DAC Grand Finals - #BleedBlue February 9th, 2015 22:41 GMT Text by Julmust Graphics by Ninjan

Dota 2 Asia Championship

Introduction



Grand Finals



Liquipedia



After close to two full weeks of heavy Dota 2 action in Shanghai the dust has finally settled. In the last day of play we saw an Evil Geniuses team looking stronger than ever up against the team that had sent them to the lower bracket, Vici Gaming. The critics who wrote EG off before the tournament will now have to eat their own words as EG’s final day was nothing short of dominant with all five players delivering some of their best Dota.



While others may try to single out a specific player who won EG the tournament, we’ve decided that isn't possible. In Game 1, Universe's Phoenix dominated fights in tandem with the signature Treant of PPD and Enigma of Aui. In game 2, Old man Fear delivered with Anti-Mage in an impressive fashion. Game 3, Sumail's Storm Spirit had died a brutal four times in the first five minutes, yet after barely ten minutes he had salvaged his game back to a 7-4 score. The young prodigy ended the game with a staggering 17 of his team's 30 kills and an unbelievable 97% kill participation rate missing out on only one more possible assist.



To say that VG threw away the finals would only diminish what EG accomplished at DAC 2015. VG has been a force to be reckoned with ever since TI4, winning i-League, ESL One NY and The Summit 2 while placing well at a variety of other tournaments. While they may not have shown their best Dota in the finals, they showed us some excellent strategies and play throughout DAC and hopefully they will march onwards, together, to TI5. Losing in the finals 0-3 hurts though, and with rumours of Black^ facing dismissal even before the tournament, uncertainty shrouds their future.



Outside of the actual games, we want to give a special shout out to the team assembled at Beyond the Summit who provided some excellent coverage of this event of the last few weeks. It was nothing short of brilliant. Now have a well deserved rest B O Y S!



The Grand Finals

Game 1

The first game of the grand finals could not have begun any worse for VG. Four minutes into the game VG tried to pull off a sneaky fake-back as the two supports from their aggressive trilane smoked up close to their T2 tower mid. Instead of going mid to gank, they went back to the top lane to try to get the first blood on Fear's Troll Warlord. However, PPD's Treant managed to keep Fear alive long enough for Aui's nearby Enigma to arrive and claim first blood on Super's Ember Spirit. Not more than two minutes later Ember Spirit fell again and the top lane was lost for VG. The rest of the game continued in the same fashion with almost every trade favoring EG. Universe and PPD, with their Supernova + Overgrowth combo, were definitely the players of this first game securing a quick 1-0 lead for EG going into game 2.



Game highlight: Beautiful teamfight from EG





Game 2

Game 2 was a tale of the statistics. Universe's blisteringly fast blink as an offlane/jungle batrider at just 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Fear's 11 minute 30 second BattleFury on Anti-Mage, propelling him to 778 GPM and a whopping 868 GPM. Black^'s disappointing 176 cs at 30 minutes as Medusa. Despite Sumail looking vulnerable on Brewmaster this game and giving up his ultimate to Fy's rubick multiple times, EG won the farm war decisively. Only 3 minutes longer than Game 1's 33:30 duration, Game 2 looked no less convincing from EG and no more hopeful for VG. After two vastly different drafts resulted in similarly strong showings from EG, everyone watching now wondered: “Can VG really get 3-0’d in a tournament on their own home turf?”



Game highlight: Fears huge mana void on Black^





Game 3

As the game began, it became clear that VG had a clear plan to deal with Sumail's already-famous Storm Spirit. Abusing the weakness of EG's lanes due to an Enigma, Fy and Fenrir ganked and killed Sumail four times in under 5 minutes. Four ganks. No single player in the entire tournament had been focused down so hard. Many players would have gone on tilt and lost their edge in the face of such a brutal handicap. But not Sumail. And his resolve paid off, somehow catapulting his score from 1-4 to 7-4 just after the 10 minute mark. He went from the fastest 4 deaths in the tournament, to the 2nd most kills at 10 minutes, putting on a truly absurd performance in the deciding game of a match worth over $900,000. As Sumail's fortunes went this game, so did EG's. After a slow start, EG picked up steam with Sumail's impossible recovery and cruised to victory from 20 minutes onward despite losing mid rax to a suicidal aegis push from VG.



Game highlight: Sumail and Universe works together to wipe VG







CREDITS

Writer: Julmust

Editors: Sn0_Man

Graphics: Ninjan

After close to two full weeks of heavy Dota 2 action in Shanghai the dust has finally settled. In the last day of play we saw an Evil Geniuses team looking stronger than ever up against the team that had sent them to the lower bracket, Vici Gaming. The critics who wrote EG off before the tournament will now have to eat their own words as EG’s final day was nothing short of dominant with all five players delivering some of their best Dota.While others may try to single out a specific player who won EG the tournament, we’ve decided that isn't possible. In Game 1, Universe's Phoenix dominated fights in tandem with the signature Treant of PPD and Enigma of Aui. In game 2, Old man Fear delivered with Anti-Mage in an impressive fashion. Game 3, Sumail's Storm Spirit had died a brutal four times in the first five minutes, yet after barely ten minutes he had salvaged his game back to a 7-4 score. The young prodigy ended the game with a staggering 17 of his team's 30 kills and an unbelievable 97% kill participation rate missing out on only one more possible assist.To say that VG threw away the finals would only diminish what EG accomplished at DAC 2015. VG has been a force to be reckoned with ever since TI4, winning i-League, ESL One NY and The Summit 2 while placing well at a variety of other tournaments. While they may not have shown their best Dota in the finals, they showed us some excellent strategies and play throughout DAC and hopefully they will march onwards, together, to TI5. Losing in the finals 0-3 hurts though, and with rumours of Black^ facing dismissal even before the tournament, uncertainty shrouds their future.Outside of the actual games, we want to give a special shout out to the team assembled at Beyond the Summit who provided some excellent coverage of this event of the last few weeks. It was nothing short of brilliant. Now have a well deserved rest B O Y S!The first game of the grand finals could not have begun any worse for VG. Four minutes into the game VG tried to pull off a sneaky fake-back as the two supports from their aggressive trilane smoked up close to their T2 tower mid. Instead of going mid to gank, they went back to the top lane to try to get the first blood on Fear's Troll Warlord. However, PPD's Treant managed to keep Fear alive long enough for Aui's nearby Enigma to arrive and claim first blood on Super's Ember Spirit. Not more than two minutes later Ember Spirit fell again and the top lane was lost for VG. The rest of the game continued in the same fashion with almost every trade favoring EG. Universe and PPD, with their Supernova + Overgrowth combo, were definitely the players of this first game securing a quick 1-0 lead for EG going into game 2.Game 2 was a tale of the statistics. Universe's blisteringly fast blink as an offlane/jungle batrider at just 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Fear's 11 minute 30 second BattleFury on Anti-Mage, propelling him to 778 GPM and a whopping 868 GPM. Black^'s disappointing 176 cs at 30 minutes as Medusa. Despite Sumail looking vulnerable on Brewmaster this game and giving up his ultimate to Fy's rubick multiple times, EG won the farm war decisively. Only 3 minutes longer than Game 1's 33:30 duration, Game 2 looked no less convincing from EG and no more hopeful for VG. After two vastly different drafts resulted in similarly strong showings from EG, everyone watching now wondered: “Can VG really get 3-0’d in a tournament on their own home turf?”As the game began, it became clear that VG had a clear plan to deal with Sumail's already-famous Storm Spirit. Abusing the weakness of EG's lanes due to an Enigma, Fy and Fenrir ganked and killed Sumail four times in under 5 minutes. Four ganks. No single player in the entire tournament had been focused down so hard. Many players would have gone on tilt and lost their edge in the face of such a brutal handicap. But not Sumail. And his resolve paid off, somehow catapulting his score from 1-4 to 7-4 just after the 10 minute mark. He went from the fastest 4 deaths in the tournament, to the 2nd most kills at 10 minutes, putting on a truly absurd performance in the deciding game of a match worth over $900,000. As Sumail's fortunes went this game, so did EG's. After a slow start, EG picked up steam with Sumail's impossible recovery and cruised to victory from 20 minutes onward despite losing mid rax to a suicidal aegis push from VG. Administrator I'm dancing in the moonlight