G-1 Western Qualifiers Recap May 4th, 2013 01:43 GMT Text by Kupon3ss Graphics by HawaiianPig Table of Contents



G-1 Western Quals Recap



TC On The Loose



Number Crunch with Kpoptosis



A Chat with Tony



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G-1 Western Quals Recap By TanGeng



The G-1 Champions League EU/NA Regional Qualifiers recently concluded with Alliance and Liquid coming away as the top two finishers. Both teams thus secured a berth and an expense-paid trip to Shanghai to play against the best teams of Asia at the LAN Finals. The EU/NA Regional Qualifier is the first competition of its kind, an online tournament among Western Dota 2 teams hosted by Chinese organizers. The host organisation, 17173.com, wanted to bring Western Dota to the Chinese audiences, and they have by and large succeeded. In that sense, the LAN finals is the ultimate cultural exchange project in that it is the one only opportunity for Eastern and Western teams to face off against each other before the Valve's The International. This valuable LAN experience was too good to pass up, and the top Western teams fought tooth-and-nail over the two coveted LAN slots. Over the course of the week, Western fans were treated to game after game of exciting Dota, albeit at a rather odd hour of the day, and the Chinese community got their first major look at top tier Western Dota.



Tournament in Review



Just as the Chinese geared up to get their first major glimpse of Western Dota, the tragedy of frequent DDOS attacks in Round 1 would mar their first impressions. After the games became unplayable, the tournament organizers, 17173.com, instituted a one week break in games with the hope that the week would give Western teams enough time to prepare various countermeasures. Their hopes were answered when the teams played the rest of the tournament successfully without a hitch. Overall, the tournament ended up only suffering a minor schedule delay of two days from the DDOS hiccup, and Chinese audiences were once again able to enjoy the Western brand of exciting, innovative, entertaining, surprising, and occasionally comical Dota.



Winner's Bracket (Ro8 #1) Liquid vs Evil Geniuses



The Liquid vs Evil Geniuses games introduced the power of Io and set the grounds for its first pick or first ban status among Western Teams. With Io in support of Sven in the first game, Evil Geniuses reversed an early deficit and racked up 23 kills on the heroic Sven as he cleaved through the fragile heroes of the Liquid lineup. In the second game, Liquid repeatedly sniped Io immediately before successfully kiting the carry Tiny with Gyrocopter and Clockwerk to secure the victory. In the third game, EG picked up a triple core of Templar Assassin, Gyrocopter, and Naix, and completely overran Liquid to take the match, sending Liquid down to the Loser's Bracket.



Winner's Bracket (Ro8 #2) Fnatic vs Kaipi



In this match, Kaipi treated audiences to two games with the rarely seen Ursa. The Chinese casters thoroughly enjoyed these games and Kaipi surely gained many fans in the process. In the first game, Fnatic limited the Ursa pick with Bane and created a huge advantage in the early game that eventually, after a long time, proved to be insurmountable for Kaipi. In the second game, Ursa with Venomancer in support snowballed with early kills and carried Kaipi to victory. In the final game, Kaipi returned to a more conventional Gyrocopter and Magnus lineup, but a poor showing from the Magnus allowed a more organized Fnatic to take the game and match.



Winner's Bracket (Ro8 #3) Alliance vs Mousesports



In the match between Alliance and Mousesports, Alliance flexed their muscles and exposed weaknesses in the Mousesports team. In the first game, Mousesports' rarely seen three core lineup was completely held in check by Alliance, and Loda's Anti-Mage easily carried in the late game. In the second game, Alliance pulled out an amazing level one Roshan and followed it up with a creep-skipping Aegis-carrying Axe. Axe was seen meting out death with Culling Blade by the 4th minute as Alliance pulled ahead with a large experience and gold lead. The game concluded in the 15th minute with Alliance completely blanking Mousesports, scoring 19 kills and taking the bottom set of barracks with it.



Winner's Bracket (Ro8 #4) Na`Vi vs Dignitas



In the match between Na`Vi and Dignitas, Chinese audiences were introduced to the concept of server and ping advantage in Western Dota. Of the three games between the Western NA and CIS team, all three would be won by the team with the server advantage. In game one, on their home server, Dignitas opened with a victory in a game where Sneyking's Templar Assassin snowballed from the 10th minute through to the 20th minute. In game two, it was Na`Vi's turn to dominate as they ran up early kills and completely crushed Sneyking's Storm Spirit. Dignitas gave up in the 15th minute as Na`Vi never let off the pressure, leading 15-3 in kills with Aegis in hand, threatening the high ground. In game three, Na`Vi once again won the middle lane and then successfully countered Io's global teleport ability for a clear victory, taking the match.



Winner's Bracket (Ro4 #1) Evil Geniuses vs Fnatic



For this match, Fnatic would treat Chinese audiences to Boots of Travels Storm Spirit and Rat Dota. The Chinese casters were greatly amused by the item selection and found the matches highly entertaining. In game one, Fnatic's combination of BoTs Storm Spirit and farming Anti-Mage gave them excellent mobility but no power stand in a direct fight. After 15 minutes of dodging and weaving, Fnatic managed to defend their towers and farm up an unstoppable Anti-Mage to take the victory. In game two, Fnatic would pair the same global Storm Spirit with a more battle worthy Naix. When Fnatic's mobile composition rounded into form, Fnatic would outgun EG in team fights between the 20th and 30th minute, as EG's Phantom Lancer could never get to the battles in time. Fnatic then converted the advantage into a victory and sent EG down into the Loser's bracket.



Winner's Bracket (Ro4 #2) Alliance vs Na`Vi



In the most anticipated match of the Winner's Bracket for Chinese audiences, featuring titans Loda and Puppey, it would be Alliance showing off Loda's hugely impressive farming skills. In game one, Alliance deployed the Io and Sven combo and supercharged Loda's farming rate at the 15th minute, pushing his income to nearly 1000 gold per minute after that mark. By the 30th minute, Loda was full slotted and took the victory in a straight forward high ground push attempt. In the second game, Loda once again farmed impressively but was matched by XBOCT's Anti-Mage throughout. Reminiscent of LGD-EHOME for the Chinese, both Loda and XBOCT were six slotted and banking thousands of gold. In the end, it would be the supporting cast that decided the game, as Na`Vi's other four players successfully stalled Alliance while Anti-Mage quickly took barracks. In the last game of the match, Na`Vi's offensive trilane of Rubick, Jakiro, and Tinker failed and gave Alliance a huge victory on all the lanes. Consolidating their dominance, Alliance farmed safely and finally took the victory in the 44th minute.



Winner's Bracket (Final) Fnatic vs Alliance



In the Winner's Bracket Final, with instant qualification on the line, Fnatic tried twice to break the formidable Alliance, first with an unconventional lineup, and then with KotL PL. In the first game, Fnatic fielded a rarely seen hard support Dark Seer and a lineup based on huge team-fight AoE spells, with Reverse Polarity, Calldown, Ravage, Vacuum, and Wall. The full potential of their abilities never materialised and Alliances' advantage in the lanes with a heavy pushing lineup took the game in the 25 minute. In the second game, Alliance overran Fnatic with a dual roaming support pair of Shadow Demon and Leshrac, securing a nearly insurmountable lead. However, Alliance eventually dropped the pressure, and with that chance, Fnatic slowly fought their way back into the game via ganks with Storm Spirit. While Fnatic would lose three barracks in the process, their Phantom Lancer slowly accumulated enough items to dominate. The comeback was cut short by a bad attempt at sniping Roshan in the 40th minute that decisively lost them the fight and the game shortly after.



Loser's Bracket (Ro4 #1) Liquid vs Kaipi



Liquid stomped Kaipi in two straight forward games that saw Kaipi make mistakes that Liquid mercilessly punished. In the first game, Liquid won the three lanes decisively; Naix completely shut down the opposing Lone Druid, Clockwerk scored first blood on the enemy support Rubick, and Templar Assassin led over Magnus. By the 17th minute, Liquid was diving past tier 3 towers for kills and Kaipi tapped out in the 21st minute. The play that exemplified Kaipi's showing was Magnus' Reverse Polarity and Skewer kill attempt on Templar Assassin that saw Refraction absorb all of the damage. In the second game, Kaipi put up more of a fight, but Liquid's superior team coordination picked Kaipi apart after 10 minutes. After losing four straight team fights, Kaipi tapped out of the game in the 26th minute. The play that summed up this game was when Magnus and Naix initiated with Reverse Polarity and Infest on Liquid just as Faceless Void Timewalked out of the battlefield.



Loser's Bracket (Ro4 #2) Dignitas vs Mousesports



In Dignitas vs Mousesports, Dignitas again opted to play two games with Sneyking's snowballing Templar Assassin. In game one, the hero utterly tore apart Mousesports with the help of Dark Seer's surge and won them the game in the 19th minute. In game two, the Templar Assassin was completely shut down and had no presence in the game. Dignitas couldn't put up a fight against Mousesports and ceded the victory in the 30th minute. Game three was more back and forth as Mousesports had numerous chances to win the game early had Jakiro only hit better Icepaths. As the game went late, Dignitas' dual core of Gyrocopter and Luna outclassed Mousesports' single Phantom Lancer. Combined with good play from their Rubick, Dignitas secured the game in the 42nd minute.



Loser's Bracket (Ro4 Drop-Downs #1) Liquid vs Na`Vi



Against Na`Vi, Liquid once again flexed their muscles in both early and middle game team coordination and execution. In game one, Liquid quickly took the lead with three immediate kills in the bottom lane. As the game progress, Liquid's Beastmaster movement was spot on for ganks and team-fights, leading to a 11-3 kill advantage and Liquid's Lina having massive net worth from kills. Liquid would take the game in 32 minutes. In the second game, Liquid's organisation showed quick reinforcement responses to Na`Vi gank attempts and Liquid repeatedly scored kills on the gankers. Their Templar Assassin would proceed to snowball and the game ended in the 24th minute in Liquid's favor.



Loser's Bracket (Ro4 Drop-Downs #2) Dignitas vs Evil Geniuses



In this matchup, Chinese audiences were treated to two back and forth games, straight out of NA Dota. The first game featured the matchup of a gank-oriented lineup from EG verses a team-fight oriented one from Dignitas. The two teams toyed and baited each other with Dignitas getting the upper hand by scoring numerous successful ultimate combinations for kills while EG never fully realized the potential of their Storm and Naix pairing. When EG finally did its Storm Naix combination, they found a kill on a wayward Magnus, completely reversing the game. In game two, Dignitas appeared to be all set to run away with the victory after the Io and Chaos Knight had a great start against the enemy Templar Assassin. However, EG was able to shutdown the teleporting heroes with multiple quality uses of Icepath and steadily turned the game around. Dignitas tapped out of the game after losing all its heroes and the middle set of barracks in the 42nd minute.



Loser's Bracket (Ro2) Liquid vs Evil Geniuses



In the Liquid versus Evil Geniuses match up, Liquid solidly took down game one but suffered some drama before taking game two. Initially behind after EG caught Liquid's heroes out of position early, Liquid reversed the fortunes of the game with a team-fight around the 15th minute. After teamwiping EG, Liquid dismantled two sets of barracks and reached a straight forward victory. In the second game, Liquid held the lead for 30 minutes but their Luna and Templar Assassin pairing could not find a way onto EG's high ground against the defense of Phantom Lancer and Magnus. An opening appeared for EG when Liquid's Clockwerk early initiation caused Templar Assassin to fall early, allowing EG to dismantle two sets of barracks. Fortune then reversed completely after four EG heroes were caught staying too long in the Liquid base. Another early initiation, this time by EG, resulted in Templar Assassin having free reign to do huge amounts of damage. Liquid went straight for the throne to close out a thoroughly entertaining game.



Loser's Bracket (Final) Liquid vs Fnatic



With the final qualification spot on the line, Liquid once again came away with a 2-0 victory to complete their blazing undefeated run through the Loser's Bracket. In game one, Liquid and Fnatic matched up early game push versus early game fighting compositions, and Liquid decisively won the lanes, the battles, and the game. In game two, Fnatic picked a dual core strategy of Nature's Prophet and Sven, choosing to take the game late. In the one instance where Sven was not Cog-blocked by Clockwerk, Sven showed that Gyrocopter was not a hero that could stand up his awesome auto-attack damage. However, on the doorsteps of victory on Liquid's high ground, Fnatic would be struck by a timely Clockwerk Cogs counter-initiation that saw Nature's Prophet dead and Sven locked out of position to fight with Gyrocopter. At the other end of the map moments later, Liquid took a messy battle against the disorganized Fnatic defense to win the game and secure the second qualification spot.







TC on the Loose By Tangeng









First of all, congratulations on qualifying for the G-1 Champions League LAN finals in Shanghai. How does it feel right now?

Thanks! It feels amazing, especially after being knocked into the Losers' Bracket in Round 1. I'm very excited about going to China as I've never been there before.



Let's talk more about your trek through the Loser's Bracket later. Right now, on behalf of all Liquid fans, I must ask - Why are your games so stressful?

Haha, it's definitely been that way the last week, some games it can just be a result of the heroes like vs EG when they had PL, and at other times we have just tried to stay calm and do what we can to make a comeback.





As you said, Liquid dropped in to loser's bracket in round 1. How did the team react to the loss to EG?

I think most of all we were disappointed in our level of play in that first series against EG. We knew we weren't eliminated yet and still had a shot of qualifying, but also knew it would be much harder.



So, you were able to bunker down and focus on your next opponent immediately?

Yeah, we picked more heroes our players were more comfortable playing, and KP also had a much more predictable draft than EG, which made us more confident.



In the longer through the Loser's Bracket, you defeated Kaipi, Navi, EG, and Fnatic, in successive high tension eliminations matches. Which opponent did you fear the most and which opponent ended up being the most challenging for the team?

Navi was probably the most intimidating opponent, but after beating them I was most worried about our match against EG because of their unpredictability and playstyle against us. Our matches against them were the most difficult.



That's interesting. What aspect of EG's playstyle has been so challenging?

The way they draft is a big part of it, but losing to them in two matches earlier benefits us with regards to that. They also have players capable of making big plays on heroes like Magnus.





The G-1 League was a chance for the Chinese audience to see Western Dota, and throughout the qualifiers, one of the Chinese casters, a very famous ex-pro 2009, singled you out as the most solid carry player and the best all round player alongside Loda. What do you make of that assessment coming from the Chinese?

It's definitely an honour to be considered one of the best in the Western scene by the Chinese. Hopefully I can keep up that level of play against the Eastern teams.



At the same time, 2009 also questioned your Assault Cuirass purchase in the final game against Fnatic, echoing the opinions of other spectators and commentators. He thought that you really should have purchased a butterfly. What was the rationale behind picking up the AC in that situation?

Butterfly would have been a better item choice earlier on, likely instead of crit, but at the point in the game that I bought AC, I was most focused on staying alive as long as possible in the event that I was the hero initiated on/focused/sheeped and I thought the armor from AC would help the most against that. I wanted to prevent myself dying in 1-2 seconds before my team could counter initiate.





TC, for a long time you've been the carry with the least amount of deaths per game. Your numbers have depreciated a bit since of late, but you're still one of the most solid carry players in this aspect. What is the secret behind this?

I tend to have a more patient playstyle while still trying to maximize farm while keeping up map awareness. Also, positioning in engagements/team fights is crucial in preventing deaths.



In a few weeks, you will be grouped against Asian powerhouses iG, LGD, DK, and Orange. Which teams of these teams are you most looking forward to testing your strength against?

I'm looking forward to playing against all of the teams, but probably iG most of all. It will be interesting to see the two scenes play each other before TI3.



Since you've never visited China, are making any plans to do anything else while you are there?

Nothing planned yet. We don't know how busy our schedule will be once we arrive. If there is time I would like to do some sight seeing though.



OK, one final question. You are one of the most chilled out, low-key players in the Western Scene. Tell us something wild and unexpected about yourself.

I used to enjoy going camping when I was younger, but lately I haven't had the time to do so.



Thank you so much for answer our questions today. Do you have any last words that you'd like to say to everyone?

Thanks to all our fans for supporting us, and a shoutout to our sponsors Twitch, Razer, Shinythings and Barracuda Networks. You can follow me on twitter @LiquidTC and on twitch at twitch.tv/liquidtc!







Number Crunch: Toppling Towers By Kpoptosis







The G-1 Qualifiers were an action packed slate of games across the board. Teams were pulling out all the stops in the name of making it to China for the main event, and brought out unique strategies and utilised aggressive playstyles. These levels of aggressiveness, particularly the unexpected amounts I observed in the Eastern Qualifiers, motivated me to look into how much winning the early game affects a team’s chances over the full course of the game. Is it “Shock and Awe” or “Slow and Steady” that destroys ancients?



What I found was extremely intriguing, but not entirely unexpected. In the Western Qualifiers, the team who took the first tower down (a “first tower kill” was considered a team destroying a tower without a retaliatory tower kill by the other team within 15 seconds) went on to win the game 78% of the time. That number stood strong at 75% when taking into account both Western and Eastern qualifiers. That’s pretty remarkable considering that that on average, the first tower fell at the 9:58 mark. Taking into account that the average professional match lasts approximately 37 minutes, that means that 75% of professional Dota games in these qualifiers were decided within the first quarter of the game. This suggests that the farm-fest days of old that IceFrog has worked so hard to counter have officially retired, at least for this tournament.



But what makes these early tower kills so important? Typically, tower kills are seen as being important due to the map control it grants as well as allowing for easier ganks deeper into the enemy's territory. Tower kills also provide a flat rate of gold to cash-strapped supports who can’t rely on creed farming for their income. Additionally, the team that took the first tower went on to kill the big guy Roshan 80% of the time over both qualifiers. That’s quite the lopsided rate.



The tower itself isn’t the only indicator for early game success though, as there’s a lot going on before then. In 68% of matches, teams that took first blood would capitalize and move on to take the first tower, cementing their dominance of the early game. After taking that first tower, those teams held an average kill score lead of 1.9 kills and would coast into the mid-game with a serious Gold and XP advantage from hero kills and tower sieges.



According to these insights, there seems to be a lot of agreement that early game success is vital to winning the game. Where the Western and Eastern scene appear to disagree, however, is in regards to which lane to push first. In Western Qualifier games, the enemy hard lane tower (e.g. the pushing team pushes through their safe lane and into the enemy’s hard lane to take the tower) seemed to be the one with the biggest target on its back, as it fell first in 54% of games. In contrast, Eastern teams seemed to be more attracted to the enemy safe lane tower, as evidenced by it falling first in 50% of games. After contemplating, this makes a lot of sense. Lane composition is very important in regards to where and when the first tower falls and the two scenes have varying preferences on where to place their heroes. Western teams seem to prefer defensive tri-lanes that send a carry and two supports to their safe lane more often than the aggressive version of the trilane which takes place in the hard lane. Consequently, these defensive trilanes typically perform well in the laning phase, especially when against a hero soloing the hard lane, and they often push through and take their enemy’s hard lane tower quickly to give their carry and supports some early gold. Eastern teams, however, are more likely to run an aggressive trilane, which focuses on securing kills and pushing the enemy’s safe lane tower in order to cripple the farming potential of that lane.



What is interesting to observe is how these strategies correlate to winning games. In Western matches, when a team pushed down the enemy’s hard lane tower first, the most common occurrence, they had a 79% winrate. Alternatively, when Eastern teams pushed down their preferred tower, the enemy safe lane tower, they had 64% winrate, which was lower than both their Western counterparts and the overall winrate.



Eastern teams did push the mid tower more effectively though, taking it twice as often as Western teams. This is a particularly efficient strategy as the mid tower is arguably the most important to take early, as it is vital for river and Roshan control, as well as representing the most direct path to the enemy’s ancient. This importance is evidenced by it granting a 90% winrate to teams who pushed it down first across both qualifiers. Despite the high winrate for teams that push it down first, mid towers were the first to fall in only 13% of games across both qualifiers. This could be due to bottle crowing making middle lane much more of a stalemate game, roaming supports constantly helping their mid-laner, or a combination of these and other factors. Regardless, the mid tower seems to be an extremely difficult one to siege effectively in the early game.



The most common choice for each side is highlighted in white.



Who says Eastern dota is slow? The first tower fell 51 seconds faster in the Eastern Qualifiers than in Western Qualifiers. Eastern teams arguably played more aggressive than their Western counterparts in this qualifying stage, ganking early and often with trilane supports and diligently pushing. Although Eastern teams do have a reputation for playing the game much more deliberately and with much more precision, but that shouldn’t be construed as lack of aggression, as evidenced by iG’s early game dominance in the few games they had to play in the Eastern Qualifier.



As the southern gangsta rapper Ludacris once eloquently stated, “I feel like we need more aggression today.” Well, Luda (who may actually be the long lost brother of Alliance’s Loda), it seems as if your wish has been granted, at least in the world of competitive Dota. Teams were rewarded extravagantly for aggressive early game play in the G-1 qualifiers and it made for some very entertaining Dota. We can only hope this trend continues into the G-1 League LAN finals, which will see the heavyweights of both Western and Eastern scenes fighting head-to-head for supremacy. That all starts in just three weeks.



Note: Sample size was 37 for the Western Qualifiers and 43 for the Eastern Qualifiers. All comparative metrics, including tower fall time, had a p-value of >0.05.







A Chat with Tony By kupon3ss









Hi Tony, thank you for being here. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Hi, everybody, I am Tony, a host and commentator for G-1. Everybody seems to have given me a lot of nicknames?



As one of the commentators for this G-1, how do you feel about having a respite after the hurricane-like pacing of the event?

The games did indeed run closely for my first time. I'm a bit tired both physically and mentally, but this is the path I've chosen. I love the game and I love the competition. These few days I've returned to Shanghai to relax a bit.



A lot of eventful things have happened this tournament, what do you enjoy doing outside of preparing for and commentating the event?

To be Honest? That has to be sleeping. Since the last things I did during the days were commentating the tournament and news releases, I'm very tired afterwards ~ of course the excitement from the games kept me awake!



You've worked with many different commentators, would you like to critique your own style?

My style is ----- Miss ALL THE KILLS! zzzZZZ.



G-1 League is the only truly Global League aside from the International, are you satisfied with the organization?

For this season of G-1 League we've definitely made a brave experiment to extend the scope of the tournament abroad. This is all thanks to Felix and Tuski. Felix and Tuski's English and international experience pushed this G-1 to the next level. Online Western qualifiers do have a lot of things that are difficult to controll. For example, we were attacked by hackers during the games, which caused us no small headache.



We believe that this G-1 has a lot of places that we can still improve. At the same time I also believe that as organizers, we cannot bask in self-satisfaction. The pursuit of ever loftier goals is the fount of our continual advancement. We believe that the next seasons of G-1 will be better. Of course I also wish that the viewers can forgive our current shortcomings, we will become better.



You've gained a lot of insight on Western teams from the EU/NA qualifiers, what do you think the biggest differences between them and Asian teams are?

Western teams are very willing to use new tactics and lineups, those are also the biggest reasons the audience likes them. Western tournaments are also very exciting as a result.



What are your thoughts on Alliance and Liquid?

First, congratulations to Alliance and Liquid. Second, I think every team is worthy of admiration, it is regrettable that many strong teams didn't clinch the trip to China. It was no accident that Alliance and Liquid made it to the LAN finals. These two teams have not only convincing strength, but the confidence, resilience, and teamwork combined with their iron will which are the keys to their victories.



Did any other teams make deep impressions?

Of course, Fear's veteran play. Demon is still a highly skilled SOLO. Black is a carry of unbridled potential. Kaipi's dominating Ursa. Na'Vi's need for excitement and vitality! Dignitas and Fnatic were but a step away from proving themselves amongst the elite teams.



What were the most unforgettable memories of the tournament?

There were 3 instances engraved into my mind. Black's Gyro Rampage! H4nn1's BoT Storm comeback! and finally Loda using Sven the messenger of JUSTICE to 1v5 (TL Note：Loda's ingame name often contains the Chinese characters for Justice at the end)



Which teams do you favor at the LAN finals?

The teams who have made it to the LAN finals are all exceptional. Aside from strength, performance and mental state are very important. I like all of the teams.





The LAN finals will take place between the 24-26th in Shanghai, can we look forward to any special surprises?

We will film introduction videos for each team, it'll be very cool!



Is there anything else you want to say to overseas Dota fans?

(Translator's note: the following was said in English.)

Enjoy DotA and your life!



Thank you, Tony, for accepting Teamliquid's Interview, See you in Shanghai for the Finals!

Thanks for the Interview, see you in Shanghai!





Writers: TanGeng, Kupon3ss

Trial Writer: Kpoptosis

Gfx: Hawaiianpig, Heyoka

Editors: riptide, TheEmulator, Kupon3ss, Firebolt145

We've wrapped up the month-long final stage of the G-1 Western Qualifiers with Liquid and Alliance securing two slots in the LAN tournament. They will join the victors of the Asian Qualifier , iG, Orange, LGD and DK, for the LAN finals on the 24-26th of May.First off, we have the Western Qualifier recap for you. Tangeng brings you a special interview of the normally elusive TC , looking back at the qualifiers and forward to China and Seattle. Then, our apprentice statistician Kpoptosis talks about the effects of taking fast towers. Finally, we have an interview with Tony, the dedicated and ever-present G-1 Caster and organizer. Here, kupon3ss talks to him about his experience with Western Dota , along with the arduous path and fond memories of the Qualifiers.Want more interviews from the quals? G-1 has conducted a lot of English interviews for its Western audience. Go G-1!The G-1 Champions League EU/NA Regional Qualifiers recently concluded with Alliance and Liquid coming away as the top two finishers. Both teams thus secured a berth and an expense-paid trip to Shanghai to play against the best teams of Asia at the LAN Finals. The EU/NA Regional Qualifier is the first competition of its kind, an online tournament among Western Dota 2 teams hosted by Chinese organizers. The host organisation, 17173.com, wanted to bring Western Dota to the Chinese audiences, and they have by and large succeeded. In that sense, the LAN finals is the ultimate cultural exchange project in that it is the one only opportunity for Eastern and Western teams to face off against each other before the Valve's The International. This valuable LAN experience was too good to pass up, and the top Western teams fought tooth-and-nail over the two coveted LAN slots. Over the course of the week, Western fans were treated to game after game of exciting Dota, albeit at a rather odd hour of the day, and the Chinese community got their first major look at top tier Western Dota.Just as the Chinese geared up to get their first major glimpse of Western Dota, the tragedy of frequent DDOS attacks in Round 1 would mar their first impressions. After the games became unplayable, the tournament organizers, 17173.com, instituted a one week break in games with the hope that the week would give Western teams enough time to prepare various countermeasures. Their hopes were answered when the teams played the rest of the tournament successfully without a hitch. Overall, the tournament ended up only suffering a minor schedule delay of two days from the DDOS hiccup, and Chinese audiences were once again able to enjoy the Western brand of exciting, innovative, entertaining, surprising, and occasionally comical Dota.The Liquid vs Evil Geniuses games introduced the power of Io and set the grounds for its first pick or first ban status among Western Teams. With Io in support of Sven in the first game, Evil Geniuses reversed an early deficit and racked up 23 kills on the heroic Sven as he cleaved through the fragile heroes of the Liquid lineup. In the second game, Liquid repeatedly sniped Io immediately before successfully kiting the carry Tiny with Gyrocopter and Clockwerk to secure the victory. In the third game, EG picked up a triple core of Templar Assassin, Gyrocopter, and Naix, and completely overran Liquid to take the match, sending Liquid down to the Loser's Bracket.In this match, Kaipi treated audiences to two games with the rarely seen Ursa. The Chinese casters thoroughly enjoyed these games and Kaipi surely gained many fans in the process. In the first game, Fnatic limited the Ursa pick with Bane and created a huge advantage in the early game that eventually, after a long time, proved to be insurmountable for Kaipi. In the second game, Ursa with Venomancer in support snowballed with early kills and carried Kaipi to victory. In the final game, Kaipi returned to a more conventional Gyrocopter and Magnus lineup, but a poor showing from the Magnus allowed a more organized Fnatic to take the game and match.In the match between Alliance and Mousesports, Alliance flexed their muscles and exposed weaknesses in the Mousesports team. In the first game, Mousesports' rarely seen three core lineup was completely held in check by Alliance, and Loda's Anti-Mage easily carried in the late game. In the second game, Alliance pulled out an amazing level one Roshan and followed it up with a creep-skipping Aegis-carrying Axe. Axe was seen meting out death with Culling Blade by the 4th minute as Alliance pulled ahead with a large experience and gold lead. The game concluded in the 15th minute with Alliance completely blanking Mousesports, scoring 19 kills and taking the bottom set of barracks with it.In the match between Na`Vi and Dignitas, Chinese audiences were introduced to the concept of server and ping advantage in Western Dota. Of the three games between the Western NA and CIS team, all three would be won by the team with the server advantage. In game one, on their home server, Dignitas opened with a victory in a game where Sneyking's Templar Assassin snowballed from the 10th minute through to the 20th minute. In game two, it was Na`Vi's turn to dominate as they ran up early kills and completely crushed Sneyking's Storm Spirit. Dignitas gave up in the 15th minute as Na`Vi never let off the pressure, leading 15-3 in kills with Aegis in hand, threatening the high ground. In game three, Na`Vi once again won the middle lane and then successfully countered Io's global teleport ability for a clear victory, taking the match.For this match, Fnatic would treat Chinese audiences to Boots of Travels Storm Spirit and Rat Dota. The Chinese casters were greatly amused by the item selection and found the matches highly entertaining. In game one, Fnatic's combination of BoTs Storm Spirit and farming Anti-Mage gave them excellent mobility but no power stand in a direct fight. After 15 minutes of dodging and weaving, Fnatic managed to defend their towers and farm up an unstoppable Anti-Mage to take the victory. In game two, Fnatic would pair the same global Storm Spirit with a more battle worthy Naix. When Fnatic's mobile composition rounded into form, Fnatic would outgun EG in team fights between the 20th and 30th minute, as EG's Phantom Lancer could never get to the battles in time. Fnatic then converted the advantage into a victory and sent EG down into the Loser's bracket.In the most anticipated match of the Winner's Bracket for Chinese audiences, featuring titans Loda and Puppey, it would be Alliance showing off Loda's hugely impressive farming skills. In game one, Alliance deployed the Io and Sven combo and supercharged Loda's farming rate at the 15th minute, pushing his income to nearly 1000 gold per minute after that mark. By the 30th minute, Loda was full slotted and took the victory in a straight forward high ground push attempt. In the second game, Loda once again farmed impressively but was matched by XBOCT's Anti-Mage throughout. Reminiscent of LGD-EHOME for the Chinese, both Loda and XBOCT were six slotted and banking thousands of gold. In the end, it would be the supporting cast that decided the game, as Na`Vi's other four players successfully stalled Alliance while Anti-Mage quickly took barracks. In the last game of the match, Na`Vi's offensive trilane of Rubick, Jakiro, and Tinker failed and gave Alliance a huge victory on all the lanes. Consolidating their dominance, Alliance farmed safely and finally took the victory in the 44th minute.In the Winner's Bracket Final, with instant qualification on the line, Fnatic tried twice to break the formidable Alliance, first with an unconventional lineup, and then with KotL PL. In the first game, Fnatic fielded a rarely seen hard support Dark Seer and a lineup based on huge team-fight AoE spells, with Reverse Polarity, Calldown, Ravage, Vacuum, and Wall. The full potential of their abilities never materialised and Alliances' advantage in the lanes with a heavy pushing lineup took the game in the 25 minute. In the second game, Alliance overran Fnatic with a dual roaming support pair of Shadow Demon and Leshrac, securing a nearly insurmountable lead. However, Alliance eventually dropped the pressure, and with that chance, Fnatic slowly fought their way back into the game via ganks with Storm Spirit. While Fnatic would lose three barracks in the process, their Phantom Lancer slowly accumulated enough items to dominate. The comeback was cut short by a bad attempt at sniping Roshan in the 40th minute that decisively lost them the fight and the game shortly after.Liquid stomped Kaipi in two straight forward games that saw Kaipi make mistakes that Liquid mercilessly punished. In the first game, Liquid won the three lanes decisively; Naix completely shut down the opposing Lone Druid, Clockwerk scored first blood on the enemy support Rubick, and Templar Assassin led over Magnus. By the 17th minute, Liquid was diving past tier 3 towers for kills and Kaipi tapped out in the 21st minute. The play that exemplified Kaipi's showing was Magnus' Reverse Polarity and Skewer kill attempt on Templar Assassin that saw Refraction absorb all of the damage. In the second game, Kaipi put up more of a fight, but Liquid's superior team coordination picked Kaipi apart after 10 minutes. After losing four straight team fights, Kaipi tapped out of the game in the 26th minute. The play that summed up this game was when Magnus and Naix initiated with Reverse Polarity and Infest on Liquid just as Faceless Void Timewalked out of the battlefield.In Dignitas vs Mousesports, Dignitas again opted to play two games with Sneyking's snowballing Templar Assassin. In game one, the hero utterly tore apart Mousesports with the help of Dark Seer's surge and won them the game in the 19th minute. In game two, the Templar Assassin was completely shut down and had no presence in the game. Dignitas couldn't put up a fight against Mousesports and ceded the victory in the 30th minute. Game three was more back and forth as Mousesports had numerous chances to win the game early had Jakiro only hit better Icepaths. As the game went late, Dignitas' dual core of Gyrocopter and Luna outclassed Mousesports' single Phantom Lancer. Combined with good play from their Rubick, Dignitas secured the game in the 42nd minute.Against Na`Vi, Liquid once again flexed their muscles in both early and middle game team coordination and execution. In game one, Liquid quickly took the lead with three immediate kills in the bottom lane. As the game progress, Liquid's Beastmaster movement was spot on for ganks and team-fights, leading to a 11-3 kill advantage and Liquid's Lina having massive net worth from kills. Liquid would take the game in 32 minutes. In the second game, Liquid's organisation showed quick reinforcement responses to Na`Vi gank attempts and Liquid repeatedly scored kills on the gankers. Their Templar Assassin would proceed to snowball and the game ended in the 24th minute in Liquid's favor.In this matchup, Chinese audiences were treated to two back and forth games, straight out of NA Dota. The first game featured the matchup of a gank-oriented lineup from EG verses a team-fight oriented one from Dignitas. The two teams toyed and baited each other with Dignitas getting the upper hand by scoring numerous successful ultimate combinations for kills while EG never fully realized the potential of their Storm and Naix pairing. When EG finally did its Storm Naix combination, they found a kill on a wayward Magnus, completely reversing the game. In game two, Dignitas appeared to be all set to run away with the victory after the Io and Chaos Knight had a great start against the enemy Templar Assassin. However, EG was able to shutdown the teleporting heroes with multiple quality uses of Icepath and steadily turned the game around. Dignitas tapped out of the game after losing all its heroes and the middle set of barracks in the 42nd minute.In the Liquid versus Evil Geniuses match up, Liquid solidly took down game one but suffered some drama before taking game two. Initially behind after EG caught Liquid's heroes out of position early, Liquid reversed the fortunes of the game with a team-fight around the 15th minute. After teamwiping EG, Liquid dismantled two sets of barracks and reached a straight forward victory. In the second game, Liquid held the lead for 30 minutes but their Luna and Templar Assassin pairing could not find a way onto EG's high ground against the defense of Phantom Lancer and Magnus. An opening appeared for EG when Liquid's Clockwerk early initiation caused Templar Assassin to fall early, allowing EG to dismantle two sets of barracks. Fortune then reversed completely after four EG heroes were caught staying too long in the Liquid base. Another early initiation, this time by EG, resulted in Templar Assassin having free reign to do huge amounts of damage. Liquid went straight for the throne to close out a thoroughly entertaining game.With the final qualification spot on the line, Liquid once again came away with a 2-0 victory to complete their blazing undefeated run through the Loser's Bracket. In game one, Liquid and Fnatic matched up early game push versus early game fighting compositions, and Liquid decisively won the lanes, the battles, and the game. In game two, Fnatic picked a dual core strategy of Nature's Prophet and Sven, choosing to take the game late. In the one instance where Sven was not Cog-blocked by Clockwerk, Sven showed that Gyrocopter was not a hero that could stand up his awesome auto-attack damage. However, on the doorsteps of victory on Liquid's high ground, Fnatic would be struck by a timely Clockwerk Cogs counter-initiation that saw Nature's Prophet dead and Sven locked out of position to fight with Gyrocopter. At the other end of the map moments later, Liquid took a messy battle against the disorganized Fnatic defense to win the game and secure the second qualification spot.The G-1 Qualifiers were an action packed slate of games across the board. Teams were pulling out all the stops in the name of making it to China for the main event, and brought out unique strategies and utilised aggressive playstyles. These levels of aggressiveness, particularly the unexpected amounts I observed in the Eastern Qualifiers, motivated me to look into how much winning the early game affects a team’s chances over the full course of the game. Is it “Shock and Awe” or “Slow and Steady” that destroys ancients?What I found was extremely intriguing, but not entirely unexpected. In the Western Qualifiers, the team who took the first tower down (a “first tower kill” was considered a team destroying a tower without a retaliatory tower kill by the other team within 15 seconds) went on to win the game 78% of the time. That number stood strong at 75% when taking into account both Western and Eastern qualifiers. That’s pretty remarkable considering that that on average, the first tower fell at the 9:58 mark. Taking into account that the average professional match lasts approximately 37 minutes, that means that 75% of professional Dota games in these qualifiers were decided within the first quarter of the game. This suggests that the farm-fest days of old that IceFrog has worked so hard to counter have officially retired, at least for this tournament.But what makes these early tower kills so important? Typically, tower kills are seen as being important due to the map control it grants as well as allowing for easier ganks deeper into the enemy's territory. Tower kills also provide a flat rate of gold to cash-strapped supports who can’t rely on creed farming for their income. Additionally, the team that took the first tower went on to kill the big guy Roshan 80% of the time over both qualifiers. That’s quite the lopsided rate.The tower itself isn’t the only indicator for early game success though, as there’s a lot going on before then. In 68% of matches, teams that took first blood would capitalize and move on to take the first tower, cementing their dominance of the early game. After taking that first tower, those teams held an average kill score lead of 1.9 kills and would coast into the mid-game with a serious Gold and XP advantage from hero kills and tower sieges.According to these insights, there seems to be a lot of agreement that early game success is vital to winning the game. Where the Western and Eastern scene appear to disagree, however, is in regards to which lane to push first. In Western Qualifier games, the enemy hard lane tower (e.g. the pushing team pushes through their safe lane and into the enemy’s hard lane to take the tower) seemed to be the one with the biggest target on its back, as it fell first in 54% of games. In contrast, Eastern teams seemed to be more attracted to the enemy safe lane tower, as evidenced by it falling first in 50% of games. After contemplating, this makes a lot of sense. Lane composition is very important in regards to where and when the first tower falls and the two scenes have varying preferences on where to place their heroes. Western teams seem to prefer defensive tri-lanes that send a carry and two supports to their safe lane more often than the aggressive version of the trilane which takes place in the hard lane. Consequently, these defensive trilanes typically perform well in the laning phase, especially when against a hero soloing the hard lane, and they often push through and take their enemy’s hard lane tower quickly to give their carry and supports some early gold. Eastern teams, however, are more likely to run an aggressive trilane, which focuses on securing kills and pushing the enemy’s safe lane tower in order to cripple the farming potential of that lane.What is interesting to observe is how these strategies correlate to winning games. In Western matches, when a team pushed down the enemy’s hard lane tower first, the most common occurrence, they had a 79% winrate. Alternatively, when Eastern teams pushed down their preferred tower, the enemy safe lane tower, they had 64% winrate, which was lower than both their Western counterparts and the overall winrate.Eastern teams did push the mid tower more effectively though, taking it twice as often as Western teams. This is a particularly efficient strategy as the mid tower is arguably the most important to take early, as it is vital for river and Roshan control, as well as representing the most direct path to the enemy’s ancient. This importance is evidenced by it granting a 90% winrate to teams who pushed it down first across both qualifiers. Despite the high winrate for teams that push it down first, mid towers were the first to fall in only 13% of games across both qualifiers. This could be due to bottle crowing making middle lane much more of a stalemate game, roaming supports constantly helping their mid-laner, or a combination of these and other factors. Regardless, the mid tower seems to be an extremely difficult one to siege effectively in the early game.Who says Eastern dota is slow? The first tower fell 51 seconds faster in the Eastern Qualifiers than in Western Qualifiers. Eastern teams arguably played more aggressive than their Western counterparts in this qualifying stage, ganking early and often with trilane supports and diligently pushing. Although Eastern teams do have a reputation for playing the game much more deliberately and with much more precision, but that shouldn’t be construed as lack of aggression, as evidenced by iG’s early game dominance in the few games they had to play in the Eastern Qualifier.As the southern gangsta rapper Ludacris once eloquently stated, “I feel like we need more aggression today.” Well, Luda (who may actually be the long lost brother of Alliance’s Loda), it seems as if your wish has been granted, at least in the world of competitive Dota. Teams were rewarded extravagantly for aggressive early game play in the G-1 qualifiers and it made for some very entertaining Dota. We can only hope this trend continues into the G-1 League LAN finals, which will see the heavyweights of both Western and Eastern scenes fighting head-to-head for supremacy. That all starts in just three weeks.(Translator's note: the following was said in English.) When in doubt, just believe in yourself and press buttons