So, Evasion pierce now up in the gyro
that should give him, again, a slight advantage
in prolonging or surviving these fights.
How much is so tense?
We said in the draft, man,
when it comes to the TV gyro matchup,
it's a coin toss, whichever team gives this hero
just a little bit more space in the fights
is the one that's gonna come out ahead.
I will say one thing though,
when it comes down to like an ultra late game scenario,
The one advantage Sharer has, it's a lot better for a Divine Reaper carrier.
That is true.
That's the one thing.
Roche slowly beginning to motto, the only one showing they've always got someone outside
to save.
There's no roar.
They have no idea.
No.
It's going to go the way of VP, O2 do not make the time, Icepath does come down to protect
it, and they will grab all the goodies.
Roche banner will be picked up by Fly in a moment.
Or not.
that that's
the light just giving it a little bit of a disco
to two lives up on tomorrow
salutes got a bkb now that's pretty huge
at least and kb is up now as well for natsumi so you can pierce through the
dryro
it's all matter of how you approach these fights now
can you actually get onto the rubik
can you actually kill off sabre light but as bkb
because if these two heroes are live
Tamato has so much space to just play his game.
There is way too many saves on the side of Virtus.Pro.
Otherwise, if you just let Tamato and Natsumi get at it,
as long as Metamorphosis is up,
the Terraplate has been looking a little bit better here.
It's just that it's not in a vacuum.
You have to think about all these other heroes.
You have to think about Rubik and that Largo,
just too much of staying, too much saves, too many dispelts.
I mean, the damage is right there.
You can see Natsumi's got it.
It's just he can't do it alone.
You have to remove that Rubik and Largo.
Is there a world?
And I think it's coming up here.
Scam is starting to itemize a little bit more as a core.
Octary next.
I would honestly like to see him shift.
I mean, magic is fine.
If this game goes long enough, like a right-click Murano would be certainly helpful in split-pushing waves.
And we're gonna find out.
They've got the banner. They can place it pretty deep here, thanks to it being the fourth Rosh.
They do have to protect it from the illusions, but this will give them time to try and siege
the high ground.
Tomorrow, pre-users flip, when he goes right up onto the high ground, Lotus protecting
him for now.
This will be the last fortification here from OG.
Top lane is pushing pretty well.
He's going to get the racks, he has to go back on off and reflected roar, trying to
Catch looking the way up and comes right back in trying to do what damage you can't with the fear
It's already caught the back line and yo pause with a huge magnetize just ripping through hell scream as well as saber like trying to get
The roll away he might survive but can they get the earth spirit he rolls back on over he's found fly
Tomato is all alone on the backside of this fight. He's gonna get lowest up trying to survive
But not sumi's coming in they need to take down this earth spirit big macro power play yo pause
he will finally burn, he has the vibe, he's not healthy at all, so some guys gonna come through, but Tamato standing his ground, and the macro just rips him apart.
The refresher from Fly, they were not aware.
Look to your force.
They're about to fix this.
And that is buyback after buyback being committed.
But that rose, Sean, making a massive difference in this fight.
They still somehow managed to hang on to the racks, which I guess is the craziest part
here for OG.
They needed to force the buyback, right?
Yeah.
It's so risky.
Natsumi really wanted that kill on Tamato, but staying right on edge of the macro pyre
kind of hesitated and going in and out.
It's so much damage.
Tamato's just going back in.
Yeah, I mean, he quickly cleans up the racks.
They know there's no fortification.
trying to test the waters on the buyback status but with this it will be
a mega creeps and you'll have a lot less opportunities to continue to rat now on
this Beastmaster.
Oh scam you need to be very careful that is a lot of damage coming through and
in comes the ember maybe. I'll catch a look to dispel
on the tier four as they go.
The VP are very close from securing their ticket to the elimination.
There's a kickback!
Hold on!
No BKB 4-11 against the Blinkout.
Magatize is going though.
Yopaj.
He can carry the fight himself, but they're afraid to chase.
They don't have their Terriblade.
They forced them out of the base.
VP can just reset.
They smoke up right away looking for their opening.
Raven would be the best choice.
gonna be close they don't have vision quite yet they're gonna back away if
they see that amp damage room it's not gonna make the fight any easier for the
side of OG on the wrong side though so might not be able to snag it before
this next fight breaks out there's no way you're slowing this out for the next
ages as well inside of VP unless this fight goes really really bad somehow
still holding on for the divine gold on a tomato the ember is checking for the
rune right now so he's gonna get that amplified damage I mean it's great on
ember right it doesn't need to go on to tomato no no Abed coming in right now
they get the vision on the Raven the poleback what a play can he get the
safety of the DKB only a few more seconds the missile is gonna connect but
Oh, he gets the blink out.
That essence distiller.
Very good scouting on the high ground.
That was so close.
You just have to be so careful.
OG so far behind now.
VP, again they've got mega creeps advantage.
They can pick and choose what they want to do.
Two minutes left, two and a half minutes until we see that roach timer coming.
It doesn't feel necessary, but again, so much on the line that you really want to risk it.
You still got buybacks anyhow.
It's not necessarily have to wait for the safety net to roach.
Oh gee, and they're going to have to work hard to find some mistakes here.
It's just so hard to play this game.
Again, you've got to find Saberlight, you've got to find Health Scream,
easier said than done, all these lifts, all these catchy licks.
Just giving Tamar there so much room to play his own game.
Even Fly would like the refresh or like that did so the the second macro pie just instantly ruined Natsumi
Who is already hesitating that fight you can't move out of that. No
It's a nasty amount of pure damage to kind of deal with 20k lead for Virtus. Pro as they've got the map in their control
They are really just one step away from staying on stage
Very quick response from him gets the jump out of there
The lines are drawn they know keep the lanes pushed keep og locked inside their base
There's any org that doesn't enjoy these kinds of games it is or would you so you do have that I mean this is
par for the course.
Yeah, that is true.
I do feel like it is.
Just a matter of what wacky things can you do in this game.
It's in the nature of both the teams.
I suppose.
You've got tier 5s coming up in a few minutes, so that optimism with some of the baubles.
Well, we do hit our first tier 5s.
So baubles, you might get some value here and there.
You've got the heart being farm there by teams.
Heart being far. There's the rapier. There's all right. It's finally here. Okay, pull out the butterfly
I mean make sense, right? You've got an MKV. Yeah
Double Lincoln's fear is being picked up as well. This just feels impossible
I mean all that is Lincoln's and a on this plus the refresher and Largo at all times plus health
It's so hard to find the initiation on the side of OG, but it's not impossible. We've seen them do it before
Yeah, it just it requires so much patience and like so many things to go right. You've got to be so
What a roast on literally max three minutes on the dot and that's uh, suppose that's in favor of OG
I mean, I don't know whoever just wanted to see a long game. We're in for it
Come on get some tier fives up or I'm some jungle camps
I mean, what are we looking for here in terms of tier five items? I mean Stygian for gyro. I'd imagine
Yes same a terabyte most likely
Yeah, I would say maybe
There's an argument for
Minotaurus horn as well just to have another dispel. Yeah, that's bkb's are a certain shrink down
so
Very dicey call is they're all forming for their tier fives
There's a domain ones. I don't know if you really have a use for like which vein
It's like Harmonizer for the Ember spirit. That's a really big one.
Harmonizer is always good for the Ember, that's true.
Even Earth Spirit, but none of the damage really would wow.
Suppose it could be, your Murana would also enjoy a Stygian,
but if you already got one in the T-beat,
and you're probably looking at, probably a Witchbane actually in the Murana,
just having a Dispel on hand on your support would be pretty nice.
See how many people keep bobbling here.
Shadow Prison, huh?
Uh, probably not in many options there for
the Timbs.
Good old Dizzoon blood for Jekiro.
I'm standing.
That's a good one.
Oh, and Hellscream is bobbling.
We're ready.
We're in for the long haul.
A spell amp.
Is it cool?
That's right.
And on you, Polish, what are we getting?
In his bubble.
I mean, it's not good.
We got pretty much everything you could want
on the side of VP in terms of your jungle items.
All they have to do is really just march into high ground at some point.
They are going to sit out here and wait for O'Shawn, John.
It's going to be another minute of this.
Yeah.
It's nice.
It's good for you.
I mean, look.
When your tournament lives are online, you do not want to mess up in any way.
You know?
Yeah.
Walking high ground and giving a rapier to TB is a really good way to lose.
Yeah.
It's like what I like to say.
Never underestimate your ability to throw a game.
Hey, Terror Wave is online.
it's been a while since I've seen that one it's been quite a while at least
getting the secondary metamorphosis is nice the fear could be useful too how
useful we'll have to wait and see you're just gonna be hanging around fallen
sky for Raven so you've got a little bit more mobility on a beast master to very
least this is some high-end gameplay from Southeast Asia all right there's the
The Stygian for the Terrablade gets Fleetfooted as well, so it allows him to be quite fast.
And the Harmonizer for the Ophage, that's a great one for the Earthspear.
He's going to be very happy to have that.
Pity about leaving the bobble, but that's what it is.
He wants damage, and he wants it now.
Yeah.
Relish on, respawns, they knew it had to be soon.
It's losing health and quick.
They're going to bait the roar, head right up onto the high ground.
OG.
Let's see if OG walk headlong into them.
That is so scary.
Hal Scream is here.
They got vision attempts.
He steals his talking approach on time so fast.
They are going to get everything.
Refresh, Shard and Fly again.
Double Makropire.
Caught them off-guard last time.
Don't know if they're really ready for it.
They're going to play some warrants on the high ground
and see what they can do.
Tomato, ready to go.
Second divine rapier if you want it.
And here comes the smoke.
I mean, you just sent Obed onto the high ground to scout, surely, right?
Yeah, why not?
With the end, I still have very low risk.
Just get that information going.
Obed's hanging back though.
They're hoping to find someone outside of base.
At work.
Almost. Tier 4, very low.
You could sneeze on it and it would die at this point.
Pretty much.
VP.
They still okay, so their fortification has refresh, which is big holder on the high ground to motto
Protected of course by the Largo here comes a bit
Lots of damage here off the Ember Spirit forcing them back into the base the throne now exposed
Patience play here from VP
Highbacks for the whole team, but only three for the side of OG a single mistake could cost them everything
BKB comes out, Yopaj, he goes for the kill, he doesn't get it!
He has to roll away!
The telekinesis save will bail him out, I don't even know what just happened!
It looks like he got him on the inch and put something didn't quite connect, and now Yopaj is all alone!
He has no buyback, that's 125 seconds!
The tear away fears them off, but...
They just get pulled to safety!
It's just too much in the backline.
It's been the consistent issue for OG.
If you don't find that Rubik or Largo, you're just really not going to find anything.
He's on the throne.
Tomato wants to end the game.
He knows he's got plenty of backup here, Natsumi.
That meta freshly popped.
You've got to respect it.
There's so much damage.
They jump in, Tomato with his flip fling, tries to pop it,
but he just gets shredded, Natsumi on a different level.
He's gonna have that second life,
but no satanic available.
Does have the BKB at the ready.
They could try to dive, force the kill,
Ogun Natsumi, he's falling low, has to Sunder,
if he wants to keep himself in this one, the throne.
Still exposed, but they have that fortification.
Tomato just kills him off the flex.
Go buy back right away.
Savorite caught off inside, Tomato's gonna pop it,
They gave it, they're trying to get the kill, but the throw is not enough.
They're gonna go down, VP, maybe ending the life here for OG.
We're gonna have to check the brackets, but they are safe now, and we'll move forward to the next stage.
Yeah, outstanding play coming out from VP, unfortunate for OG, who again have had a little bit of a rocky time overall.
Trying to find our identity, they managed to get through qualifiers, they managed to get here based on their EPT points,
but they don't manage to stay for too long as VP have proven themselves to be the better team.
Look, they execute on this draft really well. They managed to play around.
Quite nice. Actually, their execution here was just so on point. And I have to say,
Savorite has just been looking amazing. Like, he's always been a great player,
I think no matter what team he's on. But him making the Largo look good,
and that takes a lot of effort. And he certainly made that hero look like an absolutely broken
unit in that game. Just all these catchy licks, all these ways of dispelling, all these ways
of bailing out your team, it felt impossible for OG. It felt like you had no play because
of how much backline save you had along with Hellscream.
Yeah, and Hellscream, I mean, Rubik is one of his best heroes, and this is definitely one of those
games that kind of highlighted it. He was able to just always save Tomato. They had a couple times,
times right on OG where they managed to win some fights and start to turn the game around.
I think they did a really good job on Raven, constantly split pushing.
I don't know what happened in that final initiation.
It looked like he got the Enchant Remnant, but then somehow Tomato didn't get enchanted.
I don't know what went on there.
It looked very odd because it definitely went on cooldown, so I'm not sure.
We used the Unfort, I don't think you're something like that.
And Mike has just been super unfortunate.
I don't really know.
I mean, we'll have to look at it another time.
But that was, maybe we'll see it in the highlights.
But mayhaps.
That is one of those things where it's like,
Yo-Paw's risked everything for that.
He went in to try and get the In-China Remnant kickback.
And it just, something went wrong.
Yeah.
Didn't quite pay off.
And again, at that point of the game, though,
it just felt like you had to get everything right here
in order to find that hope of a win for the side of OG.
really rough go for them. I think, you know, if they just, it feels like, you know, if
you're OG, you're looking back, maybe game one should have tried something else with
a draft. If they ran a draft like this, if they gave him something like the Beast Pass
from game one, then you might not be in this situation. You might be, you know, clear caught,
sailing through into the survival stage, aren't quite the case. Just so much back and forth
could say it was a very patient game as well, Ricky. Kind of like we were, what, at 24 kills
of 42 minutes, like both sides were just very conservative, didn't want to make mistakes,
didn't want to allow, you know, any opportunity to lose out on making it true on the survival stage,
and they, Virtus.Pro, again, they just had way more, way more tools to have to save.
They really made that larger look faster. I mean, you can see that the two fights that OG
almost won, it's them getting the initiation, like in this one, for instance, they get the
initiation onto Hellscream, they isolate fly, they isolate Tomato and then we're like, okay, OG's back,
right? Like this, this is how they win the game, but when you're just sitting the whole team behind
your Jirocopter and Abed can go in, create tons of chaos on the back line, it's so hard to play
this game and I gotta give credit, right? Like, OG, they held out as long as they could, but VP
was the better team today and getting the, this was the series. You said at the very beginning,
They have to get a 2-0. There's no other option if they want to stay in the tournament.
They had to get the 2-0 and they showed up today and they managed to get it done.
Yeah, I have to say as well, like, this refresh on Fly getting destroyed every time, like,
you know, like, not too, he's just walking back and forth figuring out what am I supposed to do?
Am I going to try to kill this driver copper in a macro par? And then when the second macro
par comes in, it's just, he's fully committed, gets up there, zoom in blood right as well.
Like, every team could ask for it, he AOE, it's just impossible. You can see just again how pumped
the stuff decided Virtus.Pro is as they get to stay alive. It's the survival stage. It's a long
journey for the side of VP, but it's looking better here to close out in the EPT and the
Esports World Cup for the side of Virtus.Pro for sure, Ricky. I mean, it's a long time coming
for these guys. They've been putting in the work and there's been moments where we saw in this
group stage where they looked really good, but we always talk about can you consistently perform
like that through the group stage to make it to the next time. And so, having to say, we've got an
interview here with Fly. How you feeling, man? This has been a stressful couple hours.
Yeah, it's been crazy. The series was crazy. We knew what today is going to be like, you know,
it's do or die for us. Obviously, we've been shaky, you know, just various pros, some inconsistency,
but I'm really glad we showed up today. I think they also showed up, especially Game 2. They
made the game super hard for us, so it was a good series, I think.
John, I'm going to let you start this one off, because I know you've got a lot to talk about, too.
I'm so curious, Fai. You know, coming in, you said it's been a rocky year.
What were the expectations like for Virtus.Pro overall?
Because you are a team, and you're a captain that knows how to guide a team's accidents,
but, again, it's been a touch and go. What was the expectations this year?
We honestly came in and we just said there's no expectations.
Unfortunately, we lost TI balls, and it was a down moment for us for sure.
We were sad for a couple of days, and then we sort of decided to talk all together, like,
hey, you know, like, we just want to come here and play our best, whatever results happen,
happen.
You know, we know we're not going to beat, like, these tier one teams easily, but if
we play without any pressure and just play our A game, we can definitely take games off
people.
And I think it shows sometimes.
Today was thankfully one of them, so no expectations, for sure.
Fair enough.
I'm curious, what was that journey like for VP in terms of, you know, changing throughout the year?
Like, what's different from VP now to, you know, at the start of the season?
At the start of the season, we had some different players. We had a little change up midway, and I think we've been growing as a team.
I do believe we've gone better, but we've never quite hit where we wanted to as a team.
So it's been like a bit of a rollercoaster. You know, sometimes we're like, oh my goodness, we can really like own some of these games
we have a lot of trust sometimes like a performance is not there trust is lost it has to be built up
again teams are complicated there's so much ebb and flow that goes on through that and so many
different dynamics it's been a rocky but fun year and i'm really hoping you know we have a good run
this tournament and just passing through this group stage is already a big win for us i think our
group was hella hard not gonna lie really was among the harder ones um were there any surprises for
for you, like any heroes that you think came out that you guys weren't ready for or didn't
expect, any teams that you think did better than you'd expect overall besides yourself?
I think a lot of what you would expect happened. I think one win put on a really good show
because the last couple tournaments they weren't as strong but now they're like back on form
ready for EWC, ready for TI. So that was a bit of a question mark coming into our group
But I could tell from practice, they were already good.
Obviously, you know, people don't get to see that, but nothing too crazy.
You know, Yandex destroyed us.
That was a fun one.
I mean, everybody, I wouldn't take it personally.
They absolutely bulldozed this group.
So I think their average game, like average win time was like sub 30 minutes.
So yeah, it's not not on you guys.
That just happened to everybody.
Yeah.
Um, so I would say like going into game two, you said they made this game
super hard for you. You guys seem to have a lot of, I would say a lot of agency and how you could
control the flow of these games. What was it about OG and Game 2 that made this so difficult?
So specifically I would say they had like Beast and TB, so they kept pushing in waves, you know
Ghost push, like Lusion's pushing waves, gore, summons, whatever, and so we were never able to
to like fully close out the map.
And it's something actually that we got better
after losing to Yannix,
like we played against their Enigma twice
and we kept sort of faltering through this kind of pressure.
We looked at those replays
and we took something from it.
And I think if we haven't lost to Yannix the way we did,
we actually were not win today.
I think we did a much better job of not
bringing too many heroes back on the map
and like reacting to the pressure where, you know,
they're gonna jump on the pushed wave
with some Beastmaster and TB.
They caught us a few times, but overall we were able to go behind Tomato and cause our own pressure points.
That was amazing. This was a heck of a series to end the group stage.
You guys, like you said, you had to come in today and show up and you did, so obviously big congratulations.
We're always happy to see you guys push forward and continue to improve, and that's the best we can hope for in the elimination stage.
Fly, thank you so much for joining us as always, and hopefully we'll talk to you again soon.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Boy, oh boy, what a day.
We've got the grand finalists of EWC 2025 here joining us today.
We've got Falcons, and we've got Team Spirits.
This should be a fun conversation for at least one of you guys,
I suppose, to talk about the grand finals again.
But both of you guys have been in a lot of grand finals.
So the first question is, how do you
prepare mentally for being in a big finals?
answering problems you shave your head apparently that's that's your go-to is
but I don't know it's like basic game in I don't know not much prefer to play
this one yeah it's just millions of dollars not a big deal sometimes sometimes
like just playing very best basic money to shake your hands had something like
this for me no I mean probably better the best not to think about yeah
Yeah, you draw?
Yeah, I totally agree with my Q&A.
Ask me if there's a mountain in Vegas.
Alright.
Well, there's not a really specific preparation.
Just you try trying to get the best rest you can.
I mean, I'm considering sleep and then kind of just like,
at least I'm like lying down on my team that they're having a good preparation
as a draft twice and you just,
I'm just going to do as best as I can, usually, and pretty much.
Ma?
Well, first of all, you start by panicking, because you're playing Grand Finals.
You're a human being, and then...
I mean, he's always panicking against spirit.
That's, like, pretty much...
Yeah, it's like default.
If I see spirit, I panicking, like, automatically.
Because I know they can one time become the best team in the world, if it's possible.
So that's the preparation.
One time, PicoDefo collapsed.
Or if you could be her collapse.
You panic, it's grand finals.
Wait, when are you panicking?
You panicking the night before?
You panicking right before you go on stage?
No, I panic the moment I know my grand finals opponent.
At the start of the tournament.
Because Spirit ended the tournament.
Yeah, but...
Well, suppose when I play against them.
So I panic before.
Then I panic all the way.
Then I sit down and it's about to play.
You know, it's about to play? Okay.
Chill. It's time to play Dota.
That's all I need to think.
No more millions, best in the world, all this massive garbage.
Don't be confused.
Okay, so did you have that panic at TI for Extreme?
They weren't Spirit, so...
No, at TI it was more chill.
More chill?
No, no, no. I was actually...
Remember, I was panicking when we knew that we were going to play Spirit for elimination game?
Well, that's the way. You guys...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was playing...
When I was getting outside for like two hours till like 3am and I'm always keep crying holding his hand
on the head and just saying we're gonna play the spirit, it's a misery.
The destiny has been decided, we're gonna do something like that.
No, we also have this fun story that we're not gonna play Falcons.
First time we see we're gonna play against some heroic, as I remember.
And sometimes in one to two hours they say, okay, play against Falcons, and we say, oh, okay,
like an elimination game against Falcons, always fun, we're like, okay, we're like some players
like disappointed because of this, like, why did they change, but they take it and lose it.
That's all.
It's sad, but true.
All right, so it's been a year since the finals.
What has changed about you guys?
would have changed about your team, would have changed about your mentality, you're
still panicking. Did you panic coming into this knowing it was a podcast with spirit?
No, there's no collapse.
No collapse? Okay.
So what's changed for you guys? I mean you guys are a lot more player, right?
We changed a lot of players. We changed two coach.
coach, then five, then four. So a lot of changes ahead. So new year, new us, I would say.
Not the same. Like these Falcons probably the same old stuff. They became all team,
all the same. But we really changed. Not a bit like a lot of change. But at least we have Miposhka.
I was about to say bringing back Miposhka. Was that nice? It was a nice reunion.
All ducks in town. All ducks is back.
Well, I mean, while you guys have stayed the same, you guys have been the same, you guys are the longest running roster.
Yeah, and you're asking us about something new. I mean, so, I mean, surely something has got to change year over year. Your TI camps now.
Well, the mindset really changed. It's just more like less stress, generally. I mean, except for more, right?
Right.
Pretty much. I mean I wouldn't say and actually something changes like it's
just replaying tournament to tournament like I'm more getting excited is getting
like tierings I'd say and the Riot is like I mean I still respect Riot as a
tournament and I generally like to play but it's generally like let's be honest
like TI is like more as a achievement is like people respect more sure because
because you're writing down your name, right, and you're just like, it's a second, so I'm
more going to be prepared for TI than this.
That's fair.
Ma?
Nothing changed for you?
Well, a lot changed.
We're not going to pick some King, Prime, and Shaker, because there's some reasons this
year for garbage.
So there's a big problem, my mid laner cannot play as Dota heroes.
I cannot pick Razor and Mars, because I don't know what Valve decided to not give them
facets.
I think next time just take the photo of the screams and just like live here.
Yeah, I would pick Necrophos.
It's fun.
They can know.
We did talk about your hate for that hero.
Hate?
Yeah.
I love Necrophos.
I asked you about you were playing Offlane into that perishing.
Oh yeah, of course I hate Necrophos.
Of course I hate Necrophos if it's a game play.
I would pick him to the perishing every game.
But if you're playing it, it's all good.
It's the best hero.
The best fit, I just follow. I win any lane. But nothing really changes inside the team.
It's just the same team, five NPCs, one NPC on coach.
We're just going to come, robots, try hard and play a game.
When we lose, we're going to disband. If we win, we're going to...
Decrease chance of disband.
Okay, okay. Might still disband.
Yeah, yeah.
Maybe pull an EG, just kick one person.
No, there's none.
Okay, disband entirely. Fair enough.
We've got the grand finalists of EWC 2025 here joining us today.
We've got Falcons, and we've got Team Spirit.
We'll start with you guys.
How do you deal mentally with getting second place?
I mean, I always say I'd rather not get second place.
I'd rather have, like, third or fourth.
You're right.
I mean, the third is like the best, because, like,
at least you're getting to the last day.
But you're not getting the second which is like one step before getting to win.
So I would rather actually have third place.
I'm grateful to be second.
I don't know what these people say.
Everyone says that they don't know I'm second.
I'm grateful.
Give me that final day.
Give me the grand finals.
Yeah, I just want to be in the grand finals.
I can get so close to winning.
It's all fine.
I can win.
They're all good things.
Now obviously, if you lose the grand finals and it's your fault, now that's when it hurts the most.
Right. But it is your fault, usually.
It was only one tournament, it was last time four. We lost against Tundra because I grieved on Mars.
And died to level four hoodwing, as level ten Mars, minute ten.
So that one, it's in my head, but generally I'm still grateful and blessed, I'm second place.
More money.
That's true more money. That's all that's always a good one
You guys have not had many second places
You guys have that one at Arlington major?
No, we have a lot of Arlington, Wallachia
Did they go to Freetown's second place?
Yeah, in this?
Okay, that's true. I forgot
I'm more agree with maybe Maureen also like maybe third, four or more
It's always like a lot of commutation where we lose, all this stuff, Grand Final and it's always hard for me.
So maybe better to not go to the Grand Final and lose.
It's hard anyway, but maybe it's better to not go.
If you lose four plays, five, six, it's okay.
If you lose a final, it's always depressed.
Even us as a team, because everyone is depressed.
Not a single person, like, okay, guys, it's fine.
Not everyone is depressed. Everyone feels it.
So that's why.
I see a trend here. I see a trend.
Okay, final question.
Who do you think are going to be the two finalist teams this year?
EWC 2026.
Mr. Gilles DeGeneres and Vanuil.
That's...
Final is at the last.
I would aim for Pavi plus.
Pair is going to be like Aurora or...
I mean, Nightfall has to like get at least with the final.
Of course, I aim for that.
But he's not probably not going to win, like I always do.
Surely he's going to break that curse at some point.
At some point, but it doesn't mean it's easier.
Okay, so yeah, pretty much.
I would say I remember it was going to be like third place, probably.
What is going to be final?
If they're going to get the Colossus, if not, there's going to be like some LGD plus potential Astrospeed.
Hmm, okay. Oh, actually yandex. I've heard yandex against especially just gonna be in final
Amar easiest thing Aurora against spirit one of them has to be a three times real masters winner
That's true. One of them in like a marora. I don't have mirror. No, I mean near is like faking
All right, what about you guys who do you think the finals are gonna be we'll start with you
Yeah, I would say Yandex for sure and some random tier.
Some random tier?
The second one, yeah.
Do you think the playing field is pretty even between most of the top teams?
Yeah, I think so.
So it's just a bit of luck and a bit of menop?
Why Yandex?
Maybe for the local player?
Over everybody else.
It's just good.
It's better than others.
Yeah.
6-7.
6-7.
You also pulled the 6-7 meme on me.
I asked him, I was like, has this made it to Russia?
He said no.
We just know the meme.
I said, okay.
Well, it's a very little bit.
Okay, very well.
Actually, I'm going to use the strategy for the next time.
All right.
Well, this was our podcast for the finals of EWC 2025.
Thank you, they all agree with me, thank you very much, because I'm the host and you have to agree with me.
Thank you for watching and we'll see you guys next time.
Hello everyone, this is Seb, we're here for the French food tasting with Nisha and Boxy.
I guess I have to say sorry for what's about to happen.
We prepared a bunch of stuff for you guys.
I'd say pretty common, pretty riskless and then there is very risky trap cards.
You don't have to try anything you don't want to.
don't want to there's sweets and there is you know rather cheese side you want
to start with the sweet and then you start with sweet okay okay that's
actually smart as long as you finish the sweet yeah so that you don't leave this
room anything you feel like trying and I
wanted this yeah I mean just by the look is there something that's a feeling I
I think I like macaroni, but I didn't try them many times, so I'm always down.
Maca, this is a classic. I think you have chocolate, strawberry, and probably vanilla the last time.
They look nice. Do you want to try one?
But they are made with egg, yes.
Yeah, yes. So you can try it.
No problem.
I'm not going to try anything.
I love them.
Any... you rate it?
I like it. Eight out of ten.
Eight out of ten?
Are they sweet or dry?
No, because when I was a kid, there was this arcade place.
They gave us a bunch of like 10 year old macarons they couldn't sell.
And I was like, this is the hardest thing I've ever eaten.
Okay, no, it's not something I do either.
No, no, okay.
I think the sweetest they are, usually the cheapest in a way.
I think like the best macarons is like when it's very nicely balanced
or you don't feel like it's overwhelming, tastes sweet.
No, okay.
Okay, what else? Another sweet or?
I'm down for like some cheese.
Forget the business, okay.
So this one is the softest.
You take one, you can dip in it.
It's also cheese.
It is cheese. It's very soft.
I think...
I'll take a bread.
Yeah, I think no risk with this one.
I'm having a good time.
I'm trying the bread.
Eat lunch.
I like the bread.
Yeah, welcome to France.
What is this?
Pan baguette?
I think it's rather Italian, these kind of things, like they have this crispy...
Yeah.
You pass this one.
We'll tell this level one.
Oh, I like it.
Okay, step one is fine.
Step two would be compé.
You know, in France, you have two kinds of cheese, I guess.
It's the kind of hard paste and then softer or creamy.
This one is very typical.
Not very flavorful, I guess.
So you could try it with no risk.
So you would put this on like a sandwich.
Or you could just eat it like that, or bread,
or you can put it in a sandwich.
They're just like cheese bites.
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you can have bread, or I think for the,
what you call them, like the kounisser,
if you want to cut it in half,
or if you're going for a full, up to you.
And you're not eating anything?
No, I'm fine, so of course I'm not eating anything.
Yeah, you can have mine here.
I mean, it's fair enough.
If you want to, of course, no pressure.
No, no pressure.
No, I kind of feel like I have to.
Okay, well, we'll stop it now if I'm eating too much of that shit.
Was it good?
It's not too hard, this, right?
It's okay. Not bad, sorry.
How strong is it on a scale of 0 or 10?
I want to know where I can take you.
I feel like I can say like a 7 at least.
It's a 7.
It's like, come back. Isn't it like in France?
Because compared to the next two, it's a 2 or 3.
No, no, the cheeses are like blue, green.
No, we didn't. No. I mean, this one is close.
Yeah, okay.
Then you have Camembert.
Camembert.
But this one is a little bit old, so it's much stronger than what it can be when it's younger.
Like intentionally old.
Or like...
I don't know.
Or if you've been on this table for a couple of hours and gone, it's from last year.
You can try it.
This is from the tournament in 2011, I can't believe it.
You had it in your fridge.
Yes.
I never opened it.
I'll try another fridge.
What's your fridge?
I'll try another one.
I'm trying a lot of it.
Outside the holding, in the sun.
No, bitch.
It's so strong.
Yeah, it is so good.
I like it.
It's good.
So you see, if you give this one a seven,
what do you give this one?
A level.
This one was like a nine.
It hit me hard.
Okay, it hit your ass.
It's cool.
I like it.
Just wait a few hours when you feel a bit dizzy,
then you know what it is.
This is good.
Put something in the food.
Good luck for you guys in the practice, too.
Okay, then the strongest is this one.
The monster.
So in French, it's actually a coincidence
that it sounds like monster in English
has nothing to do with monsters.
It's called Maste in French, which is just the name.
Do you feel like trying it?
Or is it too much of a stretch?
I can maybe cut like a super small piece.
You don't have to.
I think it doesn't look appealing to me.
Yeah.
And it tastes exactly as it looks.
I think I'll skip that one.
Okay.
Let's have another bite.
I'm testing another bread.
You want to try it?
I'm testing a bread.
Very wise choice.
I would like to say,
I'll try it later.
Mm, it's good.
This is the last cheese, yeah?
Yeah.
I actually don't know what this is.
Yeah, yes, it is sweet and then you have the sweets that you haven't tried. What is this? Oh, this is the
Mini sausage on Justin Bieber. I got a try it. Yeah, of course. I think you like it
It looks kind of weird though, and then you can dip it in you just
Actually some already tried that I've never seen it before but
Happens
It's not a thing but you can try
No, this is a good sound.
I mean, after the cheese, good 7.
It happens, it happens.
The cheese is getting to them.
You're getting dizzy yet?
You can take my plate.
It's pretty good.
Then back to dessert.
Typical French biscuit, I guess.
Your typical lunch box when you're a French kid and you're going to school.
Who's the guy on it?
Old school French students, you know.
Like they were dressed like this.
That's how they look like?
I guess so.
Is that your uniform when you went to school?
No, I came too late.
too late but maybe a couple of hundred years ago I would have looked like that
this one should be good no and you can also eat the biscuit with all the
chocolate you have two versions of it but yeah I have this a bubkan like every
time okay yeah it's good yeah it's good but you have it with like tea or with
milk or with coffee or no I don't know
I would love all the things but this one is good this one this one is probably my
favorite and out of them. They're not of any all nice. Then over there you have
it's called Madeline. This is very French typical, this one over there.
Is there anything inside? No. You can cut just a small part of it if you want to try it.
I'm kind of full already but that never stopped you. It did!
Is it like vanilla cream or something? Like what's it called? I think there's vanilla.
Maybe it's just a flavor. It's not stuffed with anything inside.
and
that was made up you just made that up dp lcds one in china as we have two
words in the front line very smart
that tournament
and i could you not michael back me up in this
that tournament would determine
first pick second-pick radiant dire
by a one-to-one meant
we had to do that every single time some of those one view one minutes went for
twenty minutes
it was the most crazy thing
well that's a really good way to artificially extend your entire day
uh...
my life is artificially extended
on any level it's either any blocks going on
looks like both sides is there no blocking
no block maybe you can't block
i have no idea maybe that's the rules no blocking maybe no blocking alright just
so if you let the creeps leave where they lie
see how these races go?
nice hit from Abed already
hit from Tylong
range creep can you get the deny here?
Abed does secure
one mango forced out, Abed copping a little bit more damage here
you got the third raise actually
also a third raise
oh! Abed!
throw the double blood grenade, do it
no deny as well
Tylong already copying the better end of the trades here, 3 to 2, getting most of the
raises to stick, top it already to 1 mango, top it to 1.
We should really get rid of the SF mid and do something like tree and protector, really
pick up, you know?
Something like, in absolutely insane, I'm telling you, we should randomize a tree hero
pool, let the players ban out one each and the one that's unbanned is what both players
will play.
That's it, that's the only modification I'd make.
I think that would be pretty hype.
Can you imagine a double IOMid trying to get first blood on Cheddar trying to siege?
Still very stable Tylong, again edging out here early on, six to three.
Abed lagging a little bit behind.
Down to just the one, still on the one we'll look for.
I don't think I blame the lag here.
There's no way you blame the lag.
I don't think you blame the lag.
There's no excuses.
Tylong.
You're doubling down on it.
I'm gonna have that really advantage again, first two kills.
Cool.
Playing it safe still.
He's got the- okay, so he was holding his raises here, waiting for the level three timing.
He's gonna prevent Abed from getting it off the same wave, which is pretty big.
Alright, yeah, here's the problem.
So Abed really has to hold the distance here, cannot afford to come back to the wave.
No.
Nice to wait for that debuff to disappear.
The stack damage.
Uh-oh.
Level three now up on Abed as well, but...
It's hard to get tricky.
No chip damage onto the tier one at the very least.
I mean, I feel like he's never go down to towers.
I don't think I've ever seen SF mid come down to a tower kill.
Even on the longest ones, I think the longest one we've had in one of the dream leagues
must have gone for like 20 minutes.
And I think in the end, it was like Bob dancing around like a maniac.
So that was something.
You know what's definitely not coming down to a tower kill in 1v1 mid?
What?
You know that that is pretty right. I take that
You know what what else are the most unhinged 1v1 mids techies 1v1 mid sounds pretty fun?
I
Feel like it's it's less unhinged than it used to be right? Yeah
I mean techies mid is kind of like a pub stomper who surfs smurfing it really does a lot
But in an equal you know to equal players and techies 1v1 mid that sounds pretty fun to watch
Then again, it could also just devolve to like reactive taser run in reactive each other inside
Oh, oh, oh, he's really hurt in nineteen to seven nine to one, so he's had three salves now
Well, I know that's kind of how this goes right like you just buy a regen
Well the blood made
Tyler no matter
He's got the mana. He's got the one mango. He was looking for it, but oh
No, they're blood grenade. Okay, get some with the fairy fire nice bait
Abed, despite being down literally half the CSS, asserting some dominance here as he hit level 4.
Stretching it out, already salved up on Tai Lung, getting a bit of a reset.
Still have the two mangos in Abed, just the one mango in Tai Lung.
But again, this EXP and slight gold advantage for resources is going to feel a lot better for Tai Lung overall.
This ramp up into 5, maybe you start to see again some good raises coming in.
raises coming in I would like to see some of them start to play around with
What's it called that value point?
That weird active where your souls go feast of souls has it. I was surprised. Okay, I actually quite like it
It's it's super value think about a turkey attack speed for free
You just waste souls in a 1v1. It doesn't matter. You're not thinking long term here over the armor with value point and
Presence of the Dark Lord is really good, but investing more points. I find oh for an aggressive play
What do you want those Feast of Souls?
Level 3 Raze.
Tylung, very spooky.
Abed, patiently waiting.
Blood Grenade on the Flarity.
Well, he actually got it. That's pretty good.
I mean, Tylung has a lot more stats.
He's got the full Bracer done.
I'm just a difference in the net worth, uh, already adding up.
I mean, it is a big difference. 33 to 14, 12 to 1.
Ah, but it's just not been having too much to play with here.
Tylons aiming for the late game, that's 60 minute...
Tier 5 item timing, right? That's what we're aiming for here.
No neutrals, cause you can't farm neutrals.
Ah, no, no, you just, you just think a leprechaun comes out of the ground and...
Ah, yes, yes, yes.
...lets you pick from the bag.
You gotta kill it first.
Yes.
It has like 2,000 HP.
You'll get there.
Now, six now on Tylong as a Valdeepoint in the Repium.
Oh, oh, oh, he's going for the dive.
He's got the Blood Grenade, forts the tower, he's got him.
Tylong gets the kill.
All right, it's one up.
Just one more to go for Tylong.
I bet he's going to get a reset at the very least.
No, we're in.
Don't do it.
There you go.
All good.
Not backpacking the Bracer.
Kind of cringe.
No, it's pretty base.
He's like, I don't need to be efficient.
I just need to be better.
That is, you know, that is a valid strategy.
Now, I have seen someone actually come back and win.
Yes, it has happened.
It won't be one minute, despite being down a kill.
It's not the end of the world.
Oh, my God, the net worth.
OK, that's not good.
Yeah, but Abbot's been eating his nut for it, you know?
I guess at this point.
Level four raise.
I feel like that's OK.
Well, he whiffed.
Hold up.
Come on.
No, I would still trying to hit little
Oh, the blood grenade to cancel the salves. Okay. Okay.
Obed sick play on the comeback.
This is where it all is.
He's going to walk base now. He might have to.
I mean, he will.
And that's going to be recovery for Obed.
Right. He's going to be able to talk some exp.
Just hit the tower.
Yeah. If he just hits the tower down, that could be one way to win out in this.
He's going to drag the wave.
All he's going to try leave those ruins alone.
Very nice.
Is there a really smart way to deny as much XP as possible?
Are you allowed to TP in this mode?
Yeah, you can.
Fair enough. Fair enough.
I'm gonna say yes, because you just did it.
Not because I was confident at all.
No, we did see Abadir as well, yeah.
See, Abad...
He can still struggle in a little bit in terms of EXP, but...
It's got the creep wave drag all the way back with the Released.
Who needs items when you have Nangos, you know?
Now, for sure.
Dude, he's going for the dive.
He's going for the dive.
He's got the boots he wants to
I bet pretty good
Nice gets the freq we have
He has well he has 20 so
Dude this is
Okay, Ty long
Totally totally planned. He's fine
More salves coming out now. It's gonna go for the full reset
My lungs gonna get that bonus
solo exp solo gold
Double bracer, full wand, tower just getting seeded away.
Good luck keeping it.
No requiem, if Tylon sees him, he can channel a requiem yourself.
Obid can he get the raises?
He's got him.
He's actually gonna get him.
He's very dead.
He's got the flood grenade.
Oh my god, here we go.
One to one.
We're back.
Greedy there from Tylon to play so aggressive.
And he wanted the tower, he wanted some sort of angle, 20 seconds to respawn.
Here's the thing though, Abad has committed a lot of resources for this.
Yes.
Tyloin is going to come back full health with all his items.
Yes.
Tranquil boots, alright that's kind of cool.
Feast of Soletons of Tower, look at it, half HP.
He's owning.
Ah, but he did go for the level 2 presence of the Dark Lord, legitimately I think in
1v1 mid you just need the one value point and they're not going for more armor
you know once you're close to zero you kind of lose efficiency on minus armor anyhow beyond zero
it's like that it's not the most efficient use of damage buffing. Tax speed starts to play a bigger
part but so far it's all right obit haven't stopped up his tower now under siege.
Drops the tranquils to hit the tower. That's very base Tylone
Yeah, nice sal if I got
Raises
More man on Tylone and relatively better position for him to start playing around here
Controls a wave. Oh
Did you drop the tranquil's mid auto attack? All right, Tylong's cooking. Yeah, he's ready to go and
Always active always regen up
Abid's just constantly flying out south. He's got bracer's coming and a clarity. He'll be fine
Double raise but again tranquil boots all the difference
Drop the tranquil's pick them up. Yeah
Oh, no, Ty Lung this is good stuff. It's just never going on cool down
And you just literally never asked to buy a salve and he's got them, but like he just doesn't have to like worry about it. No
Nice raise connecting
All right, this is the catapult that probably ends the game
He does have a fortification on a bed here
But Tylong might be able to just aggressively push this and get the tower with the catapults
Well, maybe not the creeps dying very fast. Yeah, and then there's gonna be the fort. So I
Was lying. I just made all of that up
Decent damage done to the objective
Kind of matching obids damage done to the building now his wall solving up
Not the best man on obid at the moment
moment, raises to miss, Tyrone fading out, and again he's just so good, he's tranquil
place.
He's never gone cool down, he looks like, ah, but bloody Tyrone man.
Dude, no way he can keep doing this, alright he missed that one, he missed that one.
Alright, there you go, finally on cool down.
you call this cringe or is it based to play in such a youthful manner of
efficiency? I don't know, Tylong's the prodigy man, I let this guy do it every once.
Come on, Abed. Showed him that old time we're still got it. He does have a lot of
wand charges. Thank you, Abed. Thank you for continuing to use my favorite
voice line. Here's a good line.
What do you think the team is saying behind the scenes right now?
I mean they could be yelling stuff for all I know.
I don't think they say it.
They're just watching intensely since it's 12 minutes in now.
Tower's starting to drop low, Ty Lung.
His trackables are down.
He's getting full HP back.
No, he got it.
All right.
Fair.
Ty Lung.
I mean we're one kill away from both sides.
Cool.
One.
No, he's all right.
16-1 charges.
16-1 charges. Is he gonna go Dragon Lance? Is that the idea here? Just hit the building.
It looks like it.
Which he had more of those Feast of Souls points, huh?
I mean, I'm telling you. In 1v1?
You don't... I mean, 3 points? No.
3 points in Feast of Souls. Yes! Siege.
Right-click, chase, orb walk.
I mean seriously just please someone get more points in you're really doing nothing
but right clicking creeps and towers and you know power transfer orbit so a little bit
of a dream to get that right now at least has the brown boots if you can somehow find
that second kill man only need blood grenade down tower start to drop very low here.
Hello.
Tyrone just wants the objective.
He's just T-posing on a high ground at this point.
He is.
Yeah, Dragonland's queued up.
He's gonna get it.
If he needs...
Well, he may not need it.
He could potentially end it before that, but we'll see Abed needs to keep this creep
wave as far away from his tower.
Oh, hold on.
Double raise.
Nice, too fast.
That's where the tranquil is really coming handy.
Just that weaving in and out, Tylong, gonna go block his creep wave, tower down to how
much HP now on the radiant side, it's not the healthiest looking.
Not much is my uh...
8 HP left.
Whereas you're probably closer to uh, uh, a 6th.
Oh, spooky.
Sound.
Media salves.
Well, grenade doesn't quite connect onto Abit, actually.
Uh-oh.
Tylon.
Just some combinations left.
Abit, Requiem looking for it.
I know that regen is tempting, but you can't take it.
This is a 1v1 mid.
Come on.
You should have done it.
It would have been very funny.
Three wards?
Three wards!
To watch!
To watch this 1v1.
That's three more rides than I have.
Oh, come on.
Raise is not quite connecting.
Abbot now getting a little bit of tempo to push.
Piece of souls to chase.
To chase.
Oh, he's hikers on this.
Raise.
One.
All right.
Very nice.
He did pop the tranquil, so he's going to delay his regen a little bit more.
Did have to pop the full stick, so Tylong not stoked on that one.
But he has the dragon lance.
This is what we're talking about.
He needs this at some point.
Or maybe he doesn't.
Who knows?
Maybe it's all a simulation.
One, two, three, can you get a turd?
Come on, off cooldown, will you gun for it?
No, creep wave doesn't last long enough.
Someone should walk into roast. That would be the way to end it.
Someone should walk right in.
That would be very base right now.
More drop, Tylung again, his HP.
Re-gen'ing up with the Trank Bolts.
Raises, connects.
Can you kill your own wards for souls? Is that a lot?
Theoretically yes in practice. I don't know the hard to do for that, but theoretically yes
because that sounds
It takes you a lot of time to kill a war nowadays. Oh one more
No mana drop in the tranquils. Oh, it's just gonna heal up. I long the prodigy these micro plays
I
It's just so low on mana
Imagine not having a kaya right now. Yeah, if only 16 minutes come on guys. Could you not get a solar ring this game?
Oh, I have no idea. Is that even worth it?
Probably not considering the HP trade off
And it's strength though, it's not the worst in the world
Clarity up, trying to regen just a little bit in Abed, Tylung, fully reset.
So he's got the full advantage, he's going to look for the Raze, so.
The tower's set to fall, Tylung's just a couple of right clicks away.
He's going to pop the Feast and go for it, he has the Fort of course, but Abed kind of
had a resources, goes for the double Raze, forced to pop the Requiem to get Tylung out.
But Ty, you just go up and hit it right?
You got the Dragon Lance.
You just end the game here.
I think he's done it.
It's not much I can really do.
Yeah, couple of attacks.
He's just playing with him at this point,
and that is going to do it.
Ty Long will take.
I mean, I'm get I mean, that's how it works, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, someone tell me, I think so.
Does anyone have the rules?
That should be it.
I'm pretty sure.
I'm not. I've never seen a one V one
mid go to tier two.
So I'd really hope.
I'm not trying to go thrown here.
Abed, press Gigi.
Do it.
Press the buttons.
There you go.
Gigi's called, and I've known as secure this higher seating point
aside of LGD gaming, getting that third place spot,
and getting themselves a slot to play up against the fourth place
in one of the other groups in our randomization.
So, again, theoretically, a better seating start
in the survival stage for LGD gaming.
Right this bro?
I'm in luck.
This is just for a little bit of fun.
The waiting doesn't matter, but in the end, I'd say all of our teams are at the same caliber now that we've sorted out, except maybe Group D.
I think I will always give an exception for Group D, and what went on there, because frankly, OG, if they were in any other group, they would be up there.
So, yeah, it's just a little bit rough, but it's going to be interesting to see, because depending on who VP plays up against,
They might be wishing obitus a little bit more awake or less tired or we're playing against
Older player rather than the young prodigy of tylong who's dropping his track. Let's meet
Mid creep wave so very well played to tylong, but
He got back almost like i know i bet almost got the got some good raises
And i like the value point in the feast of souls
Just go all in on you know just one value point in presence with the dark lord
I'm a little bit crazy. Oh, it's just one point again
Go for it right there, trust me. It's crazy.
Yeah. Well, it has been a long day, but that, I mean, that's the whole group stage.
We are finally through group A, B, C, and D now completely solved, but come on up next,
we got... We're gonna crush some keys. We're gonna crush some keys.
We're gonna crush some keys until the X are fun again, because of our trophy system, the
teams that are eliminated, all have our keys crushed down. They've been bringing our keys
out in the stage. You've been seeing them on the cams as well, and we're gonna get to that
Relatively soon, not quite yet, and of course the winning team, the winner of the Dota 2 Esports World Cup
Will get to pick three keys at the end of their journey to put on the base of their trophy as a reminder of the dreams
They've destroyed, you know, who would you who would you put in there? Oh, you got to pick which which three teams would you select?
Oh, I can't say OG three times, can I?
I
Love OG but I would there you go dreams crush down
My goodness look at that. Just taking away. No one crushing another key here as well
Isn't it great?
Look at that hydraulic pressure doesn't that make you smile? I want to see one explode again
That is what I'm really waiting. I want one to explode
I don't think we haven't I think they've managed to sort out the malleability of the keys that it would not like
Explored, they do give out, but there's a little bit of gig, so there we are all
these hopes and dreams being crushed. That's Nemesis right there.
The first two are Nemesis and Reconyx I believe. So coming up next, I mean so these are the
teams at the top of the groups right? So they're the ones who get to crush all the
keys so this is gonna be OGs and yeah I'm sorry buddy. You can ask them for that one
when you're done maybe. They're gonna put them in the bottom remember all the
Broken keys are sorted at the bottom of the totems.
You think they'll notice?
I can't say.
I can't say.
No matter where I will be tonight, I will have alibis.
That's fair, that's fair.
Right now.
I see, again, the keys are being crushed for golden keys.
The hopes and dreams of all these teams just taking away as socks that just hands it over.
That's the OG one right there for you, buddy.
No.
So I hate to break it to you.
Shit.
G fans out there obviously a rough end to their turn but they looked pretty good coming into today and like it
You were you know pretty helpful like okay. Yeah, they just got to get the one win
But VP was the team that showed up. Yeah, and of course, that's a different org is well wind up. So yeah
That's true. You see what my cats if you yeah
The crusher is beautiful and I'm sure we'll see that crusher at work again in the survival stage because it's all
Single elimination so it's gonna be fun. It was a fun group stage. It was a great time casting with you Ricky
Thanks for having me and I hope that gets well, you know. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things
I we've we've known each other for a while
Yeah, we've gotten to cast some stuff for a long time
So it's cool to kind of do it online for the first time or I guess second time. Yeah kind of
But yeah, you know, was that we'll be back hopefully sometime soon and you can catch some rest
But for everyone who has been tuning in each one say thank you all so much for watching EWC
26 that's gonna do it for the group stage here of Donut 2
We're gonna take tomorrow off and then we'll be back with that elimination stage
So you're not gonna want to miss it until then everybody have a wonderful evening and we'll see you then
Omar you've been on the nigma galaxy for a while. Who have you learned the most from all these various rosters? I
Would say it's probably Kuro. Yeah, he's he's the person I learned from the most think he's
Probably the one who shed
His experience and wisdom the most to me. So
So, yeah, and I'm grateful I got to work with him, and he actually taught me a lot, I would
say.
What about inside the game, or anything outside the game?
I would say both.
I mean, I'm sure I grew a lot as a player, I mean, as a player, and he taught me a lot
as a friend, as well, like outside the game, it's, yeah.
What do you think the most important lesson you've learned from him is?
I need to play with my mid laner.
You mean inside the game or outside?
Either one.
I mean, I would say, actually, the biggest one, it's actually not even the latest one,
it's just been the topic of two years, I would say.
Just patience.
I have a bit of a rush of stuff,
So I need to have much more patience inside and outside the game.
Very well.
Dubai, you had a recent change in life, your father now.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
What, uh, has that changed your life in any way?
Uh, in many ways, I would say, okay, I still play a lot of Dota, but
the outside of that, there's, um, not much time for other stuff, but that's great.
Like having a little baby that's yours,
that's always happy to see you.
It's, I mean, I think I've been,
it's the last two months,
since my daughter was one,
I think it's been by far the happiest days of my life,
even though my wife was sometimes struggling
with the post-partum.
It's still, it's just really nice to have family.
That's awesome.
Has it changed your perspective?
When you come back to like, you know, playing Dota,
I was just talking to the Seb about this and he said,
it gave his whole perspective on life shifted a bit
because now like Dota was no longer
the most important thing in his life.
Yeah, I mean, I think before,
stuff probably like he was just pulling the door.
I didn't have much else in his life.
I think even the last few years,
I've tried to like balance out my life a little bit
at least that of course, like,
I wish I had more time in my personal life or family.
and individual hobbies, but I've tried very hard
to keep some resemblance of a balance.
So being a father now is, it's not a complete change.
Like I did before that, like try to spend time
with family and with my wife.
So I don't think my view on life has changed that much.
Like I already valued family pretty highly,
but I'm just a lot happier now.
And I'm more motivated.
Yeah. Oh, okay. Let's touch on that then. More motivation to like,
more motivation to succeed because now you're providing for
yet another person in family or I would say so. Also, it's, it's,
it's, it's just harder to, to feel down.
I mean,
I mean, it's harder to like feel bad for me. I like after losing a tournament,
you realize it's not everything, you know, like,
like I can just pull up my phone, look at a video of my daughter. I just,
it's just like a cheat code, you know?
Yeah.
You're tilted, so that's what you do when you travel.
It's nice.
It's very sweet.
I don't really have a way to transition off of that,
but how are you guys enjoying Paris?
Outside of the traffic.
It's, the traffic feels like we almost
didn't skip the yacht,
because it's the same boat as the yacht, actually.
Yeah, but overall, it's a cool city.
Yeah, goodbye.
That's great, man.
For me, it's very close at home, living in Belgium.
I speak decent French, and I like French.
A lot of my friends and daughter, my friends, I think,
from France as well.
So they would play LAN here, it would be cool.
No.
But I'm in the bus or her room.
So the classic go to event life.
No, I mean, this one is a bit extreme.
So, yeah.
But at least I have a French with me, so you know, it kind of helps.
You know, he speaks fluent French.
Really? Yeah, even though he's from Beirut, Lebanon, he speaks amazing French.
And he likes to show off to some people to stop them in English.
And this is this is your chance.
Please show off, sir.
This is this is not accurate.
I do not show off. The issue is that I've been living in Lebanon for 30 years. Thank you.
When I got to like 18, 19 years old, I stopped practicing the language and this is the only
place I can just get some practice in. And so whenever I see a French person, I try to speak
French. Sometimes I fail because it's not very, not very practice in it right now.
But I try. I put some music. I'm showing off.
No, you're ordering something, okay? The person speaks completely perfect English, you know,
like everything is understandable. When did you start speaking French? What am I to make of it?
Yeah, that's fair. It's not much of an exception. Sorry.
No, but I enjoy the country because this is my second time I've been visiting France, I think.
Yeah, this is my second time. And Lebanon friends have a really close connection because of the
colonial times. You want to talk about Scotland? You like talking about Kelow?
There's a really big French influence in Lebanon. So this is the second time I've had the
chance for the pleasure to use my language somewhere else.
It's well.
Glad we're here then. Gentlemen, thank you for joining me.
Thank you for having us.
Good bye.
I've never seen it to you so happy to do media day. Let's go bother one of them
You guys have a lot of cameras coming your way. Hello. Hello. Good to see you. Sorry. Are you excited for me?
Yeah, I'm like super excited. Oh, I should immediately reduce like the listening in disguise
Well, I'm not doing it. So I have a great day without me my friend. What's why you okay? What happened?
I shattered my ankle, but what I fell on it and then I snapped into it and now it's just up and in
Okay, well see it on camera. Yeah, show us. No, don't do that. That's gonna freak out the audience sir
I'm so sorry. I would carry you to media day, but as you carry the hopes and dreams of the Dota community
We love you Blitz feel better. Happy media day. Goodbye the hardest job in e-sports
It's not playing in fact
It's doing makeup for everyone that comes to EWC these talented men and women make these gamers look
Presentable for the first time out of their basements in nine months
They are here to be on camera and look lovely. Let's go ahead and check things out
We've got our own boys here. Mr. Coach. Do you get makeup? Yeah. Yeah, can you tell I cannot tell you look like you naturally look woke up today
You're feeling good. You're looking good, bro. Thank you. Like I don't need makeup. What's your routine? You moisturize? Okay, so you need to
Cleanser
Then you have to do a toner toner and then you have to do moisturizer
All right, and then you're supposed to do one more, but I don't know what it is. Are you a mure. Do you mew?
Yeah
You a new guy? No, sir. You look lovely. You don't need any makeup. We got more Aurora gaming boys coming in here
Look at this fresh. God. Damn. Can we get a lot shot of this? God damn
This is good. Can I shake your hand, ma'am? You did God's work on that one incredible work. She's very busy
Don't tell me. All right. Hello, sir. Welcome to the makeup chair. How much moisturizer are you looking for here today?
A lot a lot. He says God damn. That's the key to beauty right there. You get in there mirror. Thank you so much
Wow, incredible job by all of our makeup artists here.
They have to go through so many people all day,
and Dota players gotta be in the top 10 worst.
I can say that.
Introduce yourself, young man.
I am Nikolai, BB3PX from Level Up.
How old are you?
I'm 23 years old.
There's no way you're 23.
I'm 23.
Does anybody tell you you look a lot younger than 23?
Yeah, that's always happening when I'm trying to buy alcohol.
Oh, do you buy a lot of alcohol?
Not a lot, just for holidays.
Oh, just holidays.
How many holidays do you celebrate?
Maybe two or three in a year.
Oh, that's it.
OK, that's not too bad.
How are you guys feeling at this tournament?
It feels very nice.
I appreciate that I came here.
That's good.
And how long have you been with this team?
I think three months together.
So you're pretty happy to be here, then?
Yeah, I'm so happy.
What is your favorite thing about Dota 2?
You always can do something new.
Is that I've been watching Dota for a long time.
Is that true?
Yeah, that's true, for real.
So do something new when I'm casting your team, OK?
OK.
Hi, Ultimate.
Last question I've been asking everybody.
I don't know why.
If your team were to break out into a fistfight,
you fight each other physically. Who would be the victor, do you think?
I think, uh, Dakini will be the winner of this fight, because he is crazy.
Oh, so it's a more, okay, it's the crazy aspect, not the strength necessarily.
Okay, cool. Appreciate your time and good luck at the tournament.
Thank you.
Welcome back, my friends, and as you see, we're on stage, but it is not for a matchup.
We've already had all of those for a group stage, and next up is survival,
but also the teams that are already progressed onto the quarterfinals, those will be the teams in the number one position in each one of our groups.
Which means we get to do something that's stressful, fun, and kind of silly at the same time.
It's time for Draw Show, Slacks.
Absolutely. This is the Draw Show, baby.
We're going to tell you how things are going to be going from here on out.
Now, let me give you a very quick little explanation.
Alright, if you got first place in the groups, you're already in the playoffs, you are safe.
You don't have to go to the survival stage. However, if you are in the lower groups and have not been eliminated,
you must face off against another team over here. When you beat them, you must then face off against what we're going to call the mini boss.
Someone who has qualified above you in position two. And then, after that, the three of you, whoever survives all that, needs to face off against the main boss, the big boss, which we will bring out.
So, we're gonna take all these teams and we're gonna reveal what order this is right now.
Are you ready to bring them out?
I'm absolutely ready. This is all about randomness.
You will not be facing somebody from your own group.
That's right. Third and fourth.
So, that adds an extra layer of, are we even prepared for what is to come?
That's right. These teams have a lot of work to do, but the time's come.
I know we have some representatives in the back that are excited to see who they're gonna face.
You ready?
I'm ready.
Alright, gentlemen, 16 representatives from 16 teams, come on up to the stage!
Damn, to here they come. I can't believe they were standing in the back without fighting each
other. They are so peaceful. You know how much MMR there's going to be on this stage in one go?
More than anyone in the chat has ever seen before in their pub games, for sure, for sure. There we go.
All of our survivors, we said goodbye to so many teams the last few days.
We're gonna get things started here and get our first head to head coming our way.
Yeah, so I'm gonna make it simple for you here.
We're gonna start with the teams that were at the third and fourth position in their groups.
So we're gonna be drawing from my left hand side here and then we'll see who the mini-boss
and final boss will be in every category of four teams.
Simple as we'll do it four times and close out our day our first two teams though to join us here on stage
LGD gaming
Mouse sports army
No, just get
Come on up. Well, oh no you stand next to him. This is for the winner side
Thank you. No way you two are gonna play one another of course. That's gonna be big Yamaha and KJ
anything that we should expect in the game?
This is going to be a very interesting match because it's going to decide who's the best assistant coach in Brazil.
Both are assistant coach from there, so yeah, stay tuned.
Who's the best assistant coach from Brazil?
Osma.
Wow, that's all you need to hear.
All right, who's up next?
It's a tough match.
Absolutely.
But they have to face off against the mini-boss, and that is going to be the winner of this match.
We'll face off against BB team. That's me arrow. Come on up my friend. Oh
Goodness gracious. Look at these two young gentlemen only one will survive to make it your way
I gotta ask that cringe question. Who do you think it's gonna be which team?
What we're doing out of those two
Um
LG maybe come on mouse come on
Well, thank you for your opinion if you could go that way join them. Yeah, that's right right there my friend
You've got this very good and now sir. We got a big boss. We do have the big boss coming up here my friends ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the stage the man that might be putting down whoever survives this
It's gonna be
the
stage my friend. You will be facing off against one of these three. What is your prediction?
My prediction is we will be facing one of these three. Yes. What the heck? Thank you
so much. That's not hype at all. G.H. I know you're supposed to be nice. Okay. You have
a nice word for each of them. What do you think about each one of these teams?
I like them.
Great. Thank you so much for the hype, my friend. Well, you four can now exit through the front.
Well done.
We now know where that is going to go. Congratulations. There you go, my friend. Off you go.
All right, we're going to do this three more times.
Honestly, you heard it in the piece with Cavaliers. You're like, oh, G.H. He always finds time to talk.
He always wants to find the space to speak a bit of French. He wasn't doing that over here
He was being nice. That's the interesting. He's a kind boy
He's not gonna s talk that right from their faces goodness gracious
He'll leave that to the game itself to the lobby itself. Indeed next up
Yeah, this is our second set of four teams out of four our first team
Vici gaming. Oh
There we go
Zin Q to the stage. The other one is
It is...
P-TIE!
Oh, hell yeah!
Wits is on!
Ayayayayay!
You can say it however you want.
What do you gotta say to him?
Let's practice.
Easy!
Uh, no easy.
No easy!
Oh my goodness!
Wits!
down. Good luck. Good luck. Very nice. That's where we're getting out of it.
Unbelievably tough. Let's bring the mini boss out. All right. A mini boss here
today although usually a big bad boss. Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this
match will be facing off against... One with 33!
Oh, here he is, come on out, here he is, come on out, here he is, come on out, here he is!
There he is. That was my boss music, thank you so much.
To me you're a Dark Souls boss, you know, you're one of the scariest one, triple health bar, if you will.
Who do you think you'll be facing off?
Um, I don't know, we'll see, but we'll be fine to play against both of them.
Oh look at the-
you
you
you
you
you
I think they're all tough opponents, but I think they're all tough opponents, but I think
me. That's on me. Any thoughts here for these three? Who do you think you're gonna be facing?
I think they're all tough opponents, but I think I'm looking forward to playing spirit.
Looking forward to playing spirit! Alright, well we'll see if it happens. Thank you so
much! Please! To the front of the stage! Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun!
Okay, we're not getting copyright strikes today. We're definitely on the zone for this
one, but, Tlax, I feel like we've run out of options.
Yeah, yeah, just come on up here, boys.
Hey, who did it?
Come on, welcome, welcome.
Hold on, you two have to say, I have
to reveal who the final boss is.
Yeah.
All right.
Go ahead.
Who do we have here?
All right.
We got Rooneyders.
We got Virtus.
Pro.
Thoughts on your boner?
He's jacked.
Best of luck to my phone.
Damn.
Good.
Very nice.
Any final words?
Shout out to my boy, Copy.
It's going to be sad.
Oh, hell yeah.
Copy, make it out printer, because we're
gonna be bringing them out of here!
Thank you very much!
Alright, mini bosses!
It's a flip of the coin! Who is stronger?
Who is the mini boss? We're gonna be bringing out Nightfall!
You're the mini boss, my friend!
Welcome! Welcome, Nightfall!
Now, you've faced these guys before.
Who do you think will survive
in this group?
50-50.
50-50! By God!
It's a flip of the coin!
Nightfall, please! If you could TP's
to the other side and then this is not a surprise just come on
come on
thank you so much
we got to end this segment in something high please from the bottom of your most excited
voice
who will you be facing from these three
epileptic kid
the epileptic kid returns my god
okay fantastic well gentlemen please exit the stage we have gone through all of those
ladies and gentlemen your bracket is finished
There you have it. How do you feel in Milo?
Honestly, it's good.
I came into this not really knowing what to expect of our players,
but I think they handle it very smoothly.
So I'm excited in there.
But we have all this bracket in our brains, right?
We've got to visualize it.
We've got to talk about it in depth,
which is why the actual experts are standing by in the panel.
So let's send it over to them. Take it over, Shaver.
Thank you very much, Slacks and Milo.
I feel like every time a matchup got revealed, I'm like,
oh, that's going to be tough.
And then I had that with every single matchup being revealed.
So every single series is going to be tough.
I'm here with VSJ and Epi.
This was quite the reveal.
That was pretty entertaining.
You know what?
I think people should have been a ruder to each other.
Whoever shows more killer instincts is going to win, sheaves.
Yeah, that's how it works in the Dota 2 scene.
It's not that you next month might be on the same team
as one of the people you just insulted.
And then maybe they'll be sad.
Yeah. I mean, you might have been in the reverse of flies
in copy situation where exactly about to play each other.
You know, wish them good luck.
Exactly. Exactly.
I mean, honestly, it's kind of funny how the story lines always come out
like Laurel was saying he ends up against Team Liquid or XG a lot
and also flies playing against his former teammate.
There's so many teams that don't have that overlap.
How does this always happen in some way?
I don't know. It's exciting.
I mean, every single one of those series moving forward
going to be an elimination series. A lot of hearts are going to be broken. I think there's
going to be an opportunity for a lot of these teams to step up and I'm looking forward to
seeing who does it. Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of underdog stories that can be coming
through here and it is pretty crazy that we still we have 16 teams left. We eliminated
eight teams and we have 16 teams left. So there's a lot of teams here for those two at this EWC.
And that means that there are still underdogs in the tournament and there are still clear
favorites in the tournament where we have the four teams that are still considered a clear favorite.
But my question is, Effie, do you think that out of those four clear favorites, you have one team in
particular that you feel might have the toughest opponents coming out of their three and we should
be able to get the brackets to you soon? I would love to see the brackets again, but off the top of
my head, I think team Yandex going up against potentially Team Spirit again, that's the one for
I mean, that was the one that caught my eye too, because it's not just spirit in that one.
It's also two teams that have a tradition of just slightly getting better as the tournament progresses.
I'm talking about extreme gaming and team liquid.
I absolutely agree with you.
I think this should be the toughest, most exciting line of this bracket.
Yeah, there's arguably four potential top six to eight teams in that one bracket of four.
So that is pretty wild.
At the end of the day, I think all the games are going to be unique in their own right.
I was like, we just saw KJ walk past us for LGD and they managed to squeak through in
their group barely.
I think they were one of the teams that I was hoping to see more from this event.
So maybe not because of that group before specifically, but I am rooting for them as
they move forward.
Yeah, they were a team that was considered to be in group D. Obviously, we just also
saw their 1v1 mid.
they were in the group of deaths.
So yeah, we can definitely see more of them.
Their opponent actually, in case you don't remember,
and that's okay, we'll soon get those records,
are Miles, Effie.
So they've got an opponent that in my book,
they should be able to deal with.
You should, but you know, Miles are an interesting team
because when they get their heroes
and they get their straps,
I feel like they could surprise anybody on any given day.
So you can't look at any of these teams and think,
oh, that one's a free win.
Oh, this one, no problem whatsoever.
we should really prepare for 1W instead, for example.
But you can't do that here.
You cannot.
And then there's a surprise coming out of the group stage.
I feel like we've got a touch up on that as well.
The biggest surprise, I think, for a lot of people,
being on top of their group, NICMA Galaxy,
I want to talk about their line of teams
that they have coming towards them,
which is actually the Miles LGD line with BB Team
in the middle there.
How do we feel about a BB Team versus NICMA Galaxy?
because I know we've been praising BB team on their prowess and their fastness
and basically I think Seb called them, and you'll like this analogy, Brian,
he called them the test.
Oh yeah, the skill check.
Are you a tier one team? Then you can beat BB team.
Are you not? You're out.
Yeah, I mean, it was one interview I think it was with DM where they asked
Like how do you find these players?
Like what's the qualifications for becoming on a pro team?
And he said the first thing you've got to be high skill enough.
And I think that's exactly what BB team requires you to do
because all strategies are out the window
if you just get obliterated in all of your lanes
and that's what's something that this team...
It's kind of like Team Sphere
where even when they've changed their roster
one or two players at a time
they always end up with the same identity.
I do think Nigma could do that though.
I think Nigma...
I think they might be finally back.
I don't want to get ahead of myself too much
because every team is one series away from getting eliminated.
So that would be honestly pretty devastating,
I think for a lot of the Nigma fans out there,
because this is truly the first time
that they've put on a really impressive performance
in a group stage and they looked convincing to me
and I hope to see more out of them,
not that I'm rooting against BB team or anything like that.
I think the stars are aligning finally after years here.
It's really exciting.
And they also have the Lorinoff mercenary buff.
I don't know how long that lasts though,
because typically it's on a timer.
Does it have a Linger duration?
I think it does have a Linger duration of about one.
At least one round. At least one round again.
So the buff is still here and they're ready to go.
No, but it's been really exciting.
Seb had a lot of praises to say about Nigma
and the way that they've been drafting.
And it's not just that they're very high skill
and they're good, but they've come in
with really strong ideas and strategies
and they're executing them.
Yeah, I feel like I want to still touch upon two teams
that we have seen their keys getting crushed,
but there are two teams that I think have made a mark
on the teams that are still in, on the top 16 teams.
And the first one is OG.
They are the only team to have taken a game off of 1W and Yandex.
And I think that them getting eliminated is,
I mean, first of all, brutal.
Second of all, a little surprising, Effie.
Yeah, I would say something.
That group was tough, though.
Like, that was an incredibly hard group.
And it felt like every series,
You've kind of had to fight tooth and nail and but the thing is you can't really blame
groups because if you can't win through your group you wouldn't have won the tournament
anyway.
But a lot of experience I think was gathered here for OG and they've shown that their ceiling
is incredibly high and when they can get their drafts together and feel good that day they
look like the best players in the world sometimes.
Yeah, it's weird because like VP a team that just took two games in a row off of them in
in order to knock them out,
they looked relatively outclassed
when they were playing against the top two teams
in the group.
And while OG, like you said,
took your game off of each of them.
So don't do a hard game.
It's a, there's a lot of different ways to lose.
There's a lot of different ways to feel like
you're one step away from being into your one team
and for VP to take those two games.
I think VP's the more like they're better at what they do.
If you ignore the other team,
but the problem is like,
OG, they rise to the occasion,
but they also tend to fall to the occasion when you're against the weaker side of the team, so...
Sadly, in group stages, I think that's why VP went out.
I think that often the consistency is what's going to matter early on.
The other team that I wanted to touch upon still, that for me was also a team that I was expecting to do a little better.
Though, if you were to put me on spot, I don't know which team they would replace in the 16 we have left.
But it's game religion. They came in and one of the first series they played,
They had a Largo mid, and even though they didn't win that game, it looked good when they did it.
And I'm like, wow, we can definitely expect some cool stuff from this squad, but Effie did not deliver.
They didn't, but you know, they played better than I thought they would, and they've been on the up and up since the squads formation.
And the fact that they looked that competitive versus certain teams, and then if you talk to the players individually, they said that they've been winning in scrims.
scrams that's very promising and North American needs a team that's going to keep trying and keep
improving and keep evolving and game religion is that team. So what do we look back on from this
group stage that we really have enjoyed as we are coming to a close of this group stage?
Honestly I think it's the surprises like Ningma Galaxy getting first, like Runeaters getting in
the top four. I think like I think they were the same group as game religion. If I recall correctly
for every team that surprises, there's always going to be a team that disappoints. But overall,
I do think the groups were balanced relatively well. We talk about the group of death, but I'm not
too surprised by all the teams that are moving forward, and I think we're set up for a nice bracket.
Yeah, we are set up for a nice bracket as we can set up the bracket. Of course, we're starting with
the survival stage. So we're going to have the survival stage, which is this, and it will be
We played out over two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we have got some cool series.
Maybe I'm Liquid Extreme Gaming, that's just where my eyes go, guys.
It's just there.
It is just there, you're right.
And I mean, Extreme Gaming, 3 second place TI recently, Liquid, they won well like two
TI's ago, and now we're seeing them the first round of a survival bracket, that is definitely
unexpected.
I just want to say that we just saw that 1v1 for VP versus LGD.
So LGD, by winning the 1v1, got to play against Maus
as opposed to VP playing against Runeaters.
I'm not trying to take a slight on Runeaters.
I don't know if LGD got the better half of this
by playing against Maus.
I would be a bit more scared.
I think Maus, their floor, I think,
is much higher than most of these teams.
They do have solid lanes, and they tend
to execute what they do well.
But I also think they have a potentially higher ceiling.
So I think Verna's pro got a bit lucky there with that specific one.
And I think because of, I think Root Eaters took third place in the group that Extreme got fourth.
And that's how you end up with this Team Liquid versus Extreme Gaming.
Extreme Gaming has been looking a bit shaky.
And I don't think it's a surprise that they found themselves with such a formidable opponent in round one.
Yeah. Every single one of these series, you can make a case for either team to come out ahead and go to that next round.
and it's a scary road and I said it's single elimination so there's no
mistakes you got to treat it you got to treat it like the low bracket that's
just as simple as that for some teams that's a buff for some teams FV that
might be a little bit of a negative you're right because I do think nerves
always play a part in tournaments of this caliber and there are certain teams
that have looked like nerves have gotten the best of them you know and we just
saw a Ty Lung from LGD play 1v1 and he looked fantastic but there were also
games that he played this TWC where I could really feel his tension through the screen so I hope that
the teams that often succumb to their nerves can get a grip during a survival stage. They'll need to.
They'll 100% need to. Thank you so much for both your thoughts today. As we have come to the end of
today and to the end of the group stages, keep in mind will we not live tomorrow? Everybody gets a break.
Teams included. We'll be back on Tuesday though and we are starting a little bit later than what we
we have so far, we'll be live with two different streams starting at 1pm, of course we'll be
live before that to talk you through everything that's going to happen that day, so make sure
you tune in on time, 1pm and we're in Paris, so you can do the math there yourself, that's
all good. We're not going to leave you completely empty handed because we did have some crazy
cool games coming your way today, so thank you so much for tuning in and we're going
to leave you with the STC recap of the day.