EWC_LegionGauntlet_EN
Team Falcons vs. Vici Gaming | Dota 2 at EWC 26 - Day 10 - Playoffs - LIVE
07-17-2026 · 6h 39m
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Did these terms say it into the camera?
Uh, I agree to these terms.
Thank you.
There it is.
A true pact.
I will move E4, a classic opening, as some might say.
I haven't played chess in 20 years, so.
And I don't care if it moves at all, so I'm just going to wing you then.
Yeah.
All right.
My follow-up question is, does everybody on Team Falcons
make this level of excuses for their game play?
Yeah, pretty much, yeah.
Who makes the most excuses for their game play?
Snape.
Do you feel bad throwing your your king under the bus?
I don't think I'll be doing that. That was a really wise pun
I did not expect that that actually caught me off guard follow-up question.
I talked to your teammates earlier. They said a lot of bad things omens
Scary omens. They said potentially a y was gonna retire. Is this true?
Hey, why?
I don't know
Are you gonna retire? I don't know
Is anybody ever going to retire in this game because I really need another job and I need you guys to quit
At least temporarily, I think what's a temporary retirement that used to be called Chinese retirement
Do you think sub should have retired as many times as he did or did he overdo it?
I think he did it like an appropriate amount of times
He could still do it again
So you think he's still in his retirement prime. He's still in his pretty. Yeah, he's in this prime for retirement
Do you think Seb or Mbappé is more impactful in the cultural ethos of France?
I'm gonna say Seb.
Seb doesn't have a cool nickname though.
He used to.
What was his nickname?
7CK...
Oh, that wasn't really a nickname, we can say that.
His name was...
Yeah, these interviews aren't serious now, we're gonna edit it all out anyway, it's probably
never air.
That's 8 in the camera though.
That's right, that was Kurt's answer to how he feels whenever his team tries to talk to him about Dota.
His chest match, is it going well for you?
It's not, because I haven't been doing it for a long time.
Okay, what are you drinking, sir?
Coffee.
You have to wait till I give you the microphone, otherwise it's not going to be...
What are you drinking, sir?
Coffee.
Okay, that's very good.
How do you like your coffee?
Black.
It's very French of you.
I think it's just very European.
Did you start drinking coffee once you moved to Europe?
Once I moved to... yeah.
Since, of course, you're a North American player, did you have to adjust a lot of things when you started living in Europe for the first time?
Yeah.
What did you have to adjust?
Just, like, my calorie intake.
What the f*** does that mean, dude?
Well, you can't just say that. What does that mean?
Just, like, there's less calories in this continent.
Oh, so you had to get used to food scarcity in Europe?
I understand. Yeah, we don't have that problem in America.
Definitely not a lot of food scarcity.
Do you miss any of the American cuisine?
Yeah, the Mexican food.
Ooh, what's your favorite Mexican dish?
I mean probably just tacos, yeah.
What kind of tacos?
Birria or like fish taco.
Hell yeah, brother.
That's what I'm talking about.
See, that's why you gotta come back to NA.
Is not worth the tacos?
I mean, not for Dota at least.
Do you think you could form a purely NA team right now
in Wintiai?
Purely NA.
Yeah, I'm talking homebred Americans,
you know what I'm saying?
I potentially can be on the squad
if that influences it for the better.
That helps, but I mean, if you're
You would include me, then you would include Sy, I assume.
Naturally, he is the captain.
Maybe if I played a year of pubs, then it might be possible.
And that's where I also would need to play a year of pubs, I mean he's doing it, but
it's a competitive team, it works.
So you're calling out these rusty guys from like the 2019 EG or whatever the hell it's
called that was.
We didn't do too well with that squad.
We did pretty well, we won like five tournaments.
Not after I got there.
Is that true?
Yeah, we bombed out of TI.
We didn't end too well, we had the double coach situation.
I feel like we won the Manila tournament with you.
Yeah, that was pretty good.
That was the last great victory for North America.
How do you feel about being part of that?
Was it really?
That was the last year on tournament, the RTZ one.
That was a good tournament.
We beat, wait, actually, we had, we beat,
wait, I thought you were playing with Jacky Ma,
but we beat Jacky Ma.
You're not playing?
I was not playing with John, I was coaching you.
Ah, so there was like a grudge match for you.
Were you ever playing with Jacky Ma?
Not before that.
You've gotten this entire history wrong.
This is great everybody.
His Dota memory might be failing you,
you need to retire a couple of times like seven.
Do you think you're gonna remember anything in particular
from your entire Dota career that stands out?
Am I gonna remember anything?
Is that what you asked?
Like it's the one moment that you think 30 years from now,
40 years when you're sitting in the nursing home
and you have dementia
and you can't really remember anything in your life
and your kids are all staring at you
and you're like, Papa Kurt,
please tell us something from your Dota life
that you remember.
What's gonna come to your mind?
I think T.I. win,
But honestly, like the first two majors with OG were like, yeah,
I think that's going to be like standing out.
Like the feeling I had when I won those were like,
was very different for TI.
What was different about it?
Because I was like 19.
So it was like amazing, you know?
And then when I won TI, I was old.
So it was like, I've done that, you know?
You heard here first, ladies and gentlemen.
The spirit of youth is what invigorates our eSports players.
And once they're past the prime age of 23,
it's all downhill, especially for the veterans,
like our boy Craig here from Team Falcons.
Thank you for joining me today.
I did win this chess match.
We can fast forward and like re-shot that in.
You got checkmated pretty swiftly here.
Too old to play chess apparently too.
But thank you for joining me.
Enjoy your coffee, sir.
Hello everybody, welcome to EWC 2026.
I am here with some of the EG Mount Rushmore.
We've got someone from about every era
of that organization here, including myself.
So pretty cool.
After you play for so long, you go through so many teams.
you always learn more as you go through each team.
And then I feel like when you look back on a past team,
you're like, man, if only I had known this on that team,
I could have fixed some issue
or we could have, our drafting would have been better.
Like our team chemistry would have been better.
Do you guys feel like that about some specific iteration
of NEG squad?
Like you learned something on the teams you played in
since that you wish you'd go back
and just like yell at yourself, you know?
Do this, please do this.
I think it's hard to say because for me, when I left Shopify and I went to Falcons, it was obviously a very different type of team.
And I think it's mostly like a philosophy thing. It's not like a style. You can't really say that.
Because you can't really do both. You kind of have to choose which type of dota you want to play.
And you can be like, oh, this dota kind of works for us, but it doesn't mean that the other side is wrong, if you know what I mean.
So it's like you read like for me, it's more like an individual thing.
Like you learn some things about your own role and like that maybe you could have.
I guess I can rephrase it to it because I hear what you're saying and I don't,
I guess I don't mean in a sense of going back to those teams and being like,
do this instead of that, but do something that would have made those teams excel at what they
were good at. You know, like peak EG style could have it come together.
I think probably the TI Spirit one, I think, if we had all learned, if we knew more of what we know now back then, I think we could have had a better shot because we were like, kind of the favors going into that one, like us in LGD.
You guys had that insane bootcamp before that, right? You went to Malta or something?
We went to Monaco.
I heard Sasia Layton.
What went down with that bootcamp?
It was just super random that it happened to be money, that's all.
It was like some sort of ED partnership deal or something or another.
No, it was pretty fun.
I liked it.
You got here in like a penthouse or something?
No.
That's like an office building.
No, not that exciting.
It was beautiful.
But you get to see all the yachts when you walk around.
It's pretty small here.
It was like a Michelin star, supposedly chef.
Yeah.
Supposedly.
But some guys didn't like the food.
They just wanted burgers.
Oh, it was super funny.
We kept asking for him to just make normal food that anybody can eat, and he would bring
snails and stuff.
That's cool.
Like, you know, fancy.
Yeah, it was a little too...
There wasn't an F1 race going on.
No.
No, but it's cool to see the marks on the ground, you know, when you just walk around.
You see it still.
It's cool.
No, it's race tracks.
Other teammates that you wish you could still play with?
Maybe not gameplay wise, but I wish I had this guy, he was my best friend back then, I wish I had him on my team.
From the EG days, you know?
I think Daryl, Daryl was, I really liked playing with Daryl, he's probably like one of my favorite teammates that I've had.
Like in terms of, I would say not just in terms of how he is a person, but also how he was like the perfect all thinner.
Like in my head, like he's like the perfect all, he can do everything.
So for me, probably that was the most enabled that I've felt in terms of my own performance
because he was just so good at doing his job that I was very free to just play my role.
Probably Ramesses.
Ramesses.
I like playing with him.
I think he helped a lot.
Now he stole Zord.
I guess so.
Shout out to Ramesses.
They all worked out in the end, huh?
Yeah.
so much. He was just a dominant guy in the sense that in the game he was able to help
lead from a core position. And I felt like we had inconsistency like back then, especially
with Abid and Artor, like not to like flame or anything, but he was he was able to more
consistently just take over the game or help them in stronger shot color. Yeah, he was.
And I think that's something we kind of missed. So you think that was a recurring issue on
some of those VG teams in terms of like, who is the clear shotcaller in game.
I think we talked about throwing someone on the bus.
Yeah, I think our tour had it in him.
Sometimes he would be like, amazing, but it just was not always happening.
And it was kind of weird why, because like he usually has good lanes,
you know, he's a super good laner, not entirely sure why.
So yeah, I think it's needed.
Like to have cores that can help lead the game at some point
Yeah, so I feel like that was one of the things that a lot of those versions of EG
We're looking for from an outside perspective like you bring in Ramzee's S4
These kind of core players that were like designed to be a shock or core in game to help lead the late game
Shock on whatever because it's pretty hard to support sometimes. I don't know. Is that true?
Oh, I'm trying to remember like was that a consideration in bringing those guys in a palm sometimes was
I mean, I think usually these two guys, they wouldn't take the losses as badly, I think
the other, like Sumo on our tour, and sometimes myself, we would take the losses too hard.
But I also think it wasn't bad because they would push the overall team up.
I don't think it's bad in retrospect to have someone, like it's really mad and losing,
but I think we made some roster changes that were like, a little bit irrational.
Like, I think we did well with Daryl twice in a row.
And then we got like we did kind of poorly at that TI and then like it was a lot of emotional
stuff happening after the loss because also like the big TI and then yeah so I don't remember
I think it was also because at the time like this a lot of the CIS players were getting
better spirit one so we wanted to get like a nightfall he was like a big guy that like
I was a big fan of the guy because he would like lead a lot so I was like let me try and
get this guy's off like you know what the old bullbuff yeah.
Yeah, I mean to me that was for the biggest mistake that we got.
That was really bad, not just for us, but also for his career.
Like he wasted a year basically.
Yeah, I think just like he, I think like if you look at him now, it's very obvious
like what he could have been like an offlane because he's now he's like
confidence leader in English back then he was not like he was playing off
lane and he was still kind of playing carry and he was not really like, yeah,
it was just too early for that.
And then also because we brought in Jericks and he had been like on a long break
like it was too many it was too like mad scientist you know like it just so
things my role is swapped it's like my role like I get some yeah the role
swaps have usually been kind of bad except Roman it's because I think that
we were too inspired by Roman's role swapped on which for which team because
he switched from Kerry Toffey into our team remember like he was all bad role
yeah thank you but wrote resolution I was thinking Rezo that's he also swapped
yeah I was thinking yeah so they play with the resume I mean the the role
Swiss are can be dangerous, you know, like it's a risk. It's like investing in Bitcoin.
Are you saying that is the recruitment profession? Yeah, I've learned that the hard way.
Recruitment parameters have changed over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know some people can do that. I
don't know how like, I think just those for my biggest regret because I think after that,
yeah, we're like also talking to 33. And I think like, obviously, you went on to win the next one.
That was the year when like, we had like, we could get anyone we're like, you know,
the Falcons can get anyone now, right?
So we had like Netta, our 33 and Amar as like the two options
and Eat Night Falls off-lane.
It's so two off-laners and the carry guy
and Artur and I.
Yeah, it doesn't look as great in hindsight.
Yeah, as free chose Igor.
And usually he would let like Artur and you can choose,
you know, and we're like, okay, let's drop Igor.
Well, thank you for joining me on this EG flavored podcast.
And I hope everybody enjoyed watching.
And we'll see you next time.
a bunch of different things for you guys.
You don't have to eat anything you don't feel like eating,
I will say that.
Some things are easy picks, pretty tasty,
nothing can go wrong, I know you will like it.
Something that may be a little bit more difficult,
you're not gonna have the best time of your life.
So, but don't worry,
I will always give you a trigger warning,
I'm not gonna trap you into anything bad.
No big deal, okay.
There is sweet and cheese.
Do you have a preference? Do you want to start with something?
I don't like cheese as much, so probably the sweets.
Okay.
I like cheese, but the ones I choose.
Okay. You didn't choose any of these?
No, you didn't.
I like French, you chose the...
The Camembert?
I was told it's your favorite.
It is my favorite, but I'm not going to taste it
because I like to save it for a different time.
Oh, okay.
For maybe the celebration, the winning celebration.
Exactly, back at home in Lebanon.
Okay.
What about you, are you...
I'll just go with whatever the H picks.
Oh, okay.
I'll just pick a lot of this.
Okay, so, straight on the switch, I can't interest you in any of the...
What do you want to interest us in?
What is a monster cheese?
Oh, okay, so...
How do you pronounce it?
Masta.
Okay, so if I had to rate the cheese as in from difficulty,
I would say number one is over there.
It's... you start easy.
No big deal.
Kind of like a cheese you might know as peepong.
Kind of like the same.
Then this one is a con té.
It's pretty typical, it's pretty soft, soft taste.
Then camembert, we start getting in trouble.
Camembert is you have to make sure you don't talk
to anyone for the rest of the day.
There's a bunch of things that goes with it.
And the monster is the top of the top.
So I'm not even gonna, yeah.
Camembert is afraid of the monster, you know, yeah.
He's on top of the food chain, this one.
Where do we find the monster?
It's a good question.
It's a question for AI.
I guess you don't have the answer to that.
I cannot help you with that.
If you get an answer, let me know.
Okay, let's get to the sweets.
Anything you recognize that you've seen before?
I've seen the Madland before.
What about Tom?
I've seen the macarons.
I think that's all. Yeah, I think I've seen it before.
If you guys feel like trying any of it, please be our guest.
Go ahead, GH.
You wanna try the macaroon?
Go for it.
I think you have chocolate, strawberry, and I assume it's vanilla.
Which one feels good for you?
Go for the easy one, chocolate.
Chocolate? Okay.
Yeah.
I've got it in half.
Go for it.
That's a very good split, bro.
Thank you, bro.
Go ahead.
That's how you split the support resources?
No.
No, it's not like that at all.
I think it's a much bigger piece.
I think that one is this one.
Okay.
What do you think?
It's good. Not the best.
I give it a 5.3 over 10.
5.3.
Not the best compared to other desserts or not the best compared to other macarons you've had in your life?
It's not the best compared to other macarons.
You have a connoisseur.
you know me okay what do you think i think it's six i like six okay bro
i love it bro it's good it's good i'm trying the mudland
you don't want to try it no no no please please this is a i've been trying we've been trying all day
with everybody else you want the piece of come on back oh thank you thank you it's for your
your celebration later. I would not dare. Thank you, bro. Okay, I love trying the Madeleine.
I'll go to a small piece, so much. Like we say in Lebanon, Sahten. And in France, we say Bon Appetit.
Go ahead, all right. This is called Madeleine. Madeleine. What is it made of? It's another
question for you. You have a lot of questions for you. No, it's a typical eggs, water, a bit of
sugar I assume. It's not bad, but it's not great. Okay. Maybe like a 5.8. 5.8. It's very precise.
It's compared to other Madams. Yes, another I would agree. I would agree. I think you have a good
palais. Because they had a lot of good macarons, a lot of good Madams. Yeah, these ones are
no, they're pretty, they're average. I agree. I mean, if you have an educated French taste,
than I cannot train. I cannot train GH. What do you think?
I would rate it lower than the other one, like 5 point type. It's just the taste of sugar and
other stuff. It's too soft? Yeah, it's too strong. That one is a bit nicer.
I could offer you next, we call this Poutite Collier. It means little schoolboy, I guess.
Or girl, I don't know. Actually boy. Boy.
You're correcting me on my terms so I love it.
This is your typical biscuit, like, lunch biscuit for kids when they go to school.
What kind of chocolate is it?
I believe it's milk chocolate.
Okay, then I can try it.
You can?
Or if you don't like dark chocolate?
I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate.
You're not trying to be difficult yet?
Yeah.
Okay.
Is that the trick?
The question is...
It's perfect. It's flawless.
Are you cutting it?
I've never seen somebody cut a petite collier
with a knife and a fork.
This is the first for me, but it's good.
I'm trying.
Yes.
Are you going to eat it with the fork too?
Yes, we're very...
like that.
Educated.
No.
There's no we.
It's me.
Nice.
Pretty nice, actually pretty nice.
I'll give it a 7.
7?
Yeah.
I'll give it a 8 actually.
8.
It's good.
Really?
It's your favorite.
I like it, yeah.
Okay, awesome.
I mean, they're very good.
I would prefer macaroni, but then any other day.
But a good one.
But a good one.
We can say it.
Yeah, but a good one.
They're very good.
And I mean, I think.
What is this one?
Okay, this one is, I think we call them barquettes.
It's kind of like, what does it mean?
It's the shape, bark is a, you go on water with it,
you know, when you run, are you going back?
Oh, okay, okay.
The English word for it.
It's like a spills.
Yeah, kind of.
And the shape is the same, right?
It looks like a small boat.
So it's called small boats.
Are you interested in pacing?
If you are, I am.
You could cut it in half.
I'll cut it in half.
Shading the scale.
Oh, we should have skipped lunch.
You can also break it, break it if you want.
Is it the French edition?
I mean, I just don't want you to struggle with pork and butter.
Are you trying to help?
No, this is what the new Magol repetition looks like.
This looks like much more, huh?
How does it look?
This is a Shiva refresher.
Here in this Phoenix, and it's a four-step Rubik.
F, if even.
If even, four-step.
Fluffy hat and...
Not my favorite. Not your favorite, okay?
No.
I wouldn't do it again. We can't beat the Pate de Collin.
No.
You wouldn't do it again.
That's my fault.
This one, no. Maybe the front place, I think it feels pretty old.
Like the biscuit.
That is possible.
Maybe you can try it until last.
You don't have to use fork until last year.
Maybe you can tell us if it tastes like original or a bit older.
2000...
360, okay.
No, it's going to succeed, it's like one, you know?
Yeah, 2007, it was a good year.
It's aged, yes.
Age Barquette?
Age Barquette.
Yeah, 18th century.
You like it?
I like it.
I like it.
Okay, next up is the cheese.
No, that's...
No, no, no, no.
I think...
But you have to show us how a true Frenchman eats...
...mulster cheese.
You want me to try it?
No, I don't.
You don't have to do it.
I was going to do it for you or anything, if you don't have to do it, okay.
No, I think honestly, I think you guys tried almost everything.
Thank you for trying.
Thank you for rating.
You were pretty...
Pretty?
Pretty.
But that's the man's of high standard.
I did not expect anything less.
You know us.
Yes, anyway.
Thank you for watching and cheer for the boys in the tournament.
You guys are doing very well at EWC.
You're currently five in one.
7-1, excuse me. You guys tied with Aurora, who were the, I would say coming into this,
they were probably the team expected to get top in their group. You guys are tied with
them at 7-1. So what do you think is going to happen from here on out? Aurora plays
Liquid tomorrow. Do you think you guys are just going to sweep the rest of your groups
and you guys are going to be tied at the end and have to play a tiebreaker, which I assume
there is?
Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure we're gonna tour tomorrow, playtime, and Blitz said they're gonna take one game off, he promised.
He promised?
Yeah, so we should be good.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's more so dependent on Liquid if they can beat Aurora than us, to be honest.
Probably end up tank-tiebreaker.
Okay, and how do you think that tiebreaker is gonna go? Easy 2-0 or what?
No, they're good, so maybe 2-1, I would say.
Okay, maybe 2-1.
I just love this guy. He makes me laugh a lot. He's a funny guy. He's a bundle of sunshine
in the dark world. He just makes me laugh.
It's funny because I feel like I've heard many people describe you that way.
You know, it's just, I mean, I've played with him for a long time, I think, already, just, he makes me laugh.
I like him a lot.
Okay.
Yeah.
All right.
Okay.
So, outside of the people in this room, I don't like anyone.
Fair enough, fair enough.
But outside of the people in this room, who was your favorite teammate to play with?
I'm going down the line.
So, you know, you prepared.
That's a good question. I have to run down memory lane.
They do a lot of people, I would say.
I mean, every single individual brought their own positives and negatives.
But hands down, I would say the most they have ever played with.
After some mail, of course.
No, let's remove the steam and put it on the side.
So I would say it was American. He was the absolute best player I've ever played with.
He shined a lot in his own way, it was fun to spend time with him as well.
So I would say him, my second for different reasons would be Kuro because we played a lot together.
And as Omar said, I learned a lot from him too, especially inside the game.
He had really good vision about how the game should be played,
what are the important things, what to focus on and how to play the game basically.
And then I would specifically shout out Matumba man. He was a very fun teammate. He was very stoic, I would say.
I think maybe it's a characteristic of the Finnish people, they're very stoic.
So I think these guys were really fun to play with.
So Mal, you're next?
I mean, I guess I said it already, right? It was the whole of TI6 post-TS6CG.
It was Union, Union Offlane, XI, POS4, Crate, POS5, R4, Mei, and we had Fear coach.
Yeah, that was with the boys.
Yeah, and then you got Avery, secondary coach at some point.
And then Fear stopped working with that guy. I was just sitting there.
Yeah, so it was just like an insane fun group, to be honest.
I have good memories of that time. Only good memories, to be honest.
So I've got a story from Avery about about you and I want to see if this is true
So when he first was potentially going to join EG to coach. Yeah, you said, uh-uh not not that guy
uh, and the reasoning was is, uh
It is because
You guys would play each other in pubs all the time and he would just gank you all the time
And and from Avery's perspective what he would say is like I'm trying to be a pro player
So I want to interact with, you know, the best player in the game.
So he would just go and gig your lane all the time.
Is that true?
It is true.
It is true.
He just would ruin your mid lane.
Yes, yes, yes.
At this guy.
I mean, just some people who just play to ruin your game, you know.
I don't like it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You gotta play it again.
That's fair.
That's fair.
But then we grew close, actually.
It was really fun.
I hope he didn't tell you about other stuff, you know, that is actually the only story.
Oh, okay. Nice. Nice. Nice. You know, Samel, it's the trend. I feel like I've asked other people,
in fact, just before this podcast, I asked a couple of people, they said, what should I ask
Samel? They all said, I want to say things that wouldn't be safe for a podcast.
All right, Dubai, your next favorite teammate outside of this team?
Probably Fjord, playing in LGD right now.
I think I just improved the most with him.
I think we pushed each other in a positive way.
We kind of went through the lull together and we had to work hard together and we kind
of rose.
I think during my time with Solikar, I improved a lot because right before I joined Heroic
for the first time. When my first, like, year two tournament with him, never had any issues
with him. He's a great guy, super hard worker, like me, I would say. And he pushed me to
the better. And he's a good friend.
I've heard very good things about Theo. We just talked to KJ again recently, and I asked
him about Theo. He said he was like kind of a soldier. He'll do anything to make things
happen.
Yeah, exactly. And he had a very good influence on me in that regard. And helped me become
much better for you. Omar? I'm gonna say it's three people mainly from my old team which were
Noob, Kauri and our old coach Axel who's coaching Gendix right now. Okay. I think these three were
guys who helped me a lot actually. I have to confess I was not a good player. I would say they
They helped me become a good one. They helped me a lot actually. I improved a lot during
my time with them. Yeah, I would say they're a big reason I am who I am today.
is in our DNA. Whenever we let it out, it becomes our super power. Now imagine an
entire city being built to supercharge it. Kdea City powered by play.
What was business as usual with Dota yesterday Purge but are we going to get something similar
today?
Yeah, I don't know. We had those exciting upsets that happened earlier, but they got their dreams crushed yesterday, unfortunately.
So, might see something similar today, but it could be another upset. You never know.
How are we thinking about this, teams? Have they got a chance against Falcons and Co?
Well, Nigma Galaxy is looking much better this tournament than they have in years. We could see them upset, but it could be a reality check.
They haven't played Dota in a long time.
Let's find out if the reality check hates it as Falcons with the easy sound of the bracket. Who'd have thought that was going to happen?
Let's get into the next day of Dota here at EWC.
Only three more days of Dota 10, then we know who will take the championship here for Dota
2 at the Eastworld World Cup.
We're live from Paris with our final day of quarterfinals here coming your way and to
to talk all about the quarterfinals today.
And yesterday, I'm joined by Sev and Lacoste.
Sev, how are you doing this morning?
I'm good, but you know, it kind of hit me
when you say only three more days.
Like, you said only, like can we extend it or something?
Like, Dota in pairs doesn't happen often.
Like it really went by really fast.
Like, can we just do like another week or something?
Is that a possibility?
Can you, can you read it?
I mean, you got my vote, you know?
I got your vote.
Can you do anything about it?
I don't think I can.
Yeah, we said it's democracy always.
When we choose things, yeah, I'm down.
I'm definitely down to three to zero.
That's a three to no.
This is zero.
That's a new one.
Zero and no combined.
I'm very excited to see what's gonna happen today
because we've seen some of the teams
also getting eliminated,
teams that potentially could have taken the whole thing.
But this is single little limb now.
It has been single little limb
in the survival stage as well.
So gonna be very interesting
and looking forward to it here.
Yeah, and single elimination
doesn't really happen very frequently in Dota 2.
and that just means the pressure is so much more than any other tournament.
It means that you don't get that second chance where a lot of people,
oftentimes they rely on that second chance.
We could take a look at the SDC Rewind yesterday.
Some teams here said, who would have really liked to have that second chance?
Yeah, yesterday there was probably one of the biggest upsets in a sense.
Like we've seen the title defender.
I think it's never easy to let go of the title defender.
team spirit they felt to Yandex, which looks to be one of the best teams of the tournament,
if not the best team. It was a true test for them. We were like, yes, they've shown so much,
but it only happens once in a season where you have to take down a team of the caliber of team
spirit in the biggest event of the year, like EWC. You're going to have TI later, but basically,
this is the money time. These are the games that are the most important of the season,
maybe even off your career, because you never know where you're going to be next year. You never
know what happens with your team and they really showed up it was they were super impressive I think
they it was a highly contested series like Spirit also played really well but at the end of the day
they really showed that they are the best team one of the best teams here and definitely one step
ahead of Team Spirit. Yeah for a good reason everybody's talking about Team Yandex as for
picture a team that's going to be taking the whole thing as well they had very interesting things
happening of course DM Centaur is going to be the big one that people are going to be talking about
to Maladich. He also stepped it up on this position 5 and dying twice. Also building
the Blade Mail, building Heart, going for a bit of an unorthodox build in a sense where
not many other position 5s are going to go for it. And of course, CJ and Walker, he was the one
that has been carrying the team like ever since we see this guy play on the hero. It feels very good.
Yeah, and we had Yandex as one of the teams coming out there on top and now looking like one of the
clear favourites for the finals but the other quarter finals we had yesterday with P-Vision
coming out on top, you could say the exact same thing about them.
Yeah, I mean they've been cruising so far this tournament. I don't think they
they look very dominant and it's kind of like these two teams are rushing at each other like
full speed from one side to the you know like to the other side of the bracket and even in
different groups and stuff obviously there's like a lot of other contenders which we'll be
talking about but these two I think you know nobody didn't go unnoticed by anyone here like
because you guys are the way they were at the right time in the years I have to say
having a little bit of that perjury he's around he's around he's around yeah and the the next
two series that we're gonna have I think because again you know you get really excited with the
index and tradition and only one of these teams is going to go through so another finals before
for the grand finals. This was crazy about this format is you get someone in these games
where you're like, it can only happen once and it's happening now.
Yeah, and the keys were crossed yesterday and notice here that this is an extra special
key. The defending champions, they do get that special key for them. And this was a
very convincing crushing coming out from Yandex. Yandex versus P vision in the semi finals.
I'm already getting ahead of myself seeing that record. But I think that will be, I
I mean, if we can start a poll, how many signatures do you think we need to make that a best of five?
However you need, you get, you know, it's like everyone would sign off on this.
You could have millions if you wanted to.
I think you have only got maybe 10 people that would not.
We turned the 10 on the stage.
Yes, of course.
I would say please, no.
Please, no.
No, we have had an interesting day yesterday.
and a title defending team getting eliminated is always a little bit extra rough for some final words
out of those title defendants. We're gonna listen to Yatoro.
Hello, I'm here with Yatoro of Team Spirit after a tough elimination there. How are you feeling?
Hard games, I would say. It was a good series against good opponents. I think if we would win them,
would win the tournament, but that's life.
What do you think went wrong? Game one, you're playing Kez, you had to play against a nature's
prophet, you got sprouted a little bit, it felt kind of hard.
The first game was kind of free. We played well at mid-game, we took the rush, we took
two towers, but after that they just moved a bit better, a bit faster, and after they
But after they killed us atop, took site and the game goes hard.
Like, Emma just goes and kills everyone.
So we just need to be a bit better about teamfight, but we didn't.
So that's why we lost.
Let's stop ending game number two.
You guys were pretty close for a while, you had that great Roche fight.
You chrono'd Invoker before a BAB, you killed them, took Roche.
I would say the problem is that we had good chances to catch them at Wards, but we did
kind of miss a place.
We didn't catch the Wokker two times when we put them in.
And they just split us up, we can't take even tier 1 with the Aegis.
They just split everywhere and they need to be everywhere for outpush and they take pick
off still with Centaur and Wokker.
So it was just a hard macro game about they have just better pick about moving around
the map.
And we had a bit lucky control, I would say, only like pango and snap, Void can't like
reach the setup because I need to show myself as they just, it was kind of hard macro game,
I would say.
I see.
I was curious about Collapsus here.
We played Tide first game, second game, Pango.
Do you feel like he needed something that also could jump, so it didn't have to be you?
I think it's good heroes for jump, you just couldn't reach them.
I would say like two, three times was pretty close, but we didn't.
I see.
And then they just got more gold than you, basically, you know.
They just have like four cores, we have only like one and a half, I would say, they like
scale it and dines and tower, clings and walker, we need to kill everyone, but we have just
Nothing of damage, I would say.
Yeah, need like three Coronos basically.
Well, I'm sorry that you guys lost Tough Games for sure,
but thank you for joining me
and good luck in your next tournament.
Yeah, Tough Lost for sure, for Team Spirit.
And interesting to note that Yutoro,
he starts that interview saying that if he thinks,
if they win versus Yandex,
they will take the whole tournament yesterday
on the main stage when we heard Satanic talk.
He said that whoever wins from them and Yandex, SpeedVision and Yandex,
they will win the whole tournament as well.
And that are some big words thinking that the winner will definitely come from that side of the bracket.
Because let's take a look at the other side of the bracket that's coming your way today.
One of these four teams will have something to say about that set.
I mean, I don't know. There's Falkens, there's Nigma, there's BVT, which these are big names.
And they're kind of being disrespected in a sense by the other.
There's like beef between both sides of the bracket.
It's like, well, if we beat them, we're just like, these guys are just transparent.
I personally like it.
I think these players are the kind of players to really thrive under being, you know, kind of offended.
So it's like, yes, you may or who?
Like, I never heard of him.
I'm, how do you say it?
I'm Mark, and you spell it for me.
I've never heard about this guy.
ATF, I think.
Yeah, ATF.
Yeah, I've never heard about him.
Not impressed.
I'm not going to win.
So, you know, I'm looking forward to see what these guys can bring to the table and kind of show the second half of the bracket.
How how it's done.
Yeah, because it definitely feels like the bracket did open up in this stuff for the like if we look at who talked to
Who topped the groups?
These are the players. These are the teams that actually topped it.
So kind of be interested to see if
Falcons if
Nygma Galaxy are going to be the one as well seeing that the older seeds in the groups were correct because
because both the index and P vision, it was kind of like a smooth sailing for them as well.
Yeah, we'll see if there's an upset basically that is going to happen today as Vici Gaming has upset already
because they are the ones that took down 1W just a day or two ago.
Speaking of a day or two ago, I think it is interesting to note that Falcons, they came from Group A
which meant that they finished their group last week Saturday,
which means that they have not played for six days, no officials, obviously they've played.
But no officials, curious if they will have an impact, Lacoste?
Yeah, for Falcons, I think it actually benefits them.
This is the team that, you know, I'd say this is the team that almost never gets out drafted, in a sense.
Maybe there should be some small adjustments, but they always have pretty strong drafts.
and with all this time to prepare to watch other teams
what they are doing, I feel like that's gonna benefit them a lot.
Having AOI, having so much experience on multiple stages,
like winning so many tournaments together,
it just feels like it definitely benefits them more
compared to VG Gaming, who has been needing to show their strength,
needing to show their hand,
because we are in a singular limb,
we've been for a while now,
which means that you are pulling out your best strategies.
Yeah, VG Gaming as well,
their team that indeed just keeps growing, keeps getting better.
We saw them adjust in the series of course as well.
They have what it takes to make sure that a best of three goes their way while learning
on the fly.
Let's learn a little bit more about Vici Gaming from Bach.
I played with Niu, and then I played with WS.
Later, they had some changes on the players,
and they needed a number three.
Because I played with them last year,
they found me.
Last year, we had three teammates,
including me and Xinkiu.
So we had a good dream.
Sometimes, I feel very tired
when I play like a loser.
Because when you are experienced in these battles, you will be happy.
So it is also a blessing for victory.
It is a kind of desire to win the game and win the game.
I think what we need most now is the strength of some individuals.
Because now this Dota has become more and more complicated.
We need more and more and more wonderful operations.
And each person's operations will have a great impact on the situation.
It has a big impact on their individual performance and their structure.
We are also working on the Internet.
We are also trying to figure out how to play the game.
Because the game is always changing.
The heroes and every match will change.
We still need to find ways to play games in every game.
We have been training abroad for about two weeks before this game.
I hope that we can continue to grow and improve in this small game.
We will be able to enter the competition and have more space for improvement.
And he does say it is like focusing first on the group stage doing well there and then
continue to improve in this survival stage and they definitely did that said they did
I think they did more than that like I don't think anyone expected them to you know knock
1W out because a lot of the teams that are remaining in the tournament would name 1W
as being one of the favorites so in that sense I think Vici Gaming is now on everyone's radar
and people are like, yeah, I mean, true. We also have to worry about these guys because these guys
are not unknown to anyone here. Like, you know, you think of Mark, formerly known as Faith,
Jan, you know, Zincu, TI finalists. Several times actually, Zincu was in last TI finals
on their extremes banner. You know, I think all of these names are big names of Dota,
they've been there forever. So there's like a really cool mix of like experience, wisdom,
and you know know how to approach these big events and this could also have been a factor in their
deciding series yesterday against 1W so we'll have to see today it's it's another Titan they have
to take down in Falcons they are the title like the TI you know winning team like from last season
so yeah we'll have to see but ZinQ he's coming for revenge you know. Oh absolutely like this is the
guy that has been missing like he's been streaming and I think a lot of people missed him being in
in the scene because his playstyle is very unique. Like if we talk about like the position
for players that kind of change Dota meta forever, he's gonna definitely be in the talks
like the way that he approached the game and he's bringing in some like classics as well
but also bringing in new stuff. Like if you watch the iQualifiers as well, like he really nailed it.
There was such a clutch game against Yakutobros where he like single hand with that 90 plus minute
game. He had one play that four men stunned with Lyon that basically changed everything. It changed
the outcome. And this is a team that didn't really have the best season. They were really
struggling. They only played four tier one tournaments. They managed to get like top six.
They have only once. That was their best result. But it seems like they are peaking at the right
time. Yeah, a team that, well has said kind of that they're struggling a little bit, even though
the results are still very good. Is that their opponents for today? I'm talking about team Falcons.
Very important for them also to do well here, not just to prove to themselves that they can do it,
but also because their organization has been at the top every single time for the club championship
and to be at the top you need to get at least one first place finish and it will be really nice for
them to get that out of the way with this Dota 1 but of course Road to Climb still here as we're
going to listen to some more about that climb from Malrin. I wasn't sure performing that well in
recently times and Mada Mars said it's kind of true.
First of all, we're still bad.
Let me stop it. It's nothing. It's not an achievement.
We try going because we're playing for a longer time to get there and like,
it's just some problems popping out and sometimes hard to fail to deal with them.
Fear just turns around, war's about now, the BKB is fading away. They hit him with a fear and he's dead.
Just an easy kill.
I wouldn't say in the best shape, but at least we solved the issues that we had before
and now we have something to learn for future.
Once in my time, I was watching Simpsons and there was a Westline downhill, Homer.
He said, I'm not looking in the future more than 5 seconds.
They have to see how we're gonna perform, who's people gonna take the rest,
who don't wanna take the rest, and it's just not on the left of me.
Wait, no, the silence came in, the silence came in time, you can't get off the reaper site,
Ghost might just be able to make a change, I felt like the magnetized finish them off.
First to this, I was not performing the best of the first games.
I don't know actually why, I was kinda like...
I wouldn't say struggling, but I actually was a bit confused
because I was like bringing up, playing early pops
and like getting ready for the show.
Then I think as a team, it was profoundly good.
We're just playing more effort with every official
and every clan more nowadays.
So it's just getting easier for us to play officials.
Five of the Doom will not end up farming these heroes
in the fountains in winter.
This is cruel.
It's very important for the team to have an RSA.
You kind of like, I would say like,
Ornate deserves that, that you got the first place
and now you have rewarded yourself.
Another box save, trying to wield to stop it.
What a beautiful.
I mean, I think the hardest opponent is most likely going to be Cyanus, seems like an index.
Other than that, like, you do seem just playing a such a weird style, I would say, and usually
it can change.
They have their own hero list, and it's just worse for them, which is going to be very
good to see an official match against them.
Nari, on the chase against Juppi Ryden, an A-T, a better two-man fall, not even to the
end, both just deleted.
I would say I'm hoping that we're going to get better placement, but this time I will
saving much more confidence than ourselves.
I mean, there's no more words to say.
It's just like, we have to see how we're going to go.
Some Homer Simpson words in there.
Didn't expect that this morning.
But not looking into the future too much,
taking it one step at a time.
I think that is a very healthy way to approach it.
Yeah, it is.
And I mean, we've seen, you know, getting ahead of yourself
kind of, I guess, fire back at some players this tournament.
And, you know, we've heard players talk about series, your future series.
And, and yeah, maybe going too quick.
And, and, and all the next thing you know, they're just not there.
You know, they don't make it there.
So I think it's a good approach generally to just take one game at a time,
even one map at a time, you know, don't even think of the result of the series.
I mean, let alone the next one.
So hopefully he'll think about the future when he plays the game.
I think that's quite important, but I'm convinced that he will.
because thinking ahead is a very big part of how to play Dota.
But good work from Arain, I think.
I always like hearing teams being humble and kind of knowing where they stand
and being also okay to just take it one step at a time and improve.
It's all about picking anyway.
You need to be at your best level when the big games are coming.
I mean, they're coming now and they seem to be there, I think.
Yeah, when you said Homer, I thought he was talking about the Greek poet and philosopher,
but it seems like we're finding even more poetry in some of the TV shows
and smarter characters as well, but especially now it's obviously being popular nowadays.
And yeah, we'll have to see.
But one step at a time, I think that's the correct one.
Like one series a day, one game a day, because you've been playing only one series a day,
which means that you have quite a lot of time to prepare, only one obstacle that you need to get through.
And then you still have a good amount of time to prepare for the next day as well because of the schedule.
So it does feel like it's going to be benefiting them, I would say, slightly more.
Again, because Falcons, they are the team that always comes in prepared and especially these players that they're trying to dissect all of the smallest things
try to break the game as well, compared to like Vici Gaming who might have been struggling, but should definitely be an interesting matchup because these type of players, these caliber of players, you should never underestimate them.
No, you should not. I think also going on the big stage is something that for Falcons, you know, they may be, I feel like they have a little extra pressure on them because it is.
EWC and they are held to a high standard by themselves as we carry here as well as also by the Falcons organization
They already are on the board in terms of points
But they would like to continue being on top even then another other side feature gaming
I think they're already, you know, they're also taking it one series at a time
They're already very happy with what they have achieved. Yeah, and it's always dangerous to
face that kind of team. I think you know a team that has no expectations. Everything's just bonus at
this point. They have nothing to lose in a sense. Like they're they talked about how they just they're
just hoping to make it through the groups and all of a sudden they're top six, top eight. I mean,
and looking to get even higher, top four potentially. So if you're a Falcons, you're gonna be worried.
Yeah, you might have to be worried, but at the right side, there was preparation done. I can only
imagine for both teams. And we're of course going to talk about that and what they could have been
discussing regarding that but to get this match started properly we're first heading over to the stage
Ladies and gentlemen welcome to a beautiful fashionable day of Dota 2 in fact today we'll
We'll be doing the Paris Dota Fashion Show! Open those doors!
Rar! I'm sorry, it's just us.
Rar! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mila Spoon!
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do!
Oh, de Gauche!
Gauche Ice Frog Collection!
Vintage brick! My God!
Brick color from the brickiest of Dumb Punch players here for you today.
Excellent fit, sir.
Excellent. You're talking about myself?
Look at you. We got the storm spirit fit right here. What the hell?
Cane boots. He's all in. They're talking about blue suede shoes. My man is top to bottom ready to go.
That is our man. I give us a little twirl slacks. Come on. Come on. Let's get him a little twirl. Hell yeah.
All right, watch him. I'm walking up. All right, ladies and gentlemen, how are you doing? You're ready for some soda?
All right. All right. We have got some great go to here for you today.
yesterday was a pretty crazy one though, Milos.
It absolutely was.
We had our first day of quarterfinals,
eliminations, plenty of course,
two best of threes that went the way,
and I guess team two was a bit of a stump,
but otherwise, we got a day,
and we have two teams that have qualified in the semis,
and now we're waiting to see,
because honestly, yesterday it seemed like
the Yandex are gonna have a tough time in a semi-final,
just looking satanic, looking right in the camera
and saying, I'm gonna destroy you, and that was cool.
That was cool. Biggest surprise for me, definitely Team Spirit's departure.
I mean, that team was absolutely goaded, and then we saw them walk away.
So, super surprising, the defending title holders taken out.
But, there is one other team that is defending a title here.
That is very true, and that is our first team on the walk-ups for this quarter finals for today.
Let's bring it up first up is Team Falcons!
Woo!
No matter where they go, they're always crowd favorites
and for more than one reason,
the EWC 2025 club champions of both last year
and of course in 2024 as well.
They're back on the main stage
and you haven't seen them in a few days.
You know why?
Cause they went nine out of one of their groups.
A singular game dropped on the way to this main stage.
But today is where the real challenge is,
how do you play on the stage?
How do you play in front of the crowd
And can you go deeper than just quarterfinals?
Absolutely. A team that is no stranger to a crowd.
And I'm gonna worry about it.
I mean, they've just been hanging out,
sitting in their hotel room, maybe taking a nap.
You awake?
You good? He's fine. He's awake.
He moved very quickly. Thank you so much, Mark.
Let's see if Zero reacts.
The guy's a stone cold killer.
Let's go ahead and see their opponent's laser-gum.
Butcher has together for Beachy Gaming!
Virtue Gaming has not had a single rest since this tournament started.
They've been fighting for their lives over and over again.
The final hope of Chinese Dota here today.
They have beaten their biggest rivals of Extreme Gaming.
Even LGD, who tried to come and take their spot, ain't no way.
These boys are here to slay an rivalry we have seen before, but not this year on this
big of a stage.
Gentlemen got the thumbs up you're ready go ahead please keys to your positions
We're gonna need to see that handshake Milo's anything weird
Respect coming out there alright, we've got a whole the game coming up your way
Don't go anywhere. We will get right into that action right after this video
The
quarterfinals between Team Falcons and Vici Gaming will soon begin. It's time for us to
get into it and talk about what is going to be important to look at for this best of
three elimination series. Seb, where are you going to keep your eyes?
Right before that. Did you guys notice something about the handshakes every time?
I went for the headbutt almost there.
This one I did notice the headbutt.
Never the people that are gonna have to lane against each other's they go and shake
That's what I want to see you know
I want to see mid laners shaking hands before they actually try to up each other's or like an off laner with a safe laner because you know
There's you know, there's gonna be a lot of beef like you get to really heal it in the laning face
It's all about you know kind of lasted denying, you know high-fiving each other spring on the ground
I want to see more of that. You know, it's like kind of bring the heat before the game even starts
How about we ask all lanes to
Handshake each other before the 5v5 handshake. I mean that's spicy. I would not see it
But no, what I'm gonna be looking at is I mean obviously fucking is they come in as favorites
I think that's like not surprised to anyone and they probably expect to you know come on on top of the series
But again extreme like sorry Vici gaming like they were some of them were on extreme last see I
they had an incredible season. Sure, the season was a little rocky this time around,
but it really doesn't mean anything. Like there's been many many iterations of like
teams or rosters that had, you know, not the best season, an average season, and they pick at
the right time and then just take it all when it comes to, you know, EWC, NTI time. So at this point
you have to take them very seriously. Like they're showing off this tournament, they're showing that
they can take down some of the best teams in the world, you know, they took down 1W. And these
These players are no stranger to the biggest events and performing in them, so...
Yeah, and it seems like they also managed to find some good place for themselves in this current meta, like playing this Kerylina.
We've seen Lina from the mid lane, but we're also seeing it from the safe lane as well.
Shiro did have amazing performance yesterday on that Lina, like 20 plus kills, one death only, kind of single handedly.
There it is for a good reason, because I feel like I started to be a big believer in this hero.
And what makes this hero super strong is like having the flexibility between position one and position two
plus also the Agatom Scepter built even from the Carriero because you go for the Maelstrom, you pick up boots of travel, you go back to Agatom Scepter, which is like this item has pretty insane numbers when you think about it, it's a 35% magic resistance,
He's 35% Spellamp, unobstructed vision for 7 seconds on 25 second cooldown, so lets you position really well in teamfights, plus also gives you ability to be super tanky, one of the reasons plus the level 15 talent as well.
And you know, I was looking at the, also the coach names and it really brings me back as like, yeah, I was like, one of the Chinese living legends is like, people kind of forget about him, but he's really the equivalent of Joe, in a sense, like he did as much for like the Dota scene and the Chinese Dota scene in particular.
And you have AUM on one side, which people are maybe a little bit more familiar with,
because they won so many titles and he's been highlighted a lot.
There's like the same amount of experience and Dota knowledge on the other side,
and I just love to see these two great Dota minds,
with five exceptional players at their service, in a sense, battling it out.
You love to see it.
Yeah, I feel like sometimes we don't mention some of the coaches,
because players outshine them, like people talked about, you know, Yandex, their coach as well,
who are putting in quite a lot of work considering the results that they've been having,
and yeah, Clockwerk on the other side, this hero has always been good against Lina,
maybe not so much nowadays with that agonimceptor as well, with the unobstructed movement,
that you don't care too much about the Clockwerk, but Clockwerk has looked very stable in every single
game very annoying hero that can block off certain areas, very annoying to lane against.
We were trying to get rid of like mana burn as a concept, you know, some of the spells
like mana, like Snake from Medusa for example, mana burn initially on Nyx Assassin, but
having Clockwrath like burning your mana, especially some of these early engagements
can be very devastating and I'm a big fan of this combo, the snapfire plus Clockwrath
you have kill throughout the whole game.
with these two hero pairings like you can make two moves on the map pretty much
because these two heroes are gonna kill any hero.
Yeah it's a great combo, they've run it a lot.
A few things to say that I think are worth noting is, well, Farknance first of all is one of the
one of the DD9 teams actually, we haven't seen him play it, but Malarine is a level 30
DD9 player, like one of his best heroes actually, so he would know what he wants against it.
So I'm sure that, you know, they talked about this Lina, they saw it coming and
they're gonna propose something against it. You mentioned the clockwork,
I think through that the cog interaction is not as good, but at least he has a jetpack,
which can be very useful against Lina, especially if they build aghanims.
It becomes really hard to catch right, they're flying over trees, you lose a lot of them
are flying.
Yeah right, they're both flying, but Trunks gonna have vision of Lina, they're gonna
play their own game, but at least he's gonna be able to track her down, so that's a good
tool to have.
I want to mention the Undying ban also, I think it seems to be one of the top, you know,
plus 5 and plus 3 actually, he was in the tournament, we've seen Yandex dominate with it yesterday
and snaking is maybe the second player to be using it as much, you know, like Falcons,
they've played a lot of online and it's their go-to, so pretty good of Richie to not let
them get their hands on it.
Yeah, I'm dying, like we've seen some good performances yesterday, Malady as well, he
kind of owned like even Yattaro gave him credit saying that he's going to be in a scaling
like four pretty much scaling cores in that game,
and he did with the heart, with the blade nail build,
so many different ways to build that hero.
And on the other side, Murana, plus Tusk,
so having an extra bit of a save,
Murana, like we've seen the hero do really well
from position five, even some position four performances.
And here-
This is a consider to four, though.
What's in Q, Murana?
I mean, it could be.
I think it, like, technically it's still open.
If the Lina goes safe lane,
most likely the Tusk is going to lane with her,
which would send the Murana position four,
but if they decide to send the Lina mid,
and you could have both options open.
I just wonder, I mean, I want to say that Lina is very fine
laning against Nap, I would even give Lina an edge,
maybe at 60-40.
So they should be happy with Lina mid,
but again, it's going to come down to what they get to see
and for both scenarios of Lina mid and Lina plus one
might be fine.
That's also the strength of the Lina,
because if you pick it that early,
this is not a hero that can really get countered in lane.
It's so strong on the lane that you can just pick it and...
Yeah, she does well.
Like, it doesn't matter whether she goes to safe lane or whether she goes to mid lane.
The hero's gonna do fine.
And I also think the value that they're gonna be getting from Cookie in this game
is gonna be insane.
Like, LSA, jumping over the shards, whoever gets initiated on,
maybe dodging the snowball,
grid against the Aero combo that they have.
And also, Winter Riven.
Being able to split the fight, plus the Windranger.
We are not seeing too much of a teamfight so far inside of Vichy gaming
I would love to see some kind of a teamfight because you're gonna be fighting into snapfire wyvern
This is very single target oriented build so far like the whole lineup
This this wyvern pick really feels like a checkmate to me because as you mentioned they have mostly single target wyvern excels at
You know fixing that or they also have mostly physical damage. Of course, there's Nina
But you know one Glimmer Cape, let's say in one Column Brace and all of a sudden
And these three heroes can't even fix what a position 5 wyvern is going to bring to the
table.
I also really like the synergy between wyvern and snap, I think the curse is a great setup
for cookie, so is clockwork of course, but there's just a lot of teamfights synergy with
the falcon heroes, they have very solid lanes, these are dominant laners, so their draft
is just very well rounded, like they have teamfights, you know, they have very strong
lanes, they have save, which is particularly efficient versus the witchy gaming heroes.
I think a lot of weight on the last two picks for Wichita Gaming, they obviously have secured themselves like solid heroes and a good draft, but they're in a bit of a tricky situation right now.
Yeah, I would love to see some kind of a team fight. Doom is also a good pick, it's very good against Windranger, good against Wyvern Centaur, we've seen good amount of Centaur's on 18, just to be able to maybe even build into pipe in this game, the interaction between Centaur and Windranger, a lot of them it's not going to happen because he is way too tanky.
What about... Okay, they go for the spectre.
This is a... I really like this hero.
I think it's just... I personally think it's just too strong, honestly.
Like, regardless of the game,
I think the hero is just in such a good state that it's always a pick.
So, I like it. They're taking a very skirmishy, played-a-math approach,
which, honestly, I think I quite like it,
because, you know, sometimes in Dora, you end up in a situation,
which I was describing earlier,
it's like, they can't really fight and how are they gonna fix it?
Wyvern is going to say wherever they jump on and don't try to fix the unfixable.
Don't fix what you can't. It's like just double down on what your heroes are designed to do in the game,
which is push lanes, you know, ghost push lanes with Mirana, Aghanim, Lina, you know,
killing three players from and like split Falcons apart on the map and pick them off with Toss,
Moonlight Shadow, Lina Travel, Spectre and force them to play your game.
And this might actually make heroes like Wyvern look completely helpless.
Yeah, this is something that Yattaro talked about in his exit interview,
that they like split them real well in that game,
even though they were the ones holding the Aegis,
they just played the map extremely well.
And I like the bands coming out, especially the Viper band.
It would be very good, potentially with Clockwork,
super strong lane break against Spectre, would always be good.
And again, they have a lot of single target,
Viper loves to play against these type of heroes,
a lot of magic damage early on,
And it would kind of decimate Spectre in the lane because if it's going to be Spectre plus Verana,
this is not a strong lane by any means.
So I feel like with whatever they decide to pick on side of Falcons,
there are going to be having an easy time.
This is like Spectre is a stronger laner that you would expect,
but not so much against the potentially Clockworth plus maybe some like Timbersaw that could come out for them.
Like even Dawnbreaker, I feel like they have multiple ways of dealing what's going to come.
and they're going to see the full draft, so they're going to decide.
I like the Dawn idea, actually, you mentioned.
I think it could help them fix a little bit of the map,
because right now, this is really what Vici Gaming is looking to abuse.
It's like, they, yeah, just force them to split and pick them off,
because if Falcons is allowed to just group up and go for objectives
without really paying the price when it comes to, like, losing towers, perhaps,
or losing too much resources because Vici is shoving all the waves into them,
then the game is pretty straightforward.
So they end up going for the Darcy. I really like that combo inspector. I think it's one of the best in the game
Yeah, you have to think of the team fights is like snapfire wyvern these heroes hate chaos
Like they want to understand where the fight is being fixated. It makes sense. They want to know. Okay. This is where the fight happens
This is where I'm gonna stand. This is how you know the angle. I'm gonna click my my spells from and
Versus specter Darcy it's it never happens. It's just full chaos like everybody's just getting chased by specter illusion vacuumed into the wall and
And it's just very effective versus the Falken Heroes.
It's a really good combo, I think.
There may be not investing enough resources in the laning phase,
but hopefully they have a plan, and there's always a jungle backup plan, especially when it's here.
But besides that, I think it's pretty cool how they were able to turn the Jathar on.
The illusion that you make out of Windrangers is not the strongest,
this is not TV-shadowfiend illusion type of heroes that we're talking about,
But still you're gonna be getting the value out of it
It also gives them a little bit of a team fight that we said that they needed the extra bit of the damage like the iron shell
Spectre with the radiance burn
There's gonna be quite a lot of damage over time especially because you know Falcons
They also want to be this is probably the best team in the world when we're talking about taking the longer fights and how they managed to reset
Now what's amazing about the spectre darsher combo is like yet like spectre excels like spectre enjoys for us a lot
First of all, like dispersion, like this here is really tanky, like hard to take down, and obviously you kind of lose by trying to kill Spectre.
So, it just amplifies, right, when Spectre with a pipe, with the greaves, and all the Darsir items that are bought naturally.
You also have the combo with the Surge and the Shard of Darsir which is slowing you and makes it impossible to disengage.
And if you don't run away from Spectre, you die essentially.
And the team fight presence is like you can't, they're running away, and Darsir gets like great jumps.
So this is off the Ranger?
Yes, this is something that we usually don't see.
It's a hero that doesn't get harassed by Marana, doesn't get harassed by Spectre.
It's a really good lane for a good game.
It's a good... This hero definitely has something to it.
It has been played from one Ranger back in my days as well.
It definitely has some merit to it.
I've never seen it.
Yeah, I think they opted to go for Tiny because this is the hero that doesn't care too much about the Darkseer
Darkshir in the lane, he's way too tanky to be killed.
And also this is the hero that builds into Silver Edge.
He's also kind of like a global hero in a sense,
once he starts down to hug people with the blink dagger,
with the Silver Edge, cutting the back lines.
And these heroes don't really have that much HP.
Like Lina, yes, she can be tanky,
but one thing that Lina hates to play against
is any repositioning tool.
If I can pick one of the best matchups against Lina is Tiny,
and it's also gonna be Magnus,
which we really haven't seen.
Yeah, and it's one of the... Tiny's one of the heroes that at some point will just stand his ground, right?
So he's just like, he's just there, and he has like, you know, Lucille Rage, whatever,
Satanic, Daedalus, Tiny25, he's just standing in the front.
And, you know, Darsha's Spectre are gonna click their spells, and Tiny's just not gonna finish.
Like, he's just gonna stand there, and he's just too tanky.
And I think it gives them also like a scaling, like, angle, where I don't think Windranger would have been able to take this game to the late game on the carry position.
But with Tiny, it's completely different.
You kind of have to think, you know, is this synergy going to be good enough?
But, you know, it brings me back to Amar playing Ursa in, I think it was in TI finals.
Yes.
Where you're like, oh, and then it just makes it work.
So I would just trust them to, at the end of the day, the guy's just Ursa off lane,
you know, Doom Rage and Snickering.
Mark off lane.
What Andrew, what's the problem?
At this point, just smart.
Yes.
This is like, I guess, another day in the office for Amar.
He's just pretending to be off lane.
He's never been off lane there.
It sounds like that Falcons has found themselves a very strong overall last pick.
How do we think Vici is going to fair against this?
Because I do think that the way you guys were leaning was if I were to ask you who won the draft, it would be Falcons.
How is Vici going to deal with it?
I mean, honestly, when I saw the first three picks, I would have told you that Vici gaming is getting completely out drafted
and it was very weird for them.
With the last two Spectre and Darsier, I'm super hopeful.
I think if they if they play this game well and let it on get an advantage they could definitely take it
Yeah, I kind of agree
I feel like they fixed some of the issues that they did have but the safe lane is not gonna be easy for specter
Well, we're gonna find out game one on this quarter finals
Falcons VG gaming coming your way with Sunstein and Kesson
Welcome game number one of this best of three in the playoffs for EWC Falcons versus VG gaming
We are indeed pause. We know the reason already
Crit is writing in chat sound bug. We know that's not true
It's fake news. That's right. How are you doing? I'm doing you feeling healthy today?
I am feeling happy about yourself. How's your throat? Everything is going well. Actually, okay so far
Let's see how progress is here. I'm glad you're doing well 20 seconds into the game. Yeah, it's a tough job
We have here. That's a good sign, but I'm loving these two drafts that we're seeing you can you know
it's when you have these type of teams go up against each other especially in an elimination series and in the playoffs
There's a lot of things like going back and forth you show this in your draft
And you have to answer the other way because I'm a huge fan of specter and also the leaner that each gaming half on their side
And I do feel that they found a nice way to corner Falcons like drafting wise towards the end
We heard them talk about the tiny
I think it was one of their best picks because windranger carry would not cut it
But it does mean you have an offline windranger now it is a marg we know this guy defies
is any type of logic when it comes to offland picks so I trust him to make it work but still
do feel like they were heavily pressured in the drafting stage.
Yeah, I'm fascinated what's going to be happening here in Amarisland because I have you seen
him play this hero before?
No.
I don't know how many times he's picked it in pubs.
It's Dota plus love.
He's a bronze boy which means with his own logic he shouldn't have been allowed because
he doesn't pass the Amar test.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Okay.
Maybe he has been holding on to something. He's got another account that he's in
Whatever that have rating is for I don't even know the names of the Dota plus thing
That's pretty embarrassing. It's an influence game for so long either way
Vici
You think that they are the underdogs in this series or you think it's pretty evenly matched. They should be slightly outmatched
Maybe like underdog. I guess it's maybe a bit of a strong word
But I would definitely give the favor overall to Falcons, right?
But looking at the drafts, I think that we're in for like it's a very like gameplay heavy game
That where it's like about the small things whether you get to outplay because you know tiny eventually you are quite strong in this game
But there's still this threat of the mid game. There's a lino that's gonna run around with an agonist scepter
There's moonlight shadow a lot of waves are pushed in from iron shell and obviously you have specter in your draft as well
Yeah, we haven't gotten cast a specter in quite a while. I love this hero
Yeah, tell me why so I like a lot of the changes that they've done to some heroes morphing and specter
in particular, where you have just more spells to work with, you know, Morph has better base
stats, which means he can go Adaptive Strike and Wave Form. Spectre has Desolate as an
innate, which is insanely strong, which means they have a bonus spell in Shadow Step. They
also drop Spectres like base damage, I think, by like 3 or 4 on base adjuice. So huge fan
of this hero, I think it's very much forgotten, and you see these range carries in so many
games, and against these heroes he's playing against, should have a pretty good game on
the Spectre. Nice balling coming out from Crit here, as Jin Q on the other side pulling
some creeps as the tusk just for this Darkseer as your, well I was gonna say your idol Faith
Beyond but you did a video content recently where we asked who your idol is and you didn't
mention him.
No, this...
You forget your idol, that's weird.
Man, I had a few idols, okay, you know there's Zai, there's Universe, I mentioned the third
guy that I'm now forgetting, I think I said the eyes or something.
No, but Faith Beyond is of course one of the goats, you know, he's won TI before and now
He's back playing he's playing the dark sea here
Which the tiny is a bit of an annoying matchup for you because tiny has insanely high damage
Which means he has three CS get some good denies and he's not that easy to collapse on later
So I did like the falcon's last pick quite a lot in this draft and if you're talking about late game
How does a tiny matchup against a specter?
It's you go silver edge on this here. Yes. Yes. Yes, you absolutely need silver
I think you also need playing dagger like overall when I look at the heroes that you're dealing with on the beachy side
You need to jump them. You need to find a way that you start the fight.
If you always wait for Vici to get the perfect initiation with some past vacuum wall, Mula, Shadow, and Haunt,
you're kind of getting cooked.
But at 1-1 matchup, Spectre beats most of them. I do think that Tiny has a good shot.
But then the strength of Spectre is also, you can choose your target. You don't have to end up in a 1-1 that you don't want to.
And we still get the mid lane here, Malrin, sitting on 13 and 2 CS versus the 13 and 1 of XM's Lena,
so over a very even so far.
And yeah, this bot lane skater should just have a free time
I would think the questions can they pressure Bach enough to force him out of lane for a little bit
Or you think this is just gonna be a wash of lane overall
There is definitely a lot of pressure going away. You can see it in the CS
I mean gink you that's more CS than Bach. Of course, it is a lot of neutrals
But you know classic plus four behavior at least some of the greedy players like shout out to my boy
Yaps or hasn't played in forever, but you know
This type of mantra still in this game. Yep for sure
And I'm glad to see Lina again.
This hero is picking up steam, it feels like.
You feel like it's been underrated
until this most recent stretch?
For sure.
Like, we've seen the mid, we've seen the carry,
we've seen different builds.
And we've seen the pick quite early also in this game.
It was the overall first pick, and like mentioned before,
I like that they went for the spectre round later
in the game.
So we'll see, you know, if the XM mid Lina
can put in some work here, I'm quite faithful in it.
Curious to see what Malrin purchases this game,
because he can be kind of off the cuff at times,
similar to Malrin, or similar to ATF, rather.
I'm also a little bit interested because,
generally speaking, you wanna go the magic build
on Sapphire.
It's the one that allows you to play the fastest.
You're dealing very good damage,
but also maybe relying on your ult
against Darkseer Vacuum and Shadow Step
could be a little bit difficult.
So we'll see what Rowdy decides,
because of course you can go the travels
into Blink, Shard, play Magic,
We've also seen a few physical snap fires
Yeah, I mean when you have a carry like tiny that's kind of a mix of damages
I guess you don't really have to go a specific route. I mean the question is again
What is a mar building he's definitely going carry now like you offline windranger if he buys guarding griefs or some shit
I'm leaving you're gonna solo start guard. No way. Ain't no way. First of all, it's not good second of all
It's a mar. I'm pretty sure those items heat remove them from his shop, right? Yeah, it makes sense
So I'm just expecting most likely just some Maelstrom hike I think eventually on on the windranger
You could even you know consider like a silvery edge even later if you want the BKB in the mid game
Tomorrow gonna get slowed down a baby arrow comes out from Y
Nice knuckle from Amar though will buy himself enough space still no first blood in this game
Mm-hmm. It's a nice power shot on the white who's actually slowed quite a bit. Or is he just that slow in general?
Looks like that's the case. Crit coming in from the other side, it's both inside the
cogs, there's why taking the brunt of the damage and the Power Shop from Amar will give
him first blood on the off lane Windrunner. Yep, nicely played by them because the fact
is that they understood that why didn't have a single level in Leap, right? He took too
much damage on Windranger, two levels in a star, so one level in the arrow. So, Crit
just comes on over from the side with the Boots of Speed, easy cogs into the first blood,
Which you do kind of need, like this type of wave that she lanes in the off lane, you don't have much to stay in much region, you want some gold coming your way.
And I like this more too, like you just see a straight Laguna Blade, and then Mr. Crit.
Yep, TAC team is preventing him from getting any further, so JinQ gets some sort of revenge in that top lane.
Yeah, Laguna Blade was used in the mid lane, is that just to pressure him a bit so that they have the advantage for the rune essentially?
It's first of all so much damage, and also you don't need it for like last hitting, like now the guy is half HP, you're kind of chilling, you've got to pressure in the wave,
pressure in the wave and like you said 600 rune is coming up which is also why I like
ginkyu's rotation like this minute five it turns nighttime combining your two supports
in the safe lane then they can both walk to the mid lane together it's a very natural
but also very strong move it's going to be that top rune for xm so he does pick up the
damage rune obviously the battle of zuna blaze is going to be a little bit more difficult
without some support to get a kill and some more pressure to bit out of this tier one
area. Now let's see how this goes because a modern low HP potentially will
have to see if Malrin is able to help him on the wisdom shrine. Of course he has
ult which means snapfire is the king of the map right now. If there's any fight
breaking out you're getting at least one or two trade kills here from falcons.
The only thing is okay so Malrin did get himself another TP to be available.
That's gonna go for the blink first it seems on the snapfire and seven minute
wisdom about to pop. Sheerah looking pretty healthy right now. He gets the shadow step out.
His block heads towards his shrine. Snaking and Skeeter look to be maybe trying to contest inside
they go, but XM there with the damage rune. If you're thinking about it, he had a kiss coming
from a far block. He does get burned out and XM inside gets the Luzuna Blade onto snaking so
it's a trade of sorts and that's a 1v1 battle between Skeeter and XM. XM winning it and we'll
get the shrine as a result as Malrin though getting doubled up on by these
supports from Dici Gaming and he slowed very much only with the brown boots
right now so Jin-Q should be able I mean the cooldowns are quite a while it's gonna dodge
the arrow surely they can catch up and get to the high ground vision advantages
his cookie to the low ground might be enough indeed Malrin somehow gets away
I thought he was dead for sure here it's a nice escape as Jin-Q wants to continue chasing him
but not quite. They were very close to the haunt. It did just unlock it now on Shiro.
So if there's any less denying in this top lane...
Go into the fountain.
No, just do it.
Come on now.
Come on man, the hell up Shiro.
How has Shadowstep changed how this hero is played? Or is it more the fact that the
innate is shit?
No, it's both. Because you just have another way to help fight on the side. Like usually
the reason why Spectre sucked so much in lane is that you were a dagger and that's it.
Now with Shadowsep, you don't even have to commit.
You can just let your illusion poke, fight alongside the Pulse 5,
and then you can also go to the illusion, which is incredibly strong.
So, probably one of my favorite changes that came out of some of the last patches that we've had.
Yep, and we're finally seeing the results.
The Spectre actually picked occasionally.
Usually, it does take a while, and we can see a Marsquake by here,
with the Mjolnir currently.
Yep, that's right. No big surprise.
Anything that does damage, he will go for in this case, Shearow.
Not pressure too much, Crit. Level 5, so no hookshot quite yet.
I'm missing a lot of level 3 clockworks at this stage game, so that's, I guess, good news for Falcons.
Crit knows what's up. He is... I think you may have even said it the other day.
He's been the most impressive clockwork out of all the clocks we've seen.
I think his positioning is superb. His bowling skills are supreme.
I don't think I said that, but I'll take...
You said that you liked his clock the most, I'm pretty sure.
I don't think it was him I was referring to.
Well, you should have, that's a very good player, an easy layup here.
You know me, I can't lie.
I don't know about that one.
As we can see on the other side, JynQ finally just hits level 5, so the supports for Vici a little bit under level in comparison, snaking level 4 on the other side.
As Maureen, he did scan out Jinkyu, so he knows that he's on the side.
Yeah, I want to see if Maureen actually goes for the first item, Blink Dagger, like just to speed up this game as opposed to the travels.
Hero getting gone, Skeeter through the gate, gets the Avalanche and they collapse completely onto Shearrow.
Nice pick off for Falcon, first death for the Spectre thus far.
And honestly, this is one of the classic Falcon's plays, like even Maureen TP to the Tier 1 just in case a fight did break out that you can take this play.
So the Skeeter, winning his lane, going through the gate to also now help Amar in the offlane.
Crit has gotten two out of the three power runes so far in this game.
Maloran is going to be spotted by Jin Q, Snowball.
Shards off the mark.
Alright, alright.
That's a haste of Crit.
The more Amar is coming out right on top of XM, who's stuck inside the cauldron, taking a ton of damage as a result, burning away.
He's still going to live this. Snake is going to try to finish the job, and he will do so.
We will do so, it's going to cost him his life along with Crit, so both supports fight with us for Falcons, but
if you're trading XM, you'll take that, but right now, over yet, as Mal'Rain, under the tier 1 tower,
getting down on by 3 members of BG, that's a triple kill for Y on this Marana. Nice shackle coming out, that's hard.
And he's not going to be able to do any more damage, so that'll break the fight up completely.
Okay, so at the start of the fight, I was like, okay, this is still decent for Falcons, they took the top tier 1,
But with everything that ended up happening, like you want these small fights and skirmishes on Spectre.
Even if you only get the assist, also like a triple kill for wide.
Like maybe during this, I believe that Skeeter has a TP ready later on,
perhaps with an Avalanche when they were diving, they could have helped out.
But you can just see all this damage, like the snapfire ult this early on is so deadly.
Axel was actually super close to living there too,
because the last glob wasn't quite enough to get the kill.
XM has boots of travel as his first item and his counterpart in Malrin still eyeing up
the blink.
We'll see if he changes his mind as soon as he wants boots of travel as well.
Yeah, so the travels would feel nicer, but blink is slightly more committal, but it also
gives you more plays on the map, right?
You can unlock things that you didn't have before.
You could potentially smoke up with Mr. Malrin and smoke maybe into the bottom side or fight
place that you otherwise cannot. They also TP'd Skeeter into the mid lane to go for a
smoke, so an active rune timing on the 12 minute mark here.
Jhin Q gonna get avalanched into the cookie and into his deck, although a snowball will
delay it just a tad, and the Invis rune was grabbed by Jhin Q before that point.
Still a 2k lead though for Falcons, and yeah, we can see Malring just Q up the kind of normal
items boosts the travel into the shard skater also no surprise on the tiny you
go to echo saber we're gonna go for the shadow blade
arrow see a later range great for the range and tier one tower taking some
damage but you can see the tps on the way they do spot it nice cogs more
bowling and in queue to be rewarded for his tp that's mean during all of this
so that Barq is recovering very, very nicely on the darks here, right?
You've got your Dominator, which means even if you leave the lane,
you can keep cutting some creeps, you can keep stacking.
And when my Shadow being put to good use on top of Amar here,
sets up the LSA into the Laguna and into the arrows,
not quite enough yet, the last right click was needed.
XM takes his second kill of the game on Alina.
There's a lot of, like, very nice micro plays.
So when you play Offlane Windranger,
you don't want to end up in this position where Amar just died,
And usually you want to pull the hard camp in the top lane after you kill the tier one tower
But if you look at what you did they sent read the hard camp so there's no way for you to bring the lane back
They also have a lane war to always see where is this guy after all
So now you kind of indirectly force yourself to overplay kill him and they're farming sacks at the same time
So very nice stuff you're from the chief and it's now rain using that blink dagger full effect
The wall comes out early from Bach to try to delay this from the Falcon side and that's in a way
It does work is snaking now running away
Not a lot of ancients taken there. They are quite low though.
Yeah, you'll just keep farming this on the Darkseer, so they are happy with a very static map.
If any overplays of course happen, you will look at it with Johan Shiro, who is currently just happily farming his blade mail.
Once he has this, it's quite nice for him to reach into the game.
The team said Malabi has passed on the script into the next series.
Execute Wisdom Shrine Steel.
Well done.
Yeah, it's a great blade mail game, like especially Windranger and Snapfire Old.
Wait, who bought blade mail?
Spectre.
Oh, that's super good.
Yeah, I love that.
First of all, it helps you farm, it's super good for the fighting.
We've seen this before, you steal the wisdom shrine, you kill some camps, but you do pay the price.
Well...
Why we'll take a tumble?
Yeah!
Hala Malady
Without the Malad
Just a Y
Yep, just
Very good
Let's also be proud of this one, might be a chuckling
XM
Has the Kaia now
And he's opting for Agenceptor, it seems we'll talk about that in just a moment
But I think we're gonna have a connection here onto Skeeter
Not able to lock him in though, as JinQ
Is he snaking on the high ground?
Just keeping his eyes peeled
He has to be careful how you play here, they are smoking over already
I'd love to get Junki who's gonna dodge the avalanche though, but there's a hook shot onto the backline on Tolina with the Mortimer's kiss right on top as well.
And that's the death of XM and the Mortimer's still being lied. Look at this damage as Shearer will join the party. I think he regrets his decision.
The wall comes out a little bit too late as Skeeter. Can he outrun his illusion?
Looks like Amar will clean it up for him. So three for two in favor of Falcons.
and why we need the perfect execution here goes for the lead into the star storm not enough definitely
needed the arrow on top. I was thinking maybe he would try to arrow from the hybrids but either
way Falcons with a very timely response there earlier with the smoke has no ring out of a full
full duration on the kisses are also kind of bailing out his team.
And what do you think of the Aghanim Scepter that XM wants to opt for here?
It's just so strong.
You're gonna see this again because this looked good initially, right?
You killed the Winter Wyvern first, but this hookshot into the kisses and I think Valq is kind of low on mana,
so there's not too many shells going on, no real vacuum available either.
He also just got his wall available at this moment.
We have a fight in the line, you can see the first curse of the game I do believe, holding
them in place is boxing.
A lot of damage over time, the powershot a little bit early, but I think they're still
going to find the two kills they came for.
Nicely done from Falcons is why we'll be able to escape as this 2K lead is very firm
now for Falcons.
They're definitely pacing up, and it's also the right thing to do.
You asked about the Agnum Scepter, which is very good on Lina, but you're now building
two items on Gigi you kind of have to, right?
the Radiance and the Ags, they're kind of, it's dead gold, until you fully complete those
items, like they build up to Agathams, no one really cares, get a little bit of HP, so
if you're Falcons, definitely want to continue to keep up the pressure, but yeah, Dina Ags,
unobstructed movement, you get insane spell lamp and magic resistance, which is great
against the Radiant draft.
Yeah, they are almost all magic damage.
Tiny ends up getting a lot of physical the later the game goes, and obviously the Windrunner,
especially with Amar, playing the Radiance, he's 4-1 actually, because he's off Windrunner.
They only squeeze in that one little play on him earlier.
Possessed Mask is also something you feel quite happy with on the Wind Ranger, because you have no sustain.
He's got Mjolnir now.
And Shadowblade up and running for Skeeter.
Skicking of Skeeter, he is found!
LSA, ready for him along with a Laguna Blade, and they're gonna be cleaning him up easily.
So a very big kill for Vici.
Showing some semblance of life here.
No, definitely. That was quite deep, I would even say, because Skeeter having a very, very good game, but once wanted to keep up the pressure here.
I'm a bit surprised that I'm not seeing Bak kew up any Auras early on, you know, a potential pipe or grease against the Tiny, the Snapfire, this like abundance of magic damage.
But instead he is opting for... he bought the Shard early on, which is very good in this game, but it's also quite aggressive into the Sheevas.
Obviously the minus attack speed against Tiny is incredible, probably D-Best Hero to build it against.
Very low attack speed, incredibly high damage hero.
This is like, trying to think if there's any other hero that I consistently see the casual chasm stone on.
Other than Darkseer, I've definitely seen this a few times.
Arrow's actually gonna cancel out the ult coming out from this...
That's so...
When did that happen?
I don't...
I never saw that.
I don't think I called that either.
I was about to say that's a dirty pause like just killing the guy straight up after
We never got to see that one. I must have happened off camera while the fight was continuing elsewhere
And that's the second time I've done that in my career. Yeah, keep it up talking up to old age
As a skater dies again
Anything of the Kazan stone
Sometimes you see it on underlord. That's pretty good. See people buy it on snapfire
Darkseer, of course, also very nice with the good old vacuum. Me like.
Seen it on some support Earthshakers, which is of course played very, very little.
You can see Crit is actually opting for a blink dagger next, which is something I've
been seeing more and more on these clockworks. Why is that?
It just seems to be more and more kind of what you want to do. It's about, you know,
getting a hookshot and then repositioning or just blinking behind him and playing on
the cogs because the hero is a lot more about having proper positioning and then landing
your hook and cogs and it really is anything else.
Yeah.
You're not expected to be on top of someone with a battery assault.
It's a very, very big bonus that you're putting for.
Unfortunate.
True.
What level is his battery assault right now?
Level one.
Classic.
I'm even surprised he has a level in it.
Usually you'll see like 044.
Mr. Snake King.
Yeah, they find him and boots to travel with Shiro coming in as well.
We'll eat him up. Very easily. His block actually can get a ton of damage from Amar, so he actually gets a bigger kill isolated from the group.
Hookshot's gonna miss. This probably will end the fight, although why? No more leaps to work with, so he'll find a second form of a kill.
Look, Amar is cooking. I wonder if he's being slightly disrespected by some of this itemization.
Okay, Sam. Oh my god, I actually get the more nervous kisses shackles. I'm not gonna fully commit is LSA
Yeah, they're rather not enough as Amar will right click him down in addition. He's six and one on a winner in her off lane
What are we watching? What are we witnessing? He's owning?
He's gonna have a very good time on the BKB as well and having like me only a BKB in this draft is incredibly good against the dire side
Because while Bach is buying the she was which is insanely good against the tiny wind ranger doesn't care you've like
Maximum attack speed anyway, you're not using just the only or the high attack speed into a crimson into greaves into a pipe
So the only thing he kind of has to worry about is maybe the blade mail on shero
But even then you're gonna have to be QB against it
So classic Amar doing Amar things if this is what a bronze Amar winner under looks like what is master tier exactly?
At this point, I don't know if it makes that much of a difference
This guy's just so good if you give him the right hero in like the right place and you kind of set him up for it
Like, even throughout his couple years that he's now played competitive, I think this
guy's like individual skill and understanding is just so high that he can make any hero
work.
Yeah.
I mean, this guy played Offlane Ursa at TI Finals in Game 5.
I'll believe it when he picks Ricky.
I think that's where I should score, bitch.
Exactly.
Actually, mid Ricky is playable, but Offlane Ricky, I don't even know if he could make
that work.
That's the true test.
We'll see it in game 2 of course.
I hear it.
Challenge accepted.
Let them know.
AYUI, if you're watching, please.
Please, a block.
Do you think he's not watching?
If you're listening, he usually tunes me out.
I don't play them.
You're about to get ganked by three members of Falcons, although his spidey senses are
tingling.
Yep, they did go for a scan and the arrow also hitting here, 4Y.
Let's spend a little bit of a quiet couple minutes for Vici, right?
We talked about the items earlier, Agatom, Scepter and Radiance too, items that you have
to farm towards for a long time.
But no Moonlight Shadow pick-offs, no Haunt pick-offs, bottom tier ones still available
as well.
Kind of shows a bit of the strength of this last pick, Tiny as well, being able to just
sit in this area for a long time.
And Faith beyond, just about finished with just the recipe away for the Shiva's Guard
as he's going to eventually get this tower with the rally skeletons.
Another reason why Dominator is just so good.
bonus farm but also the reason mid tower died is the helm of dominator the reason the bottom
tier one died helm of dominator looking for play on a mark here no bkb yet
yeah they're gonna get the punch up into the LSA they bring everyone basically
they assassinate basically what i would consider to be the carry of this game so
oh here he is he definitely is also like with this top network currently because skeeter is not
They're not gonna enjoy teamfighting once they've achieved us.
Axe found out to get the Avalach set up for the Mortimer's as well, so Skeeter, nothing comes for free for Falcons.
They lose somebody, they usually get a better trade, at least that's been the case so far in this game.
Because Vigil, they have a couple of centuries on the map, actually quite a few, but not in that kind of deep in the mid-river, it's very much on their own side.
So Skeeter finding a very, very nice move there with the Shadowblade to get this pick off onto XM.
with an invisibility rune as he is 6-2 to match Amar.
Great start to the game for their off-lane and mid.
Nice skeeter.
They were hounding Bok a little bit.
He has his shard, it's pretty early pick with you.
Typically get it this early on Darkseer.
It can be quite good, like when you just walk.
I think the slows is quite nice against a Tiny.
Like it's overall about a trail.
So we do see it generally when you can play very aggressive,
like you have an Ursa in your lineup
lineup, or maybe a weaver that just continuously running around. So potentially slightly earlier than usual.
They're not going to quite oblige to the tormentor as I guess they just don't see anything on the map.
So I have to be a little bit careful.
Yeah, interesting.
Definitely could have gotten it.
But I guess maybe you're worried about, I mean, he just picked up radians. If you haunt right afterwards and you're super low,
you could give up a triple or an ultra kill. Pretty fast as you can. Q spot it, but
The Sentry will seek, he's going to get hook shot and push back into the fray, Skeeter
claims him.
3k lead for Falcons, and in terms of Roche play, which team would you say has the advantage?
For now, honestly Nidia team is like that good, maybe you have Focus Fire which is the
best tool for Radiance so you definitely can take it, Dyer is fine because you have
Iron Shells and Tag Team so I would maybe give it to Vici slightly.
Once you unlock Mantis-style on Vici, it's absolutely in their favor.
So you could definitely see a world where Falcons will want to control that area and
then turn it into a teamfight because their role, like both teams have insane like pit
fight abilities, right?
You have Barks, your vacuum wall, you have Winter Scurse, you have Snapfire Kits.
So you might see a lot of teamfighting around the Roche.
Falcons have to use Focus Fire to kill Roche.
If it gets contested, then that's real bad, right?
That's why it's horrible.
are very good at those type of things. They do not overcommit. They wait, they play patient.
They wait for the moment, so I wouldn't really see that situation happening.
Smoke from Vici. Scan's coming out, and looks like they will not connect onto anyone. A
Skeeter already exited the area. And I think I find so fascinating about Falcons as we're
going to get a pause here.
A bit of Kali.
I find them to be one of the most fascinating teams in history because of the dynamic that
they have in the team. They have, not to mention AUIS coach, but Malrin, Amar and Skeeter,
for a very large portion of time, especially when the meta really aligns with them, they
can all play similar hero pools and being able to flex like that in the draft just gives
you such a leg up overall. And then you have, just in the traditional sense from how they're
playing now, Skeeter, it just never feels like he's actually the carry player. He's
It's like the backup, like a stable guy that will always give enough space for the likes
of Amar and Malrin.
And the thing I have to mention is that, you know, Amar and Malrin, I love them and they're
incredibly good players.
But I think this type of carry player, they always, they don't get the credit they deserve.
Think of like Matamba man back in the day, you know, it's like the type of shadow carry.
If you need them to hard carry, Skeeter can.
Matamba man always could.
But they're the reason why some of these teams work with the greedy players that they
do have.
That's a good dodge.
And the arrow's gonna come in and connect as well,
XM there to finish him off.
Beautiful kill from Vici Gaming.
Now Falcons on the run,
Snake King able to traverse terrain here.
Looks like he'll get out just fine.
Vici with the one and done.
Very, very necessary curse
because otherwise Snake King was for sure dead.
But you can see a little bit of the power coming in,
you know, moonlight shadow into the punch.
You have a quick follow up.
And Vici Gaming, they got through some of the hardest
Timing off the map, Octo made her for free, never for free, it seems, and XM's gonna find another kill though in the form of Crit, to the very least.
Still, overall I think Vici have a lot of power spikes coming their way, right, they got to the Aghanim, sure you lost a couple of heroes here or there, but Yachakaya, axe completed on Lina, XM is closing in on the blinkdagger,
And honestly, the radiance for Spectre, it's a small timing, like your illusions are slightly better.
But once you have Manta, that's when you're really looking to get more involved.
If there's any stun, a support will insta-die if you haunt in and drop the Manta.
25 minutes in and still no Roche attempt. I have to say that's a little unusual.
Yeah, it's just that it's hard to because if you commit against if you if you commit as either draft against the other and
They're gonna like smoke over or anything
They're gonna wipe the floor with you you can see the same yet for mental as well, right still up at 26 minutes
Like they're just respecting each other one team has clockwork the other team has specter so you can potentially haunt over
When have we seen tormentor taken on this side of the map?
I don't think we've seen it. It's kind of crazy that
that it has this mechanic in the game we rarely get to see actually until like
much later in the game we're gonna see the rocket pack come out for crit just
quite nice now him and Lena can both play jetpack simulator in this game
need to see them flying next to each other
snacking in the cover of this great game in queue in the tree line Amar didn't
want to go for him apparently he's gonna get the blink off but they still have
Division and there's the harpoon and now the cc
Basically an instigate once they actually catch up to Jin Q
When I'm looking at some of these next fights
It's honestly more important that the supports for falcons stay alive usually within the haunt of course if you can clutch out a
Core that's amazing for you
But then there's winter's curse can come through cold embrace can come through but if you get to kill wyvern or clockwork within the
Within haunt you will generally win those fights
So I like the itemization from snaking you got a glimmer got some drums to go around
But I also hope that all the cores you need to pay attention to your supports
You need to get your greedy neutrals. It's true another kill here on to why wrong place wrong time 4k lead for Falcons
And at what point are they gonna feel comfortable to go for a roast?
if they have
Slightly better map I think as okay that answers your question. Yeah, they have mid control at least some watch you though
They will definitely fight this one.
And they have Haunt. No more on it up for 30, so this is a 4 vs 5 crit.
Likely to be the sacrifice, does have the blink dagger though.
And Rosh.
They're finding a good angle, but it's late.
They should find it first, yeah. They should get it in time.
Now, will Vici want to fight regardless?
Someone is going to spot the Snake King Wyvern as the hookshot coming in right on top of JinQ, another death for him.
And the Hawks on the back line onto Mal-Reed.
That's a good guy!
That's a big-fucked wall onto several heroes.
And Bokk with a triple kill now.
Sheerah is getting gone on by Amar.
He will get that kill as Bokk continues to reign of terror onto Amar.
That's a good guy!
I didn't know the accent picked that up, but hell yeah.
That's always the funniest way to realize there's a big-
when some dude just gets his ass stabbed at the end of a teamfight.
Okay, kind of a crazy fight.
They get ages, but Falcons pay a heavy price.
No, they're absolutely good. It was quite good of them to get it, like to get the agent.
You can just see the power of Spectre, look at him, like he reality rifts in on the left side, onto Marine.
That's even without the Manta, this vacuum wall just kind of sealed the deal.
Ah, Marshal has crazy damage.
Yeah, I was a little bit surprised that Shiro pops his blade now so early actually.
I figured you just wait for the windrunner ult, but...
I definitely think you can wait, because right, it was overall against the snapfire, but at the same time...
Yeah, if you get just stunlocked, then you feel bad not using it, so.
And Amar has BKB anyway, who's working friendly on a satanic, which will help him.
Blademill not nearly as good as it used to be, I suppose.
I remember back in the day with Spectre, it would be part of his, even in like super late game scenarios,
you would keep the Blademill a lot of the time.
I like this BKB.
I like the Dagon on the Lena.
First of all, the item was buffed, so you get Task Branch, which is quite nice.
It sure is not that much, it's only 60 level 1, but your spell amp on this hero is crazy
with the Kaiyacha.
Oh yeah, so that's the other thing we missed earlier.
Yeah, they got the Aegis.
They got Aegis and BKB, yeah, that's fully flew over me.
Well, so did Lena, she has Ags.
That's true, and so will Cawkler.
That's why we can't find them.
She's got the Rocket Pack.
And the BKB now picked up from Boxer.
They completely nullify this Roche kill, like absolutely nothing to show for it is Falcons.
And even now, like when you're tiny, Skeeter is having a good game, of course, on the Carrie
Tiny, but into a Shiva's Guard that's lowering your attack speed by a lot.
Like for Tiny, it's actually massive.
So it is definitely still on a mar to kind of get a lot of things going, but the way
Windranger works, she kind of lock on one target, create good hook.
Yeah, pushes the Marana down into the Avalanche, into the Bowling, but that's out of the leaf
and the Greaves.
Why?
Near the couple of follow stuns there, you know, the Cog push didn't allow the toss
for Skeeter.
What do you think of this build from why so he goes for greasers obviously just good
It's very good a lot of morons
We're seeing are very greedy to just go acts first they play for the late game. Does this fall off?
And I like it for the fact that you want to like you farm so long
You actually got to this stage pretty nicely
You didn't need more greed to like actually, you know just allow falcons to run you over now
Your heroes are ready to fight and I think building items that amplify this is great
Maybe in like 10-15 minutes you can go back to the greed and back to the scaling.
Yeah, now Rain punched in the air, they have all the burst damage, Dagen coming out from XM again.
Jinkyu looks like he might survive, gets off the yules as Amar in the area to try to finish the jump.
The greed is going to keep him pretty safe.
See the back wall onto two, the first only onto a single hero.
And as Y will be able to shrug it up easily.
Now Mark stuck in a precarious spot, pops the BKB trying to finish the jump onto Jinkyu.
This is not good for problems.
Do not have the vision as Skeeter with the BKB
gonna get pushed to the other side.
Looks like he will walk away,
but Falcons, the LSA finding C1 as he branched to the ground
from XM and they're gonna get a tier two on top of this
as Vici Gaming showing up big time in the last few minutes.
It is so much easier for them to maneuver around the map
at the moment, like all the macro stuff they have, right?
You have so much girls pushed, you have the Muleceta,
you keep getting the very nice jumps
just all around the map.
That's three kills, a couple BKBs going your way as well.
And it's not really, once you get punched up, you're boned, it doesn't matter.
And the beauty of this is, Lina, I mean they were all smoked, but she showed her spells in the bot side of the map and immediately fastened the thing, and within 10 seconds they're already here ganking the top lane.
Yeah, you've got travels, you're very mobile of course with all the heroes that they have, and just very nice spell usage too, right?
Like GenQ getting out initially under the Moonlight Shadow and Guardian Greaves, you keep the fight going on.
And I love watching XM this guy is one of my favorite mid laners
I think it's been a long time since we've had like a ultra explosive
Like a mid player from the Chinese scene because the upgrading deck. Yeah, I love it
I think it's great more spell and like more damage more cast range going your way
It's got an arcane rune like come on guys
This this guy is a monster on the leaner now. Okay. I don't want to backseat. Is it actually worth operating? Yes, like immediately
I mean, what looks at us, no, it's great. I think it's amazing because all you want to do on Lina is not get caught
Immediately kill a guy then wait 10 seconds and go for round 2 right and I think with the changes to Dagon where gives you cast range
I do think they're putting the item in like a very very nice spot
It doesn't look like it lowers cooldown anymore, right? So 21 seconds flat it seems as
Malarim Skeeter team up to take out one. That's a big one with the gem
Oh, maybe it'll be Jim.
Jim, jumping into the last moment, gets the stun locked.
A hookshot's gonna completely miss.
What's happening?
On a standstill target, Jim Q.
Next level move, standstill does not get hit.
Meanwhile, Skeeter gets the double kill, though.
Oh, Zapper.
He's wrapped down snaking in turn.
So 2 for 1 just supports dead at the moment.
I just watched two guys sit on a gem for like six seconds.
Who actually ended up getting it?
Was it Maureen?
Yeah.
Maureen ended up dropping one item faster.
It collapses in the game.
I hear what I had to... instantly.
Lance Skeeter still showing off some of his strength here on the tiny, being able to kill both the supports.
It is good.
But it's been a while since Falcons got some more meaningful kills, I would say.
Of course, they did get the Roche earlier, but it's so funny.
Daggin' 4.
And he's auto-buying the rest of me again, so...
Most expensive item in the game, is it still? I believe so.
Level 5 it is.
Yeah.
It's still very, very good.
That is hilarious, I love it.
But we don't get to see this at all anymore
Especially now it doesn't it doesn't kill creeps and I think it was tie long
I mean if you have a little five day and you're one you're one zapping somebody that's for sure
Oh, the only other guy I saw it saw it built in this tour my fingers tie long on the puck
Which of course is also quite quite like this early though
That was maybe like ten minutes or nothing yet like contrast catalyst so like tier four item territory 40 minute plus
very cool I want to see though like the falcons even though they're only down
to get gold I think when you're trying to have a read on like the actual
strength of their draft they are struggling at the moment because some
of the next items that are coming out it's a lot of survivability right it's
the it's a satanic for a mar it's a bkb for marine after his a on this this is
cool I have to mention the agonist sector out for sure I don't know if you go for
this normally can you tell me it's very cool you pop hot and when you reality
reality onto the first illusion, fears enemies around, that's super cool.
It is not something you see that often because honestly, I don't think it's
that amazing but it's really good here against the Sapphire, they did scan them out.
That's true.
Great positioning.
Yeah, Skeeter, you will be the pick, take out GMQ and turn here, the wall comes out,
instantly the curse again, only under the single target but the illusions are nearby.
Skeeter trying to run this off with the BKB, you will get out,
Quick right-click down in the meantime as Bach, killed off by Amar, gets back to base, so 1 for 2 favor Falcons.
Skeeter's still looking for potential target, despite being low HP, XM gets the shrine on his way out.
That looked quite disjointed, at least for the starters for Vici, but Falcons had insane positioning, right?
The pre-scan on the flight, then Quick placing an observable end jetpacking off the map to show everybody to his team was a very, very good start to this fight.
And also just cleaning out JinQ. He's been incredibly annoying.
I guess here they just got very split like the curse and you can see Shiro on the right side trying to like also run down Skeeter.
I was wondering why the curse was lasting so long, but it was a shackle after I guess.
Yeah, he was just on lock 4 forever on Bak.
But if I saw properly, he's actually got a hex there. He's incredibly strong.
So even if you have Lina going on anyone into a haunt or just Bak jumping them with a hex vacuum and the haunt comes in,
You are starting to get cooked real quick.
We got ourselves a game here.
All we do.
All we needed was to not have a pre-game segment where we say it's a doozy.
We are bad luck indeed. Now rain this time with the damaged rune.
It's been XN every single time it feels like with these power runes.
79%. I don't disagree. And also we all know that Dota Plus and Gabe, they love Spectre.
They do.
But I will probably go more with like a 70 to 30.
I think 80-20 is a quite strong. There's always a lot of gameplay to be had.
So Mal'Reen does have BKB. We'll see if he wants to pop it while using his ult or not, because you're right.
He's just going to get weird in all likelihood from Shiro.
Not that good scan. They know they're behind this tower.
And the initiation is a little bit awkward thanks to the snowball.
That's XM coming in from the south.
And you get pulled on as Jinky was staying alive.
There's the hot coming out.
In a feedback blow, up to four heroes as Crit and the rest of Falc is attempting to run away a more super low as well.
They clean up one support.
Feels like every fight is just Falc and trying to run away as the Illusion's catching up to an LSA not going to hit next to the BKB, so Skeeter gets to the high ground successfully.
You might actually get out, Interceptor. So that's somehow, after all of that, just one kill.
But you want to play it safe. Also, second rose is, you know, about to respawn very shortly.
Kind of looks like JinQ could have just been instant dead there, but with the use again making a lot of time,
guarding greets and everything to make sure that he does stay alive.
We'll see it here again, because it looked like a good go, right?
Like JinQ snowballing aggressively on the map there.
It looks like Shiro didn't quite get to linger onto people,
but if maybe it's a little more aggressive towards the start there.
Because yeah, only crit getting out, very nice disengage from Falcons.
I mean, getting out to the grave.
Yeah.
It's crazy when you get a back wall that it has.
Is that disgusting?
You get a singular kill on a support.
Sheva's from Faith Beyond,
gonna spot a little bit of acting on Laguna already onto Skeeter.
Arrow is coming, it's gonna fully hit onto Malrin.
He's in a lot of trouble now.
Vacuum onto three.
Where's the follow-up?
LSA into the dagger with the cold embraces keeping Malrin alive.
Hook shot on the other side.
They get the stun connection onto JinQ with now a curse coming out.
2, the spectre beating the shit out of his teammate is the power shopper, Mark is going to be enough to take out Y.
XM, now getting gone, he gets pushed back, beautiful cocks on quick, they isolate Delina, double kill for Amar, 3 kills overall in favor of Falcons.
Falcons will happily oblige to that play. If you reach and look at their cooldowns, Wall only came up now after the fight, Pawn is still on cooldown.
Definitely overplaying their hand there, but that's a Falcons special.
They kind of toy around with you they've made you to overstep ever so slightly
Baiting you into the old observer one and that should just be a free rose for them
Absolutely
Falcons we're looking on the back foot a bit until that moment unless you're once too horn pull an inner collapse fear them and steal the ages
That would be a dream not quite
Collapse not in the building
I mean, that's a big reason that the 1000's won the fight, they did not have on.
Yeah, all walls for that matter, like, look at it, this is an overplay, a nice curse you
also from snaking in a moment to make it a little bit more time here, and XM, that is
a maniac Lincoln if I may say so.
Now when you're confident, you're confident.
Oh yeah.
Beautiful curse as well from snaking.
This accidental execution of Falcons in Vici, it just felt like a cooldown related issue.
Which, I guess, maybe that's the game plan from Falcons. You get into an initial fight,
you make them use these big long cooldowns, you back away, you reset, you go in before
they're up again. That is definitely one thing you can do, right? You're playing against
wall and to haunt. That's why finding yourself a very nice spot here in the trees will now
spot them on his own ward in the jungle.
with the BKB, gonna focus fire the Shiro Spectre,
it gets to the low ground though,
and should exit the fight gracefully.
The Jinkyu dies, it's just simply a one-for-one support
for support, it's not over yet,
they find the kill onto Amar, the wall was still available.
That's 90 seconds without the win runner.
Baka's coming in kinda clutch right now with his hexes,
as there's so many split fights going on,
like you see Amar all the way on the right side,
like fighting off the Shiro Spectre
with his BKB with the satanic,
but then he kind of finds himself out of position
because his bros were chasing JinQ,
taking up all the attention.
All right, what items are we getting close to here?
I mean, the Aegis, well, we have two and a half minutes left.
So for Skeeter, Daedalus, I mean, he has enough,
he has 6k, question is, does he wanna keep for buyback?
No, he will, I mean, at this one, because you have Aegis,
there's one of two ways, you could either upgrade
your blink into a swift blink because you have ages
so that kind of, you know, not fill up that slot.
It will be a day to lose later.
Maybe the in-ears are hurting Amar.
I'm not gonna lie, wearing those with the headset on top,
it destroys your ears.
Yeah.
Or it could be the lights up to you.
It's actually the lights, of course.
Okay, yeah.
Malrin, he's working on a refresher.
And speaking of Amar, he has satanic,
didn't realize that to go along with me
BKB Hurricane Pike and Daedalus is on the menu. And then on the other side the
Spectre talked about the Ags already as Basher now and 2k into an eventual
Abyssal Blade. Yep. Will just be another way right to get immediately on to those
heroes and while the Ags theoretically has sounded good I don't know if it's
done that much yet and also like the Basher into the Abyssal is doing
something I'll say very similar right like if the Staple is coming out you
You can just hold on him, bash him, or abyssal blade him.
It's so chaotic, yeah, I don't initially see the fear coming out.
It is hard to pay attention to.
It does lower the cooldown by 20 seconds as well, which of course is quite nice.
400 AoE is pretty small though.
I was referring to Agnes, that's 4200 gold you're spending.
Maybe we should just let them cook, you know, vacuum into the fear.
Could be cool.
That's true.
It's got to be perfectly executed though.
There's a couple of good items that did come out and still are coming out, 4,000s, right?
like Maureen with his refresher and 25 talent.
Maybe he can then play a little slower in the fight,
so that he weighed out for the haunt.
Because kind of at this stage, you know the spell casters,
you're getting through this 25, 30, 35, 40 minute mark.
BKBs are going lower, you're getting your later talents.
XM build is so cool, though.
He's going E-blade now.
Another item we're gonna have to see all too often.
So we'll just be able to burst heroes down for free.
It's a full on damage build,
he's got perfect itemization and he's had this lincoln's cuta for so long he just keeps changing his
he's like next damage next I fuck shot on the bot pops the bkb though they're trying to get the
vacuum onto two instagit crit they're not going to go on top of skeeter a little bit too thick to
chew on some big respect on that name even with the five second arrow no haunt of course available
but yeah talked about xm he's got the 25 talent more slow burn he also has the catalyst it's
definitely what you want and even more cast range. This guy was hard to catch and now
he's even harder to catch and then an E-Blade to boot and there is the Daedalus or Skeeter.
This next item definitely has to be like Swift Blink or damage like maybe an AC later
could be good you want some type of attack speed yeah especially against the Shiva said we have
talked about or you could go for the old tree volley yeah I promise he's in the
thick of things so not exactly it's so difficult to use and they have like
multiple cancels like against a basher a potential vacuum the punch as well can
you see a smoke up from Vici when I go aggressive your bottom line is pushed in
that crit might be the sacrifice gonna show himself just briefly obviously
Vici would love a different kill, but they'll take what they can get, we'll be an easy one,
Dagon claims it, so it's a full minute actually, without Crit.
They did pop the Haunt though, so there's still like a about 50 second window where
Crit respawns where Haunt is not available and I definitely think you want to take this
opportunity.
And Sarkin said this one, they don't even want to wait for Crit to respawn, they're
like okay, we know where they are, there's no Haunt available, let's go for a smoke.
Alright, they're gonna go for the Tormentor, so they're gonna be a bit damaged in this pursuit.
They will get the shark for Jean Q, and yeah, if Falcons can catch up, this would be beautiful for them.
TPs look to be relatively successful, with a moonlight shadow covering them as well.
It's likely not to find anything.
It's a good read, like, look at the map from Vichy's perspective.
There's been waves at the bottom tier 3 for like a minute without anyone showing their body.
So just a full retreat into the base and now kind of, you know, mirroring the movement
into their own top jungle.
It's a nice defensive macro here by Vici Gaming.
Drinking buddy's quite nice.
A little bit of another save and he episcopalated on the spectre.
Oh wow, and no fight.
Wait, what?
Yeah, he took apart his radiance.
Ah, yeah.
These are some great timings.
Now like there's A on this on the radiance side.
Doesn't work anymore for Marine.
the glimmer and the force as well, 40 spectre.
These are, this is a problematic item timing
for Hawkins to fight into.
Are you gonna miss any parts of the radiance?
Nah, it's fine.
Like at this point, Manta, like whatever,
you're gonna clear out waves quite fast anyway.
And you've got all the gold that you need.
Like radiance has done its job.
And there is so much magic damage that PdVasion,
I mean, Evasion's not particularly bad in this game, but...
It's quite good, right? Like, he's looking to potentially still...
You can replace...
Oh, he's still going butterfly.
Yeah, you can replace your blade mail or eat the axe and then go butterfly after.
Yeah.
Definitely looking at Maureen.
I think you're to go big.
You need to stop the ult with the 25 talent. It's quite nice.
Keep in mind, Shiro has bought out, so he does not have buyback even close at this point.
Yeah.
This is one of the best buyback heroes in the game with Hunt.
At the same time, he's the difficult hero to kill.
So we need to see if Falcons can kind of execute it. All that matters for Vici is that they have a good jump and in the gib.
Most likely, snaking is the best kill for them. The positioning for now gets the blink off.
A good read from Falcons is Vici just hunting for something as Roche, a minute and a half away from knowing when he will spawn.
Both sides relatively aware of where each other are, arcane rune from Mal'Rain into
a shield rune, a double whammy.
It's not normal you see an active rune picked up at 45.59, because no one really has mid
control, Night at Sea has an observer ward that is spotting out the runes.
I feel like this is a pretty good opportunity to fight for Falcons, you get essentially
double HP on Skeeter.
So just showing this rune will dissuade Vici from even trying to defend the pop-up fortification,
which is a freebie since it's the first tier 2.
Looks like it will fall though.
I mean it's going to be on the menu but both teams is that you're going to talk about the
next rose fight, potentially some buybacks that need to be kept from either side to kind
of fight into this Vici draft.
We're definitely ahead in this game, right?
We're talking about a 7k net worth.
Also the heroes are quite strong, especially at this stage of the game.
So if you can maybe trade the hunt and the wall for one or two bivics if you're falcons
you'd be quite happy with this.
Stay for now, I have to split up a bit.
So Amar has the Focus Flier, kills advanced cooldown, 25 talent, Mal'Rain has the extra
Mortarmer's Kisses, which who were we casting yesterday that could not get to 25 was Laurel
I think.
It's just stuck on level 24 for so long.
He's locked.
Gonna find Crit, gets the Hex into the Laguna, into the vacuum, into two.
Only has the two supports though with the illusions that Skeeter's gonna focus on JinQ, then Pop the Yi on this crit already dead.
JinQ gonna reset, they get the LSA connection, that's a double kill for Shiro, so both supports dead for Falcons.
That's huge. And this is one of the problems right now that Falcons are dealing with. How easy is it realistically for them to start the fight?
And honestly, I think the answer is it's not easy at all.
Yeah.
They're gonna find another kill here.
Nothing gonna go for Roche, but Roche is not quite up yet.
Skiddington have to pop the BKB in retreats.
Probably still wanna fight here.
ZinQ's here.
No fire up fly now, but still the BKB about to wear out into the stun.
Perfect timing into the walrus punch as well.
The right click from XM and the Dagon are enough to claim Pony as Mal-Rain attempting
to get out will TP successfully.
But all the major kills going away of Vici Gaming and guess what?
Roche just spawned.
A nice fight like this one from Qingqiu comes in all the way at the end of the fight to make sure that Tiny dies.
And yeah, like you said, that should give them the Roach kill, which is very, very big for them.
You can just see that even though you're saving each other so nice, you get a beautiful vacuum from boss to bring them all back in.
And then Shirro's haunt.
And Qingqiu's playing kind of like a madman, but he's always separating the team during the haunt, also jumping on the backline.
I feel like with these, we're kinda seeing that the illusions that come out from Falcons
are not particularly strong.
We have to hold that thought, Roche is being under way, it's Crit looking for a potential
steal.
He goes in!
He got snapped!
It's the Aegis!
All of Collapsed!
Get a nice shackle from his teammate, but Amar gonna try to cover him for this second
life and Crit likely to sacrifice himself as you can see the Spectre just going on top
of Amar.
Gonna get stunned for the time being, but Amar trying to get away, getting really low.
Gonna place some pressure now to Mal-Reen instead, the Shadow Step not gonna fully connect.
Somehow Amar still alive, gets hexed though, as Bot trying to finish the job.
Are you kidding me?
He's gonna get out on the Windrunner.
Four staff to the north, with a blink dagger.
Pick a TP after the fact, we'll go for it as XM not gonna find him in time.
But not quite sniffed Amar, they're getting away with murder here.
They stole the Aegis, and then Shirou also used the Refresher Shard to try and kill Amar, even that didn't happen.
So Thalken's very nice as you're kind of folding onto the game in a very good manner.
You can tell that they need some crazy executions to deal with these Shirou's.
They have multiple ways to deal with, you know, Marina in this late game, even though he does have a Refresher.
Yeah, he's got the AoE Surge now on Bak as well, and that was mobility, and like surging people up in the late game is incredibly nice.
So Falcons have two Roche banners right now.
That was the third Roche.
Where's the refresher shop?
It was used by Ishiro in the fight.
Okay.
There's Ida Loth going on,
or you're not listening very well.
Both.
Okay, keep that up.
OctoRing Core from XM now.
The full Caster build almost complete.
We go arcane link is the question,
the one we never get to see.
Yeah, that's like nearly a tinker-only item
We've got a cheese in the backpack on Chiro maybe when I give that to someone I would say I give it to my boy Jinq
Cuz he's going ham in these fights
Ham and cheese go quite well together. So yeah, yeah
That's gonna be a nice late game
Overall for both sides. Oh, yeah, also a buck, you know, he's holding on to the greedy enchantment
But soon you should kind of skip it. I think Refretcher is the item here
For the Darkseer. He's already been owning and then you get double vacuum double wall. He's top net worth in the game. That's
Insane Amar, Blinks him immediately BKBs. He regresses decision. It seems as the hunt comes out.
Uh-huh, hacks on the car.
Hacks into the Laguna. That is good flight cryptic.
Get the dagger now onto Amar as well. Getting slow to a crawl, attempting to get out.
Gets Abyssal bladed into the LSA.
Win run buys him a little bit of time, but the map damage is too much.
Too dead for Faust, and I'm not sure what the play was there, but they get punished hard.
Yeah, I don't know either.
That was the strat. You have a block of cheese on Shiro.
So he's going to be quite happy about that, but it's just for Faust, it is very difficult for the...
First of all, their ghost push and their map push on the map is worse. They don't know if they're real jump.
Get the break into the Adelaide to the front, that's a lot of damage, he's going to be alive for now.
Now, getting really low, get propped back in by the toss.
The arrow's gonna connect on the wife in the meantime.
But back in the fall, Malrin, taking some damage,
she gets the cooking out,
and gets the connection up because of the BKB from bot.
Skeeter on the run gets stuck inside the shorts.
As the double buyback from Falcon,
they need to get something out of this.
Get the shackle now, they get the kill
on the top network in the game and bot.
100 seconds does have buyback.
Looks like they could nearly even take down Shiro,
but with the block of GZ, barely got bailed out there.
but very expensive.
Double support buyback and Amar as well.
And sure, the one on Amar matters,
but being able to just,
because the supports die very easily.
And here, block of cheese, very nice.
Probably one of the only times
I've ever seen this item have any useful impact.
Yeah, sure.
Just so much garbage for them to deal with, right?
Like XM, he's just throwing out spells
left, right, and center
because there's a dark-tier vacuum wall going on.
There's a horned illusions that are flying around snowball, random arrows.
Yeah, if you're a Vici, you're still pretty happy with this. You do lose Bok, but...
You force out two buybacks.
You can take a fight in the next six, seven minutes.
Yep, six, seven.
We'll talk about them.
That's right.
Same as Y2, like he's closing in on a 25-talent all-Marana.
And we've seen many Lakin and Robinas have crazy impact.
You've got the adds, 20-talent for the Star Storm, 25-talent for the Multishot.
So close.
Yeah, that's gonna be one of the best 25-talents in the game.
I feel like it is definitely so annoying to deal with also
I didn't talk about it, but I'm surprised that why 200 lead packs people for moonlight shadow gives evasion usually you take that because
First of all, it's very annoying to itemize for like 20% but it's only during moonlight. You don't really want to buy an MKB
I guess maybe with the quivering or getting out of the more people how many times do you think you?
Analysts go over decisions like this and just ends up being missed
It happens, but it's rare. I don't think it's that getting one and two. I've done that several times
Yeah, but you're also not a pro player.
I understand that.
But they play a lot more than me, so they make more mistakes, technically.
I don't know if that's how it works.
I don't know if that's how it works.
That's technically true.
My former co-caster would agree with that.
Yeah, maybe there's a reason he's not here.
Shout out to Cinderan.
Or TK, Leith, Bravici.
And they're going to try to pounce here, so a ways away for Roche, which means this is
likely to become a 60-minute barn burner and real doozy as they say for those
neutrals. You could play on some buybacks like we talked about earlier for
Falcons of course that would help you. We did see a lot of their damage right
onto this vector but the only way to make that happen is that he has to be
broken out of a Silver Edge which means you have to... it's kind of all on
Skeeter. I think you have to blink in, avalanche, then Silver Edge hit this
vector and pray to God that all these full-on spells are coming through. The
to hook shot the kisses.
It was like all the stars need to align.
To be able to do just that.
That's one seed early.
True, at the toss, they fly into the toss for the end.
This is gonna probably get the heck out onto the tiny.
Is Amar with the BKB, gets the focus fired.
Trying to kill off Shiro.
He's taking a ton of damage here.
Trying to walk it off, gets the abyssal block.
It's still low.
Trying to help him out from afar.
Able to Jonfo.
As they get the connection now onto Amar.
Blow him on two minutes on the deck.
You can see Skeeter is just getting played around with, with Bob, forcing out the BKB eventually.
You can see he's gonna get gone on.
Shadowstep applied, the Dagenon took crit, LSA not gonna hit.
Because the Mortimer's Kiss is trying to help out Skeeter a little bit, but Bob's just gonna run away.
Surge is too powerful for this, and now they're gonna turn this around or through the wide-run instead.
It's the college people.
The damage coming out from the XM is way too much, and Skeeter no more BKB to work with,
and they have stuns per day, skier dead, three dead over offer, Falcons and this is gonna be buildings.
That is just, it's two diebacks and a tiny who doesn't even have it.
Hey, yeah, yeah, they are dealing with a lot of trouble here.
Like, also, Amar, he can't really kill Shiro.
First of all, he still has the block of cheese barrier that's constantly like just on him helping him.
You don't have an MKB against the butterfly either.
And without Shiro being broken, you can tell that this is a game where you are pressured.
You don't usually see it play like that from Amar.
Very true.
Chiro gonna finish off that first set of barracks as XM heads to the south to get a second.
And they have so much time to deal with. I mean, in theory this should be mega creeps.
Mourin doesn't even have any ults to play with. This is absolutely mega, so even tier 4 pressure.
So play is nice for now.
Chiro completely slotted now, can eat the aggs. We'll see what he gets after the fact. They probably played discipline.
I don't see how fast they can actually take this, because I think Whiteback can take the tier 4s as well.
Okay, we're gonna blade onto Malorin, able to get out.
Damage done though, we'll have to wait this out as his barracks evaporate, so mega creeps for Vici, and now the pressure for the tier 4s.
They don't know that Tiny doesn't have buyback, that's money related.
They don't push slowly. They've got the wolf as well from Boxing, you know, give them all the damage aura.
And the finals here for about to head down off with the last vacuum on the game and all likely
We get burst down now ring with the daggers he buys back Mortimer's kisses ancient already exposed as they try to wait out these Mortimer's kisses
It's a tiny way back in five seconds
But that ancient is a foul to explode as XM finishes the job and Vici take game number one
Honestly, I think just even starting from the graph. I think they had their number here
You know against Falcons like the first pick leader it looks like quite annoying for them to deal with then they kind of to the reverse
Uno it's like, huh, it's going to make we still get the specter
But also with a crazy game on the dark seer
I think like all things considered I do feel that Falcons held on quite well to the game
But then you end up with like this offline wind ranger. It's not an easy mid snap for a game at all
Yeah, so honestly, I think this summer on Falcons were just out strategized
And Bici played so well in this game.
Great to see them coming into form now.
So late in this tournament.
XM finishes the game 19-5 on Molina.
Just an absolutely bestial performance from him.
And like I said, Darkseer, I mean,
I would pick him as MVP this game,
even though his scoreline is 4-6.
That's not a big thing.
His spell usage was crazy.
He had a lot of assists. 25 assists to his name.
And early on, though, Falcons didn't have a little bit of a lead
as we see here in these early engagements.
There's probably a worth, like, if Falcons talk about this game now,
that they still feel like they were moves on the map that they didn't execute
or they didn't, like, find opportunities to then take,
because while the game, like, the game is supposed to be difficult.
Spectre, Manta, Radiance, Illusions, Lina is flying around, Darkseer, Shells.
There's a Moonlight Shadow. I do think it is difficult,
but generally the team, they find some of those moves,
because this time around, it was honestly kind of all beachy
Vici from like minute 25 and onward so I want to see how the focus kind of you
know swing it around for a game too. The crowd is quite pumped up here as Vici
take game number one. Thank you very much gentlemen we're gonna be trying to
break that one down. What a cool a game one we got treated to with these two
teams. We got Lacoste and Sev here on standby to tell us exactly why it
happened the way it did because we kind of thought the tiny over last week was
cool, but then the Spectre and the Darkseid, you already mentioned it during the draft,
that these two were going to be very scary for Richie Gaming?
I mean, there's a reason for why I'm a big fan of this combo. I think it's just amazingly good
together. It's incredibly hard to fight against it. I mean, not only did they play an amazing game,
I think the draft made a lot of sense, the hero combinations together, there's just a lot of
synergy. It's so much chaos. It's so much chaos. I don't know. I expect the Darkseid to be, I see
both the heroes I'm like I mean it's like unless you're just getting completely stomped
I would feel like you're just on your way to winning the game that but I'm community biased
toward this this this combo. I reached out some great atomization coming out from them this is not
what we have usually seen especially from this mid Lena been very impressed by the item what it does
when you think about it it does have quite a lot of synergy with what Lena wants to do like keep the
distance not get too close to the flies because this is a spell casting Lena so they go on once
Once you max it out, it's 200 extra cast range,
works with all of your items pretty much.
And also extra 35% spell damage that works on Daegon.
Once you're using your unobstructed moment as well
on relatively short cooldown, 25 seconds.
She also becomes super tanky,
35% extra magic resistance with the 15 talent.
So she's just a real menace to deal with.
Like you can see in some of these earlier engagements,
every single time she was the focus of the fight.
And also like that extra bit of a spell damage
and everything.
Also, to point out the great atomization coming out from Shiro with this Aghanim Scepter on Spectre,
two-second the fear once you jump in with the reality for the first time.
It does feel very good if you want to be bursting down this Winterbite.
You see where he is with the haunt and immediately jump in every single time.
And it also showed even later once he disassembled Radiance, once he picked up that nullifier,
like there's no real defense.
No, there isn't. And then you have to also give props to XM.
Not only how well he played the game, but also the items as mentioned,
he understands that Spectre Darsier are going to make them run away.
So he went full, because this is a crazy build.
It's full aggression. Don't try this at home. You're just going to be feeding.
I'm telling you, there's no BKB, no A on this.
He eventually bought the Lincolns at the end just for the final picture,
just so that he can't be like...
He looks good on the end screen.
Exactly.
Exactly, because he just went like Dagon, Kajashua, like Aghanem's, Oktareen.
He went full aggression because he understands like they're running away anyway.
Like I'm going to get the right angles, like I'm protected.
You know, offense is the best defense as like a saying in traditional sports.
Well, it's often like the case in Dota, where it's like, this thing is safe because his
like ally heroes are being so aggressive in the teamfight that he's free to do whatever
he wants.
And he hurt them so much with his item build and the spellcasting.
Yeah, we got another treat to Murana on position 5. That worked out great.
Looks good. Let me be impressed by Murana 5. I think Y had some insane arrows that he was landing.
I think it comes down to the combo set that you were mentioning with the tusk because it gives you more than enough time to arrow pretty much anybody.
buddy and also Darkseer with the Blinko with his Hex ability. Like a lot of the times you would see
them initiate with the Daegon and Laguna Blade onto the target and then use Hex into Walsh
Hela's combo and that hero like even if you talk about Amar and ATF of course that's the same guy
that we're talking about Skeeter like they drop down to 50% HP they are forced to use a BKB and
the fight already feels kind of over because there's a Spectre haunt on top of that as well and
and everybody's spreading, they are not really taking those fights.
But let's be real, this game was not easy for VT Gaming.
It was a lot of battling happening.
It's not. They're also playing versus Falcons.
They're playing versus arguably the best team in the world,
or very close to that.
And Falcons, they're here to win this tournament for many reasons.
We've explained why.
And honestly, VT Gaming, it's just so surprising when you think about it.
Like, think about the group stage.
Now they knocked out 1W, they're one game ahead against Falcons, you kind of wonder like, what is happening?
We just quickly, the VG Gaming only played four tier one tournaments this year, 9th and 11th on the first showing.
They were standing, they weren't even supposed to be there, they were standing for this tournament.
7th and 8th, you know, that's pretty decent.
12th, 14th, and then 6th place, 9th, 12th, okay.
Yeah, things are not working out for them, but again, peaking at the right time, like does really benefit like we are in EWC, we are in TI era at the moment, like this is where the big money is coming from, you know, like he talked about in an interview that they have been bootcamping two weeks prior to this, like they even look good in TI qualifiers as well.
as well. And they are ready. They seem to be having very good ideas how to approach the game.
Like you would probably see other teams kind of fall off or just like lose in 20-30 minutes
against Balkans with a draft like this. But it seems like there has been a lot of thought put into
these type of drafts and they knew exactly what they were going for. Yeah. And we do have a couple
of fights that we saw that were going to be broken down here by Sev. Yeah. I mean, it's like just
Just trying to dissect and understand the pain of team fighting versus Spectre Darsir essentially.
Like, you know, there's a fight prepared, like Falcons actually is looking to take the fight.
They actually cast Zing Q out of position.
They start him, he gets a clutch ULT and all of a sudden, you know,
Lina's position, Mirana's position is good, hot happens.
And I'm just going to put this a little bit more in slow-mo.
You see how Falcons, they have to reposition themselves.
They're running away and it gives back all the freedom in the world to get a perfect vacuum all.
And essentially, all the Falcons heroes, they're just repositioning themselves from Hunt.
That's all they're doing, and they have to.
Because if they just stand in the same place, they're just going to die to Spectre.
So this is why Spectre allows Darkseer to have such a shiny and flashy teamfight impact.
And this is also why Lina's item build in this game makes perfect sense.
Because he doesn't need a BKB. Nobody's jumping him.
All he needs is to make sure that his spells do as much damage as possible
and to have as low a cooldown as possible.
Second clip I want to show you is precisely the opposite.
It's Falken's understanding, hey,
Hunt is on cooldown, this is our time to shine.
So they go to Osh, I think this is like a mistake by Vichy
because they end up taking the fight anyway
and you can just look at the difference.
Nobody's running away, Falken's is standing there down
because Hunt is on cooldown
and now they get to fight properly.
There's no more chaos involved.
Wyvern is in position,
Clock is in position
and it just looks weird.
We see the Winters curse happen. It looks weird for Vixie, I mean like
You know, they're like where's the oomph? Like we just won five six fights in a row
Well, it was because of haunt and the repositioning that it forces from thought and the last team fight that we're gonna look at
Which is you know the most impactful one. This is where the game has been decided late game situation Vixie is smoked
Skitter gets a nice start, but it's on on an end this target haunt happens
everybody's running away. Absolute classic.
Elizo, Elizo late the Tiny, also on the other side.
And I want you to look at Amar. Did you catch that?
He actually caught a random arrow. It went really fast,
but that's just what, what thought happens when he's running away.
He got four staff, I believe, one of his teammates on the way of the arrow.
Five seconds stunned, dies with a buyback on Rainier Ranger,
and this was really the turning point.
They try to turn the fight with the snap, but great kiting from Vici Gaming,
And eventually they run them down because like the beauty also of this expected Barsir combo is that not only
It is amazing at breaking the fight and breaking the enemy formation
You just get chased down all over the map like they have an infant in the mode of chasing potential
Which means that you know the first hero dies
Everybody's gonna fall
Yeah, absolutely
This is what like wind rangers supposed to do in like most of the drafts
You want to be killing the hero off and then playing 4v5 but this time around they kind of experienced what their draft wanted to do
as well and maybe they experimented a little too hard with this offline wind ranger where you had to see because it did look very good
It was on top of the network like he was having a really good time for the good first 15 minutes
And then you could feel some of the issues as well once they pick up the yule scepter
The kiting was definitely there, you know with the punch
Cask punch and all of these things added plus the nullifier
It didn't feel like he could have that much of an impact in the better stages of the game
Also honorable mention do want to give credit to Chris. He did steal an ages
That was really good. I played it win. He delayed the game by 10 minutes
But just think about the game from other games like snaps perspective like this is like a nightmare snap game because
All you see is your teammates kind of running away running past you because you're also very slowly like guys
That's all the line like somebody needs to hold the line for the lines
Like and shoot, you know whatever kisses cuz like everybody's in this moonlight shadow specter illusions
everywhere your teammates are running past you back to their base getting chased by
Darcy illusions. It's just unplayable for snapfire like he it's impossible to
have like a clear understanding of where the fight is gonna be fixated so that
you can cast your spells properly so again like that's just the beauty of
Dota like it's strategy at the end of the day it's like you might you pick the
strongest heroes out there you know snap clock and you get all strategized by a
very clutch draft by Vici and obviously amazing plays but hey I would compare
this to maybe like back in the history like roman phalanx you know they they need to keep the formation
if they don't if like they start falling apart the cavalry and cavalry and this one it was vici
gaming who kind of tore them apart exactly we have a we have a little bit of uh of the trip
down memory lane of this game right now the the roche deal we're gonna see that again because we
do like these clutch moments they are what teams do when they're playing to win there's not that many
Generally, unless well, I especially man with team spirit getting eliminated. I would imagine it was super close. It was a once
I mean at this point if he doesn't steal the a guess at this point again, it's just over
Like they would just they would literally go for every tire starts using high ground
This was really great giving his team like another
Opportunity to maybe clutch it and win the game, but essentially even that was not enough
I think VG gaming taking this first game really cool
and they did it with an opening overall first pick of Alina for XM and that just shouts
confidence from this squad for this series.
Let's see if we can see some of that confidence in XM in his pregame interview.
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,
in history. Brightness deserves a stage. Lenovo Legion, reach your impossible.
Hello, I'm here with XM of Vici Gaming. You had an amazing upset against 1W, one of the
favorites for the tournament, knocking them out. I was curious how it felt winning that
How did you feel when you won the 1WGP?
I felt great, because we won the 8th place.
That's great to be able to enter into the top 8.
That's awesome. What kind of improvements have you guys made as a team since you started this tournament?
How do you feel about this tournament?
We focused on the lane phase, and learned a lot of the lanes' details from Team Yandex.
We've been watching some of the replays, so we've been adapting like them.
That's cool. You haven't gotten to play any of your signature heroes so far this tournament, like your sniper and your viper.
All of the heroes you have been playing, I was wondering which of them do you feel most proud of? Which ones do you think you're best at?
In this match, we didn't have the chance to see some of your heroes,
such as your Bo-Chang and your Du-Long.
But you also got some new heroes.
Which of the new mid-to-mid heroes do you think is the best one?
I think it's Tu-Mao.
Because I feel that Tu-Mao is 25% better than him.
I'll say it's Off-Spirit.
You know, Off-Spirit, once he hits level 25,
he's just completely different and overpowered here.
I feel it's a really good play.
Well, hopefully you're good to play him in this series.
So thank you for joining me. Good luck in the series.
Bro, I'm not turning on screen shake.
But why not? You can put this in a bit shake screen
and then when you're in a team fight and you're playing shaker,
you'll go slam them and then...
The quarterfinals between Team Falcons and Vici Gaming continues here on stage with Vici Gaming one game up.
Let's see if Falcons can strike back and force out that third game to this series to keep their tournament dreams alive.
Last year they were the runners up and they would at least be able, want to be able to top that or be the same as last year.
We'll see though this seemed like a tough game and tough strategy also that Vici
came and posed upon them and I want to pose that to my panel as well overall
first pick Lina. Surin priority quite a bit Lacoste. Yeah the Surin is insane like
who you've seen Lina being picked 17 times sitting at 77% when we're at the
moment. Yeah these numbers just don't seem to be okay but we talked about
some of the most picked heroes of the tournament after the group stage like
highlighting Hoodlink who was sitting at I believe 56% win rate at the time and
we're like yeah these are some big numbers but yeah ever after seeing
Lena it seems like this hero just does everything like we've seen two different
builds that you can go for pretty much the spell casting build like probably the
most spell casting oriented build with the big on upgrade extra 200 cast range
and it's the bad like I can't really blame them like the the amount of work
that he did in that previous game it was just insane and also to point out like
We haven't talked about Jinkyu. I think he was also like he had a master class performance in the previous game
Making sure that he's getting the blinks
He's getting the saves once they initiate on and also the Yul Scepter at the later save himself later in the Wind Waker
A on this making sure that he doesn't die
Like Jinkyu has been known to be like relatively greedy as a power he wants to scale
But definitely tone it down in the previous series and I have to tell you like the other pan order
It means something it's like because you could ban Lena third like second or third like first
The first band is usually the yeah, okay. I don't want to see this again. Okay. Good job guys
You're not getting it again, you know no more Lena
This is a let's play an honest story without Lena in it
The snapfire also gets banned out so we'll not see Mel ring on that one this time round
It does mean that a couple of heroes are left in the pool most notable is probably the train protector
Loves Rude gets ignored so far as well. We did see that ignored in the previous game as well, so...
And instantly enough, they actually don't go for the Trim Protector that you mentioned, which is...
I believe, like, earlier in the tournament, I'm pretty certain Falcons had
first McTree and overclocked and got the clock later in the draft, so now they're switching it up.
It could be Vici-specific or it could just be because the heroes priority have changed.
Like I don't know if you if you follow these routes. Yeah against gamer legion
They'll actually had the both but I get against boom boys as well
They managed to pick it up even though clockwork was available. So give the priority to clockwork
Can I say can't really blame them considering the clockwork performances that we have seen from correct
So he was just completely dominating the play that he did in the previous one stealing the ages on top of that
But also the vision, this hero is just very annoying, it has the toolkit to complete this
mental new vision game, like we've seen teams utilizing Rocket, like this is a, you know,
these are professional e-gamers, so there's going to be a lot of different ways that they're
utilizing the hero, where they are scouting the triangle with the rocket, making sure that if
they see the camps are formed, they immediately know where the carry is, and this is where they're
going to be making the smoke move, maybe moonlight shadow move, but just making sure that they have
the information getting from that clockwork.
I have to answer yes to that request.
I was just reading the sign.
My answer is yes, my pleasure.
But back to the draft.
Like, I'm trying to...
I'm trying to...
you
you
you
you
you
I don't know, I'm just looking at Vitch's draft, I'm worried if I'm talking like these
are nasty combos.
Yeah, these are very strong blades, this is the like one-two combo that is very easily
played. Even though we've seen like Dombrekker being very efficient against the Beastmaster
in a sense where you have the counter initiation, their damage between the supports and Loan
Drift, it really isn't that much in a sense where these two supports can like easily move.
So I want to see something for XM, even though this Beastmaster could still go to the mid lane.
I feel like that's also a possibility because you're still building for the same item build.
you are still getting the helm of the Dominar Slash Overlord.
This is such a cool draft by Vici, I think it's amazing the amount of synergy between these heroes.
Also, at some point when they're going to start grouping up, with the Karel, Lockhart, the Heels, the helm of Dom 2, the Lone Druid.
I think I'd like to see a little bit of a different build on Lone Druid, I don't know if you're going to see it.
Because obviously the classic is like Mjolnir into Agz, sure.
But I think when you play versus heroes like Colt and Beast, that lane, if executed properly, we've seen it by BB, it doesn't go wrong.
The Beast will get his timings because he gets so accelerated by Colt, both in the lane and in the early game with the stacks and whatnot.
There's a player, Ghost, he's probably one of the best lanters in the world. He has a different build.
different build. He always goes for diffusional early and he plays actually very active. He just
abuses, he plays the hero from minute zero basically. He doesn't wait minute 20 when
you know he can only play with the bear. And I think this would be the game for it because
Falken's approach to their lineup is they're gonna up the pace, up top them. Absolutely, like this
lineup I kind of agree. I would love to maybe see something different but this is the lineup that
can just like speed things up, play for the objectives and I would love to see XM on a hero
that can play tempo I would be okay with something like a storm spirit they don't have that it's banned
okay never mind just ban it up because you it would also the reason why I like storm spirit not
because of the matchup but because they don't have that much control I would love to see in this
particular matchup you could also be picking up guardian greens which would give them quite a lot
of tempo as well it would be amazing like we're now Falcons angle to not losing to the Vichycraft
because I think it comes down to that, this draft is so powerful, is through Malrin, like Ember needs to pop off,
he needs to play with the supports, he's gonna have downbreakers ulti to help him out, so you have to think of this
Ember spirit running around the map with ringmaster and clock, buttons, they excel at doing that,
like they move at the right places at the right time, they do it properly, they place the right ups,
they DOR the areas, so they all bring a lot of pressure, they have Amar's help also, so that combo is very deadly,
Like these three heroes, wherever they go, they will be able to assert dominance in the early game anyway.
So if XM can slow down Malrin's game by just shutting him down on the lane,
making him maybe starve a little bit in XE and gold, this is how they will see that.
you
you
you
you
you
You
People try to shut it down especially with wipers where he's really not getting much like he's buying boots of speed
And you are playing against one of the best guys, not the best guy in the world when it comes down to adaptation,
like what he wants to do from the lane, how Malrin's going to approach it.
This is the guy that was playing Private Beast and like these unfavorable matchups,
kind of the master of dragging the creep waves and finding any spot on the map where he can farm.
So I want to see what his approach is going to be.
I would imagine also that if his lane is that important to the success of this game for them,
he might get some help coming out from the ringmaster and the talk about rotating from speaking it.
Yeah, definitely at some point they should be helping him. But again, against Slark at nighttime after five minutes
It's incredibly hard because he has just full control and full vision of what's happening
He can do it by himself and one dot. I also just want to mention quickly like Slark cuddle amazing combo like the chakra on the
Ponses especially when you have the aganems. You basically have counts of cooldown non-stop
It's a nasty combo. We don't get to see often, but it's very cool
Well a very cool game coming your way with game number two of this quarter finals
and Falcons force out Game 3. We're finding out what's on Stunning Chasm.
Thank you, Sheever. We have Game Number 2 about to begin, and I do have to ask Lundrud has looked
quite stinky the last few days. That's true. How many times has Vici even picked it in this tournament?
Do you know? I will find that out for you because Mr. Shannon Larkin, we've got the Lenovo Legion.
So, though it above Mr. Vici Gaming, they haven't played Lundrud a single time in this tournament.
Okay, well, that's a better record than the MOLA 100s so far.
They played it two months ago, he went 7-0 and 10, and they still lost.
So that's not good news.
Alright, let's get into the game as we have another hero that we definitely want to talk about.
So if you get me, take me off camera immediately and let's get into the game
because the game has certainly started at this point.
Certainly not paused.
Definitely not.
And we're in the game!
Congratulations everybody, we made it!
Game 2, Vici up 1-0 in this best of three of the playoffs here at EWC.
Slark has been picked as a mid laner.
I'm having flashbacks PTSD DC finals where we have picked it
He refuses to acknowledge the impact picks lark mid against
Wings gaming who had which player?
Say beyond and they destroyed us because why they picked us slow we
We have smart mid. How did you know that thing? How did you allow this to happen?
I think they just lost hope at that point. It was like it's jobless RNG the last week
But the thing is
First of all XM, I love this. I've been saying this like eight billion times this tournament. He is the anti mid laner
He's the FU mid player. You give me a matchup. He puts up both his middle fingers. He's like screw you
I go mid stark against ember. This is not the first time he's done this
They did this two months ago against Aurora. Makoto played ember same matchup last pick stark into the ember
He destroyed that game had like a 12 minute diffusel. You do pretty well in the lane
You can skill the salt water shiv to steal region
You can kind of you know deal well with the early spam you have better damage you have higher armor
You know, it's kind of chilling. It is very strange the tricorps of laundry beef Slark
It's gonna be a lot of mad play later on so XM while he's gonna have a good lane
I think he's got a lot of weight on the shoulders. Let's see how much regen is gonna get this is level one
Currently has seven regen that's good from the salt water ship very strong
I mean, I did see a clip early on when this was first made where this was absurd
Yeah, we're tops and they're not out of it since then of course, and then we just don't see Slork anymore
So I I'm curious to see how this works in the game because what I would think of this this ability isn't it just better against high HP
High regen targets like a centaur type. No, it's really having to have a dawn breaker. I guess
No, it doesn't really matter
It's more for like your own region and your own sustainability, which is usually something that like
Slark struggles with but you can see here that he's already putting up a lot of pressure and not just that like also
Leash is incredibly good against Ember and we also have to talk about it as of course they are the studio experts
You have Slark and Caudal together lowering the cooldown. You can bounce them multiple times very hard to play against
Let's see. I am
Think you're gonna see a game 3. I'm honest
I am not a believer in slark the thing is you feel confident, or are you just
Well, I am to see I am fake hyping, but I'm also happy believing because it is XM
The first this guy he played in the last year finals and then broke up kid. What the why did you do that?
This guy is so good saying we're gink you like they're not showing why they're here
So when it comes to weird materials to play like this I cross XM if this was a different player
There's only tops in an Exum that I would have some or any faith in that they could win this game. Okay fair enough
That's high praise. I praise we'll see how it goes look at the board look at the bimbo here
Yeah, that's right. So nice micro coming out from mr. Faith beyond
We'll be able to get the deny of the water room, but Mal ring will still grab the other
Let's get back to this long druid we can talk about him for about 30 seconds, and then we won't mention him again
unless he's not green, because he won't be doing anything.
That's true.
Why has this been so unsuccessful in the tournament so far?
Because coming in is like, oh, this is our first pick, first ban.
One of the biggest...
It's been horrendous.
One of the biggest reasons to me is that the hero was just first picked a lot of the times,
and then he ended up playing, especially into like, I'm the Lord,
or heroes that just really catch you out on the map all the time,
or Slardars, where the game was just very difficult for you to play.
And overall, I think Vici created a good draft with Lone Druid.
Like the hero eventually, he doesn't really want a teamfight.
He wants an annoying map state where this wave is pushed in, that wave is pushed in,
you can roar someone, get a kill.
And Sark as well.
Sark definitely abuses a good map state, especially in nighttime.
You're going to have like way better vision around the map.
The only thing I'm looking for is that I think Falcon's skirmish is way better.
Dawnbreaker Gyro in early mid-game, like if fights break out.
And also Dawn is incredibly good against Beastmaster when he overplays in an area.
So it's more of like the smaller finesse type of things that Vici need to do when it comes
to map play.
Okay.
And you have a good response for Roar, which is the box out of Snake King.
So one save for Falcons, and you're right, it's more skirmishy.
You don't really have this insane burst damage coming from Falcons.
It's more sustained.
Yeah.
And they have a very good top lane, right, against the Beast Coddle.
Both of these are counterpicks.
Ring Last is very good against Beast.
Not just for the roar that you mentioned, you also have the daggers against the boar.
Gyro goes without saying one of the best counters against the Beastmaster.
You can just spam him out, you can kill his boars, you always have high movement speed
with your innate.
Also looking at the other side, Solar Guardian against the Beastroar also quite good as a
pseudo counter.
She's an interesting game overall, curious to see how it plays out.
And of course, I mean from Vici's side there's support.
talked about the caudal, the benefit you're gonna get in the lane with the axes, with Slark later on, I mean, to some degree the bear, I guess.
Like there is...
Almost like a metamorphosis type of...
It's basically his main spell, getting lower cooldown.
And I think also like when I look at Vici's wrath overall, like there's a lot of cool things about the Slark,
but it also has, it is a volatile hero, but it has to be said, and they don't have the highest damage, right?
When we talk about how their three cores play together, they don't really play together.
They abuse each other's map state of like the beast alone at the slark and cavern tree
They're like enabling heroes. They amplify if you are strong, but they don't give you all the damage
So if XM doesn't have an explosive early game and like entry into the mid game, I really think they could struggle
I'm gonna give you a little trivia question. Okay. It's not objective. It's subjective
I'm not gonna pretend that it is objective. Let's keep that up. That's okay. What's the worst ultimate in the game?
In Delta the worst okay, hold that about that the knife is gonna stab fuck in the back
As Skeeter supplies some more pressure with that rocket barrage, that thing is crazy good early on and Skeeter gets first blood on the Gyrocopter.
That is a pretty good one. And especially like we said, you know, we focus one to play from ahead. They have good skirmish, they have very good collapsing ability early on.
So it's a good move from Kurt. They talk a lot about the 5 minute move where you can potentially go to the save lane and link up with your support.
It also means that Ammar is getting a little bit of solo XP and to answer your question of what's the worst old I
Actually, I'm gonna give you to the 10-minute mark. You have some time. Well, you're gonna say it's ringmaster wheel of wonders
I said the other day. No, I'm not okay. Thank God. It's a little I know. I know which one novel project
No, that's a great one. Well, that's not good. Okay. It's not the best, but there's the worst ultimate for sure
Okay, you please just a moment snaking trying to keep that read. This is fake. I please talk about it
It's in this game. I'll give you that clue.
There's a word- what- true form?
No.
What is wrong with you?
What is wrong with you?
Come on. You're better than this.
There are no bad ults in this game.
You're better than this.
I was having a conversation with Lacoste and he definitely agreed with me.
So I have another analyst on my side.
Yeah, I don't know what your analyst is.
It's a smoking or talking about.
I'll let you think on that.
I'm gonna tease this up until the end game, of course.
Okay, we've gotta pause.
What's wrong with you?
Uh, there's some lag apparently.
Okay, can you tell me about the worst ult?
It's Gyrocopter.
Excuse me?
It's terrible.
Okay.
It's truly bad.
Alright, we're gonna have this game unposted.
Skeeter in the first 15 minutes is gonna use three call downs that will kill multiple
heroes.
Oh, please.
And you're gonna get your stupid words.
First of all, Flak Cannon is really ultimate.
Let's be true.
No.
What are you...
God!
Are you...
How are you an analyst?
Doesn't make any sense.
Flak Cannon is a good spell, but it's not as ult.
if it was his ulti would max it, no?
Yeah, checkmate, checkmate!
That's no checkmate here. You're going for the rocket brush early.
Yes, cause it's good.
Of course, rocket brush is insane.
Black Cannon is what carries you into the game.
Oh man.
If he didn't have his ult, he would still pick Gyro occasionally.
He's a Mar.
We get the start, breaker, but gonna be completely nullified.
Thanks to the fear is a Mar now on the run outside,
but the cogs will place inside of Shiro,
Shiro and he is going to get killed off instead so a nice turnaround coming out from Calusens
Looks like it might have been a beautiful kill for Shiro
No, that's very big especially this early on like Lord Druid needs he always wins his lane like nearly always and killing him before level 6
It's kind of what you want to end up doing. Maureen will put his body here into the beachy side
This is the other great thing about gyro and him having called down you win your lane against beast
He can't really go for boards
Which means he has to max access then they stack and you can easily contest stacks
Now we're getting pressured a bit, but JJ won't remnant away
As it shows up in the mid lane with XM who has the level advantage right now in the slark mid
Yeah, they did make sure everybody's aware of this
The ones he gets diffuser. He's incredibly strong even already now. He's a little bit oppressive
Of course, he can it's also quite difficult to ward against this guy early on so very much a fitting hero
for XM and the type of player that he is.
Hating at power rune about to pop.
And now Rain will bot it in the bot side as XM getting chased by the homing missile.
Which is not his ultimate of course, very important to point out.
No, it's also a bit of an underwhelming spell as well.
A homing missile I do agree is not the best spell.
He has really two spells on him.
They're just really strong now Rain.
Already using the damage rune actually.
Easy lasted.
XM.
Obviously very survivable here in the Slark, anytime he's in the shadows you get a ton of regen and I know we don't see Slark mid, do you see Slark in any position?
Very. What itemization do you look at? Very, very good.
It's still very much the same that we used to see, it's like some Falcon Blade, Diffusal, then some people play around, there's some Shadow Blades, there's some Agon and Scepters that are, like, Agnes is nearly always core, but you also don't really want to build a second item.
So when he played it last time a while ago, it was a diffusal axe into then Scotty, but he had a way better of an early game.
Because for now, like even though you picked the Slark into the Ember, the matchup is quite, I mean it's kind of, obviously you're winning,
but Malrin is still getting everything that he wants, which is levels, time and a little bit of network.
Also insanely good neutral item on the Gyro, of course, the dagger of Mr. Ristool, 25 bonus damage.
bonus damage, you take that on Jiro, you're an incredibly low damage hero.
Even with the ultimate, incredibly low damage hero, it's crazy.
Okay, let's keep that up.
I'm still lowering now up for Amar, and we talk about these, I mean, off lane,
Dombreaker, there's several builds you can go for it, but there is Amar, so we just assume
it's going to be right quick, which looks like Ecosaver, Skeeter coming in from the south
and then trying to get another kill out to Shiro.
Huge amount of damage coming up from what procs, off that ultimate from Gyrocopter.
Not even going to be casted for being honest.
Two kills go the way of Valken's unbelievable usage of the greatest ultimate in Dota.
Call down. Great.
Here I died. That's all that matters. It's a good spell.
This guy's a hit.
Incredible.
Man, imagine being a caster and using your voice to shit-talk a good spell.
Keep up the energy though. I like that energy. That's the most energetic you've been.
Let's rewatch the damage.
this, and one of them hits him incredible.
That's living all of it.
Living all of it.
I think he went down about 50 HP there,
as we're going to see some more action this time on top of Bach.
The full Starbreaker from Amar, he's going to try to help out.
As Bach gets to kill him out of the ring first,
so looking really bad for Vici at the beginning of that day,
very least get a kill.
And Skeeter on the bot side kills off Shiro, and even bigger.
This is three deaths for the lone druid already.
It's feeling like every other lone druid game
we've seen this turn.
Yeah, they're kind of falling flat, and it all started with the call-down rotation, of course, from Skeeter.
That almost made me spit up my drink there.
Go ahead.
Stop drinking.
And five seconds, of course, the biggest timing of gyrocopter in the early game will be unlocked again, as the call-down will be back up.
It's a good spell, you just say, Hater.
They also, they buffed it, missile slow from 50 to 60%.
They could make it global.
That would make it better, ultimately.
Are you okay with that?
Shout out to Bomberdeer from Heroes of New Earth.
That's right.
Nearly had the same spell, without the slow.
Except it's even slower.
in project dial is
See a little bit of group up here on the top side
They did get a good counterplay up earlier right when Jin Q and Bach were fighting there because you have the early heels from Jin Q
And also the ash legion shield which allowed Bach to stand his ground counterplay it and they're soon unlocking the overgrowth on Y
Who's one of the best triads like first of all?
I think it's not that easy to see when people like pop off on dream protector
But when I think of dream protector
I think of Y and Mapocho.
Like, these guys are and were so good at the overall positioning,
knowing where you need to be and counter-playing the right place, right time.
We should soon see XM start to be aggressive.
Your first timing is usually the diffusel.
That first overgrowth of the game from Y onto several members of Falcons
are going to get the full Starbreaker combo off to Jinkyu with the whip in addition.
Probably not the best TP here from Jinkyu.
and likely the tier one now will go the way of Falcons.
Okay, seems like maybe Malrin is feeling himself a little bit again, you know, getting through this early game tipping XM.
But yeah, this is the first timing, you get the fusel, and then the second timing is the night time with the fusel blade, so that will be at the 15 minute mark.
You see, they end up using this successfully, Skeeter.
It's initially gone on as the homie missile will find its mark in XM eventually, so you
know, just dark packs it off or not.
Skeeter, if you call down, can't really commit on him, of course.
Yeah, really, really, probably around that really slow ultimate.
He just killed Snake King, and now we have a Solar Guardian, so they will get the trade
off versus three, essentially, as XM comes in with the pounce.
No more mana for Amar, but he is pretty quick, going back at the amount of the steering
chains but not fast enough.
Okay, still hasn't been able to do that much yet, of course some pressure forcing Amar
out of the lane doesn't have to ult yet.
Need to see when the 15 minute mark comes around.
I don't mind if he does end up going for the Shadowblade here, I think sometimes you know
going this early agg, it's still not that easy to catch people.
You know, it's not really the same it used to be, I think the Shadowblade will help you
apply a little bit more pressure and also allow you to scale and have a bit more
attack speed. And if he does get off to a good start, which has yet to be seen,
he's 0-0-0 on XM. He has a Ghost Scepter first item. Alright, this is the anti-slark
item. He's really respecting that mid-slark. And hey, if you're forcing or
you get a Ghost Scepter, I think you take that any day of the week. It can always
upgrade to disperse or eventually just to completely nullify that. You can be
happy about that as the slot but at the same time it is quite good against the
other two cores and it will allow Malrin to play quite aggressive and I think
for their draft it's actually very important when you're a dawnbreaker
you're not looking to like make moves first you rely on your team to go in be
aggressive and if this is what allows Malrin to kind of play over this matchup
anyway I love it it also gives you some stats which is nice
Trine's being taken now only from ginkyu so far as we have a smoke from Falcons
Obviously we'd love to kill XM in that mid lane.
Still a difficult one even at this stage of the game.
It's ultra difficult to kill, like how do you even do it?
Hookshot, pause into the middle corner.
The finest spot is, we're gonna get the dust on him as well.
Into the bowling, into Skeeter's rocket barrage.
See ya later.
Easy cleanup for Falcons.
Is the Ekko Saber now complete for Amar?
Now some pressure to this tier one mid.
Now Rain.
We use the Searing Chains to start things out.
And that's the rest of Falcons on the way.
Vici and Atra are going to try to stay here, not only taking a ton of damage, but Wip's going to keep Vici at bay.
Talon is going to get denied from Mal'Rain.
Very even game to start things out.
And Vox has been having very good games, right?
Like first at Dox, you're getting sure the early game wasn't incredible, but he was up against a hard lane.
He's top-net-riff on the beast, getting some solo kills, top tier 1 taken, mid tier 1 taken.
Very good timing on the Overlord.
Of course, a lot of this is because of GenQ, with the caudals, the stags, the chakra magic injection.
The fact that it's 9 to 2 falcons and still even.
Is that good news for Vici?
I would say that they are pretty happy with what's going on, right?
Especially now, this is one of the stronger timings for XM, 9-10 plus the defusal for you.
And Jiro's been having a very quiet early game, probably too quiet, at least when we look at his network.
5.8k. Oh, lie. Go for a massive overgrowth here if you had some vision.
That's Balkans. In the group up. Maybe for this tier 1, why gets hit by a knife or two?
Snake King spots him with the sentry, but now outside of it.
Trant always such an annoying hero to play against.
Now, we're gonna pop the ghost after the XM, gets initiated on by Kripp, but the backpack keeps him safe.
Meanwhile, the Trant does get off the overgrowth trying to walk away
See, actually gonna find the distance, hit or does hit, and that'll be the end of the
tree for now.
And this is what I mean was why, like, we watched him walk around for like 50 seconds
where he's giving full vision defending his tower, pouncing him to Malrin, and XM taking
the run to the damage here to get off the road, but there's the box to counter.
We talked about that pregame, XM's ult keeps him safe for the time being, and Skeeter gonna
try a little bit of a turnaround here, especially with that solar guardian, but we would want
her to top at his box.
Stop some axes, hearing chains not going to hit, illuminate though, that is the death of Amar, big kill from Beachy, very long drawn out fight ends up in the death of the offlaner, Snake King.
He's defeated, but the axes assassinate him from the fog, nicely done from Bach.
Just good kiting in this fight, like there's a little bit of an overplay from Falcons, you TP and you get up a good roar, and they're just constantly playing with XM in the frontlines.
There's Illuminate heals coming around he's getting living armored in the middle of the fight. Holy lock it as well
And they do need to play fights of that you need to be semi-drawn out because they don't have the craziest like
Damage when it all starts like just a full view onto XM from Gen Q there
And I'm not like a lot connected there for Falcon, but they just didn't have the damage to finish the job
The night's great there from faith beyond
Yeah, this is fake because remember that all of these sites like zero and he doesn't really have to do anything
He's just playing his little loan group meaning game
Get your items get your agonist scepter keep helping your team with how the map is played overall
The fact that they can potentially get Roche without the loan drew involved at all. Can they really huge?
Okay, so he's there
Link rush also from trade already has it
Are they actually gonna commit for this why in the area ready to position a smoking and crit trying to contest staking already pop
He gets in again with a hookshot, but not able to steal it this time around.
Good attempt from Crip, but it's gonna cost him his life.
And now Snaking on the high ground gets overgrowth.
Will box himself, but that provides a little bit of extra time for Snaking.
To get chased down by the likes of the Slark.
Double kill for XM.
Weird ass pick, but it's working out so far.
He's cooking.
Seems like I got a skill issue many years ago, in DC, when we got to the Slark.
No, they're owning.
Define shell as well.
Well, we're gonna start of course you get some return hits get another essence of stack yourself
Now he's got shadow blade with the ninth. I'm still a little bit available and
Ages is yeah on your hands your 4k gold up without having needed your carry at all
How much damage can they get
Done with this ages keep in mind
This is not the carry the lone druid is supposed to be the carry and now all the space created even just
of painting the Aegis in general just buys extra time for Lone Druid to farm and he is 300
Okay, never mind. That's bad math
1300 1500 away from the axis mentioning numbers very good in a mass
That's weird that the point booster is in this position. Usually it's first out of the eggs coming out
He's just bought the other two parts ready. He's going for different build lock way for a solo plate a solo guardian
On to the Black Dragon. Amar is going to live, but actually, if he had the vision we had, he would have just stuck around and killed him.
XM, now reigning company. The only thing he has is Aegis of course. XM is just going to get healed up.
He has to be wary of this call down. Very powerful ultimate according to one of the best analysts in Dota.
One of the worst ultimates according to one of the best casters.
That's right. Crit gets the hook shot off, but the Dark Pack is always there for XM
and he is looking really good.
Okay, this mid-slark being buffed up by Ginkyu Scarlwell with the holy-locked force
and the max living armor is, he's a big problem.
And this is without, again, Lundruid has mid in the game yet,
Park is having an exceptional game on the beast.
Like, usually, Dawn is a counter to beast.
When you meet up, when we won, you know, you can kind of
stand your ground, if beast goes through any place you counter play,
but he's the one that's taking over areas.
Like, look at where Park is playing.
Jiro is farming very defensively up top, Don is farming super defensively down bottom,
and they're taking back barely any space in their own jungle.
Are you actually going to take this extra space to take out the first tormentor of the game?
You don't get themselves quite as good globally, and these are some good shards.
You get either 3-1 for bit of a map play. Rockets.
Not quite in time, GQ. We'll get the double solar bind and...
And even more heal from the Illuminates, so this matters quite a lot.
It was already difficult to kill these Radiant Heroes.
Usually we don't see them melt from into Agadon, it's always like a Mjolnir that goes into it,
so a little bit different for Shiro here.
Crit spotted, but Blink's out, so showing off that Blink Dagger, snaking.
Can I be able to steal the wisdom shrine and Jin Q will do the same on the other side?
Let's see if Falcons can find a way to fight back or slow down this network fleet here.
But VG, they've been very impressive. First of all, getting to the stage, beating 1W, taking them out of the entire tournament.
Yeah, that was surprising and of course need to cannot be understated that most of these players have played or won a TI final
Outside of shiro or a folkshotted coming to try to save on the snake. He's already dead
We're gonna get the clockwork as well. So double kill for faith beyond he is owning in addition to the slark and remember
This is with loan druid
Not existing currently and he eventually will if given enough time 8k lead for Vici
They are pretty much for refiving and I think well reen's built. He's had a vessel for a while
I don't know if he's had a single charge on at this entire game
They're not really just just not finding any moves on Marvin's early Shiva's guard
Not an item you ever see second. Wow
On dawn sure it gives you a bit of a way back to get a lot of armor most importantly grabs the attack speed
And the a way damage plus so for echo saber Shiva's there's something looks wrong about because this has never been done before
That's why in the history of Dota
I believe so I think if we're looking at the stats people can correct me, but echo Shiva is
That's not a build. Potentially it is a build and it just speaks for this type of game where you're cornered.
Yeah, I can go step there first item on Ember is also not really a build.
I'm sure a Herald has done it before.
Who cares about those guys? They don't matter.
That's a lot of people.
That is a lot of people, but generally that's where the item goes up.
Why do you care about the top 1%? What's wrong with you?
That's what we're looking at. What about casting a Herald?
What about the rest of us?
Get Jenkins up here, he'll tell you about the Herald.
BKB now up for XZ.
and as his game continues to progress pretty damn nicely and of course isn't
here the scales crazy in the late game oh yeah they've got a pretty good word in
the triangle so they know that Amar walked over to the mid lane at drums of
slum online as well this is a big power spike for Vici she is playing big
uh-oh hello our spotted tries to get off the hammer but the roar finds them and
that's gonna be another death for Amar now rain has to try to run in a way
What is a bit of a weird spot here?
Can he get feared up today? Actually, the connection...
That's not good.
...the damage is going to be close. Yes!
Wrong place again for Mal-Rain, and off the back of it, Bichi get a tier 2 tower, and why not keep pushing?
These guys are good. They're just going straight for the high ground minute 23.
This is the...
...propagation popped.
This is one of the best plays I've seen from a Chinese team since maybe last TI of Extreme Gaming.
They are very convincing here in this entire series
Not gonna force the issue not gonna get too greedy playing discipline and they forced out the fortification 11k lead for Veech
Fact that they aligned with these three big items now
We're gonna see the dispercer next for XM so that goes up there's not gonna do shit. Absolutely not
I mean already now it's kind of just the main one of the things that are happening
Okay, let's look at Skeeter. So he wants to go satanic next which yeah, it helps you stay alive
But they've got damage problems this coddle tree and like dual support combo with like three beefy cores
It's really not that easy to like punch it. I think the big power spectra falcons when they get level three on the call
I know you was in it. I knew you would say that
All right, no coming back from that is now rain
If gyro had an agonist that may call down twice as good they could win without yeah, maybe sadly for them
it's a side gunner and that's again side gunner slash flak in is the real spell
for gyro it's not a lot this game XN looking for the pounce target my time
baby indeed opens it up on the snaking to get the box off wouldn't be surprised
it goes from nullifier at some point as well the box is the only annoyance for
Vici I really like at least strategically what Vici have created in
in game 1 and game 2. Game 1 you had a lot of this overall mad play, you're kind of owning
them with Moonlight Shadow Spectre. I think even here it's a bit similar, right? You have
a lot of summons, goals pushed, but also this one guy who's starting to go for it.
Oh, Amar again might get caught out. Another roar to his name, do they have the box nearby
snaking, trying for it. Finally gets it off to the last moment, meanwhile on the other
side, while taking the brunt of the damage, Shiro is actually going to go for the Gyrocopter,
Skeeter about to fall just to the bear eventually bought does fall to Malorin
So a two for two exchange to start this outfit
Exem is still up and running crit on the cliff dead shortly after double kill for shiro
Who has finally entered the game and again we talked about it all game long
They've been winning this game with two cores and now the third has entered to play that right place right time
Definitely needed him in this fight because father said a pretty good angle to counterplay there critical as an incredibly quick hook
Look, this is a 15k lead. They're knocking on your high ground, minute 26.
Yeah, there's no fortification either. So we're gonna look at the replay.
It's just so difficult. It's night time, they see everything, their thumb is around.
They're just great positioning and also great patience.
If you look at why, look at the back. Double overgrowth with Shiro just getting to hit into everybody.
Yeah, that was the blink dagger reveal for the tree.
So Valk does die, but it's at a heavy cost yet again for Falcons.
I thought this series would maybe go to distance, but at this point, Vici are really putting in the work in this game.
We're the 2-0 masters.
Wait, somehow we are.
I mean, if I was going to pick a 2-0 to start the series, I would have been fouled to it, actually.
Yeah.
Because I feel like Vici have been pretty...
I mean, at this turn, they've been good, but generally speaking, they've been quite inconsistent.
But powering up at the right time of the tournament is nothing to scoff at.
This is how you win.
Ammo, this is all...
Take notes, Kazoo.
Oh, yeah.
It's very useful for me.
I'll go play again next month, of course.
And once you realize this gyro alt is garbage...
Yeah, that will be the return of my career.
That's right.
So it's been holding you back a school.
Yeah, thinking that gyro alt is good.
Well, I never liked that gyro alt.
He's good when you can play off his tempo.
As a world where Falcons could have still done that, I feel like in like a mid-game.
Now you're not liking the hero after all this talk, huh?
We only talk about call-downs, stop mixing my words.
You should go into politics.
I don't think I'm racist enough for that.
As we get into the pit for Vici gaming...
Somehow you found a way to use that word in my class.
...or it was out.
And...
If Falcons are gonna have to try to do something, you can see Vici are aware of this
and they're going to wrap around instead.
XM going to lead the way.
Still night time, snaking.
Not going to mod it.
Foxes himself, which means he won't have it
for a potential core.
There's the roar, off to the gyrococtor.
Solar Guard need to follow the wheelbunder right on top of them.
Do they have the damage to take out?
Fox is going to close the Illuminae Heels and fight a bit.
Finally, top of the BQB and out.
XM can't think of the stupouts.
Off to the gyrococtor.
And Skier falls.
First core down for Falcons.
And Ember, Spirit, Malry trying to take out Jin Q,
but it's just the support at the end of the day.
the uncharged, the living armor keeping him alive, gets off the blinding light as well
as Maureen's slope to a crawl now. That pass to the XM, it matters not as Amar barely gets
out but Shiro meanwhile just hitting buildings on the other side.
Yeah and they're losing racks at the same time.
Oh fuck, and this is... they're in such big trouble for this game.
Because that fight wasn't even that bad for them to begin with.
Vici went very deep but you can just seal all the backup that they have.
Multiple heals, two sets minimum.
I think XM is also getting the Shard on Slug, like he already has the Agents for the Double Pound.
So Shard is coming, which is another added save.
Okay, minimum one set of racks is what I said, of course.
I like this play though, VG playing it very safe.
We've seen so many times before, especially honestly, Chinese teams are very notorious for this in the last couple years.
But they'll stick around a little bit too long and get punished extremely hard, especially when an objective like Roche is available.
They'll get this for free
It makes closing the game out that much easier
And even a lot like if you look at some of them like the item builds they're really cornered
Try to look for credit of course and not given an opportunity to steal the ages
Now back to him's gonna show up and that's when the damage arrives
Gonna be dead right outside his own car says oh a good attempt. Yeah, do you take anything now rain?
Was close when we had an open slot
That would have been sick, but Block gets the Aegis instead.
The only comeback I see for Falcons is a completed Daedalus on Skeeter.
And maybe, maybe if you get the time, you go for a Divine.
I think you have to play for an all-in play at this point.
You're down a lane of Rax, you're playing against lone druid Aghanim,
and three top network hordes.
It's the only way I see for them back in this game.
game even that I don't think that's gonna be enough well if that isn't enough
then I've got that it's very double divine and let's see if they can make any
type of space arm that up
so ages we'll see if Vici are waiting for any items coming out that would make a
difference here disperser is still a ways away I'm not sure if they want to
that long AC, also a bit of a wait.
Yeah, I don't think they have to really wait for anything.
They could just continue to play on the map is pushed in,
we find a pick off, we find a poke.
They also have the potential to place a banner on,
you know, one of the waves was the double siege waves,
if they want to, because you do have Aegis,
I think you're very far ahead.
If you want to play super safe, you could wait for nighttime.
I don't really see why you would have to do that,
because even in daytime, you're incredibly strong.
now the bear shows himself sketer has to skitter away very good
and maybe they are waiting for this next item around me now that they've waited this long
block is 500 away from ac at this one you can actually align with the disperser close enough
They're right in their own base, snaking, trying to get out, but it's not happening for the rest of his cores.
There's Amar. I believe this is a buyback, so now a dieback for Henezan.
It's gonna change G. GGs for BG as they continue on to EWC and Falcons eliminated.
That's a beyond-godlike for XM. And honestly, I beg the question, how did any team ever kick out XM and GQ from their roster?
Like XM alone in this game with both supporters taking over the entire early game same with Bach with an incredibly hard lane
Getting solo kills here being top on the network and again, this is single-limb. This is Falcons out at EWC
This was a sick reply. I was not a believer
I have reason to not be a believer many years of pain and suffering
Personally we on Slark mid, but base beyond was on the other team and maybe he learned a little something from Matt
That's it?
Yep.
They tried to run near.
Took like 10 years to think around.
Does that make it worse?
Just needed the right changes on the start, but I have to say, this is a very memorable
performance for XM.
I'm going to remember this one specifically.
It's kind of no on a Slark mid.
I don't know who ever see that again.
That's insane.
It's, and this is what I love about not just the best teams, but the best players.
They will find ways to make the game different, you know.
You find a specific pick or a specific build, and it is just not normal to see a mid start.
And this is what the best players do.
You don't just get to play on autopilot, you're playing a different game.
Suddenly you're playing XM Slarking with the Zinc to call back him up, the Tree and Protector as well as Falcons.
And remember this call down, that is something to remember as well.
Just the massive damage coming out was enough to kill off-share without it.
That's a double kill. Incredible display.
Still hating at this point. It's just, yeah, itchy.
This is one of the better performances that I have seen rightfully so.
I think all of them just kind of owning from start to finish.
you know why? Super positioning, good overgrowth. And this one, this one's got to
see the focus at a big break. Maybe that also worked against them, right? With the format,
nothing for what was it, five days, six days. They just look hot and informed.
Yes, single eliminated. I love single elimination.
As a viewer, definitely.
It is incredible for the viewer experience and we're seeing now why. We've had already a couple
upsets the other day and another one here. I mean, in theory, an upset Falcons, a very story
franchise in their brief history. This scene has been around. The players alone have been around
for a very long time together, more so than any team in recent history, but
Beachy getting the better of them and it's off of a slark mid. Just incredible. Just a ridiculous
display. But it is just like this is a characteristic of X-Men. They're so good on Beachy.
Let's go to the interview on the main stage.
Thank you so much, everybody. You know who I had to grab. Ladies and gentlemen, Exxam!
An absolutely incredible performance to hear with Jin as well for the translation. Thank
you, Jin. Falcons had five days to prep for this. They've been watching all your games.
They've been just sitting in their little hotel room, relaxing, and you guys that come
that come out and TOO OTHER ASSES!
Were you expecting it to be that easy?
Definitely this was the result that we expected
Because 5 days is a huge break, it's a very long break and our hands are red hot, well theirs are not.
Alright, you can tell those hands were red hot, absolutely, especially on your Lena in Game 1.
Incredible performance, I gotta ask about the daegon though, was that more for damage, was that more for cast range, what was the thinking and have you done it before?
I think it works here, and it clearly did.
You have ruined so many pubs from that.
Thank you so much, so much TikTok will be made
with the worst builds in the world.
All right, anyway, let's move on to Slark.
This was super exciting to watch.
Slark mid, incredible.
Who's making these calls?
Was it you saying, give me that, Slark,
or was it the coach?
Did you mention this fish or your coach or something?
My fish was used to hit fireballs.
I was in a hurry at the time.
I was in a good mood.
I thought it was a good fish.
I believed it was a good fish.
Slug has always been my weapon against Ember Spirit.
I kind of wanted a hero, but it was still a bit of a discussion within the team.
For sure.
And Shinkyo was like, you know what, I'm caught off.
I can feed monitor Slug, and I think Slug would be a pretty good pick here.
so we trusted Jingyu's decision and we went for the slug.
Fantastic, right? Last question then.
After destroying such a strong team like Falcons,
can we finally say that Chinese Dota is back?
Absolutely! Chinese Dota is back!
Yeah, let's go! All right!
Well, speaking of that, let's get the team up here, boys.
Come on up, come on up.
Here at EWC, we have something to do.
Not only did you destroy Falcons in the game,
it's time to destroy their spirits, my friends.
It is time to crush their keys!
Let's head back there and head to the Crusher!
Now, Jin, I gotta ask him,
who wants to have the honor of crushing Falcons?
Now that you've successfully defeated the team, there's one last thing you need to do.
You need to crush their keys. Who will get the key to crush their keys?
Take your position, gentlemen, gather round, watch your Falcons go down!
The club champions are about to get crushed!
Here we go!
Stone cold!
Yeah baby!
Oh, he's going deep!
Oh, that's too deep!
I love it!
Fantastic, let's bring it out.
It is time for you.
He took the whole day!
He destroyed Falcons so much there!
The tournament!
By God Almighty, kill them!
Break it out!
Goodness gracious!
Fuck, you gotta take it easy, bro.
Take it easy.
Go ahead and show the camera.
Do you approve?
Is it destroyed enough?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alright, well let's throw it back to our panel
and let them talk about that incredible series.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Vici Gaming Guaranteed Top 4 here at EWC for Tota 2.
They have eliminated team Falcons here on the main stage and in quite the fashion indeed
out here at Lacoste and Seb.
Lacoste this game was very cool as well.
Yeah absolutely.
What a way to eliminate a team that has been in the Grand Finals in the previous EWC as
well and also I love the energy from the whole squad you know telling that China is definitely
back.
needed it because TI being in China as well and also showing that some of these strategies that
they do have like they're definitely working we saw it in game number one we're seeing it in game two
it just feels like a lot of the stuff for them is clicking and he said you know their hands were
red that they got caught red handed to this one because because they stole that victory from Falcons
it's honestly like to me this is like one of the highlights of the season like
Like, in a way, I'm sad for Falcons because you know, crowd favorite, tournament favorites
too and it's going to be a very tough loss for them, but I'm sure they'll have time to
build themselves back up for TI.
But if you focus on Vici, I think this is incredible.
What they were able to do here, because they didn't just grab like a win or something.
They actually dominated Falcons and they made a statement that they were the better team,
the smarter team.
You know, they had better strategies, they executed their strategies better, they outplayed
them too. I think, you know, I think everybody kind of gets bored with
stalemates in Dota when it's only the same teams that are dominating. And it's
been too much of Europe, Europe, Europe. And I'm European myself, but I have to
say, even as a European fan, like, you know, European or European fans, I'm bored
of European teams dominating. So whenever teams from other regions are gonna
like contest the highest, the highest placements in these tournaments, I think
it's just, it's just incredibly more exciting. And we got to see it today. I
I think the crowd also has been roaring more than for any other series.
And I think it really tells the story of like what we want in Dota.
Oh, absolutely.
We want region competitiveness.
We want contests between these these these these players.
And it's just amazing to see.
It's been exactly 10 years since China was on top with then
Faith Beyond and Innocence now called Bach and why at the top with Wings
Gaming and Vici Gaming here, starting their TI season,
their money season, as you call it,
they're starting it off so strong and it's so promising
and everybody, you can feel, everybody wants to believe,
everybody wants to hope that they can go all the way
and that would be a massive underdog success story here,
Lacoste, that would be very cool.
Yeah, absolutely.
This has, like we've seen, like in the group stage,
we haven't seen any underdog stories yet.
Once we got to the survival stage,
we saw quite a lot of those,
but this is the biggest one.
This has to be the biggest one, them also eliminating one dub right before this series, and now eliminating that.
This is too old, this like wasn't really that competitive, especially in the second game.
I gotta give credit like to their drafter, like the way they just played the draft as well, like the total execution of it,
bringing in two very, very similar like heroes that had.
When you think about Lina, like this is the hero that has quite a lot of win rate.
So bringing in Lina, which people kind of expected to come, but bringing in Slark from Tiktok.
This is not what many people expected, right?
That was such a funny answer, but I actually think it's real.
A lot of people are looking at these shorts.
I've seen so many people refer to Tiktok builds and whatnot,
and at first I was like, I'm not paying attention to this.
This can't be serious, but if AXEM is going to pull this out on the stage,
then I'm going to start watching it, too.
This is how you catch them.
But honestly, I feel like after watching today, if you're like BVT, Nigma, Yandex, or Peavision,
which are the remaining teams, Vici is coming for you at this point. You know, you better look
at that team, because they're coming full speed. They have their own understanding of how Dota has
played. They have their own strategies. And you know, think about who's on that team. Like, these
are two of the wings, you know, players, so like smartest minds in the history of Dota. You have
Zinc you like the guy has been carrying everything his own like somehow he's always top three at every event no matter
Who he plays with and then XM with we saw you know the prodigy that he can be and shiro like that team is
That team is wonderful very very solid foundation for success
That is for sure and in this game too that we witnessed in particular
We're gonna take a look at some of the mid lane fights that kind of already made a statement in the game
Yeah, at that point the game was very even, but you could kind of feel it brewing at that point of the game seeing that, you know, it could be pretty much anyone's fight, but also showing the strength of Vici gaming to blind up what they want to do, because Falcons, they take a kill and they're like, you know what, we can actually take this fight.
XM with the Diffusal Blade, he's gonna be the Frontline, he wants to soak up the damage
and Jinkyu, his positioning is top-tier.
He's keeping the distance, getting one blast off, making sure that it's gonna connect,
giving Chaka Magic to himself, getting another blast, which is gonna heal up to almost full
HP, gets another blast right off of that, and we are seeing Keeper of the Life in this
draft, like coming in together, what it's supposed to do, which means that we are gonna be unkillable.
We want to have this lane dominated like too much all three lanes did go into their favor
Maybe top lane not as much because Falcon did that out did out the move of them for the first like seven or eight minutes
Making sure that they're
Rotating through the twin gates getting some of the kills and then second time
This is the second Roche where extreme gaming they decide they don't want to be taking that
Roche on fight straight away. So it's gonna be again XM the first point of contact. They drop the century
They see him immediately and then one of the supports that needs to be kind of in the back lands
You can already see one blast coming in and then it's gonna be buck where it will all switch orchestrated the
Game coming up from him in terms of like him being the point of the contact again being in the middle of the fight
Poppagas BKB XM also uses his BKB knowing that they don't really have many abilities that go through debuff immunity
Making sure that they can hold the line
They can hold the formation and then Malred, he goes in deep and then I can gank you with another blast
Completely outplaying him plus another blast just you know the tip of the just the cherry on the top shiver making sure that all of these heels
They're connecting and his positioning in these fights have been immaculate. Yeah, that he makes keeper of the lights seem absolutely
Broken and you can also tell how much he backed up XM on his mark for our MVP for this series
We had to go for XM from first pick overall first pick Lina to overall last pick Slark
He did it all in this series
It's so refreshing to see it's like I mean I'm maybe biased, but you know I miss my top sense
You know I miss these players that are just gonna come to a game and be like, you know what?
I'm playing Slark and I'm going in with it and I'm gonna crush him and and tipping my opponent while doing
And you tip, Marine. And you tip like a Falcon player, which obviously it feels a little bit different because we know how that team has dominated the scene through plays, but also through, you know, the mental advantage that they get on other teams, usually, but XM, I mean, he was exceptionally good on his Dina.
But again, one of his trademark, I don't want to talk it, but as, you know, less surprising than the second game.
But what was surprising in that game was his item build, the TikTok Dagon, I guess we'll have to call it now, the TikTok build on Lina.
It's just drake read of understanding of the strategy basically, like how the teamfights are going to develop and how to adapt to it.
And then, yeah, I mean, the spark, I think it was, the pick was mind-blowing.
We saw, we could not obviously think about it. As soon as we saw it, we were like, it actually makes so much sense.
It makes so much sense playing with the keeper of the light and just to go a little bit back about his tick-tock build
Which probably gonna become another meme. I feel like you know, he's joking about it
But there is something to it because like a lot of pro players as well
They are like playing overthrow they're playing turbo mode and trying to push the limits on some of these builds
Seeing like what feels the best because a lot of times even in scrims
You don't get to practice these like 60 plus minute scenarios and also feeling what synergizes nicely
Like, even back in the days, like, people were, you know, hiring, like, brood mothers,
like, you had some brood mother specialists that you, like, you were coached by and making
sure that you understand, like, what this hero can actually do, getting the tips from
him.
So, a lot of these things, like, a lot of these ideas are getting molded in the pubs,
which pro players before stake, and they just make them better.
So, I feel like this has been a thing in Dota for a really long time, and I really have
that we're seeing it again, especially with the TikTok.
You're going to know when to pull it out, I guess.
XM was absolutely on point with that one,
and they take victory here over Team Falcons,
who's definitely been one of the favorites here
for the whole tournament.
For some final words of Team Falcons,
we're heading over to Perch, you're standing by with ATF.
I'm here with Amar.
Just got knocked out of the tournament and want you to hear.
I want to hear how you're feeling right now.
I mean, always feeling like shit, you know, you get knocked, you know, it is what it is, shit happens, you win something, you lose something.
What's the process like? I mean, you've had a lot of highs, you've lost tournaments as well.
What's it like to go through this? Like, you work super hard to get here, I'm sure.
You guys did tons of scrims, tons of practice, and then to have an upset like that.
What's it like?
Yeah, man, it's just such a shit format, right? Like, you win groups, you get top 1 seed, you just play one game, you get eliminated, and that's it.
And then you wait for like multiple days right wait for like six days like for eternity
So like
It's much actually better for them because they get to actually play and practice but for you it's like you practice
Like you don't even know what's your practice. Yeah, it's a common problem that happens when you do so on groups
It's uh, what was game one like game one was quite close guys had a lot of back and forth
They had a specter that you had to deal with they had tons of jump you you had you started the game really well your winranger
turned out excellent you had good KDA what happened after that? Just think they
have like our press buttons and they just hold on in the game it's like as long as
if you don't snowball with our heroes I don't think it's CG like I think we need
to have like 10k lead by minute 20 and their heroes will do nothing but the
problem is I don't think we have like so big lead so really it's just hard you
know Darkseer, Nalana, Spectre. It's a lot of team play right yeah what about game
Number two, they got that surprise Slark pick at the end.
Did you, you're a big Slark player, obviously.
Did you feel and know what pressure you guys were going to experience in the game?
No, I thought his pick was useless and I'm not sure how he had impacted.
I don't think he's like, I think the beast and the quarter, like, were like the main problem.
I think they did so much that he's picked, like, he just picked a hero who cannot die in this game.
And that's like, he could have had puck or storm is really the same thing.
Did you say you thought the beast was the bigger issue?
I mean, I think so, I mean...
What was like the pressure that you put on the map?
Was it just like gank potential?
Was it like pushing?
I think it's like 2KHP.
He has farm into dead lane.
And see, he just takes all the...
Like it's just so hot in the game.
He's like this fast.
Well, thank you for coming.
I appreciate it.
We all did appreciate you guys playing in the tournament.
It was a lot of good games.
But I'm sorry that you guys lost.
Thank you for joining me.
Thank you.
Yeah, that must have been a disappointing loss for Team Falcons as they get eliminated and end top 8.
I do want to give a big shout out to all these players doing excellent interviews because I feel like they're actually sharing a lot on what they think happen in these games.
It's not easy, emotions are high.
So big shout out to all the players really doing these interviews and accepting to share their wisdom and their
Hot takes like recent takes I guess like fresh takes on what happened in these games. I'm very
Very cool to be able to hear that. Yeah, very insightful for us as well
And it's nice to have a little bit of a look into the mind of a pro regardless of whether they just won or just lost both
Are part of the competition VG gaming is looking for an opponent in the semi-finals tomorrow
tomorrow. So we have one more game coming our way here for the quarterfinals, the cost.
Oh, this is going to be a spicy one. Like we saw NIGMA Galaxy overperforming in the
group stage and they're also a team. They topped their group that has been waiting,
playing against BD team that has looked more stable than them most definitely. But we did
say multiple times, this is the best iteration of NIGMA Galaxy that we've seen in recent
years. It does feel like this team is going to go far in the tournament and if they manage
to win here against BD team. I feel like it might give them another momentum because they like we
saw Falcons losing some momentum because they didn't play for five or six days and the same
thing happened with Sigma Galaxy. So we'll see if Sigma Galaxy is going to be able to pull it off
because strategies that they brought so far at TWC I think they have been the most innovative.
Honestly like I'm looking at this bracket I'm looking at the results and I'm feeling it. I
I feel like I haven't been as excited for the Dota Tournament in a really long time.
Like if you're not watching this tournament, I don't know what you're doing.
If you're complaining about the stalemate of Dota and how we see the same teams dominate, well,
it is changing right now, so you better watch, because think about it.
We have Nigma, full force, like they seem like a serious contender.
You have Poppy as a coach that's now looking to, he's already top four.
Like you have Vici Gaming, you know, the Chinese superstars are back in form too.
Then you have Yandex, you know, I don't have to go back on Yandex.
The BB team is like, this is getting super, super spicy.
And at this point, I don't know who's the favorite anymore,
because every day, a different story is being told.
This is, you know, this tournament is delivering.
Anything can happen.
We've seen the favorites win.
We've seen the underdogs win.
Who knows what is coming next?
Well, we do know what is coming next,
because Nick Mcgalaxy next will face the BB team on the stage
before we get to talk about that series in depth.
were first going to see how they felt on Media Day as SVG found them.
Back in your every move.
You play pool?
Want to do some interviews?
You got a little time?
If you were a pool shark, how much money do you think you'd win on an average Sunday night?
I would lose a lot of money.
You want to test it out? I'll wage you $1,000 you miss the next shot.
Yeah, I'm not paying that back.
Okay, what about you wage you $1,000 I can make the next shot?
I don't know how good you are.
You're a signed Nigma player now. You're making big bank. You're probably going to win this event.
big payday too. Probably gonna win TI, probably win like the next like eight
events after that. That's like an estimated like three million going in
your but you can afford a thousand on a pool shot. I don't know but I don't know if I'll put money in you. You know I really have no
incliners. You win bet on me? I mean I just don't know you. You don't believe me. Yeah show me first bro. Okay if you were to pick one player
out of this entire tournament who could make one pool shot who would it be? It can't
be from your team because that's like everyone's gonna say GH or some bullshit
but like come on give me a real answer. I guess the game region called Mangusto, he used to be. I mean I
haven't seen that many players pool but he pulls pretty good I think. Yeah the
But how do you know that?
I saw him pool, you know.
You just said you don't play pool though.
I don't, but he looks like, he looks super sweaty and like professional when he doesn't
so.
So his sweat is an indicator of good pool capability?
Like, sweaty isn't like, he tries like, he's very tire, you know, he like tries to like
look like the pros even though he's...
Can you give us an impression of him making a pool jump?
I don't know.
He like...
I can hold that if you want, I can hold it.
If you like, you have an order, you know, like rub this in and he gets a little push
in there, you know, just like just go cool and then go cool and then go pool player.
It's amazing. Okay, now let's do it for real. Try and sink this in the corner pocket. I'll give you $10,000 if you make it.
Alright, I'll hold you to that.
Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, Dubai Pool Shark. If you make this shot, I'm absolutely leaving this room.
You'll never see me again because I do not have $10,000, but he doesn't know that.
And there's no way he's gonna make it.
Thank God. Was the pressure too much with the wager on the line?
No, I didn't trust you anyway, but the cameras and everything, you know, it's stressful, you know.
I probably wouldn't make it anyway.
Is this a sign of things to come, potentially?
about it i think i would just
i just would make the show one out of
ten times two out of ten times and be bad
that's not bad though two out of ten like i said you're gonna win t i two out
of ten times you can take that right
yeah well i don't like uh... i'd never win it
you know my own skills you know oh i see you see what you want to earn it i
respect that actually
let's say you could win any t i in history of the eyes which one would you
have chosen it could be curls like you could you take it away from the deal
you'd like to take her was ring away from well the big bucks rent yeah i nine
I mean, of course, like, you can say it's all about, it's like, what's more about the
prestige and the victory than the money, but, I mean, at some point, like, that was like
obscene amount of money, so I would think nine to ten.
Okay, ignoring the money, let's ignore the money.
Ignore the money, uh, then this one.
This one.
Why?
Because I'm playing it, and I feel like I can earn it.
The Violama, ladies and gentlemen, where did the llama go, by the way?
Oh, no, it didn't make the pool shot.
Well, maybe with some TI money you can buy another llama.
Would you buy a llama if you want to?
Maybe I'd like, I'd bought one at the zoo, you know, like pay for it's feelings, because
I don't have a backyard even, I rent a house without a garden, so I don't know where to
put the llama.
There's a big price pool at UWC though, let's say you win at UWC, are you gonna buy a bunch
of llamas and put them in your backyard?
I mean, even when the UWC is not enough to buy a house with a garden, but at least to
Belgium, but I'll like adopt the llama, you know, like, that lifts somewhere else.
Is Belgium in real estate that expensive?
It's not as absurd as, you know, in like big American cities or some other European countries,
houses in the rest of New York are expensive. I'm sorry to hear that man. I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe a couple EWC's then.
A couple, yeah. All right, this has been Debye for Nimby Alexi ladies and gentlemen. A true pool shark. Thank you.
Hello guys back with another basics video. We're gonna be talking about chain stunning and layering disables.
This is a huge tense part of watching Dota 2 games because pro players are so good at stretching their disables as long as possible and
and pros are so good against playing against that
that they know what their limits are typically,
but sometimes you can catch your opponents
in places that give you kills
that they don't think they're gonna get.
Kind of confusing, but let me show you some examples
here in-game. I'm gonna have to,
unfortunately, use both hands for this
so my audio will be a little quieter.
So, Queen of Pain here is very good at escaping.
Her second skill, Blink, allows her to teleport
a short distance.
It's on a six-second cooldown, though,
so that means that eventually she can get away again.
But if you layer your disables really effectively,
What ends up happening is you can't end up killing her.
So what I want to do is I want to stun her repeatedly with different heroes
to make sure she doesn't get the opportunity to end up blinking away.
And if you layer your disables very effectively between all of your heroes,
she basically gets no opportunities to escape at any moment at all.
So that's very, very important.
What a Queten player would say is that if I see Lion and Lena,
I know that I'm likely going to get disabled.
So she's going to buy an item like Black King Bar.
And when you buy Black King Bar, that's going to protect you from most disables.
not all but most and as a result she gets to do whatever she wants and actually play the game.
So these items are extremely important to play around. The downside is they have cooldowns.
Black King Bar has a 95 second cooldown so she has a window that she can abuse this
but it's not going to guarantee that it's going to cover the entire team fight. So a lot of the
game is going to be around dodging these kinds of disables. Some disables are weak like Frostbite.
You can use BKB through this if it's actually off cooldown which it isn't. And there's also
blink daggers which can be used similar to blink the blink ability but this one is disabled by
damage so if players are damaging you it stops you from using the blink dagger normally i have
some cheat commands on so it doesn't look quite right so making sure that you can avoid getting
chainsund is hugely important in dota 2 a lot of heroes have very small windows where they can abuse
this magic community and it's important or spelling me i can't remember what the names are now
and this is a crucial crucial part of team fights in Dota 2 so try to keep an eye out for the
golden black king bar, blink daggers, chain stuns, all that stuff makes huge difference in these high
level team fights.
Finally some good fucking food.
You are watching Dota 2 at the eSports World Cup, and we're live from Paris with our final
quarterfinals of the day, and of all the quarterfinals.
We'll see which one of the two teams that will be on stage next will make it to the
semi-finals tomorrow.
For the series, we have our Sony series of the day.
It is Nigma Galaxy versus BB Team, and Will Starr is the line, Brian Orwell, Big Vine.
Another receiver is Nigma finally back, baby.
I mean, we've been saying this, like, throughout the last, what, two or three years, every
single time Nigma has a shred of hope that they've provided their fans with, but this
might genuinely be the first time that I myself have had faith, and I'd say in the last, like,
three iterations of this line, that they truly look like they've found their form throughout
this tournament mirror.
BD, but Brian, I shall raise you this, and we just saw the effects of a long break on
a Dota team just now in Falcons and Ningla had about the same time too in their downtown.
That is true. I think the five days is like historically a disadvantage for any team because
we've seen the meadows always gradually develop over the course of the tournament and even
just getting those extra two or three series in that teams like Vici have had that provides
you with that little bit more insight into particular matchups and you also get to like
test things. I think it plays a big role in this and for Nigma they did have a very clear
identity throughout the course of the group stage. You know, talking about like G.H.'s
Wisp, G.H.'s Caudle, you know, we're seeing Sumail have a very cool flair as a carry
player with a lot of these tempo tinies and alchemists, but teams have had time to scout
this out, adjust to it, and the question is do they have their own adjustments that they
They haven't really had to make otherwise just theory crafting and that's a big question
that they'll have to answer today.
Goodness, is Katami okay?
Yeah, he's been in the wheelchair the whole event so far.
I believe he has a, I'm gonna maybe miss quote this, but I believe it's a fractured knee.
So it's pretty serious and pretty painful, I would imagine.
But it is also the reason why when the team is standing on stage, he is not standing with
the team because he's wheeling himself in and out.
Well, he's been doing great.
It's been playing really well on his trains and on his veins and I think he's been a key piece in how well BB have been doing this tournament
And I think they should actually look towards securing some of his heroes early on moving to the series
Yeah, we're gonna focus our attention first on Nick my galaxy
This is a team that went nine and one in their group stages only dropping one game the entire road through and a lot of people are
are very hopeful that they are indeed back. Let's find out how NikaGalaxy was doing on the media day.
Hello, our current roster is doing pretty good. They have a lot of natural synergy with each other.
The players have a good understanding of each other. This iteration of the roster does feel like
it has maybe the most potential because things have just clicked for us more naturally.
NikaGalaxy, too dominant of a victory here.
The team has been performing pretty well, I'm very satisfied, really happy with the guys,
above my expectations to be honest. We always work hard, I mean competitions, so there's always a
layer of perfectionism, there's always something to improve, something to do better,
and the guys are really into it. I think we made the switch like two weeks prior to the TI quals
and everything was kind of rushed. It was like just taking the risk, let's say. Didn't truly know
know what to expect. For now we have some, in my opinion, some good fundamental ideas
about the game that we're pushing and breaking the meta a little bit, but I feel there's
a lot of potential to do more of that. The playoffs, they're always the real deal, obviously.
I think the group stage is a good indicator of how strong teams are overall, but since
this playoffs is a little bit more special because it's saying everything that I like,
So there's a lot on the stake, there's like one chance only.
I'm pretty confident in my team because they're all veterans at this point.
It's not the first time for them to play on a bigger stage. I think we'll thrive on it.
The synergy that Kuro's talking about, we can feel that, Brian, in the games that they're playing.
Yeah, there's something about, you wouldn't imagine that this team has been as recently assembled as they have.
We've talked about all year, the Lornoff mercenary buff,
for whatever reason, whenever this guy pops into a team
for a short period of time.
Like, not only does it look like he's having
high individual impact, but it also looks like
he meshes himself really well into whatever
the identity of the team is.
And I think that says a lot about him as a player.
And I think the biggest surprise about him
is that he hasn't landed on a team consistently up until this point
based on his performances.
Yeah, I think with Lornoff, he's just extremely high skilled
and very versatile.
And even with Enigma, we've seen him play multiple types of Mid laner.
Like, he's played the tempo embers and the pucks and whatnot.
But then also, like, he plays Necrophos mid, he'll play Sniper mid, he'll play Huskar mid.
And his ability to kind of fit into any vision that a team has is what I think gives him a lot of that mercenary buff that you were talking about.
Yeah, and on the other side, we do have BB team.
This is a team that's been stable throughout the year.
The question is, can they finally reach the top?
because that has been alluding them for quite some time actually.
They were able to take a title, but of course they want the big title
and that would be this EWC.
Let's find out how Katiaomi feels before this very match.
Well, I'm here with Katiaomi of BB Team.
You guys looked so clean in your last series.
How many dreams are you guys going to crush this tournament?
I will hope not ourself, you know.
Everyone else though?
Yes.
Yes.
Did you expect to win that series so one-sided?
I think, yeah.
It's not the hardest opening, actually.
We just have a really good preparation for the series and not problem.
How's your preparation for this upcoming series?
Do you feel as confident?
Yeah, with our guys prepared all the heroes, all the, not like, rates of heroes, yeah, we can't think.
Even, they haven't played in a long time though, it's been like five days or something since they've played any matches.
Are you worried about any surprises or are you guys ready to pivot depending on what you need to do?
This guy shall be worried because it's hard to not play official games for six days on the tournament.
We've been in this situation last year and it's really frustrating to see it at the hotel for one week, waiting for a playoff.
That's what I hear from most players. You guys played a lot of Slardar combos in your drafts.
I feel like other teams are playing it as much as you guys are.
you guys are. What are some of the things that you like about it just being able to take Roach
quickly and synergy with other heroes or what? Yeah, it's about flex, mostly on mid and top
lane, and it's about good combination with carry heroes, minus armor, like with some cas, you know,
like you can just destroy one hero in like 0.5 seconds. Yeah. All right, well, thank you for
sharing that with me, and good luck on your upcoming match. Thank you so much.
We'll see if BB Team can indeed beat Nigma Galaxy, and if that break that Nigma Galaxy
had is going to be detrimental for them.
Now, I'll tell you a little story, Effie.
BB Team by Seb has been named the team to be the quiz.
Is the tier one Dota quiz?
You can't beat them.
You're not tier one.
What do you think?
I can fully get behind that because as a team, they used to be the lane check team, right?
They were famous for having incredibly dominant lanes and winning off of that and in the past if you couldn't stick it to them in the
Leading stage you would just kind of lose and they've kind of evolved over the years with the addition of Miro
Became more of an all-rounder type of team and while I would say they have some of the best players in the world
They do kind of give that energy of like Jack of all trades master of none and some capacities
Yeah, when we talk about like a team like team spirit and they changed their roster
I feel like they maintained pretty much the same play style and identity
Throughout that. I think BB teams not like that at all. They went from pure at last TI as their carry player to cure ditch and
Personality wise, I don't think you can get much more opposite than these guys are
Here is much more like I'm gonna show you who's better and it he talks about it that way in interviews
Comes off in his gameplay. He sometimes has very good performance or sometimes poor performances
Because here on the other hand, like when you ask him interviews, like early on the
season, he's like, I'm just happy to be here.
I just, I'm such a privilege to play with players that are this good.
Like, it's, you know, it's clearly a, almost like a culture shock to him to be on like
a tier one squad.
And I think at the beginning of the year, he was more prone to playing too unselfishly
as a carry.
And I know that it's been really important for carry players to play like enabling carries.
We've talked about like the Doracio style of play that kind of got pioneered.
And I think over the course of this year, he's really learned that balance and fit much
better in with the team.
And it's really awesome to see because Miro's a very positive influence on the team, vibes-wise.
And I think Kyrgyz has really sealed it off.
Yeah.
And the question is if they're going to peak at the right time, because historically,
BB Team has been good throughout the year.
And then during this time, that's actually when they don't perform as well.
But maybe this time around, they have what it takes, Effie.
You know what?
Maybe they do, because we always talk about them.
And I remember last year there was this running theme of every time BBT would make it to like
top six, we're like, is this the tournament?
Is this the one where they're finally going to get that first place finish?
And it feels like their issue in the past has always been psychological.
So maybe the things that Brian were talking about, the addition of players that are pure
Vyve's players that bring a sense of joy to the team, balance out that inclination to
tilt that BB team and historically GPK have had in the past.
Yeah, I mean, you're talking about Vyve players, I got to bring up Nick my Galaxy there real
quick as well because there's a player we haven't talked that much about just yet. Just a quickly
touch up on the Vi, he has been known as being a Vi player, Brian? Yeah, a very mixed bag of
vibes I would say, sometimes on social media as well as all chatting within the game itself.
I think he's quite a character, I think he's good for the scene in general, the personality and
player that he brings in the interviews and the banter, very much into when he's winning and
You can really feel it when he's losing sometimes, but I think this is a good meta for him.
I think this team fits well with him as well. I think they're doing a good job of enabling him
I've seen them more lean towards his picks later on in the draft because he does I think heavily rely on having like a good matchup
Not rely, but he thrives when he's given that good matchup and yeah
I think he's a pivotal part of this team here
Well, we're gonna see him on stage and we're gonna see Nick McGillis even be beyond stage as we start game number one
The yes shivriest panel we are in for the game that everybody's been waiting for here in the quarter final
Is this the battle of the heavens here happening in front of us?
But before that let's check in last game we got to say slacks China back China is back
There that was a game of the underdog coming through never in a billion years
What I imagine Vici gaming is going to two oh
Falcons absolutely incredible that is what we have waited it to see all season
These teams coming up and finally getting in some good shape towards the end of the year
I love having the variety in different positions here in our brackets
I'm very excited to see how things go down, but that's for later once we get to semis
But now we have to introduce our squats for a final quarter final of EWC 26 at Dota 2
Please join me in welcoming NICMA DEMICSEEE
You know what? You love them and even if you don't love them you'll have to watch them no matter what it is
They're here and they're ready to prove their might.
It's been a long, long trek for Nygma Galaxy to get to this stage here, BDWC, or in the
many years past since their inception.
They've faced their toughest challenge yet, but with the greatest opportunity for a return.
And I'm sure that we're all excited to see where their story goes on next.
My God, I'm seeing stars all over.
that's beautiful thank you so much yes I have been waiting for this team to be
good for eight years and it feels like it is finally happening however I am a
man who has sucked on that copium a lot before this is the moment if they can
beat this team this is Nygma's moment to be the champions because there is
hardly any better team here than let's break about B.B. team!
Here is a team that has been clawing their way through this tournament. Throughout
this year they have gotten their highest highs they've ever achieved and they
have been on fire. So many names that have been so incredible for so many years
here to finally take one of the biggest prizes ever.
Before them, lay a team that has been chilling out
for five days.
We saw how that went last series.
That's right.
But both these teams, I gotta say,
they got the dog in them.
Ain't nobody taking a break this one.
This is gonna be a bloodbath.
Cannot wait for it.
This is the one we're all been waiting for.
So please gentlemen, you may place your keys,
go on ahead, make sure to shake your hands,
We'll see if this gets heated up or not, but still regardless our players are gonna get it set up for this one slacks
I cannot wait for it
All right, my friends it is going to be quite a game settle in get ready and we'll go to the desk to see what they have to say
Thank you very much. I very much hope that this series will live up to the hype
Nick my galaxy and VV going head-to-head here to decide which one of these two teams will be in the semi finals of
EWC here for Dota 2 a lot on the line. It is not just about the Dota. I think the honor of this game
will be my plush factor as well potentially and
We have an extra voice to the upcoming draft. Hey Gork, how are you doing? I'm doing good
I'm sitting here alone behind the crowd. You're looking the wrong way
I could see a brilliant view behind you. Yeah, you're looking the wrong way
You know, I gotta entertain the crowd too. My crowd.
Fair enough, fair enough. Happy to have you join here for the draft of course, Effie and BSJ are still with us as well.
I want to hear your take. What's your expectations for this series?
Listen, I think I've watched more Nigma than anybody this season. I've watched them lose against tier 3 teams.
I've watched them throw unthrowable games. And honestly, I'm just honoured to see them on a big stage like this.
Top 8 against BB Team. And I think they're ready to make another upset happen today.
today. So you believe? I believe, I've always believed. Alright, what's gonna be instrumental
here? What are you gonna look forward to in the upcoming draft? You say you watch them
so much, is there any hero in particular you'd really like to see out of this one? I mean
they've switched up a lot, like Kuroki talked about two weeks before TI quals, they changed
a lot of players, so they've changed a lot and their discipline has a lot better and
they've gone for more of a semi cheesy healing lineups and expecting caudals if they let
led it through, Necro forces, Viper's,
but they have more to them than just that,
but I'm expecting those heroes to be targeted a lot.
I've got a meta question for you, Gortz.
So throughout the beginning of the group stage,
all the teams were kind of like trading weaker mid laners,
like Ember Spirit for Earth Spirit, Earth Spirit for Puck.
And I feel like teams are more gravitating
towards like the Necro's, the Viper's,
and Nigma was one of the first teams to do this.
What's your take on like, I know you're a carry player,
but what's your take on like the mid meta right now?
How it affects you when you're playing
in terms of the momentum of the game and all that?
I think the mid-meta is very important that you don't get cheesed a lot right now.
I think people realize that if you just completely shut down the mid,
it doesn't matter with these steroids that embers and storms used to play with,
with caudals and largos, those often get banned out.
So as long as you shut them down, this ember like we saw in the Falcon series
just does nothing for the game.
So I think that's why people are playing around that a lot more now.
Okay, I mean, give it to me straight, Gork.
Laura Noff versus GPK. Who do you got?
Okay, listen, it depends on the heroes.
I think GPK is like maybe the best laner we've had in Dota the past three years in terms of consistency.
But Lornaus is also the cheesiest and most adaptable.
So I'm hoping if you guess the right hero, I'll put the money on Lornaus for that one.
Ooh, it's tasty.
I was kind of thinking playstyle-wise, like GPK is absolutely obese in terms of skill, like you said, but...
You can't outskill a Viper in BSA.
That's what I'm saying, it's like we've seen...
It's been a little sus sometimes when we see like the GPK Huskar.
He's not the guy to cheesy. He's the guy that wants to play the Heads Up Battle, I think.
But Lornoff's kind of a bad matchup for him, wouldn't you agree?
Yeah, I agree. He would love to play Ember vs. Earth Spirit or Puck vs. Storm, but we're not going to see that today, hopefully.
Well, with that in mind, we did just see a series where that Lena was incredibly dominant and GPK plays a very mean Lena.
It was overall first base.
As he'd been watching TikTok, she would, that's the question.
I mean...
Lena is amazing. I'm glad to see this hero suddenly research.
It can also be flexed to carry. It's a really powerful laner as well.
I would almost categorize her as a bit cheesy as well, towards the Viper direction.
How do you feel about Sumill's carry hero pool versus
the offlaner that Bb tends to pick? Like the lane dominators, the enigma, the beastmasters?
How do you think he fares up against that?
I think he plays a very survivable hero pool. He doesn't really play those hardcore carries
like Db and stuff. I don't expect him to get punished too much. I'm expecting him to get to
to play kind of strong laners, they love the SF, they love the Necro, they can even run
a sniper safe lane, they will survive that lane as my expectation today.
Well we are moments away from getting the draft on our screens, we got NICMA Galaxy
on the Radiant side, BB Team on the Diary side, and it is BB that has overall first
pick, we already have the IO and the Necro band out, the keeper of the light that was
there in the 12th.
They can't hear me can they?
Yeah we can, yes we can.
No, I meant like the players.
Oh no the players can't.
nice male heroes or no?
I thought you meant us, my bad.
We can hear you, the players cannot, but you'll be on the same wavelengths with them.
Yeah, I think so. I mean, they had some prep time. Obviously, Nigma had more prep time.
Six days is a lot of time. You can get into your own head. Hopefully, what happened to Falcons doesn't happen to them.
They steal the... they take the Bane here, wow.
Bane's been a great hero for this tournament. I mentioned it a little bit earlier in the pre-game,
But when they pick this for him, he's just able to always set up plays on the side lanes, like make these smokes happen.
And it does feel like the team that can make the first couple of smokes happen tends to snowball in the mid game.
Yeah, I think Bane is there. Maybe the best Bane team in the world.
But obviously, Nigma prefer this. They have the Lycan on the 9 pick here.
What you got to watch out for is this Bane maybe transitioning into a post 4 and you could run into other lane counters.
We've seen gyrocopters answer the Lycan.
We have seen enchantresses maybe even a Chen could come out. We'll see how they'll try to punish this life and death
Yeah, I feel like we're at like phase two or three of the meta where
Earlier on in the tournament
We are seeing lichens and beast masters more later on in the draft as the lake in count or lake draft counters to the range
Carries because summons are generally very good against all of them except for gyro specifically
I believe and maybe Medusa but that hero doesn't seem to exist right now, but now all of a sudden we're like seeing a bane and
Lycan's apparently good enough to just first round. I do think these Summoned Serals can run into some pretty bad match-ups.
And I would like to see what you said, Gork, like potentially flexing the Bane or prioritizing hard countering this Lycan.
Because giving these Serals a good start, like the map just evaporates very quickly.
Yeah, I mean, we actually, in Team Bald, when we played the T-AC qualifiers, we loved playing Lycan.
But we never really did it into Bane for that reason.
Because there are always a few answers. You don't really have enough Bans, usually.
But, oh, woodwind, that's a strong post-4 that they kind of steal out from BB as well.
They're not really expecting them to switch it to post-4, maybe as well.
It's these bands, at least for the group stage games that I got to see.
It makes sense for Nigma Galaxy specifically, but Necro, Sniper, these are just not heroes
that we saw hardly at all on the other groups, and I really like these type of group formats
because you get basically four mini-metals and Lina started in one of the groups and I think it was Yandex that ran at first and suddenly she's a
Signature hero in the meta right now and we're seeing her again. You mentioned the flex potential of it
But I think against I would not want to play Lena carry into like an off lane. Would you agree?
Yeah, I even think it's pretty good against Lina mid as well. You can do a lot of the best likens to use this wolf to scout
You could set up a lot of kills on her
I actually think it's one of the best punishing heroes into a hero like Lena
I have a question because I heard someone say that save is a very good Lena position for and we haven't seen it as a pause for
But I'd love to hear opinions on it
Yeah, he used to be a big bully in the lanes many years ago
That was the that was considered one of the biggest lane bullies to post for Lena, but I highly doubt they're gonna play that here
Yeah, they just go for the Marana inside which has been saves go to if ringmaster doesn't look like a good option
which probably it doesn't versus like in who can get an olive fire but this Marana
She gives you an easy combination with the vein with the arrow into nightmare and I've talked about how BBR always looking for these
15 to minute 20 smocks
These two hero combinations just simplify that idea
So we saw Ningma galaxy without ancient apparition against necrophos like they're not afraid to just hard counter hero conceptually
We saw beachy gaming pick position four in this case it might have to be position five Zeus to deal with Marana
I unironically think it might be good here just because the Zeus ulti buff that makes it so it does damage to Enviz units on top of
Revealing them. I'm just wondering if we're considering this. It's not a bad suggestion
I feel like so far all these three heroes kind of get countered by the same archetype
The liking kind of eats all these three heroes alive and Zeus is also something people used to pick against the range carries before as a
Bit of a counter like draw ranger seeing her with Nimbus getting vision closing the gap
I think these teams have a lot of problems. They have a lot of problems with that on BB now
They're gonna have to solve that in the draft.
Yeah, the next big will go the way of Nickmar galaxy taking their time at this point to think about what they want as they
Have to pick two heroes for themselves. So most likely gonna be
Something that can deal with the Lena and maybe even follow the Lena about if needed
But I guess Lena if she she doesn't want to go safe lane against the like it, right?
She doesn't love it, but she could probably survive that lane I think.
Leena-Bane can be a nasty combo with sleeping to stun.
I'm curious what Genie is going to pick up here.
A lot of his heroes get banned very early, so he could go for a healing angle.
Okay, Viper is still in the pool.
Viper is not...
How does that mid-match-up go?
Maybe they're saying that we want you to run Leena mid?
We saw that earlier in the tournament, I think they tried to pick Lena to counter the Viper mid,
because it used to be many years ago, but then the Viper just ended up dominating the lane anyway, so I'm interested.
Yeah, well we'll see. It's a bit of a finicky matchup, you can go both ways, but I feel like it's Viper favored right now.
You were talking about how Nigma favored healing heroes, and one of the special heroes they've been running is Dazzle.
Do you think that could fit into this draft with the Viper? And they go for the Undying instead.
I like I'm dying a little bit better. It's also a bit of a healing hero. Wow. That was a quick Naga. Oh my god
That's dirty. That's really dirty
What why is it dirty? It's because that's honestly the biggest lane counter to Lycan and they accidentally fell into the trap of picking
Three heroes that also don't deal with illusions and now nighmar stuck with one hero to deal with
Naga illusions in this game and that
Yes, they fell into a trap honestly, I think they were ready for this viper. I think they plan for this
We've seen a couple of Naga games this tournament where it's looked like a great pick and it just doesn't go
The way that it should read on paper Naga is great here Brian right with the song to disengage from the tombstone
And then also disengage from the shapeshift to outside of being a good lane versus lichen
But what's been going wrong with the Naga's we've lost okay?
So I know we all have our biases every single Dota player has these heroes that they have like a love hate relationship with
Naga is one of my favorite carries to play and before this tournament
I picked Naga in like a perfect game and I just felt useless and I was like oh
I'm gonna learn something watching the Naga sirens that we've we've seen two of them thus far and they were in picture
Perfect games one of which was against a like in for a nightfall and he had a good laning phase like Gork said it is an absolutely
Hard lane counter to like in but then the Naga just didn't carry the game. It just feels like the hero
It's like a terrible late. That's melee like that's that's what it feels like later
I was sadly a big difference between this and that game. I mean, I'm sad for Nigma. Listen
I'm a little biased there maybe.
Of course!
The sad part is that that lane Naga had to deal with both Ember and Lifestealer,
which makes a huge difference, right?
Usually against heroes like this, you want two counters to be able to deal with them,
so because one can kind of be shut down with a grip or sleep or control,
so she gets free reign, so...
In this game, I really don't know what their pick is going to be to deal with Naga alone,
that can't be handled by Vayne.
That's what I'm a little bit worried about.
And they take out the Alchemist, which would have been one of the potential solutions.
The Alchemist is great against Naga, because he buys the Radiance, he usually outpaces her
and then allows his team to group up around him, because Naga does want to split you up.
I think if Nigma Galaxy is ever allowed to walk down a lane between 15 to 25 minutes,
Naga isn't great at dealing with 5-man, and like Gork said, the other 3 heroes are very susceptible to getting ran at.
So I agree entirely that this is much more of a free Naga game
than the other one we watched.
But at the same time, I haven't seen this Dodge game work
very well for a lot of teams.
And I do think that they're kind of like one big mistake
from losing at any point.
But I do think BB Team is capable of running
like that crisp execution where they just never
allowed Nigma to do that.
I can see your points, Brian.
I definitely think BB Team might be the team that's
very scared into this, because their laning is so strong.
They might be able to get away with it.
Yeah, more often than not, like, split pushing hasn't been working out as well in this tournament.
And, yeah, if Nigma managed to get an early lead and push, this Naga could not matter, potentially.
You're both carry players. Is SPAN pickable against Spain?
Because right now, Nigma have to take some boxes, right? They need a way to clear illusions,
but they also need a hero that can blink stun for them.
That's why the Tiny and the Agumis both get banned.
Because Viper isn't going to be the hero starting these teamfights for you.
He just kind of stands there like a magnet.
Like, can you play Sven or is it too bad of a hero?
The only thing I can think of is this male Lesh right here.
That's what I want to see.
I was kind of thinking this too.
I didn't want to say it though.
Yeah.
It's a very hard answer to the hero.
I like Necrow as in a similar idea.
The problem with Sven is it's just honestly just pretty shit hero.
Either you go 20-0 or you don't do anything.
And I think the Lesh could fit pretty well for them here.
Could solve their issues.
We'll see what they want to run though.
I wouldn't mind a monkey king either, like just something that makes it hard for the
Naga Siren to walk into and also has some AoE.
It wouldn't be a hard counter to Naga and you might have lane issues, but...
Yeah, you're laning with an Undying, so preferably you pick a ranged hero here.
You don't have to, but it would be nice.
Yeah, it's weird, right?
Because most of the ranged heroes don't really deal with Axe Naga very well, so I think you
gotta kind of pick your poison.
I think both routes, like, you can't choose a hero that synergizes well with Undying and
is good against BBT's lineup, I think.
Oh.
for the carry Viper. I was not expecting them to do this, because I thought the Viper was
specific. What is going on? Is it carry and voker or are they fighting? I think so. That's
the hero they want. Wow. That's new. Is it good new? What's your experience with carry
and voker, Gork? Usually it feels like some wind trading stuff going on, but no, but obviously
Obviously, Simele is a very, very experienced mid player and I feel like with an undying
support he's going to be able to play his game from the safe lane the same way.
I don't know if it's enough to deal with Naga, it's a good answer, he has a ton of spells,
his lane shouldn't be too hard, I think they can maybe get away with it, but I'm worried
for Nigma in this draft to be perfectly honest.
Does it take a long time for an Invoker carry to come online, like how much of a leeway
do they get?
with this year I have absolutely zero concept of Invoker carries time if
it's difficult honestly I don't remember the last time I saw it is there
any potential they lane swap like is there any potential that Blornoff is
playing the Viper and Sumail's playing the Invoker mid I think it would make
more sense it would I'm like Viper's one of the best matchups into Axe on lane
we run a lot of Viper safely as well into Axe so they could do it but so far
We haven't seen that swap yet, right between the players.
No, but they're capable, but you know anything is possible as we've seen with some of the series
I mean when I see this invoker carry, I just think about baby very early building on like a bane plus the morona roaming duo
And invoker if he's playing from the carry, I feel falls victim to that very easily
Yeah, I
I'm just another we've logic it out as much as we can in the short time. I hope it's a viper carry invoker
I think otherwise it's going to feel very awkward for them cool draft though
I like what both teams are doing very unique very unique five six days of cooking involved in this one true and
Very different from our previous series that we've seen as well. Thank you so much gorg for joining us on the draft
I know you're still here for the rest of the series
People can check you out on the the co-stream and that you're running at the same time from the venue with the coolest view for
Sure, we are heading over to our commentary duo with Nick MacDawsey and baby on stage
Thank you, Shibir. That's right, BB Team versus Nigma Galaxy.
A matchup that, well, you would initially look at and be like, of course, BB Team.
Yeah, doesn't surprise me. They got first in their group. They've been very consistent.
Well, they're actually the ones who had to battle through the survival stage,
and it's Nigma Galaxy who have been waiting to play these matches for quite some time.
And Avery, that wait can really test a team, can it?
We saw it earlier today as Mar-on-the-Exit interviewed talked about it.
It's very tough to regain that momentum after you take a pause.
I feel like you get out of the meta.
Other people are advancing. They're figuring out more counters, feeling what works,
and you're just kind of sitting there watching, so you really have to do your due diligence.
Make sure the homework is completed on time, and then you show up to class.
Otherwise, you get schooled.
Well, we're certainly going to be seeing some off-menace stuff here for sure,
as Simele is still going to be rocking the safe lane here on a carry in Boker.
They didn't go for the lane swap, which I honestly was all in for.
Maybe Lornoff is uncomfortable playing carry from that position,
but I don't know, I feel like matchup-wise, it's got to be pretty good.
Viper versus Axe is a dream.
We get the leap out of save here.
I had...
I kind of agreed, but I don't want to see them do that at the same time.
Oh, the Sun Strike!
It's going to land on save with the Blood Grenade!
He's dead, Omar! There to collect the first blood and he'll give chase through the gate after Katomi.
This little pickup does cause double blood grenade, Sunstrike. But well worth it here.
Katomi was actually, he turned around on the other side, Omar might die.
It's Katomi with the brain zap, obviously that's not a 1v1 that Omar actually wins.
And if he had a carry that was willing to come over, they might have gotten that kill, but no such luck.
Good equilibrium for the light in top will be good equilibrium for the axe bottom as well
But the offlaner is happy with where these waves are gonna meet
Big question will be how well Norrnoff can do mid against this Lena
I think Lena fairs a lot better than most heroes against the Viper
But I do think it is Viper favorite if you can end up in a position where you get the high HP and
You can zone him off a wave or two and gain that level advantage
It could become problematic for Lena even with the super long attack range really comes down to execution between like that level 2 and 3
And GPK, he is a master of this hero.
I really like how he played it.
We saw him play it the other day.
He went to the physical build.
Yep.
Took the physical talent.
That's what I like to see.
I think this hero scales like a truck.
You should be really confident in almost any lacon you have in here.
But does he need to do the scaling here?
Harry Naga Siren has not been particularly successful.
It is supposedly a harder carry in the game, but we haven't really seen it come to fruition.
This is a very good Naga, so.
I almost feel like this draft is split between two ideas.
You have the drafts without the Naga,
and then you have Naga Siren King here.
Sure.
And how much it's gonna change the game,
because if I take Naga against the first four picks
Nigma had, I'm gonna bet on the Naga every single time.
They only had one core to address it,
and Volker does kind of address it to the laking,
but he's not that good at pushing the illusions
off of the map at all, so.
It's a double-edged sword in that regard.
This to me seems like Nigma Galaxy
I just want to hit an all-in timing around that 30-minute mark where they just take over the map with
Forge Spirit, Wolves, Sunstrike Pressure, any bushwack that lands, it's just a kill,
she's gonna go back to base and return with full HP here, and just kind of ignore the Naga in the sense of like
we're gonna debilitate your other four heroes in the map so much that it doesn't matter what your carry is,
you're gonna lose this game, and I can see them hit a sick mid-game timing with this lineup.
It's gonna require some speed and some swift execution. How do you deny the Forge Spirit to remove the battle?
Oh, I'm really surprised.
It is nice.
But all around, the lane is not going very well.
It's part of the reason why GH almost needed to die there,
because Sumail and GH are suffering in this lane.
The constant harassment from this bonus damage
that Marana has now off the Celestial Quiver,
combined that with Battlehunger, which I've always felt
is like a very nice hard counter to five position on dying.
That's good.
Sets your four position up to actually be
able to take that manfight.
So that's not the only lane that is going well.
Every single lane is currently being won by dbt back to their lane winning ways. It seems very tough
Or not going for the all in on gpk right now. Who's gonna win it?
He is born off. He is going to win it man. He knows to fight for it
He knows the limits of this hero and he played it perfectly. It didn't miss uphill and that always helps
Think gpk was wagering a little on that's how to blood grenade as well. They never got to use in this exchange
another tombstone that's gonna die though this one does get denied by gh but
we're not seeing the tombstone really amount to much here so another one of
those lineups where we see them we're gonna see a replay of this did get up
the hill for the last attack I think barely it's actually pretty close there
that's a viper who just wins this lane I just told the gleno wins a lot of lanes
that convincing anymore to be honest the heroes just changed too much if you're
willing to invest in early LSAs and hit a lot of stuns you can sometimes swing a
lot harder but honestly you're just playing for farm. You know and what
Lina wants to max out LSA anymore right they all want to max out Dragon Slave
and just farm up neutral. For sure. Don't think this mid lane is that important for
VV though to be honest. I think in a lot of their games they want you to get a
snowball and again like this you want the dog at a free farm for sure you want
him getting solocty and you want this lane to go better if they can. If a
Sunstrike could land it can make all the difference and it does help Sumail get
the kill on Miro and he won't be run down where otherwise he might have actually
there's a lead he's still thinking about it maybe he goes to the leap and he got
underneath the tower there's no verify or nothing left say will actually TP out
of the nation die to just the tower with nobody there to collect the
experience but decides otherwise nice pickups on this axling putting his
pressure on this invoker that's very slow to come online once you get there
you're the fastest farmer in the game but it's gonna take a while for Sue
be able to get there. And meanwhile, Naga's gonna accelerate at a very nice rate. You
could do some serious damage in this game with the illusions, because there's just not that
much illusion clear. And he has great core matchups. This is one of the hardest counters
to liken in the game, one of the best counters against the Viper in the game. There's not
really a way to itemize your way out of this hole. So you have to make all these other
app matchups count that much more. If you're a Nigma Galaxy here, start trying to land some
extra sun strikes on the map. This is a tough hero to gain.
Gotta tell me, he came in with a sleep but if you leave Omar was right there behind him, won't wake him up and they get the kill in the bane.
Lornoff doesn't take too much harassment for it and he is gonna get Tankos delivered and also given a Tanko.
It's a double bracer Viper you're trying to gank.
If the arrow connected on the sleep, maybe you can all in that kill but you didn't have Laguna.
And it feels like a big missing component.
Tombstone dropped here for 6 minute power room.
It's an amp damage, which Lornaff obviously vipermid does a good bottle, so there's no saving this one.
BB Team are likely to just dodge him.
I would say one very big component of Lornaff being able to win this matchup and winning that one-on-one fight
was the fact that he was fairing out Salves constantly this lane, right?
Because that's part of the way Lina wins the matchup is Dragon Slave harassing you.
Did cost him some network?
Yes, most certainly.
So, he's not really winning the economy here, but he won the XP and this can turn into an advantage if you can find a couple more kills on GPK here in the early game or start the pressures of towers.
Which, this line-up definitely pressures towers.
Like an Undying Viper with a Voker, Meteor, and Refleshed Board Spherits, there's going to be some tier 1s melting across the map here.
Another reason why PB winning lanes could relieve some early game objective pressure for them, buy more space and time for Naga to get the levels come online and start pushing the waves back into the New Magalaxy.
Winston tries, gets split. So this one seems like a nice marauder game, he's got a lot of setup to play with.
And Khad tell me it's about to provide that setup. Sneaking around, getting a nice ward around that Lotus, and now goes for the pounce.
It's a nightmare, pulls him back, they kill the four spirit as well, so no way to wake up some ale here.
Guaranteed landing the arrow, the full up call, they drop the tombstone, but if anything this is just going to be more bounty for BB team to get two kills,
Now trying to deal with the tombstone, Omar hoping to get the kill on the axe at least, but can't do enough damage.
It doesn't want to give up another kill, but it might be too late for that.
With a lead coming in, a star storm, Omar gets low,
which whack up in a second, Arrow lands and he got the double off the brain sap, finishing blow from Katolemi.
That is a massive turn for BBT.
He masked Arrow.
So when you land these arrows, they hurt.
Yes, sir.
Not the conventional build, maybe not something Nygma Galaxy expected to be skirmishing into, but...
Again, you have so much Arrow setup in this game.
If sleep is a little unreliable with how many summons are in this game,
but all your other stuns are amazing here, and Naga is one of the best.
You always have that sleep arrow combination that is undodgeable.
Something to think about as we go into these later fights.
Yeah, I think that's what was so cool about the way BB Team played that, right?
They made sure the other two, just playing the lane,
killed the Ford Spirit as the bane came in from behind.
A little extra gold on top too, if you can clear out some of the summons in this game.
Sure, they get the Ford Spirit, the Tombstone,
And all stacks up.
They're gonna make their way back down here again, looking for the sleep set up in the arrow.
And no one's not here this time around, so this is likely another free pick off though.
Nightmare does get taken off laterally.
Arrow misses.
Anything off that time?
So, gonna earn charge on save here.
Could invest to get point in the moonlight shadow.
As Curetich getting forced out of top lane.
It's about the best you're gonna do if you're in the buy.
How do you play this lane? Is there anything that you change about playing like him when you're matched up against Naga-san?
Not really. I think you're just playing to do first pick like him things, which is go after the supports, go after the Lina,
try and find these nice pushy targets and ignore the Naga in the process.
So he's not playing against Naga. He's playing against Lina. That's going to be the number one hero he's on in the whole game long.
If you have a choice of connection here, you're going to take that every single time.
You see, GBK, he does not go boots of travel here. He goes power trade.
That is a big sacrifice.
That's signaling that they need to fight earlier and defend these towers and joint fights.
Need a little tank here with this Lina, rather than I'm going to invest in playing the map more.
Of course, Naga helps pick up that Zaku, so you don't need to have as much map movement, but
this hero, it definitely feels worse without the boots of travel, so if you feel pressured to go this route, it does signify that BBR...
They're expecting the fight to come sooner rather than later.
It's just all about buying fun for this Naga Sauron to come online.
One lane since still had stacks.
Ooh, that's gonna feel real good for BBT. Look at many stacks they have.
And apparently, Nigma Galaxy have done nothing.
And they're still losing out on lane kills around the massive.
A nightmare arrow into a fiend's grip.
You sure you could throw some damage on GPK.
He might even die for it here.
A good sun strike.
A down from the lifer strike, thanks to, uh, Smael, hitting that sun strike.
So, they do get, uh, turned around here.
But, again, like, BB Team are making more moves with their support, setting up more kills while also stacking more at the same time.
I mean, they're hitting it both ways.
Nice early game for them. Naga on top, it's kind of all you want here.
As long as you're finding a couple cheeky kills, slowing this game down, the big moves are gonna have to come from Devon.
The Lycan can really speed this game up with some tower backstabs.
Once the Helm of the Overlords on the battlefield, it's a difficult creep for BB to deal with.
They don't really have any casual spells that throw into it or control it.
that they don't want for the teamfight.
You're going to get swarmed in this game.
You need to be prepping for it.
You need to defend these towers as long as possible.
That might mean bringing Kiritochin before he is ready
to have a large impact in this game.
Yeah.
To be able to sleep you out of a fight or stall up one of these like and oldies.
But the Vi is going to be strong on this map.
All eyes on where this like and ghost and what he can make happen with his timings.
It's going to drive the victor here for Nigma Galaxy as
They're down 3k gold, but a lot of that is, again, on the Naga Siren and the supports.
Your cores are all looking completely fine here.
Hammer is up for Sumail as well, so some of that global tower pressure is going to start to come online.
It can only defend so many spots here with these Naga illusions.
So we've had two different games here at EWC featuring the Naga Siren.
It did not work for Aurora. It did not work for Team Spirits.
We did have a different build. I think Nightfall's build was kind of interesting.
Second item, heart, rather than what I think is much more conventional, which is Manta Orchid Bloodthorn.
Do you have a preference here? Is this... what kind of game dictates a heart build early on Naga?
I feel you only go early hard if you are confident your other two cores carrying some of the damage and scale load considerably.
Okay, you're a little bit puny going on.
Wax up shooter and yeah, that is quite the long-distance poke they're able to employ GPK
Yeah, what are you looking at like was that like that helmet on creep from the like and scouting about the ace or a
Born off put some pressure on him, but the moonlight shadow will allow the lean into disengage
No, it's the fastest Viper is gonna be this game unless he gets a wolf pit and later on
That's true. That's a scary thought
Yeah, they do not have wolf bite heroes.
No, that's for sure.
But they will have a very good helmet of the overlord timing device, the most farm-tier
on Nigma Galaxy side, but maybe I just jinxed him.
Because that is the bean script that will not be stocks.
So easy kill for Kierdrich.
Hey, walks up, grips him, no counterplay.
That's big to take that like an off-the-map wall.
He had ult available while he's pushing towards that helmet of the overlord.
There will always be some Tower Pressure in return.
No doubt, no doubt.
Don't let this Nigma lineup guarantees.
Just keep running at these buildings, putting the pressure on BB to invest in some early
items and then win those teamfights.
Arrow lands?
DC damage?
Stay here doing work in this game.
He's really pulling a lot of creep waves off towers, airing a lot of Forge creeps, killing
some Tombstones.
Some of the simple moronic utility could be nice in a game like this.
Even Moonlight Shadow.
Move like Chattel's a decent spell against Summon's lineups, if it allows you to disengage.
It can be really frustrating to play against.
Save!
Like, even this kind of stuff...
One people away, has no more leaps left, so with the damage application...
Yeah, he's dead.
He's very dead, he's not getting out of here, and there goes the outflank tower.
So, if they can also take this mid tower, Nygma Galaxy can start plowing some more heroes
into the strangle area, maybe start taking back some of this network lead, there's also
So the 14-minute wisdom shrine to play for right now, they may not have Tombstone, but
Samail is kind of spooky to walk into.
Here, gonna try for it, 80 Wayne, Naga Siren's gonna go for it on the other side at the same
time.
Let's go him still up.
Samail's gonna take a lot of damage off this one, but Samail, seeing some heroes seeping
in, does not want to stick around.
Miro, oh, thanks, four-staff, but GPK, but this office will still do their work.
They get that kill.
Defi secures his own wisdom shrine, so the wisdom shrines are split, but costing the
axe his life.
It's got to feel good for Nigma Galaxy, and yet, as I say that, I just noticed the net worth went from 3k to 4k, so even when they're losing, BB Team is still winning.
And look at who it's on. This Naga Siren is completely out of control. When I say completely out of control, that might be an understatement. He has 200 CS.
Yeah, how the hell could he get this far?
This is a godly efficiency performance. He's been farming back camps plus jungle, plus the wave, plus some summons, plus that like and kill.
Took the tower. Killed some Helm of Dom creeps as well, saw that a couple times.
I mean, he is gigafarm. This is bad news for Nigma Galaxy if they can't speed this game up right now,
because his timings are out of control. So you really have to make this mid-collapse work with the like and oldsy,
with his Helm of the Overlord. Find the Lena, find the Bane, swarm these towers, drag BB into bad engagement before they're ready to set up.
We're not really going to find any of them here. Maybe they get the supports at best. It's Katomi and save is already able to get the leap away
Sun strike lands to male gets the extra bonus here and the mid tower is going to fall this pressure has to keep up though
I mean this almost feels like a game
Nick my galaxy like do they have to close this out by like 25 minutes considering now
The Naga siren is up by so much. You're not really ever going to stop her. She's gonna keep funneling
What's not the same thing again?
I think the ideal game for Higma is it ends at that 30-minute run.
And you just go high ground, drop a tombstone, the summons go in, you could throw a Lackerty
on the Viper, you have some long range disabled from this Invoker if the Lena steps up.
You can make that high ground work.
Annoying against the Naga, she can always song your tombstone and stuff like this, but
you're gonna have to hit a timing somewhere in there.
Chasing in, Keratich cut across the map, try to get in here, they have the fiend's grip
on it.
to stop it, that best yeet tries to give him some heals.
Sumail's now on the run.
Safe, does have a leap, he's going to chase after him.
He is.
Leaps after him, drops swords, and Spock sends Sumail
too far out.
Meanwhile, Felina is just going to get the easy kill
on the undying.
Very important that Sumail gets out of there.
He actually died to that bean script,
but would have been to Carol.
I think he hit Merrill with Sunshark.
Maybe at the end of that too, as he was running away.
Oh yeah, got really low.
Got that ward on the high ground.
Those are the kind of fights Nigma
want to take, but with Naga showing up, no Lycanult.
A little hard to make the long fight work,
and now we're seeing the Naga already get involved.
Just because he's so farmed,
Kiritich has the confidence to join these early engagements.
Yeah, it doesn't even have the Orc had finished it,
and he's like playing to teamfights.
That's pretty cool that he's been...
He does have it finished now.
This might be one of the fastest Orc advantage
timings I've seen.
And the pick offs continue.
Every time this Lycanult is on cooldown
or enigma Galaxy backup and split the farm,
Maybe you're going to look for pick offs.
Because they don't have to sit there for a blink.
Like, an auger can deal with the map.
Like a sun strike.
And set up in a way just as easy for Nick McGowan see
because of the sun strike.
So any kind of push, whack, sharp shooter,
that combination of burst damage can get pretty easy kills
on the supports for sure.
Yeah, supports are really scary in this game.
You see the squirrel peek out.
You're like, dear god, no, get me out of here.
You see this bane coming around a tree line.
Please don't sleep me.
There's a lot of threat behind these little setups in this game, which is pretty cool.
It forces you to play the...
Right on the edge of that threat, you know, to get the next wave out or to get that deep board out
without going too far and just getting stunned once and you're 100 to 0.
Yeah.
There's very little room.
I mean, Debye can't even play lane. In fact, he's getting out of here.
Look at the setup. It's so casual.
Yeah, now it's not even a support setting up. It's Kiritich himself.
You get in range, he's gonna ensnare you, and then maybe...
Maybe there's a game behind them, maybe there's a Morana that's ready to air you.
Both teams are trying to abuse this.
But it's so much easier for BB Team to do it, right?
Because the Naga siren is going to just push in all the lanes faster than Nigglu Galaxy can keep up.
Generally, Naga prevails in this style again.
Unless you can find him and kill him a couple of times.
There's another grip.
Not the highest damage on the fall of the year, but it's enough.
Just with the Naga himself, now you're gonna kill the creep.
Dude, she's... I mean, what is... what is this network chart?
What has happened?
It has almost 300 CS on top of all the extra kills and gold from the creeps.
Of course.
He's almost had 700 GPs.
And he wasn't just a good Naga game.
And then go back for the Bloodthorn.
Alright, so, you know, the game state clearly favoring BDT.
You're saying that you don't generally, Naga Siren's gonna prevail in this kind of game, so how do you shake it up if you're at Nigma Galaxy?
Because what we're gonna run right now is certainly not working, it's uh, G.
Well, he's gonna die again.
This time it's a call into an arrow.
They just can't get the lanes out, they can't control this map right now.
If he could die here though, that would be a massive turnaround, but he's gonna get this kill fast, otherwise Spiro's gonna run.
Meteor!
Meteor? It's just, oh, he's got it all.
All the damage was not quite enough now that I've got the call out of now all of BB team is here for the big punish
Money and bones GPK walks away with both here
Those are those kills you need to get with the invoker with this last pick invoker
GPK you just went early treads hurricane fight. It saves it back straight to be
Just playing team Lena. Yeah, I'm just gonna go in tank a bunch of spells be obnoxious
I'm not the real carry in this game. My elite my nog is gonna carry me
I'm interested to see if he can continue this trend with his itemization, like maybe he actually just plays more of a, you know, front line obnoxious role than the traditional Carrie Lena hero.
Yeah. I don't feel like they can't play with Sunstrike's anymore. I kind of feel like Samail needs to join his team.
Now that's hard to say because he's trying to deal with lanes and stuff like that, but it feels like Viper could wink on dying.
like it's only three heroes. Bane is easily able to, you know, set up Nightmare's fiend scripts into arrows constantly or it's a call into an arrow, like there's too much. You need this overwhelming power that another core can bring you.
It has to be Viper getting involved. It's just really hard when you don't have a mobility item. You have no mobility spell. You're very slow.
and every time you make a move like this the lane's going so you really have to
find something if you're committing lore off into these plays because then he
just falls behind on farm he's gonna be the poorest core in the game we all know
what the poorest core viper looks like it's not fun to play yeah yeah and there's
a moonlight shadow right it's like these plays are just so hard to land because
of what's happening around the map
your best bet in this game is to force fights through objectives that be me
feel pressured to contest either tormentors or shawns, tier 2s, high ground, things like
this right? These smoke plays that are just going across the map into open areas, they're
almost never going to land and if they do land it's going to be on some target to BBROK
conceding for what they're getting on the map. Right now Naga's just taking a tier 2.
So again you have to make some quick calls here if you're in Nigma Galaxy, he already
has part done. Every time I look at him he's like another 2k ahead of the next highest
hero.
So Mal has been setting up this for quite some time, and they will finally pound.
So the problem is the ancient stack already got taken, and all this attention is away
from Kiritich who's in the top lane successfully taking a tier 2 tower.
So now, if you go for Roshan, go for Tormentor, now Kiritich, he might be threatening your
base.
Right, at least you get the light and solo Tormentor.
Yep, that's a nice shard off at 2 with the boomerang.
But you're going to lose outpost control instantly gobbled up here by Sade.
to rate how much map control this early outpost gives you makes it way harder to
contest Roshan way harder to control your ancient area if the pain dies you
could just instant TP back here right five seconds will be on your side of the
map it counts for a lot now fast this roaches going down nigma galaxy not in
a position to contest it you can't contest you know it's just Noggin's on
forward here yep see what they give this to you I think the noggin's bad enough
you actually might just give it the cure stitch but normally you're giving this
your playmaker here. Yeah, is it even possible for Kira to die with this early
Avalor? I don't think so. Yeah, they'll give it to GBJ. Why not? So now you've got two untouchable
cores on the side of BB Team. Nick McAlexy, well, it sounds like we've done there. There's just no
way this is an ending game in 30 minutes time. So now I feel like you're on the other side of the
equation. Now it's like, all right, boys, let's see if we can make it to 70 minutes and the game
So it's getting real weird. You have to make this game weird. You have to scale really hard get to the ultralight game invoker
Get some hexes up get some saves up like tombstone chart will be big in this game
You have some counter plays against the
Like sleep arrow song arrow combinations where you can kind of bail that guy out with the undying
Maybe you can look for some more stuff like that
But this game is gonna get real hard in the next 10 minutes
This is the period you're gonna have to survive against the pressure that Kyrgyz is gonna be able to create here
You can go butterfly into Bloodthorn, he's just gonna be an absolute menace.
And you have a lot of threat with these other heroes. These other heroes can just hunt.
They can permanently help the map.
Oh, broken on the low ground, but it is Samhiel. They still got the call on us.
They had a sentry laid off on the right-hand side.
They do up the Atomstone save.
Fiend's Grip placed onto the Lycan. Samhiel's gonna pop out and hit the good tornado.
But he's gotta keep his distance away from the lead on now.
Defy, let loose.
From this Fiend's Grip, he's gonna try and chase down GPK,
But it's hard to be able to keep on top of these heroes meanwhile
Kiritage right in the middle of everybody and he's kind of untouched the call Lorna
They're gonna focus him down the rest of the big Macau see have been kicked away by Kiritage
And they're gonna make sure they get more kills off of this one Kiritage with the aggressive song to get two more heroes
It's like in first and the zombie second
Such a tough fight the second the Naga comes in it looks like that fights over should be able to clean up GH here
We got that in there anything Omar is
I feel like he's got to be careful hanging around this area at all
And honestly, I think that's why it was kind of awkward for me
I think there are a lot of things that just weren't it didn't look like it was super convincing for them the tombstone
Was on one hit and no one killed it and just got to exist for another 10 seconds
Like the save on the invoker was pretty big at the start
Just no one's dying like you're not able to put any damage into the turnaround here
You know, this Grip on the Lichen is good, but it got cancelled and the Bane dies.
All of this looks pretty okay for Nigma.
You're pretty high HP on everybody here in Gulkur.
He's low, but he can play the Outskirts of the fight here.
Your zoning hero's off with the Tombstone that no one wants to kill.
To buy coming back and like, stop chasing Lena, Lena has Aegis.
He comes back like you're not challenging the dog itself, you know.
Heritage way too strong right now.
You still had an Aegis on that Lena if you do chase him.
I think there's just no easy targets for divide a fight like that. Who are you going after two lives on Lena?
I'm not a siren. You can't play or an accent is just gonna call you. Yeah
And his network continues to explode 21,000
Chasing that thousand gpm marker. Yeah 850 gpm now
And Lena's there at second
So, GPK is still going to scan.
That's the scary part.
It's a solid Lina game, too, if you can get fat.
I think the Lycan is your biggest counter, but the Lycan is debilitated in this type
of game.
You can't rely on the Vi to just chase this Lina out of the fight every time.
And he went Silver Edge second, they threw the gem onto him already level 18, so he's
kind of cooking in terms of a pick off threat right now.
You also get that nice break against the Viper.
Yeah, very strong.
a viper who's trying to go back for Maelstrom. Maelstrom pick up in like, what, 29, 30 minutes?
Something, but honestly it's not that changing at all.
No, it's not.
And it's settling into a game that you hope is long because it's your only chance.
Or maybe you hope you can get out of this one.
He's one of those games where it's just going to be an uphill battle if you can slog it out somehow.
I think it's pretty clear from this that they got out drafted, but would you agree that I think Nigma Galaxy looks a little uncomfortable
with the fact that Senail is playing a carry that isn't actively setting up kills with them?
You know like sure he's providing a Sun Strike
He's still sort of course, but he's not actually moving around the map making calls about legality where they want to go and stuff
I think it's hard for me to judge that when this game is just so decided by the Naga pick. Yeah, that's fair
I could see this in Boke or maybe doing that
It's definitely gonna be a little slower than something like the Alchemist and I agree that
Hasn't been what is worth in the rest, but I can see it worked out
He's a master of the hero this game is just so skewed in terms of what should have it looked like
When you can do this, you just run your carry in and set everything up.
Yeah, that initiation was walk into tower.
That's what they have to do.
And it worked.
And Nick McAlexey, they have.
Like they killed it, I'm dying underneath this tier 2.
Okay, maybe they have a chance here.
No, no, there it goes.
One little force staff and that chance is gone.
A glimmer of hope on that stun.
Yeah.
I mean, have you seen Keratich B below half HP this entire game?
No, I'm not. You need him.
Maybe he shouldn't have gone hard. He's not doing anything for him.
That is a funny way to put that, yeah.
Butterfly, he wants a sight next. You can build whatever you want.
What a performance we've been, honestly, in this game one.
He's really good on these micro heroes. We saw what he could do with the Arc Warden as well.
Like, you forget about it, but he has some of these pocket cheese picks.
He's very comfortable on.
He's gonna run to the Ghost Walk, maybe an opportunity.
He's right outside the base.
You have to keep a little here.
Nobody is here to protect him, so he's gonna double leap in,
four staff trying to break the bushwack,
and he's still got off the song,
and he's gonna make it a run for it,
and I think he's gotten out.
The heart is already healed him up.
He's gonna turn there, and he's gonna turn around,
maybe kill the GH on dying off of the illusion.
See, well, I would be tempted to GG out right there.
There, I mean that was your absolute best shot.
You're not gonna get a better opportunity than that to kill BB Teenscaring.
Now the sleep starts coming through, he's regened back up, you can start to look for the teamfight.
Turn it on, the guy used and it doesn't stop the Teenscrim of Bane, so nothing will stop it.
Mylaw actually somehow got out, Mantis picks a run.
What a call.
Nice call from Miro.
That's gonna set up a fight for death, and maybe some mail as well.
to get both of them from bad to worse.
Too many opportunities for these BV stunners
to just find openings where you can park your judge
on the front line and everybody's attention is focused
on the Naga siren.
I love the point about Kiritos' success.
We talked about him earlier today, conversation about,
you know, BV team have had some like very high reputation
Carries, right, the high-fall pure, guys who are held as some of the best carries in the world, perhaps at some point in time, the best carry in the world.
And Caratich has come in, and it feels like this BB team is showcasing more than maybe any of the previous rosters.
They're stronger, they're more united, the vision is there, just comes down to the execution and they are absolutely executing this game more.
He's still hitting all the buttons just right, little Nancy Dom's there on the bush whack, continue to hit the tier 3s, he's level 20,
So his illusions are already a problem for Nikma Galaxy.
Add one more illusion to the table, and it begins to become overwhelming.
I'm just following his GPM.
He's about to hit 1k here, which is just disgusting.
Almost there.
This is one of the most efficient Naga games I think I've ever seen.
That's...
That's not an overstatement.
It's genuinely incredible.
And it got gifted to him.
I mean, you pick like a biker, you give him a Naga, that's...
you're already down two cores that don't do anything in terms of interacting with this hero.
What are the downsides of Nigma Galaxy having such a stylized draft many times, right? Like,
I didn't know what they're going to be rocking. You know what, Lorna?
Well, they were ready to jam that noggin there. Like, they were thinking about it.
Because the thing is, you're watching that draft, and they are getting out drafted. Like,
I liked what Nigma had. I don't think this being Marana,
like, Lena opener was really threatening a game plan, but then you just have this one hero
throwing in and all of a sudden it comes together right.
What's funny is that we talk about how drafting is a little less reactionary than it used
to be right.
Older style Dota was a lot more about counterpicking.
I mean Dave got like an absolute OG of counterpicking and drafting on the side of Nygma Galaxy and
their coaching curl and they still kind of got-got.
I mean everybody gets got on this.
That's true.
Maybe it's back a little bit.
It's all at that slot kind of big did earlier.
Yeah.
Still not out of it yet.
They are doing a better job at pushing out some of the map right now
and not giving up the pick offs.
Game slowed down for BV after they took a couple or took that mid lane.
You can get some invoker rat action going without being caught.
Definitely slowed this game down a little bit.
Tormentor on spawn.
And a Roshan to take not long after.
Goes to the Fiend.
Nasty piece.
To the other side of the map to get to the Rosh faster.
Tier-tipped by himself is keeping two lanes pushed in at all times, and they still hold control of the outpost.
You can just sit here and pump illusions into the top two lanes.
And there's almost no way to do anything about this unless you can smoke your whole team
Right into him on a camp before song goes off
Very difficult to do when he has so much information to play off of him straight in the rush pit
Beardridge is done waiting for his team. He's just started without a
Shard for a GPK. Ooh, look how fast that goes down
And another Aegis IV, GPK. So, Heritage is truly feeling himself. He didn't die before,
not a little excursion almost inside of the radiant base. He says, I'm never gonna die
again. He's just boldly walking up straight into the entirety of the team and he's gonna
song! He did not want that Naga Siren at all. Maybe he even thought it was an illusion,
And as it stands, it is the perfect mission, just right to the back line, it's going to be Omar.
Two supports dead.
He's already dead at the start of it.
You've got DeVy, blocked in by illusions.
They can hardly handle this.
Do you have to get the stun on Geertich?
Here comes the meteor.
But of course, that gets him out of the box.
The damage and the call comes in.
Miro hits the mail.
Geertich is like going out.
Geertich actually does die.
They get him.
There's an opening.
Your chance in this game to make something happen.
Unfortunately, the rest of the BB team seems to be too strong to buy Lama.
This is tiring, the shapeshift, to try and get that kill on Keratich, they used the buyback on Omar just to be a part of it, now they have nothing left for four other members of BBT.
By the time you take Noggedown you're already dead off pretty much everybody, as the items are just flowing in here.
You get an ax on the Marana, just to have some extra DPS, you're gonna have an ax on pain at this point.
And the song set up it works really well with this lineup. You have two stuns and you can throw out instantly and a net
Just lock these heroes down not enough BKBs are amd this this early in the game. I'll be mega's here
The Naga will sacrifice herself once to push this game over the edge
It will be another whole mega's okay make the galaxy are gonna be up before the barracks
down this one here. Yeah, BB team just, you know, no reason to take a awkward
fight without their carry. For sure. Yeah, what a setup. Yeah, you're gonna stun
the undying here, you're gonna ensnare the huddle and he gets arrowed, so full
supports get taken out without casting a single spell. And obviously here you
could just back off of your BB, like I think you can end up in a world where
you get cured to job there. It's not just take it anyway.
Pick the galaxy, try to play into their triangle, arrow this land of the sharp
Shooting up Woodwick. Oh what a call from Miro.
Elan's another two man catching both the cores that were trying to run over him.
And he's in GTE from NygmaGalaxy. This game they've been beat in this one for a while.
Oh yeah. I believe it was just the preamble of rolling out the red carpet
for BB Team into the radiant base. What a sick Noggin performance. It's one thing to play Noggin
a free game and make it look good. It's another to do everything perfectly to where there is no
escape in that game for a day.
If timing is too good, if he's 3,004, if he dies once or twice, doesn't farm the jungles
officially, you have a lot more window to maybe snowball that game.
You get a Roshan, you're pushing a tier 2 or tier 3, you get to threaten something.
He's just so fast, so fast that he's almost no hope.
He's joining fights at the 15 minute mark.
I mean, what are you supposed to do?
You're forced to interact with that hero so quickly, you don't have time to really make
anything happen against the rest of the squad.
So, sick pick here from BB and the boys as they're gonna be a game up in this series and man, that felt a little free.
It's it. Power of a very strong draft, Nigma Galaxy. You know, they've already coming into this maybe a little bit slower because they haven't played in a couple days, having to play game one against that kind of cheese pick in the first place.
That's a rough place to be, but this is now the true test of a team, right?
Whether or not you can, especially under pressure of single elimination, you know, wipe that game one out of your mind, learn from it, okay, just drafting.
Dress your openers a little bit so your draft isn't so open to that kind of pick up and coming to game two, trying to be as strong as you can.
It goes both ways.
And if you're a BB, you're very happy about this one.
It was very convincing.
Almost didn't have to work for it.
But at the same time, MiGma can look at that and go like, hey, we got cheese picked.
It's a write-off.
It's a it's a draft thing didn't outplay us. It's not like we got our team fought in this game
It's just a lot of these situations are near impossible to play. We go game two we can reset. We're not gonna get cheesed again
Hopefully hopefully and we get to play some Dota and we know how good we've been playing this event
So I expect to see them bounce back. I think
Game two will be close
You know at least be a game where they get the team fight and show us what has made them so good this event
And so that's just what you have to go into that game in terms of lines that would
You know, this is... it's not fair play, she's not fair play.
It's not. Despite the death that Heritage did have, he entered the game on a 1068GP.
Hell yeah, that's a Naga performance right there, though.
That's what I was saying, like, if you still play this hero and lost some other games as a band, you know how good is Naga?
You know, free Naga game on a Naga player with a lineup that can abuse the Net in the sleeps? It's good.
Drafting is everything in Dota and we see that in game one
Not a fair fight they say and I think Brian as a Naga siren
Enthusiasts and having been let down by all the Naga's this tournament
I think this is probably a breath of fresh air for you. Yeah, I feel like I'm getting about the inverse of the
Nigma fans right now shiver
For Naga siren. I mean, yeah, the hero had been picked in theoretically good games so far
We'd seen it twice and it did not win in those games, but it did feel like you know
What I said in the draft was I think BB team is the team that is capable of executing a hero like this because Naga
She either controls the map or she doesn't like there's no like trading of the map
It's always very 100% one team or the other and the execution from them was flawless save on the Marana was everywhere
They had multiple setups for him and we were a bit skeptical like opening up three range heroes with the bane
Morana and the Lena, but they tied that draft together very nicely with their last two picks mirror
They really did and I think I knew coming into the series today that BB team would be a big challenge for Nigma because they had been on a break
But also they're the only team remaining from their group
You can make a case for their group
Maybe not giving them the best practice in the first place and half of Dota is the draft like saying oh, we got out drafted
We'll get him next time well
You're gonna have to win the draft next time too
What have you prepared for their heroes because I do think this GPK Lina creates issues within the draft that have to be talked about and solved
And if I were to elaborate on that the issues are it forces heroes like Viper and Sniper from the mid lane
And then if you take out this Tanya and Alchemist that allow you to kind of cooperate with Vipers and Sniper's
So Mel doesn't have that carry hero pool of let's say a Yatoro
Yeah, and then we end up with a very unique invoker on the carry roll now
Now I know this Naga ended up dominating all objectively speaking Invoker from the carry
role.
Ryan, is there a future for it?
I don't think there's a future for it.
I also like I hate to look at that draft and say like to criticize the pick.
We were talking behind the scenes that like we do think a hero like Sven might have been
better.
But when you know there's a problem in the draft that's unsolved, that's most of the
time when teams on first pick win the draft is on the pick where Naga came out.
You have to kind of pull out of your bag somewhere deep down where you're like, I haven't reached
this far in a while, but we're going to pull out a hero that's off meta.
And like, whatever your specialty is, whatever you've played throughout your career, that's
what you're going to pick the bag from.
And a normal carry, like a historic carry player would just pick a spin, you know?
But Sumail, he's played most of his career as a mid laner.
So it doesn't surprise me that when game gets weird, when the draft's a bit off that
you do this on Sumail.
But I also think, like Mira said, they were kind of exposed with the limits of their draft,
the limits of their hero pool, and something that when you're swapping roles, when you've
only been a team for a couple months, that can definitely be a tiebreaker against a team
like BB who's been together for the entire year.
I mean, I do think just watching how that draft unfolded in map game one, I think you
can't be put in a position where you're last picking your carry hero because BB are going
to create problems for you to solve.
And if you're working with maybe ranged heroes plus Tiny Elk as your tempo carries, then
you're just going to have to get it early and maybe tank a bad matchup or two.
What role normally is the biggest like problem solver?
Is there a specific role for that?
I would actually argue it's based on the hero that's being picked, oddly enough most of
Naga's like I looked at her carry matchup on Dota above just statistically and her worst
carry matchup is Finn, but he's actually her 15th worst carry matchup like or
matchups in the game like there's 14 heroes that do better against her and
they're all like mid laners and some off laners so I think every carry or every
hero in the game has different roles that counter them I think for the
illusion heroes like Naga and PL it's most of the mid laners like Ember, the
Lush Rack, the off laners like Darkseer, Sand King, Underlord, you know the AOE
can't really fight into them, reveals the illusion or reveals the real one
amongst the illusions very easily and yeah as a carry player if I'm looking at a
a Naga pick like that. There's not too many options that say yes is going to be getting
all the ones that are good are bad against the Bane. They will die to that their single
target. So it's a really tough swap to be in. Yeah. And that Bane was overall a first
pick and we saw that Bane shine together with the Marana who on position four, we've not
seen shine that often, but save definitely makes it work. I believe that you've got some
examples with that. Yeah, we talk about the draft, but I want to look at specific examples
where VV really made this draft shine, and I talked about Katami in his vein, but he
really is so good on this hero.
Here we'll see this Nightmare plus Arrow set up.
The first rotation he makes, he goes to the gate around minute 7, gets the Nightmare,
and save is ready with the Arrow.
And you see this combination early on the draft?
You have to be ready for it.
There's not that much counterplane.
Again, if I were to look back at the draft, that Undying could have been a Ringmaster
or something, something with a more reliable save.
Anyway, in the mid lane we see another set up here, a nice stop was happening on the
side too, but we get to see the nightmare into Arrow and just how easily it gives
BV that fighting chance. In that early game they just used it very effectively
and a cool thing that BV team did with their draft is it wasn't just the
Bane Marana combination, if we look at the next clip now it's gonna be that
their Nagasiren also enables their Marana and Marana's a hero that's been
criticized a lot this EWC, but if you can enable her within the draft, look at the
power she gives you in this mid game. Everyone that gets stunned just gets caught up.
Yeah, there's a reason most morana's I think we're going max starfall first
It's because she's kind of like a pseudo utility wants to get her own items some people were going for like some damage build with the
Ags we saw
Greaves in our previous series, but say if he just straight out maxed the arrow
That's like how good their setup wasn't this game. He had a 141 build. So
It's I think it's really important
I think it's difficult
But it's really important even as panelists like in everyone watching that we're all gonna have our biases
Naga didn't look good for me for the first two games we're watching, but Rana has not
been very successful throughout this tournament, but it really does matter whose hands it's
in, and I don't think it's just save, it's also like conceptually the whole team of
BB team and how they approach this hero.
Yeah, and we know that Naga wasn't really properly answered in the game we just witnessed,
but Naga was one of the later picks in the draft, so when you see an opening of a bane
and you don't address that, that's a problem, that's where you want to see, I think my
I can't see that address, right Effie?
Absolutely, she is.
I mean, Bane plus Verona, just a single target save.
And while Undying can give you that later in the game,
that's with the assumption that you're going to get a shard early on
and be able to save with your tombstone.
There are heroes that give that to you more clearly,
the number one being Ringmaster.
And maybe there's a lot to think about in their draft here.
And I'm sure Nigma are looking at this
and just cringing all around.
Maybe it's just a warm-up game.
A lot of teams sometimes need like a game one
to get back into it.
And we did say they had a six day break.
Yeah, I it's like we have to acknowledge the reality of the break,
but you also have to do all you can to not use it as an excuse for a team like
Nigma. I I think, you know, Gork made the I don't know if it was a joke or
coping mechanism of the copium that he's been huffing all year with
or the last couple of years being a Nigma fan and going into game two,
this doesn't bode well for them.
Wait, I haven't I think we've kind of yet to see in a team like really
strategically pulled back in a series.
But I think there is a lot to learn from this draft.
And the matter is, like, we mentioned the Naga pick.
You mentioned opening with the Bane.
There's clear, like, I found that this type of stuff
tends to be Domino's.
Like, it starts with the Bane, and then you
don't have an answer for the Marana.
And then now you don't have an answer for Naga.
You can't answer it all at once.
And so I would like to just see the more direct answers.
I think sometimes it is as simple as that, like Mira said.
And it's not like Bane, Marana, surprising.
It's not like Naga surprising into Lycan.
These are historically just bad matchups or good synergies.
And, uh, you know, Karo, he's been around for so long, and he knows this stuff.
I do want to praise BV team as well.
They played really well.
We saw how effectively they used their combinations, but they made very minimal mistakes this game, too.
Because, again, Dota is not just drafts.
Like, there were moments where they could have overextended, but they didn't.
There were moments where Kirito to Mazanus Iron was hatching three heroes,
with a song on the side and setting up for an epic team fight.
And I really like that this GPK Lina has entered the picture,
because it changes a lot of ways that you have to think about approaching BB team.
And it allows for a hero like Naga to be picked because you have scaling from that mid lane.
Yeah, and he's, GBK is the one guy I've seen who, when Snapfire was popularized,
everyone else was going boots of travel, but he would go treads on Snap and he would be
walking up tier one towers, playing a more of a active, almost like menacing range tier on the map,
and then he has that extra 200 HP from the treads. And the casters were talking about it during the
the game, but that played a huge role in some of the times where he was more of the point
of contact because you have an axe that wants to farm up, you have a Naga that's just going
to be playing the map and cleaning up the waves for you, that's usually Lina's job.
So I've hats off more, so already on top of what Mira said hats off to BB team because
when you pick a hero like Naga, you also need the rest of the team to adjust around it and
I doubt they have too much experience playing it, like we haven't seen it yet from them.
So conceptually just making it all come together, there is a reason not just the draft but
but also the execution and idea of it coming from VB Team that why that game was so on-sided.
Yeah, and I think also we talked about this before the series.
This VB Team, this iteration of VB Team is a lot more stable
than a lot of past iterations of VB Team that we've seen
and we see that come to fruition in a game like this where,
you know, it's a little bit unusual what they go for, but they execute it perfectly
without seemingly any issues whatsoever.
whatsoever. We'll see if that continues though, because of course it's a best of three.
NICMA Galaxy has a chance to force out a third game to this series. We'll see if that one
ends up happening so far. Every single series on the stage for quarterfinals has been a 2-0.
A little bit unusual, especially with some of the results that we have been seeing in the group
stages, but that just means the pressure is just on and some teams cannot deal with it. Yesterday,
a lot of action and a couple of teams that are considered to be the favorite of the whole event.
We're going to find out with this audio radio comes what that communication was on stage in those quarterfinals.
I'm going on line, I'm going to wash, wash
Eh
Why does that once?
Yeah, I will go on snap guys
I'll slow snap
And maybe...
It's gonna take some damage
Yeah
I'm dead
I'm not peeking in the corner
I'll snap, I'll peek
What are you guys?
We're going back
I'm going back
We're going back
Killing front guys, I'm killing front, and we'll put the aganim on the lotus, on the lotus, Chance.
Oh, try to get the chance.
Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him.
GG. Nice.
BB Team are about to match up against the top of group, Nigma Galaxy.
I know that's right, still surprising to me that Nigma Galaxy managed to top out their
group.
They're doing very well for themselves, but can they show it in playoff savory?
Yes, they can.
Awesome.
They are the real deal.
They are not just back, they are actually back.
I talked to them yesterday.
They're in great spirits.
Hi, Morale.
They're ready to win this whole thing.
But this is not a fluke.
I've been is not a drill nigga the galaxy fans wake up. It's not a dream
But BV team are gonna be tough opponents. I mean, this is a team that has been extremely consistent year over year
The one thing that okay, maybe they they choke and play us or they choke in finals sometimes, but this isn't the finals
There's a lot to be proven still if they can get that first spot right there a great runner-up team
They're always in the top three or four, but can they win the whole thing? That is the big question
I think they're capable and they're looking a lot better than average. I think gpk is cooking
Yes, they can have a gpk prime like they did when he was at ti this team's capable of taking it also
I'm very interested in that mid-lane matchup gpk vs. Lornoff. We're gonna come out on top might decide the series
NIGMA GALAXY VS BB TEAM COMING YOUR WAY WITH GAME NUMBER 2 HERE ON THE STAGE FOR THE QUARTER
FINALS.
ONE OF THESE TWO TEAMS WILL BE ADVANCING TO THE SEMI FINALS TOMORROW AND THE OTHER WILL
BE LEFT TOP 8 HERE AT THIS YEAR'S ITERATION OF EWC DOTA 2.
FIRST GAME WENT THE WAY OF BB TEAM AND WE HEARD SVG TALK ABOUT IT JUST NOW THAT HE THOUGHT
a large portion of this matchup will be decided in the mid lane and I do want to focus a tiny
bit on the mid lane as the draft is starting.
We saw Viper versus Lina in that mid lane and we of course saw GPK pop off on that
Lina.
How much more emphasis do we want to see on that mid lane from Nigma Galaxy this time
around, Effie?
Yeah, the thing is, Lorin often as Viper did great.
He actually solo killed GPQ's Lina one time and he was doing well on the lane, but the
The second that roaming duo of Bane and Marana came to the mid lane, that just takes his
lead away because there is no way to punch back for Enigma.
And honestly, I would just ban Lina, okay, they did that, because the issue with Lina,
I mentioned it before, but I'll just touch up on it again, is that it forces Lornoff
to change his hero pool to play like these ranged archetype of heroes from the mid lane,
which doesn't limit Simil's hero picks, so you just get it out of the way.
Not a big deal.
player-to-player, Louronov matches up very well against GPK.
We have got a couple of different bands coming out. We, of course, have BB Team Radiant this
time around, Nick McGonagsy on the dire side. First, they go on the way of Nick McGonagsy.
Also, first phase ban, Treeing Protector, which is not very usual as a lot of teams still like
to pick it for themselves, but they gave priority to the ban to make sure they have it for themselves.
Yeah, I was just looking through Nigma's draft in the group stage because obviously when
BB Team looks like they had the
Strategical upper hands in game one they did their studying they came prepared and their last two bands of the last game were Alchemist Tiny and
Every time I believe I was counting five times
Yes, five times that Sue Mail was given overall last pick
For his team and they were all Tiny or Alch. So for me
me, that is my concern. In this game, as Mira was talking about
spanning out the Lena in order to enable Lornoff's hero pool, I do think
Devai is very dependent on the momentum and having a good lane matchup. And then
you also have Sumail operating on a relatively limited hero pool, and that's
not based on skill. That is just because of the fact that he has not
played, has not invested all that many games as a carry compared to the amount
of overall games of Dota that he's played. So there's just a lot of pieces you
have to fit into the puzzle on the side of Nigma, while on the other hand I feel like
BB is, yeah, they're, they, I feel like they're playing like Scrabble and BB's got a bunch
of different letters to choose from and Nigma's like, I only got these three. You know what
I mean?
Yeah, but maybe we'll see something different with the problematic, pesky midlaner being
taken out. I mean, if I were a BB team and I wanted to recreate that situation, I would
have to pick another ranged lane dominer, like Viper, that would force Lornoff to then
changes the hero pool. Like if I were getting into their heads and trying to recreate that.
Is there any equivalent of that in the meta? So last last draft I know they banned the snap
because I think that's kind of GPK's hero that operates similarly. Actually they did not ban the
snap they left it in. I thought they did but yeah that's the hero that he's been playing in the
tournament leading up to this one that I think plays very similarly to Lena and whatever represents
in the game. So is that a particular is that what you're thinking or is is because snap plays
more on her and Nate with point blank is that not quite like the Lena archetype that you had in mind?
Yeah I mean I could see that for sure I could also just see them taking a different approach
in this game too because they're quite versatile because they do have first pick
on Nigma Galaxy which makes their mid lane more fluid they're probably not an 18-pick
counter pick for Lorena so maybe you don't want to you can just take a different route this summer
on but yeah go for it. I'm sorry she was you go. No I just want to point out that they banned the
to Marana themselves on Nick McAllister with the ringmaster as well.
That is quite strange.
I think maybe they assumed that BBT would snatch you right here since our Marana quite
a strong lane.
You already have the natural setup and this is a hero that we haven't seen too much of
this tournament.
He hadn't had a few patches this year where he was very broken.
What is it about Shadow Shaman that like they saw Bane, obviously it pairs decently with
Centaur, but as like a four-position player mirror, like, is there something about this
matchup against Bane, or is it more of the Centaur-Jewel-Centaur?
That's a really good question. I think for me, the way that I look at this is, as I
mentioned before, Nigma have first pick, so they're going to get that 18 pick in the draft,
and that's where Puck comes up. That's where Storm Spirit comes up. So if you pick the
Shaman with a lane where he can actually get kills with Chain of Tables, you've also addressed
the issue of the Puck on 18.
Yeah, because we've seen many of drafts lost in that 18 overall pick, so that makes sense
that it's a lane synergy that also preemptively prevents that quote-unquote cheese coming out.
I like that. I like that theory.
Yeah, but this Centaur is such a problematic hero this tournament because if he gets first
fight, he still gets free lanes anyway. I think the only time I've seen him look kind of bad was
if there was like a life stealer with a really strong range support, but even then Centaur
always found a way to have a game.
Agreed. I personally think Centaur is like the single highest impact hero of
the meta based on just the average performance that I've seen. I think a lot of times there's like
some heroes that they are first picked because they represent a really dangerous game plan or
like a specific idea that their team can play around. For Centaur, yes, he has like things he
offers Global Stampede and the save from the aggs later on, but this hero just is so flexible in
terms of his laning stage and he's so reliable at what he does that he can kind of he goes the
the heart, but then from there he can be anything that his team needs from him and that's just
yeah one of the reasons that a hero can be broken and it's it's super
overwhelming to play against I would say. I do like what Nigma's doing better this game than
before like I think that this is more in line with you know Picks Who Males hero relatively
early, picked strong lanes, generically good heroes in the support role. You are dealing with
undying and like if you look at a lot of times the carry is the responsible one for killing the
the tombstone. A lot of times the illusions are the best carries for killing it because
the illusions, even though they're reduced damage, Kira like Naga will kill it very quickly
peel as well. Tiny, not at all. They have really no tombstone killer in that can. We've
seen players like Malady, like 1v5 of early to mid game because he just has a long duration
tombstone go off at the Wisdom Shrine in tier 1 towers. So what do you think about this
Timbersaw?
That's really intriguing that they gave this pick to Divy over Lornoff, but you see this
issue with the chasm, you just think to yourself, okay, I have to pick a hero that can stand
online against chasms, and Timber Oath's reactive armor is one of the better heroes to play
against chasms, I'm not gonna blow them up.
This is an example of pulling out into the bag, because Divy, I think this is the hero
he kind of came onto the map with, like I know maybe he's been a little overshadowed
by like ATFs, Timbersaw, but I would easily put Divya in the top three Timbersaw players
in the world. This is one of his absolute go-tos, and I agree with you for why they
picked it. But once again, they don't have a Tombstone hitter, so I think, I don't know,
I don't know how they're going to play fights here.
Snap. Easy snap fire.
There you go.
Roller enough.
Okay. That's true.
Yeah, and it's not a, it's not a easy hero to counter pick from that mid lane on 24 for
BB team. I'd be very surprised if they don't go for a snapfire, but I mean let's say they
don't go for a snapfire, they can go sniper even.
Sure. Two more rounds of course coming out and both teams need a mid lane. So we're
going to have a lot of thinking ahead. Wait then why is Nigma Galaxy banning carry hero
shiver? Oh this is a good point, don't get banned yet.
Yeah I mean overall last pick for a BB team it's usually like oh here comes GP here and
Invoker, here comes VPK Storm Spirit. I do think they have nice solutions for Storm because
they have so much lockdown in the first 3 picks of Magma. And for that reason, they're
not really afraid of the puck either. Something like Invoker though, would have been better
for them.
Yeah, I'm just looking through their picks. You can always go something like Slardar,
if they pick a melee hero for Lornoff here. All the spirits look good. Is Earth's spirits
still in the- okay, they just banned that. Just got rid of that.
And another one that I would say might be on our radar is a pango.
I mean you got a man with a snapfire if you're a baby.
They have a minute and a half actually left in their bonus time so they can think about this all they want.
Is there a hero in particular that comes to mind when, is it actually snapfire that comes to mind when you're running out in Voker and Air Spirit?
Or is there another mid hero that those two would do extra well against?
I think this would have just been the best picks for a BB team here.
It'll give them like teamfight and magical damage, which you need against Timber Sun.
And Evoker Kaz has always been pretty gross with the Alacrity.
They actually banned Storm Spirit themselves, so GPK clearly has something else in mind.
I think it's still go-puk, like on GPK, if it's given a decent lane matchup.
They don't have all that mid, like, think about puk is, yeah, maybe in the early to mid game she'll be a bit vulnerable,
but it's like you just get an E on this get some points and then heroes like Bane feel pretty lackluster
That is true. Pucks have also been going early Octurium just to get a little bit tankier in that mid game
But I do think Tiny is a very good solution, especially if you have a player like Simel who's gonna play active
for a puck
They're definitely gonna have to pick something a bit different than what they normally have gone for this tournament on
BB team obviously GBK puck is a classic, but
other than Slaughter, all of his heroes that he's picked thus far are banned.
It is the puck.
Did he just steal the puck?
Brian, can I refresh us on the puck win rate?
I would have to pull that up in a second here, she is, but...
He could steal like 25, maybe he got 27% or so.
Is answered by Slaughter, are we happy with that, Effie?
Yeah, that's the counter pick to the puck.
I guess Nigma thought it was more important to not give this puck away and play it themselves,
But now there is the issue of this tombstone like Brian mentioned it
But they don't have those tombstone hitters and those tiny gets a BKB and some attacks be later
It's not the easiest fights to take for Nygma. So
Pucks at 31% when they're in 32 games. I
Just going off of what we were saying earlier
Slaughter is the literal only hero GPK has played in this tournament that was left in the pool
And Slaughter has also been traditionally used as one of the counters to puck like historically and in this tournament thus far
So I I feel like you kind of walked into it with this last two picks
I think the puck is maybe they were just so scared of the puck coming out for GBK himself
And they felt the need to deny pick it but in that case I would have banned the slaughter instead of your spirit
I think that's what happened and the reason why they picked shaman in this draft is they were already thinking about the puck for
So they already created their solutions and I think it was a mistake to not get a
snapfire or a sniper or something that could hit that tombstone for you.
Like I do think this undying is gonna win this mid game pretty easily.
I think that there is there's no individual hero on BB team like Nagas iron
equivalent from last game that's gonna cause this game to look as ugly as the
first one but I think if both teams played equally skilled I would lean
towards BB teams draft just because of these natural answers that they've picked
I do want to say though that it's still a very good Timber game and we did get that Timber pick for DeVy in this slot.
If there is a hero that can carry this game for his team, it would be that Timber.
So, all eyes on DeVy here.
All eyes on the off-lane player DeVy on his Timber.
Let's see if they can force out game 3 against BB Team.
It's Cap on SPG with game 2.
Well, there's good news and bad news.
The bad news is, the panel still seems to favor BB Team, do you agree with them?
I'm not weaning one way or the other, honestly, I think this draft is very even.
I feel like that's a cop out.
We're gonna be able to see Nigma play Dota. Okay, I don't think they really got a chance last game
So we'll see what kind of form they're in today. See if they're cooking up something. I agree at the last point
I like the timber pick I think timber can do some work in this game
And this is a hero that's kind of gone under the radar y'all forgotten about a little bit
But in the games we see him where he set up well
He just run away with what is this early start off this could be first blood care too
It's gonna get a bit of distance with the Falcon rush
But a dive under the tower with the blood grenade they'll secure it's Omar to want to take the last hit
Unfortunately for Nick McGalaxy doesn't go to Lorna, which is I think what they ultimately wanted but still
It's a good start and they still have plenty of time to maybe go for a second kill secure bounty runes
We'll see nighttime Bane always a massive threat and they took that here first
Recognizing the power of it in the game one kind of daring to try and deal with it in the same way they did and
I think PB ignored it a little bit more, but also just got a very well-rounded draft with
a lot of physical scale between the slaughter and the kez here.
That's the big concern if you're a dick-bick Alexi, is how are you going to deal with the
overwhelming physical damage, how are you going to deal with the presence from the shaman
wards plus the tombstone?
I think anchoring the fighter on both of those spells in a Roshan or something like this,
it's pretty nasty to fight into for a lot of Ning-Bus heroes.
You don't have a hero that wants to run in and really tank that until the timber gets
big.
That's why I also think this Timbersaw is really important, because I think DeVy has to kind of heat himself in here this game.
And not only do some serious damage, but absorb some serious contact, that's going to require him to be quite fat.
So, all eyes on him from me in terms of hero popping off, I would like it to be the Timbersaw, and for BB, GPJ.
If this Saurr gets fast, you can win the mid lane matchup.
He will bring the Kaz into the game.
The Centaur can be there for utility and your two supports can help you
you know, corner the Roshan and the Tormentor into your favor.
A Shadow Shaman, it's been a minute since I've seen that hero.
What made BB Team go back for this?
Get another instance stunning your lineup.
Another hero that can force objectives pretty quickly, give you high ground potential.
He's a save classic.
Maybe he just wanted to bust it out for some comfortability.
Can't be an annoying hero for Bane because of your foul play proc.
Yeah, okay.
He's a little bit there, you know, he's like, I don't want to be the guy who just gets all in.
Didn't turn out alright in this game with the later pickpock.
But I don't think it's a crazy shaman game by any means.
Hero can suffer against Tiny.
It's okay against Timber if you can kind of sit there and shackle him,
but that's not guaranteed in a game like this where they have four stunners.
So I think Sage will have to prove himself on this hero on this one.
It's always good against those heroes that dive in very deep, formation-wise, into a fight
which both Timbersaw and Puck do, but it gets worse if there are a lot of heroes that do that kind of deep dive.
I could see him getting run over and anything like this.
Give us some solid frontliners.
Two cores that want a frontline, and an undying. That's usually a pretty good setup.
Coming out of the loose.
They're being cased after.
Ooh, nice play.
Bushwack TPL.
Pretty smart, as he very likely would have died there.
space for the Timbersaw here who's doing quite well on the early stages of this lane phase against
a very strong lane and a dying Tess. You get decayed down, you get chased down. It's not going to end well for you.
Old Toledo, GPK, winning mid lane. It's coming away with the best of it. Nice little start for him.
Yeah, he's cruising here. I don't like we see GPK lose lanes, to be honest.
Yeah, he's in a favorite matchup especially.
Last game he technically lost that leaning at survivor, but even while he was losing it, he was ahead of network.
Yeah. So was it really that bad of a loss for him?
Yeah, the experience didn't really seem to make the difference there.
He just plays his game very stable nowadays.
Subway and BB are going to rely on here because he can bring this whole lineup into the big game very nicely.
You can change the pace too in terms of game one, a huge amount of summons and ghost shove
on the map.
This game almost none of it.
Like your biggest threat on lanes is the shadow blade tiny running around.
Yeah, it feels like we're going to be playing a very honest game.
Exactly.
Exactly.
All the dirtiness went out the window in the game.
We got it out of our system and now you just get the brawl with some heavy team fight,
heavy nukers.
A lot of Roshan can test.
I mean the 30th hero in this game is probably Falk.
I guess Kez.
If you hate playing inside hero.
Yeah, if you hate one of those people that hates Kez.
Which, you know, I am.
It's fair.
This hero is definitely not the same kind of terror it was earlier in the year.
I feel like you rather play against Kez than a lot of the cheesepicks in Dota 2, you know?
Yeah.
Compare him to Laspik, Naga, Laspik, Phantom Lancer, Tinker, Jungle Zeus.
I'll take the Kez.
And this Bushwag, kind of awkward BB team, actually had a small opportunity there.
They've both got a lot of resources to work with, trying to always get 10 stick charges,
so that goes out the way.
But when he gets hit by a whirling death with two or three trees,
large wall and undefiled right now, I don't want to get over baited in this bottom skirmish.
As GH steps forward, but that avalanche can always bail you out.
And Tiny's just really annoying for the Shaman to play into.
Very tough hero to interact with.
Not a bad start for the lanes here on Nigma Galaxy's side.
I mean, PB are doing fine too, but Timber saw at the top into an undying.
That's probably the real breadwinner here.
It seems like everybody's pretty close.
The only hero that's really getting ahead in net worth is Tabai,
because he hasn't really expended anything yet on Reach End,
and maybe he should have, getting low, and will actually die.
He did buy a salve, and it was flying out,
but I think he was waiting to try to boost on the same courier,
and that delayed it, and it gave you an opportunity to get this all in
with the Tombstone, no point in the Timber Chain just yet.
He was 200 gold up on anybody else in this game, now GPK almost dies, but a magic wand
does fail him out, he's got his bottle, he will start reaching back up, and Marnov's
chances of getting another kill opportunity like that are probably pretty slim.
Oh, Mark is rotating behind, and maybe he can't actually, two-man Adolin.
Turn around.
Ah, he's toppling just a...
...big jubate up here.
There's two big, beefy boys battling against each other all the time.
Either one getting low enough to get the kill.
Supports have too much to stain between brain sap and shackles.
They never get low enough for the kill, either.
Well, Mark does get the D-Wars here off his own deeply placed off,
so it's pretty nice for the hoodwink.
It's gonna secure a lot of this jungle rotation area for him.
If you want to continue backstabbing mid, they get a sweet-
Beautiful!
...poss back to male.
Stops the shackles over the avalanche and gets the kill.
Okay. Okay.
Not a kill I expected, but a nice one to snag.
Yep.
Just gotta poof that tiny up considerably here as the squirrel and the zombie continue fighting.
The fact that you get that kill as Lotuses are about to spawn too,
which means they should have the numbers advantage.
Meanwhile, battle in the river, Lornaf is gonna chase down Kato-mi here.
Can't tell me he's feeling like he just doesn't really have much to do anymore.
At some point in time they get that one kill on Divy, but then Divy comes back full resources.
Undying doesn't really interact with the hero anymore.
Nope. The other thing with Kez is if you're not getting kills with Kez,
you don't want to just sit there and leech his XP.
It's not going to feel good. It's like Weaver.
You either need to be killing them for the bonus experience or give this guy the soul and
you're just sitting around is not going to help.
It kind of makes us on dying Kez an awkward duo if you can't get aggressive.
Cause the endine has to sit on lane for like first 7 or 8 minutes.
He doesn't have another play on the map.
Could contest wisdom shrine I guess, but now with Tombstone on cooldown that option goes out the window.
They're kind of lingering around here with GPK maybe with this region rune.
He feels confident enough to swing by.
I don't know man.
It looks scary though.
Yeah, you're fighting into a timbersaw on this with the TP rotations.
Like, you know something's gonna come through.
And it's gonna be both the bait and the puck, but maybe they can still get the wisdom shrine.
He's a little late here.
Yeah.
GPK.
Still has Sprint.
Close to the lockdown.
He's hero.
So he's just fighting into Dubai.
Dubai has so many resources, though.
He's going to get a lot of damage done.
And not quite ticked out.
It's close.
But the Kazarai Katana will not be the death of him.
Kotomi drops the tombstone, hoping they can still battle it
through.
Omar's going to TP back into play, though.
This is an opportunity for a two-man bushwhack.
And he lands it.
Far enough with the orb on.
He's a triple up to Dubai.
Jumping back in.
He says I want it all!
Jim, the Toon Stone kill on top that is a massive gold injection.
Of the one hero you did not want get that gold injection if you're a BBT.
Because he's gonna make these front lines like, hell.
A lot of damage coming out from him too.
If you went down that initial trade, how different will that sequence look?
If you have Toon Stone for that fight, how different will it look?
But those little things, I thought, Nygma were gonna be a little late to the party.
They were there to get the bigger prize.
They lose wisdom tribe, but they get a lot of gold out of the exchange.
And, I mean, they probably got just as much experience, right?
Not for the supports, but overall, I think they're pretty close, so...
Hex in the river, this feels a little forced.
And Bushwack and Acornshot, that's gonna do a lot of damage.
DeFi is coming over!
DeFi says off that all that farm, I gotta help on my team here!
And they're just gonna run down the Slardar, GPK!
Even two males showing up.
Yeah, that is quite the call from Nick Mcgalaxy, making sure they are not going to be outnumbered by the EVT.
This is the Nigma we saw in some of the earlier games in this tournament, fast connections, a lot of early skirmish power,
not afraid to get their carry involved, and provide signature.
Talking to Dubai, I asked him about playstyle wise, you know, changes for him since joining Nick Mcgalaxy,
Mcgalaxy because obviously he's a very well he's very defy play animated go-go-go
Yeah, yeah, and it seems like he's he's calmed down a bit
He seems like he doesn't take as many risks
But I'd love to see that he's still popping off just like he used to and some mail almost leads into a kill on Miro
But now here come she became a two-man crush and Tart still dies to GH
But if it costs them some mail make my galaxy might not be happy with them
So when Lauren up his TP in can he get here in time to get a punish off?
GPK looks for the supports, GH, he's gonna be close call here but he does manage to get off the nightmare for another round of crush.
Oop, silence goes off, right as the nightmare was traded away, a loss of damage there that results in, despite it being a 2v3 here,
they make my galaxy feels like they don't have the damage to keep it going.
Kind of need the tiny order timber in these engagements, the puck is not enough right now, these heroes just have too much early HP.
HP. You can get Lornaus Courier with the treads completed on it. It's a nice little pick up there.
Not a bad exchange, especially getting GPK involved in this game.
He has a big target. Bring this line up together. There's still kind of
skirmish in this river where the Slardar's strong, but I don't know if you're gonna fight too much here.
You do have wards available and tombstone.
So that big presence TeamfightWise is online. If you can get a fight going around one of these tier ones,
you will be able to convert on it very nicely and they get an arcane ring for GPK bottom, so
Nice room to take away from the puck. There's the Warpstraw, just straight up.
Yeah, especially with Katomi zoning out these heroes, the Warps are going to do a lot of damage before they even get here.
But there's Devine. Once again, it seems like he's making it his MO to try and challenge GPK in dominance for these fights.
If GPK is going to be there, then it almost requires Timbersaw to keep him from getting out of control.
I like that he's joining early fights.
I don't like he has to sit bottom entirely this game and it gives you a lot of extra
damage to bring these big boys down, so lift the whole team up together, doesn't have to
be so isolated, so greedy, still top net worth in this game.
Just meaning he's giving plenty of room to the Kez though.
For sure.
Which, is that a concern for you, Coyle?
Fiends grip?
A lot being used here, can't tell me.
Well, he's got so ripped at trying to keep GPK alive, went for the kill on Omar, push
Wack lands, almost finished him off that final hit, it's not going to be enough, now the
The Sampley's finishers can run down Omar.
Oh, this is a disastrous.
Kiritix makes his first move of the game
and helps join in three heroes dead,
Nekma Galaxy.
Just give it right back to BBT.
So much presence from the Undying
in that sort of engagement where you're not focusing him.
He gets everything off multiple decays,
so we're going through.
And Slugger, he's a tanky boy.
That's why I like the timber joining the early engagements
because you need the whirling depth,
you need the chakram in these kind of plays.
Huck is not going to give you early fighting power against these two strength boys on the front line, but it's just not a good matchup for him.
You lost your tower earlier too, so it's a lot harder to bring in any sort of reinforcements.
A forced move that backfires pretty hard.
Really forced because he was still in the river as well.
Yes, doesn't help.
I think that's an extra 4 HP, reach in, an extra 3 armor, he went down to like 60 health.
It makes a difference.
Yeah, it makes a difference.
And you really have to be careful in these fights with the amp stacking up.
situation where he gets three or four amps out and then the Kez joins, good luck right
you're gonna need disbells in this game, load of swords or whatever it is to help deal
and mitigate that physical presence.
Save gets a haste, Drew gets woke up and begins the chase down.
Ah, Farr wants to go with this, okay he's gonna go real far.
The Parabay all the way.
Trying to free G.H.
It won't happen fast enough.
Ooh, oh maybe it does actually.
Ooh, what's up?
Your grenade?
Should be enough.
enough. And down he goes. G.H. made a bit of a contest there between him and Omar sharing
their neutral items, the extra movement speed, the extra physical armor. I was like, this
is about the time you want to kick this guy out of here. I told him you want to like
tear such a linger down here too much longer. He doesn't have an age slayer, but Timber
has more than enough damage to power through this. Just him plus a link or him plus a coil.
Show me how to kick this carry out and start pressuring the tower. Yeah, I'm surprised
So supports aren't playing more to their timber now like timber plate to them earlier
But now I feel like it's it's got a swap over well thing is it's gonna become more difficult because
Now if you force this play you're gonna be forcing it into it a tier one tower that has a lot of HP and
Potential turn around but with the shaman and the undying
That's true. It's kind of hard to dive into two stone max decay here with stampede
They can bail the hero out then you keep getting the shaman someone's getting shackled someone has a ward dropped on their head
but these dives are not easy.
So I don't blame Digma not forcing that play bottom,
but I think there was a window to kick this kez out
and it has slipped by.
Twins gotta keep the farmer back to the stacks,
back to pumping some extra gold into this Timbersaw
so he can get to that tanky status as fast as possible.
Well, what if you bring in the tiny?
Cause Sumail is gonna get a blink dagger very soon.
And that is where like the sort of got his blink dagger
feels like the four on four team fights
may be favor BB team.
But, you know, Tiny's gonna have much more impact than Kez, most likely,
in some of these early engagements once he gets play.
He's a way bigger threat. He can just demolish the fight very quickly.
If he finds the shaman on a toss, like, you jump the shaman,
toss him onto someone else and avalanche those two, that fight is likely just over.
Very hard to stampede out of that situation, so I agree.
So we all kind of have a huge presence here with this blink-dagger reveal.
They can bring him into a nice fight,
particularly around one of these tier ones,
because these tier ones are all effectively full HP right now.
We got a little chip damage mid, but it's negligible.
You have to start opening up these towers soon.
Like, you don't not want to give BB this much room to play around with a lineup that can
instantly do tormentor in this game, instantly do Roshan.
You're gonna start taking some of the backboard.
G.H. good positioning. Little Tim and Smoke gets ruined by the Bane.
They're gonna set up for the kill. Sharp Shooter makes it a lot easier.
They actually dropped the Bane Script at Skwell.
Man, it's quite the commitment. It doesn't mean they have the numbers advantage
If there is to be a fighter top lane, it looks like BBT want to go for it all in on the Timbersaw.
It's a lot of damage.
Easy work of him and he died fast.
Amp goes out and you have an Amp damage on GPK as well.
Oh yeah.
He just got melted.
Do you have a chance to build up any reactive armor?
Yeah, he's only got level two of it.
I don't know how many charges he had at the start of that fight,
but you also get hit by Clutch Gold.
There's a lot of amplification in this lineup.
That's a good point.
those require you getting four melee heroes onto a target which is punishable
here now you're gonna get avalanche to push wacker coiled on that kind of play
it can go real bad real quickly but it's true happens fast if the galaxy were
there just a little bit you know couple seconds sooner could have made a big
difference he does land the sharpshooter all right tiny starting to
to make his presence felt in this game.
They need to be able to do it in such a dominant fashion though that they start taking towers,
which is something that BB Team have acquired.
That's what I want to see. Tier 1's going down here.
I think it's going to make this game a lot easier for a game to play.
It's just hard to maneuver around the map right now.
Like, gee, she's going to get casual sleep off here.
He has annoying, but you're not getting any deep vision out.
You're not maintaining a presence on radiant side of the map.
Meanwhile you lose another tier one to the shaman getting the job done here pushing towards a fast aetherlands
A lot of extra team gold
Seeing this minus armor damage and physical damage combination of BB team it does look very scary to play against but
Does that also mean it's very easy for
for Nigma Galaxy to itemize out of?
Oh yeah, this is a Lotus War game for sure.
AC Sheeva's, if you could fit it in.
Any armor goes a huge way.
Any dispel goes a huge way.
Spell block against the Shaman.
Nice toss.
You toss back into the bush whack
and name the Shurm Shooter.
Another nice kill for Sumail.
Very easy, but looking to find.
Oh boy.
He just picked up a plate mail.
So maybe that's looking at him.
Can help him live a bit longer,
but his team is so far away.
They can't get here in time. There's no chance. The Decil's already done for Curitich. So yeah, you're dealing with an insane
Armourmel that wasn't even level two on the Corrosive Haze
So there's another six coming for GBK here in a short time. They're holding on to the safe lane tower giving BB team
Yep, I mean another two and a half minutes. We got Torment responding. That's the thing back kill doesn't likely happen if there's an after one there
Very efficient because these two ones have stood up for so long and they're gonna make a quick sweep across the map
should be K with the ward plant, doesn't see anything.
Nice dodge from Nick Megaluxy here.
Those Shaman wards are coming up.
Again, you have to be a little worried
conceiving this much map control when this lineup can go in that Roche pit and do it so damn quickly.
Ah, okay.
And even if you go to contest that, I...
That fight is tough.
Yeah, it's a fight in the river against...
Mid-Slargar, right?
Oh, Miss Bushwack!
An opportunity miss there to Tombstone save!
An early shard purchased by Kotomi!
It's going to be a great shard game.
One of the best tools against the Bane, the Coil.
There's a lot that this Tombstone can kite out in this style again.
Especially when Stampede isn't guaranteed to get you out of those spells.
It's kind of nice to have a backup here.
So when you get the Coil to the Crypt, you don't want to Stampede them.
So you can Tombstone them, bypass that, and then Stampede away.
You're enabling yourselves here.
Feels pretty damn good.
It's gotta be some move going into one of these towers soon, right?
Again, you get another play on this timber bottom because this tier one's still here.
It's just too easy.
It really is too easy.
Considering how much damage he can do to BB Team if he's just freed, but...
Where's he supposed to farm?
Where's he supposed to go?
It's a downstair playing to him at all.
And they even planted a deep lane ward plant.
I say deep, but it's just a normal lane ward down here.
So every time someone runs this bottom lane, they just keep you tier 1 set the play up.
If Nigg might go there with multiple heroes, you can bring in reinforcements yourself.
Otherwise, the Kez is just going to keep farming.
If there's a game to point to, as to the importance of getting at least one tier 1 tower down early, this is it.
Because we're seeing BB abuse the extra map control really well right now.
That's a great observer up here.
They've been setting up for a while. The initiation though goes a little bit awkward.
Here it is. He's going to come in at a big swing.
Good Force staff to get some mail out of there because with the corrosive haze
This can stuff a lot of damage to him all of his armor has gone right now
The clothes gonna hold him back, but it does not give Nick McAllister the way to get aggressive
Especially with Dubai llama accidentally clipping himself a little bit there past reaction from save
They get the D word on that spot as well
So that obs almost pays off, but instead it just gets killed. That was kind of the last vision on the map here for Nick McAllister
really getting stifled in terms of where these moves can go and what they can land on.
Maybe you get a 20% of power rune. Okay, get an illusion rune. Not a bad extra
dispel in this game. But now Tormentor's on the map. Roshan's going top. Both of these
objectives are heavily favored for BB here. You cannot afford to give it all away for free.
Let's see what Nick McGalaxy can do in the next five minutes here in terms of either
They're defending those objectives or getting some move of their own going and can you send this timbersaw in yet?
He's rushing Shiva's guard
It's a ways away. It's a thousand off. Yeah, he's been rushing it for a while
But unfortunately he's back to back to back deaths for him have kind of ruined things
There's not gonna have another frontline armor source in this game
It's not gonna come from puck the tiny gets a little naturally, but honestly, it's not enough
He's only sitting on 12 that armor got nerfed. It was a couple patches ago. Sure
Yeah, that's true.
Oh, GP team, retorn mentor.
Nygma Galaxy, once again, it feels like when some of their early game doesn't go quite right,
they settle into kind of a passive phase, which you've talked about, you know, Nygma Galaxy,
I think we both agree they look best when they're very active and aggressive.
for sure. You want to see Divy and Sumail getting aggressive kills on the map, looking for opportunities
and not have this much map control taken away from them so early. You know, when you talk to
Esteem, you talk to Divy. It's like, I have this perception that Divy is an extremely aggressive
offlaner. And then when you talk to him, he's like, yeah, the plane was too big. He's really
aggressive. That's from his perspective, you know, so if he's saying he's really aggressive,
And he's already a very aggressive player. There's a lot of aggression in the squad there.
Honestly, BB have just shut down so far in the series. The first game was the Naga Pick, which is an anti-aggression hero, an archetype.
Here, it's just been really solid defensive gameplay, defending the towers, devouring a lot of ops, killing a lot of potential for noobs.
Even situations like this, right, this doesn't look like anything's happening, but right now BB are happy with it.
Because they are controlling the objective. They're about to force the objective and the smoke move from nigma galaxy fail
So even though this trade-off in theory doesn't harm by their team
You're not getting that potentially one right now here nigma galaxy and that's allowing BB to commit to their gameplay
I mean if they let BB team take this road shot, they don't even get a tower somewhere on the map
I mean, they're not even getting the two on bottom. No, this is what I'm saying. You're not getting that trade-off
You're not opening up anything for yourself right now. You're just getting you're just getting caged
each, this feels too, too passive, too tentative.
This is not the Digma Galaxy we saw winning all those games in the group stage, right?
Yeah, not at all.
And maybe some of that is, okay, I'm not sure where to make the move or how to make it.
You know, we lost this timber twice, but I'm fine.
But at some point, you're gonna have to be decisive in making aggressive move in this
game because BBR are getting more off the map right now.
It's not as if they just auto it, like you or something.
No, of course.
But you could feel the momentum right now.
Yes.
They're getting the BKBs. The BKBs are going to be a nice timing here.
This Kaz can continue to scale for a long time in this game.
Smale, opt into a BKB. Looks like BKBs for Timbersaw and Tiny.
Come on, let's see where Lornaf goes from here.
Ken is very stacked in. He is going to go and agonize him after the fourth item.
See that switch around, GPK still needs his BKB, and Miro is gonna fall suit with a BKB
of his own.
No early heart, no.
Just smaller items that ensure that they don't get run over by Nick McGalaxy, the early Lotus,
how the Dom that gives him a lot of armor to work with.
Very strong build as we go into the mid game, won't scale as fast as the heart build up,
but you can always go back for it here, and you did get the extra gold injection from the
shard off the tormentor.
So, you know, team items pay off by getting you a little extra freebie here.
Trying to set up for Pal Rune, BB Team spawn stop, where they were already congregated.
This is a big move for Nygma Galaxy. They don't have the Tiny Bee Gibby,
but they have that Shealess Timber on the front line.
And it's worth to get them some ideas of one hero on BB Team who might be a bit out of sorts here.
TP back in.
That's so frustrating.
What did you do to your tiny BKB?
This whole... these two...
Equalize the carry diff a little bit here.
And you waste some of that Aegis period. This is not BKB getting aggressive with the Aegis. I'm just kind of chilling right now.
Came through the gate, pushed out the lane, now back through the gate.
Where they do have this really nice ward placed up in this top part of the map.
Alright, all your cores are farming.
It's not as if you're bleeding big courses, Matt, in this game.
Oh, no, I spotted and got him on the stun, so.
I will say, Pucks win rate, terrible, and I'll talk about it, but I think Pucks win
rate in the games that go ultra late is significant higher.
Like this hero can still shine when it gets to six odds.
So at like 30% to like 45% or what are we talking about here?
Well, I'd say it goes up to at least 50.
Okay.
All right.
In my heart.
In my heart.
Don't actually have the numbers to back that up, but...
Look, stats don't lie.
Yeah, I don't know their stats, but they don't lie.
Whatever they are, they don't lie.
I believe in them.
Here it is.
I'm going to use this Aegis to knock down a Tier 2 atop late, Big MacGalaxy.
Unless they have some sort of sign, some sort of vision that tells them that they should
take this fight which we know they should but of course it's just because
they're two fours on the side of BB team like very very safe they could get a
tier one bottom though they could get the tier one bottom that's a big deal
25 minute tier one better to come later than never that's what I always say and
immediately vacate the entire area so smoke up from BB team they're only up
6k though. And this is one of the last efforts here to make use of the Aegis
in a more significant way than just taking the tower. And they're gonna have an opportunity here,
that's for sure. GX is gonna run right into Keratips, goes after Pops, but he's gonna be held by the
shackles. GPK pops BKB and goes in. Didn't really get the catch on Lorna, they are hoping for.
It's just a Bane kill!
Pops VKB pops anti-image, you think he's gonna do a lot instead you just kind of run to this Timbersaw, which you don't have to win anything towards.
Yeah, I kind of feel like that was pretty good for a big big galaxy, they lost the drill.
They're not sad about that, that's gonna finish off this Aegis period.
You still have your VKB up on the tiny, you're gonna get to your Timbersaws here,
and the Poptis continuing to scale.
Pushing out waves, not dying on the map.
That's all you want right now.
I wonder if Lornaff will go for any sort of A on this build up against some of these
instant stuns or if he's just going to try and go for the conventionally authoring Shiva's
taint build where you have so much HP you can survive through a couple of stuns.
Because they have so many stun interrupts for the shaman, I think that is a viable path.
Uh, yeah, well they have offensive stun interrupts and then they also have nightman, which can
be enough of a save for a hero like Puck, right? It's okay in this game, yeah. You also have two
frontliners, so I would like to see him itemize whatever he feels can be the harder scaling build
and the more aggressive build when he's at the five or six slots rather than I just want to survive.
This is not a game where you want your Puck thinking I just want to survive. If you want to
think I'm going to carry this game, I'm going to put it on my back and I also think that's
how Nygma Galaxy want to play around more and often general. Like you want him to be the secret
It's all it says the game goes later and later.
And just let these two side-laners parol it out.
Traded away from a, uh...
BB Team Ward, they drop a ward at their own.
NIGMA Galaxy is looking for the setup.
A BB Team are baiting out GPK.
They also show, okay, we saw the ward.
NIGMA Galaxy.
You know, the play on this side of the map is kinda ruined for now.
Game is slowing down for NIGMA.
Fake retreat, though.
They kinda back up and then go in.
Oh, they have this really good ward down here they wanna use.
Yeah, but both sides have a very good ward that they're getting a lot of information on each other, so they both think there's an opportunity here.
GPK pushing out to that lane ward, playing to its Lotus, and there's Omer.
So, might be able to get the pick off on him, Omer's gonna shoot himself down the cliff, go for TP out, Katomi jumps in, they demand to hit the hex there as a save.
Four staff, AetherLex.
He's pretty farmed. What extra net worth on this support duo? That's making up the
bulk of the difference here. I mean, it's gonna be a game where Shaman gets the
VKB or something and it just becomes a Venice. Can't underrate how much work
this hero can do in late-game scenarios. You have another tormentor coming up soon
as well. You have a minute for the tormentor, 30 seconds for a potential
row spawn. We see GH setting up down here. It's a very cool play. I don't think I've ever...
Have you ever seen anybody make this uh this burrow through the trees to get to this high ground spot?
I haven't seen it. It's a nice little spot. Not always gonna do with it but
got a nice view.
And this late board is doing some wonders here. Meanwhile, BB Team, they've been playing with a gem.
And so they have been working with a bit more information.
They'll be setting up for another torment or so, Nick McAlexie likely to contest this.
I think if Nigma can get to the triple armor item, they're in a decent spot.
They're going Sheevas on the buck, they're going AC on the tiny Yads double Sheevas, but in this game you need as much play-mail-build as you can get.
I think at that point you're... Nick, gaining a lot of the slaughter's impact, and if you can find the Kez, the fight's just over.
There's a lot of pressure here to not to get exposed early on in the engagement.
Centaur's not going to pick up the damage lock yet. The Saurdor isn't going to do it.
That was a fake TP.
To my llama, I think TP'd in range of the creep wave as, like, the vision was lost.
The unfortunate part for them is that there was still a late ward, so he canceled his TP, went to the smoke.
It was a very cool idea, just unfortunately it doesn't to see BB team at all.
They're very grouped, very ready.
Big Big Galaxy may own this part of the map, but BB Team are now playing to maybe an early Roshan spawn instead of that Tormentor.
It still has to be through the Kez.
The Slaughter is not punching above his weight right now into all the platemail buildup.
There's a Povis as well, there's a Ghost Scepter, there's a lot of physical mitigation on the field compared to some of the earlier engagements, so it has to be the Kez getting in there and dealing with the big damage.
If he gets gripped, if he gets bushwhacked into Abathos or something,
These fights can easily go to Nygma Galaxy's way right now and you'd love to
get in here and get this next Roshan. Another minute for the spawn, Torrentor
is available but no one's eyeing that up right now. If you love the armor timing
from Nygma Galaxy, are you willing to give up this Roshan? For it, right?
Because you're not, you're gonna have to take this fight without the AC which is
close from Sumail, but not close enough. I think you are willing to, okay? But that
That is a bird's eye perspective, right?
Yeah, yeah.
The feel in the game is likely a little different.
They could feel that this A just counts a lot for what BB want to do in terms of when
they want to try and end the game.
However, I think from our perspective, getting this AC on two males is going to be a huge
deal here.
You just completed the sheevahs on the puck.
You're almost there, right?
You're almost at that point where all of your cores are going to be able to displace a lot
of this physical damage, and you're going to have a lot more room to work with in the
fight.
That's just what you want.
because if he can't go in and burst targets down as BKB runs out,
he pops an early raptor to enter Evansville, whatever it is,
and then you can kind of take the second half of that fight.
You can control him. You can beat him down here.
You can outmaneuver him with some of the mobility.
Let's roast. It's spawning so late into the game
that with a little bit more delay, some males actually get it to get this AC.
I really thought there was going to be some sort of clash over this roast sooner,
especially since very often as Rochon is about to spawn,
We see team smoke up trying to wrap our meat on each other try to get some sort of initiation
But dare I say it stars aligning right now. Maybe they are maybe they are the perfect item timing
To combat this objective
How does this change the fights for BBT then look for supports a lot more okay?
You want to take the control out of the engagement so that you have more time to play with this
Cuz more time to run around with your stampede your slaughter
Do you think that means the win condition for?
Nick Mc Galaxy in this fights is easier because they like going on supports would be good
But also going on the case and killing him first would also be good, right?
Assuming there's no safe and that's a big price you can get tombstone
Right get stampede. There's some saves in this lineup. You're gonna jump some ale
He gets a four step away of harpoon away rather than got the bush whack onto the case
Are they gonna turn for him not quite so much Lauren often divide already hit the back line a little bit
These heroes are getting low, he sees an opportunity here, here it's a chance to use BKB and Pyke
responds with a BKB of his own. A fair trade off to man Stomp Stomp, hero what a hit and that's
going to fall off with the crush as well. Very nice but a BKB from Samael stops some of this
aggression from BB team especially with a buyback of GH. A little bit of reset now from
Nygma Galaxy. It's BB team to control the river and the pit but Roshan is about to swap over in
Just 25 seconds!
They used the save buyback against the GH buyback.
Very even exchange overall. Both teams popped all of their BKBs there as well.
It shows you how tanky all of the heroes are in this game.
That Timbersaw's doing a lot of damage when he goes in.
That Chakra was perfectly placed right on that little stairway.
Trying to get back real good. Look at these two cores trying to run through it. It's miserable.
So I eat chunks here to challenge the second the Kez is out of the fight
Not looking to back for them up with some big stuns land for BB
Yeah, but wasn't for me. I was saying this opening it would have been kind of a clear nigma
Victory not a large one, but a small one that it said we kind of ebbin up on this even space and well pretty even net worth as well
It was a very early 6,000 net worth lead from BB team, but it is stagnated ever since we're still sitting at that marker
And now, Nigma Galaxy have Roshan on their side of the pit, more buybacks to play off of with this outpost.
Might get a free pick off here too.
Not telling me they run into him off the smoke, kill like that, but so does have an extra life with the Ceaseless Ders.
I don't think you can get in here and fight this though, and this could be a really bad loss for a slaughter on the Kesleinup that needs these Aegis to kind of power through old HP here.
Assuming you lose it, Nigma has tamed me a little bit here.
And check it for a power room
Just give them that extra edge meanwhile GP K
He pushed it's up lanes and they got to get here fast
He jumped to the centaur not the easiest jump. That's for sure some mail
He gets nullified the script does go off on a GP K
But there's the jump some safe beautiful stuff and Miro jumps to the back line as well
She is that's a dieback on him
Well, he's taking away from some mail
Oh, it died inside of the fountain is the damage over time the Kazarai katana
Finish them off and now divide desperate DP away. It works because of a nice push whack from Omar
He bails them out still a lost fight for Nigma Galaxy though his BB team full firm control over the pit
You can't bro Sean you can't commit on center
They didn't even really commit they kind of just poke them and back down
But even that was enough to create an opening for BB get some deep jumps with the soldier in there tombstone save on the grip
You can't reform around that kill and all of a sudden the flight becomes too chaotic the tiny has to bail
This is a 4000 HP heart centaur with armor with pendulum. You're just not ever bursting him down
I don't know almost failed the situation. That's two male lives
This isn't the worst
T-fight I've ever seen and you do get out because the bash was picking up for GPK did not have it in him
Yeah, just that that little small stun from the bushwhack
stops that final hit which
Wouldn't have been the bash, but now he has an axe on him. This isn't our top network. Like, you got to respect
What Miro's bringing to the table here. Now he has an axe saved for somebody else in the fight
This is where the lineup becomes really toxic to play against because who do you go on?
You can't go on this guy. If you go on someone else, they can potentially get carted. They can potentially get tombstones saved from the grip, right?
There's just not an easy target to jump in this lineup
And then you're kind of dancing around in a fight where at some point save can just go in and lock somebody down with hex
There's a reason Hex is a staple in the history of this game.
There is still the advantage of repositioning with Tiny Tosca.
Right?
Maybe you look for that more.
Saves less effected against that.
Devy Lomas can certainly still play a bit of front line.
Yes.
Nice damage.
Getting burned out of a lot of his health here.
Sumail actually jumps in and sees the opportunity to get it.
Chalk Katoni, now the heals come through.
And the Tipper side needs some help.
They went for a nightmare save.
Really nicely done by GH.
And Devai even wants to go back in and take away this Aegis, land the Chakram, but there's the Tombstone save.
So, the save's from both supports.
Big part of this last fight that results in no kills.
There's a big question, can BB scale the damage farther here?
Because I don't want to say they have damage issues, but they have the start of damage issues, is what it feels like.
And you're kind of peeking here in terms of what your DPS looks like.
That's one of the issues with the Midslaughters.
It's hard for him to up his own damage considerably, like you can kind of get some of these later items.
You get tankier, you get a little more annoying in the fight, you can get the lower crush cooldown and all that.
And it starts to pick up a little bit as we go later and later here.
Well, isn't the crowspeys undispellable?
Doesn't that spell a lot of problems?
Yeah, that'll help, for sure.
But then I think you're still playing a lot around this kez.
I'm just worried if this kez ever somehow dies.
What does your teamfight look like?
Carried to show me had one death in game one. He has two in this second game
the
Team start mounting a response to this pressure in the bottom right part of the map save doesn't get jumped they have some vision to work around
Big Mac Alexi forming a similar
Set up here to buy love on the front lines hit some with the shebas nice bushwhack
That's beautiful and he can only save one of them here as long as divide doesn't time once again the nightmare save
Oh, they got the best on him though, and he's not able to get the Timber Chain away.
Still have Aegis here for two minutes, so this is not a fight you want to over commit to at your Nigma Galaxy.
You just cut your losses and get the hell out.
Overwhelming damage when you can put every core on top of one target.
It worked out the first time at the mid lane, but it does seem like to buy Llama.
Two isolated there.
Underestimating the damage there from BB Team, especially the way to be able to...
But SAVE isn't guaranteed, right?
It's just you nightmare it creates a pause long enough for you to get the timber chain out
But there's these bashes as can searcher you there's a lot of disabled you a lot of chains dump potential
You can isolate a target the old fish cart does it again
An early banner drop there and not gonna waste any time 40 seconds on the timbersaw
They say that's good enough to hit this tier three
They have Triple Pendulum on the side of the BBQ. All three cores going Pendulum. Just delaying the first game.
It's not going to Sumail! Sumail! Need some help here!
Can they get him out? He turns around to BKB and he's like,
Build the kez and he can go and get the heals where the Kassarai Katana takes away at him.
That's going to be the loss at the Aegis. Put a tier 3 down and maybe still a barracks to go.
12 seconds left till the Timbersaw is back up.
There's a tombstone saver available.
Yeah, with no foil, it makes quite a big difference, PvT, a lot easier for them to get out when the time is right to leave the wards to finish off that melee barracks.
The first building down in game two. Very nice siege from them. Getting up very few openings to get that toss back that you're looking for that's so scary in this high ground push.
It's your best tool against this lineup. I think we might have to start looking for some of those tosses more than you want to have to this early on.
on just too much uh too much chain save too much survivability right now
will be some pretty big damage upgrades nick by galaxy trying to finish up a data less octane
almost done for the puck he's getting there those two cores will get something but of course uh
bbt now with a 15 000 net worth lead they are similarly getting big items data list for the
kez that's gonna amp things up quite a lot oh yeah and miro is going to be untouchable if he gets
more armor, which he's trying to complete a sheeva's on top of the Lotus.
This Kess is stacked. Almost all of 25 got the Shard off the Torment. They're fully six-slotted
outside of exchanging that Mage Slayer for something else, even higher DPS here.
And this, with the Scotty build, I feel a lot of HP to work with,
which is nice for your saves. Getting in there before you get bursted on top of the Pendulum,
giving you a little more time. This is a tough target to bring down. I like how VB
a bitamized here and kind of played around this idea of you know yeah if they can pause first this
case at the start of the fight it's going to be rough but we're making that as difficult as possible
to do right it might get to a point where you can kind of just run these other cores in a little
loosely like we're just going to throw the centaur in the slaughter and see what's happening and
it here just likes that fight then he gets a guaranteed ability to join that without getting
initiated on if he doesn't like it maybe you can either cut your losses or get out of my llama
I'm trying to take the outposts, it's not by safe.
Surrounded by the wards, Atlanche on two though,
that's a really good setup.
If they had some follow up damage to be really nice,
but Miro still got off the cart,
put the Kez inside of it and drives them away.
The BKB was used by GBK,
Nygma Galaxy, a fishing expedition.
They got something out of BB team,
but they can't really chase.
Still looking for the Daedalus.
Plus buyback on Sumail,
he's trying to save for both here.
It'll be a big damage upgrade on that front line.
It's a shame for Nick McAlexie that they don't have better things to follow up that avalanche.
Right, it's like the only A-Wee disabled that they really have that works with that is gonna be the Bushwack.
But they also, at the same time, Timbersaw, when he goes in, he's gonna be cutting down all these trees.
It's not, so it's kind of awkward.
Ideally, you lead a fight with a multi-hero Bushwack. I mean, that kind of goes without saying.
It would be, but then at least the combo chain is a lot easier to execute here.
Let's see if we'll mark to find the opening.
Still BB and control the network and control this game.
Level 25 Kez gets the plus one Echo Slash attack so yeah.
You're going to need some repositioning tools for these heroes.
They can't afford to get hit by all three of those.
Just incredibly debilitating.
So that's big tower still up and Simeil doesn't want to let it stay up any longer as he put
himself too far forward here trying to hit the bush whack and as inside the cart actually
tossed together away from Simeil because Simeil he needs the distance right now all
he's got is a hard poon to work with trying to get away from these heroes oh he's getting
jumped no fire placed onto him he can't get away he has to turn and fight it's his only
option but these heroes are just too damn tanky Simeil's eventually going to go down
It's up to the others of Nick McAllister divide something cut down the shadow shop and now looking back to Cosomi
Too little supports down divide getting a little stuck right now though. That's so good
Now he's got two course on top of a person down nice and easy
It doesn't matter how much reactive armor you have against so much physical damage
The second the kids gets loaded in that cart it looks rough because you're tiny committed on that frontline
There's no way you can bail out. There's no way you can kite that flight in the long run
This meal kind of just walked into it. I don't know if he was thinking he was just gonna take that tier one and blink out or
Yeah, those they weren't there but he gets caught in a moment that probably regrets giving him that opening
And it's no close to to some levels that I think do change things right level 25 on putt
That helps with this octurine. You're being able to spam out these bells even faster
Maybe so some really long team fights
You can get double coils out. All three of their course 25s are nice.
They add up in these long flights. There's another nice coil, some decent damage, but it's not doing a lot on its own.
No Ags, no Devying, we're not in that territory yet.
There's got to be two lanes to bear. It's easy, poor baby team.
Make my galaxy. On their last hope here.
They aren't just continuing to build the tank.
The carts slard are flads and dying.
Everybody's such a difficult target in this game.
See, you're gonna run out of damage.
Yeah, that's how it goes.
Great pushback here.
Just joint this a little bit
and you toss that lawnmower onto your Timbersaw.
Like you deal with that thing.
I don't want any business with it.
But you still don't have the Daedalus on the tiny here.
He was holding on to 4,000 gold.
So like you're holding gold for buyback,
but you're taking the flight to a place where
Even if you buy back, I don't think you can get here fast enough to make a difference.
Also, it seems like they have damaged issues right now, so can you really afford not to buy out this stateless?
That's a big question, Mark, on this fight.
Like, you do get to clean up some of the backline here with the mobility. That part looks good.
But again, it takes so damn long.
It's still sitting on 4700 gold.
It didn't die on courier or something, right?
He's just trying to get the buyback plus the Daedalus here.
He refuses to buy out, but I think he has to.
So very close to it.
But if you get that damage item and in the process, Kez picks up another extra life,
Roshan Roar is going to stall things a bit here and BB Team are not going to be caught
inside this pit.
This is the Roshan where you don't really just want to force it anymore for BB.
You're looking for the fight.
Yeah, off of the objective force.
You're trying to get Nigma Galaxy to bite the bait and come in a little bit so you can
get some nice angle.
They're going to smoke and look exactly for that with a big flank.
There is a high ground defensive ward from Nigma.
They have two in fact on this area.
So it is a good place for them to fight.
If they can break the smoke on a ramp, try and get a quick stun off.
You have five acts into the outpost.
Could work out well for you if BB did not execute well.
I love that they're getting away from this secret jump, high ground cliff area going all the way around.
And now, the Shivas pops, they spot the bait, that's just who they wanted, with the nullifier already out on him, GH is dead.
Jump in from Lord, I'm trying to clear out some of these heroes, BKB activated from safe, man, to get the hold on Smale.
Get the focus.
BKB, and there's that focus.
Insta-bot.
You've got the buyback, and now you're gonna have to use it and win this fight, it's your only option.
A jump on the Omar, who'd wait, he's dead next, so Male comes in with his BKB and starts laying into both caricatures.
He's just dying again.
This fight, he can't win it anymore.
He's dumping out the damage, and BB Team,
they're just too big, too bad, too tanky,
too much to handle for Nigma Galaxy.
And they will win out this fight,
and win out the game to buy their last open knee.
Well, I think.
They stand for Kiritage Rampage.
The damage from this kez is out of control.
The second he gets loaded in the cart,
there's just like nothing you can do.
You just run him out of the coil.
There's no control that can go on it
because the Bane died very early on.
He is just swinging his katana over everybody
at almost 12,000 damage.
One of the melee heroes that looks really good
with the cart because they can get the save,
and it gets off the Raptor Dance,
it's a full heal for him,
and they can trap that Raptor Dance
right over Nick McAllister and play in the 2-0.
This is a team I think has been a little underestimated
in this event.
They are looking better and better
every series we see them.
They understand the meta,
Their drafts are very strong, they can cheese you with some good last picks.
You know, they always have that Huskarmid, they have the Arc Warden, some random stuff that can come out.
Miro plays a lot of these summon heroes in the offlane.
It's not easy to keep all the threats in mind to get a good draft.
And then even when you do, we haven't seen this team really lose lanes.
They're a very difficult team to beat on lanes, so you can't really run them over.
Okay, well then we have to out-team fight.
Yeah, but then, it's like we saw here, it's not an easy team to out-team fight.
They're very mechanically skilled.
They have good angles on those smokes.
They understand how to play around the objectives, not force it too much, kind of fade enemies in, then take the fight.
I mean, that's a fight into how post-Indo-Enemy vision into the Bi-Max and they don't drop a single hero?
Great, that's disgusting execution, so...
They are in form right now, they're gonna be a tough team to beat here as we go deeper into the event.
Man, they're looking to win it all.
They're looking very, very good, and with a very definitive win over Big Macalaxy,
This is really the only misstep I feel like BB team had over this whole series.
I feel like it was very disciplined play. That was just the one go.
This was one of the worst looks for Big Mac Galaxy trying to go on this Lord Orin just coming
very close to getting the kill, but not good enough. And even if you did, you end up losing
three, four to have to go back to, you know, you had this Timbersaw who was so strong.
Divide Lama secured an advantage, but it didn't feel like the team utilized the Timbersaw.
that well in this early to mid game.
I felt like you couldn't stand on the front line.
Like, either the fight is being split and you're both assassinating the back lines of the fight,
or it's not just him anchoring it.
I also think a lot of this game was decided. Let's be real.
The first tier one for Ding McAlcy went down to 25 minutes.
Yeah.
How many of the deaths were preventable if you had some earlier tier ones?
How many of this map would have opened up for a hero like Puck,
for a hero like Blink Tine who's trying to get pickoffs?
You couldn't get the lanes in deep.
You're dying trying to get this tier one.
You just don't have the space to work with.
Absolutely it, well it has been a clean 2-0 from BBT. We can go up the stage now for our winners interview
Thank you so much cap and SVG. I am here with GPK! Here we go, a little noise please!
Congratulations sir hack of a match you got to be feeling it pretty good right now am I right?
I speak on Russian. Yeah, I should have flown please
Yes, all Marlvilleers, all good. The Hawthorns are off and I believe that we will continue moving forward with the grid.
Alright, fantastic. I want to talk to you a little bit about the Lina.
I mean, we saw this today, it's like Deja Vu, game one, big Lina plays from the last series, same with you today.
Were you copying or was this your plan to come in?
No, we didn't copy.
I've been on lane for a long time, I feel like I have a good and strong character, but I play in other buildings and I think it's stronger in the Dota.
But that's my opinion.
Do that today.
Absolutely! Alright, let's talk a little bit about Slardar.
Would you recommend people do this at home?
Because I don't see anybody play this hero like you.
Honestly, speaking, I hate this hero, but without that hero, our team can ring, so that's why we are using him for sure.
Sometimes you gotta do what you hate for victory. Fair enough.
Well, we saw Fiji earlier today, we saw their 2-0, now we saw your 2-0, you're up against them next.
very similar series what do you think is gonna happen in the next one is it
gonna be another two-hour will they present a challenge
you just destroyed them you will destroy them I don't need a translation for that
all right ladies and gentlemen give it up the best mids in the world gpk thank
you so much and let's get your team up here gentlemen it is time and I said
Don't leave I need you you must stay we got a key to crush my friend come on up come on up
Now one of you has to be the key crusher who do I oh yeah, let's go baby. Who's crushing this key?
Who's it gonna be we can even give it to our boy over here? No?
GPK you crush it. Yeah, yeah boy. Let's go. It's time for the crush in
Open the doors
Nigma Galaxy's time has come to an end.
The copium flows upon the floor as it dissolves as quickly as it came.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.GPK, please, to our keymaster, gather round as best you can, boys!
We're about to see Nigma go down.
Hit it, my friend!
Here comes the crush, hopes, dreams, the world weeps and they say yeah, pay all the way!
Oh hell yeah!
There we are, let it go, but you got him, let it go, you're killing him!
Thank you, oh fantastic, okay?
Like a fine wine, we shall present the key to you, you must say yes, it is crushed enough for your expectations,
crush them in real life just like in the game but please inspect the key is it
crushed enough good nice all right fantastic ladies and gentlemen
goodbye to nigma galaxy hello to BBD moving on let's give it one more time
for the boys there we go and we'll shoot it back to the panel
A dominance 2-0 here on the main stage, BB Team move forward, guaranteed top four here at EWC,
4-0, 2-0, they will have Vici Gaming to go up against next, but let's break down this game,
we just witnessed because it was a more even draft, which is what we wanted from
Nigma Galaxy and still is BB Team that dominated this game.
Yeah, I think we just saw two different calibre of teams today.
I like obviously Nigma lost the series and I don't feel like we saw them at their best
But I also think BB team did show their absolute best that they've been working towards this entire year
And it's nice to see a team that has historically done well during the regular season
That's now ramping up at the right time. It seems like they've fixed some classic issues for them here
Yeah, and I like that they came in today with very clear ideas and things that we didn't
maybe see them do before, like the Nagasiren, and with their vision they were able to execute
it very well and very easily.
In fact, it looked almost too easy in that game too, because the draft was a bit more
even, but it did feel like they always had that one step in that mid-game over.
Team Nygma, and you wouldn't expect it to be that way potentially, especially if there's
a timbersaw in the game versus that kind of heroes, but it wasn't even close.
was not and you know the kill score at some point it looked kind of even but at the end
of the day I think the majority of the skirmishes that we saw all took place either in the middle
of the map or on the side of Nick my galaxy I felt like PB's side of the map was never
Brian in contention.
Yeah it feels like there's so many ways to lose the game right now there's so many ways
to lose the draft and you talk about like what the game looks like and the mirror said
earlier the draft is half of it and executing is the other half but for me it's like
We saw the Shadow Shaman come out and we're wondering why
Why Shadow Shaman? We've hardly seen this hero at all and Mira said oh it might be a preemptive counter to the puck
And it's like when you have the answers already picked in your draft and you also have a very run at you line up
You're gonna have decent lane matchups. You have centaur start our case if this is not the like the signature
Low cooldown we're gonna be up in your face for the entirety of the game. I don't know what is I just looking at the heroes on paper
I think they tried to pick Timbersaw as like a hero that can
Sustain through that or be durable enough, but I don't think there's such thing and yeah, BB team
They just brought the they brought the heat constant
They made some really great plays too off the back of GBK Slardar and he said in the interview
He doesn't like playing me here so much
But he'll do it for his team and it was super valuable in this game because this Timbersaw that we talked about is like the one
Strong hero in nigma's draft at some point
Cruces getting blink stun by the Sardar, killed by that Kez, or blink stun by the Suntorn,
just getting that damage at so much by Sardar's ulti that we couldn't really feel his presence
in that early game. And I'm not cascaded into them just feeling really weak in the mid game
on Nigma. Yeah, a tough game for them for sure. Potentially the break that they had was killer
as well, because we definitely did not see them at their best, but that's the reality of it. You
You have to be able to perform at any time on any stage, especially with single elimination.
You've got to do everything you can to be as prepared as you can be.
I also think it's a bit of that extra flair of creativity. It's a combination.
It's like, yeah, GBK said they didn't steal it, but they weren't picking Lina earlier on in this event.
That means you have to be able to kind of take inspiration from what other teams are doing.
And also, it's like GBK has always played Lina historically.
It's not like he learned the hero for the sake of the game that he won today.
It's this extra layer on top of the meta that we always talk about.
You have a long group stage, you're already on like the fourth day of the playoffs,
and the teams that I've been seeing winning, especially Vici Gaming with the upset earlier
and BB Team as well, is they just seem to have that extra spark of creativity.
The one little curveball that the other team didn't really factor in,
it just played a huge role in the draft.
Yeah, you said, Brian, during the draft when the Centaur came out,
This is for you the hero that is very much shaping the tournament
But there's another hero on the rise that is very much shaping this tournament
We saw yesterday Malabi crush on it and talking about the undying
I believe there's a couple of dying clips if you want to highlight specifically because of this
Yeah, I want to talk about the fact that teams like BB team
They always have answers to what the other team is doing and this game
We felt like Nigma Galaxy did not have answers
So in this first clip you're just gonna see that their fiends gripping the slaughter here
And there's a tombstone at the bottom of our screen
And this is meant to be a three-man game from Nigma Galaxy, but meantime, instead of being able to focus the slaughter,
they feel like they have to back off and instead retreat at the center, obviously, to stampede and take him to safety,
get saved in position to lock down Lornaff on the puck.
But this was kind of the story of every single play that Nigma tried to make, when the game was still even.
So if we take the next clip, you're going to see that Kata Omi, in order to take the tower, just lays a tombstone down.
And I'm just going to fast forward a little bit through this as like Nigma Galaxy, they just avoid the Tombstone entirely.
They're lingering, they're lingering, they're lingering, they're going to wait for that Tombstone to finally end.
And they're like, okay, I guess we're now allowed to go.
And they do manage to get the kill on Miro, but this is, this is kind of the fight scenario that they're in.
And this is a problem being posed by a five position hero, not, not a core.
And this is an example of, okay, we're going to get a kill on save.
maybe a little bit of a mish-bush-whack by Omar, but there's also a GH bang coming in
and the Tombstone saved and the puck. And I guess we're just going to walk away now
is the option and save who's a low HP support gets saved by the Tombstone. And the reason why
it's so important, I think, to highlight this is because Ningma Galaxy had the Undying in Game 1,
they had the Shard saved, but the answers that BB Team drafted towards it, the Naga illusions,
to quickly kill the song to take it out. It's just such a different such a difference on paper
when you naturally have those answers within the abilities of the heroes you know the itemize
around it or anything like that. And he did all of that while also setting up his safe lane for
success. Of course. We did also choose an MPP and it is that safe lane and you got to give it to
Kiritich in this series. Great Kes, great Naga Siren performance, FE well deserved. Yeah he played
fantastically on that Kes. At some point the game looked kind of stable in terms of how the lanes
But the second Kiritich joined on his cause when he TP'd mid and got the fight, we're like, okay, he entered the game.
And after that, it felt like any play that they made with their double blink setups in the center or in the slaughter,
Kiritich was there to dish out the damage.
And this is a hero that I would say is in his like top three carry heroes, period.
So you have to think about this cause coming in, it's scary.
And now you have to think about the novel after your team that likes to run summons and likes to run lakens and peace monsters.
Yeah, I like character a lot. He kind of reminds me of
Christolus in the sense that he has these like signature heroes like we even picked bloodseeker during the group stage
He'll just whip them out when it feels like a good game for them
And he thinks it enables the team in some way and then he also has but he also has like his meta staples that he's just gonna go
To when it's just a good hero in the game
And he needs to be the one blind picking in setting up GPK and this is similar like as well as as well as the Vylamma
Like all these meat shields that are supposed to be tanky strength heroes
they just don't look like it.
Alright, I just watched Vayne get one tapped.
Like, that's the saddest thing.
That's the life that...
That's the life.
Yeah, that is what happens.
But this game, like, as it progressed, it did feel like
which team had the tankier heroes could take fights more easily.
There was a double heart.
There was one on the Slardar, and there was one on the Centaur,
and they were able to get gone on by the Tiny,
and then disengaged pretty comfortably.
Shout out to the cart as well from the Centaur.
But they disengaged, and they were able to go back in,
whereas every time Ningmo were gone on,
The disengage was just the end of it.
There was not really a comfortable way for them to kite around and take that fight.
Yeah, and just like that, we are losing one more team.
Nigma Galaxy, get eliminated here.
For some final words on the team, we're heading over to GH.
Hello, I'm here with GH of Nigma Gaming.
Guys, had a tough 2-0 right now.
How are you feeling?
Feeling good.
Excited to be here.
Oh, okay. No bad feelings. You didn't expect to go farther.
Of course, I would have wished to go further, but it is what it is.
How do you feel like the break affected you guys? I've been talking about with other players.
Amar felt that he was upset that he didn't get to play for five days. It felt like it made them
rustier. Maybe do you feel like that affected you guys at all?
I wouldn't be able to say whether it affected us or not. It's a bit too random to quantify exactly
what's the consequences of the braille part.
Gotcha. All right, well, let's talk about the games a little bit. Game one,
you guys got that Naga Siren that you had to play against. What was that like? Because it felt like,
at least the analysts were thinking, felt like the perfect pick in that position.
Yeah, it was a really good pick and it struggled us a bit, but I thought we had some good chances.
Okay, game number two, Slardar lineup, tons of minus armor, physical damage. That game was definitely
a lot closer. What do you think was like the crucial parts in the game that led to your loss?
I think some teamfights we didn't really execute them correctly and then maybe a bit
gameplay around the map was not ideal so it cost us the game.
Kautra, well I know you're captain positive, you're always generally happy what's your
outlook for the next couple weeks as you prepare for TI.
I think we're going to take a small break for the moment and then maybe in a week or
so get back to the grind and then prepare harder for TI.
Okay, well that sounds great.
Any words for the fans out there? I know they're very happy to see you here. Excited you guys have more tournaments coming up.
Well, of course. Thank you for the support as always. And I wish we can deliver more in the future.
Alright, well thank you for joining me, GH, and good luck in your upcoming tournament.
Thank you.
I think coming top 8 here for Nigma Galaxy is also a great promise for going forward.
This iteration of the roster hasn't been around for that long, so maybe they get eliminated here,
but top eight is still a very strong result, Brian.
Yeah, I might be projecting a bit,
but that was a less joyful looking GH than I'm used to seeing.
Like, I know he was still remaining very positive,
but I feel like I can tell in GH's way
that that loss did suck, quite frankly,
that they wish to have gone further,
and I'm sure they're happy to have been here,
and they're happy with their group stage performance.
But I just feel like there is more for this team to give
than what we saw in this best of two.
And I think anybody in his position
and also as a spectator that we were rooting for them,
not because we don't like BB team,
but because Nigma finally might have been back.
But yeah, it was just hard to watch that interview
because I think GH, such a positive influence on the scene
and you tell it to about a little bit out of them here.
Yeah, but he mentioned they were gonna take a break,
which I think will be very good for them.
Like they qualified for TI and that was quite the slug fest
and it taught them a lot too.
Here they went 9 and 1 in their group and you know losing to BB team
That's not anything to be ashamed of there's such a strong team and could potentially make it all the way to the gun finals
And I think taking a bike resetting you know getting your reps and maybe expanding your carry hero pools
Gonna help you a lot moving to TI very very true
It does leave us with four teams here in Paris the top four is known
Yandex, P-Vision, Vici Gaming, and now also BVTeam joining that top four, meaning we can
already kind of gauge what potentially might happen because we know guaranteed either BVTeam
or Vici from the grand finals, same thing goes for Yandex and P-Vision and I just want
to quickly look ahead a little bit.
Of course, tomorrow is when the semi-finals will happen, Brian.
Your thoughts on them?
My thoughts are that during the group stage, I thought Team Yandex and P-Vision were just
a far above all, like with the way that they were just absolutely destroying their groups.
It wasn't just wins, they were absolutely manhandling everybody.
So we talked about Team Yandex versus Team Spirit being like the potential quarter Grand
Finals.
I also think this is...
Quarter...
Or Grand Quarter Finals was what it was.
I think this is basically the Grand Semifinals and that's not trying to take away anything
from BB vs Vici, but I do believe the winner of that series will inevitably be the underdog
going into the finals.
Well, we got a touch up on BB vs Vici as well because I think Vici Gaming already here top
four, Effie.
It's a success story.
It is a success story.
I'm so excited.
I mean, XM Mid-Slark today, enough said, like they're feeling themselves at some point
watching Vici during the CWC at the start of it.
I felt like they didn't have that much confidence in themselves.
they weren't willing to really go outside of the box with their hero picks.
They were kind of picking, you know, cookie cutter heroes for Jean-Cu for XM.
But as they collected a couple of wins and made it through that survival stage,
all of a sudden there is the position for Zeus farming two Apears.
There is the midfler for XM.
I think they're going to take that confidence of going into the series versus BB tomorrow.
Yeah, BB also looked very scary today.
So curious to see what VT Gaming is going to come up with tomorrow.
But of course, all those semi-finals will take place tomorrow.
and that was it for here for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
If you missed any of today's action,
we got you covered because this is it for today,
but we'll of course leave you with the STC recap of today
and we'll see you tomorrow.
I