The first day of Dota 2 Champions League has ended and already has there been upsets. For those of you who didn’t watch the event here is a short recap of today’s games.

BURDEN UNITED VS. TEAM EMPIRE

Game one is quite the roller coaster where Burden United can utilize their Dragon Knight for early tower pushes but due to sloppy setups that loses them some fights they are unable to gain a noteworthy lead. Silent is able to farm faster than the core heroes on Burden United and with a BKB on him and Resolut1on they are able to escape a fight outside the Rosh pit after snatching the Aegis. With the Aegis on Silent Empire are the ones in the driver’s seat and take two towers as well as a big team fight win and take the first set of barracks before their enemies respawn. As Empire retreat Burden United look for pick offs but are unable to trade efficiently as a Static Storm and Echo Slam combo is there to greet them. In a last ditch effort the cores on Burden United buy back but are caught before their team mates respawn and call GG 36 minutes into the game.

The second game is a different story compared to game one as Empire are in the lead from the beginning to the end. Both teams wanted to push with their draft but Empire are able to get the first tower kills with their Drow Ranger as they somewhat cripple the Chen of Mynuts by ward blocking his jungle camps. With the map control Empire steadily out farm their opponent and once Resolut1on, yoky and Silent get their BKB’s the game becomes too hard for Burden United as they can’t survive the massive amounts of damage from the Precision Aura and surrender after 26 minutes making the first series a 2-0 victory for Team Empire.





NINJAS IN PYJAMAS VS. VICI GAMING

The first game starts poorly for NIP as Handsken gets killed by Super’s Queen of Pain while trying to grab the first bounty rune. With the first blood kill and the bounty rune Super has a huge advantage over Limmp’s Gyrocopter in the middle lane and continuously kill him by himself and with help of fy in the first minutes of the game. In the top lane Jonassomfan gets solo killed by the Undying as he is surprised by a somewhat unusual skill build. While NIP win their aggressive tri lane they can’t stop Super who has a significant experience and gold lead. Vici Gaming’s constant pressure is simply too much to handle as the game has spiraled out of control and NIP call GG before the 18th minute mark.

In game two NIP are able to stabilize their early game and do manage to pick up some kills here and there but the support rotations from Vici Gaming are still a bit sharper and they gain a small lead which exponentially increases little by little. Vici Gaming keeps edging out NIP in terms of pickoffs and with a low Avatar duration on Era’s BKB Vici Gaming are able to control him in the fights with their abundance of farm on all their heroes and the game ends 49 minutes into the game with a total kill score of 75.

TEAM EMPIRE VS. VICI GAMING



Game one quickly turns sour for Vici Gaming as Team Empire heavily abuses the Enigma pick on fy by pressuring Hao on the Radiant safe lane with an aggressive Axe and Shadow Demon lane. Team Empire constantly look for openings and are able to punish Vici Gaming who are stuck with an Enigma that isn’t able to find the farm necessary to be useful. With the constant pressure Vici Gaming are unable to reach their core items and are unable to match the less greedy lineup of Team Empire. The last 5 minutes of the game Team Empire simply run over Vici gaming who 22 minutes into the game surrender as they lose their first game on patch 6.84.

In game two Team Empire start off their early game in similar fashion as the previous game by pressuring Hao again. This time fy and Fenrir have less greedy heroes and are therefore able to cope with the aggressive tri lane from Team Empire. Vici Gaming are initially behind in experience and gold but in this game they don’t let Empire run away with their lead and are able to come back as Hao reaches critical mass on Phantom Lancer. When the in game timer reaches 30 minutes Team Empire’s itemization and draft starts to lose steam and Vici Gaming take back to back team fight victories and eventually win the game 39 minutes into the game which ties the series 1-1.





Team Empire go back to a comfort draft for the final game when they pick a Tiny Wisp combo for the middle lane. Resolut1on and ALOHADANCE become the story of the game as they manage to kill Super over and over again leading to a quick level 6 for Wisp. Team Empire make good use for the early level in Relocate making the entire map unsafe for Vici Gaming who lack the means to stop the Tiny Wisp combo who 18 minutes into the game are the two most farmed heroes on the map. While ALOHADANCE eventually loses his second place in the net worth chart Resolut1on has rapidly increased his lead and when Vici Gaming tap out 26 minutes into the game since they can’t leave their base anymore Resolut1on has more than doubled Hao’s net worth of 8k with an astounding 17k net worth of his own and guarantees his team a spot in the grand finals.

Remaining Schedule for May 10th (starting 12 CET)

NINJAS IN PYJAMAS VS. BURDEN UNITED (Loser’s Round 1)



VICI GAMING VS. WINNER OF LR1 (Loser’s Final)

TEAM EMPIRE VS. WINNER OF LF (Grand Final)