Alliance Wins WePlay League Season 1!

Grand Final (Bo5) Game Recaps

Evil Geniuses

(Dire)

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Alliance

(Radiant)

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In the draft for Game 1, Aliiance went for a hyper-mobile strategy picking up Io, Nature’s Prophet, and Puck, whereas EG went for a lineup with a bit more relevance early in Juggernaut and Clinkz. EG struck quickly with a first blood in the river and almost got a double kill, however EGM was able to skillfully aggro Roshan and deny himself. While a fair amount of fighting was going on around him, Loda was focused specifically on the late-game, picking up a Midas before even tier 1 boots. Consequently, Alliance would lose their hard lane tower before the ten minute mark but limited the damage by getting a kill after the attempt and denying it as well. EG performed well in the mid-game, gaining a 5 kill advantage at 17 minutes and attempting Roshan, but Alliance sniffed it out and took the Aegis for themselves after capitalizing on killing Demon’s Magnus. Alliance continued to scrape away at EG’s lead after taking down Roshan, pushing towers fast with the Furion + Enchantress combo and allowing Loda to farm his Alchemist safely. After a triple kill at 27 minutes, Alliance widened the money lead to 14,000 gold and Loda's Alchemist picked up his third big item. At this point, with EG’s two carries only maintaining a gpm of slightly more than 300 apiece and giving up a second Roshan, Alliance was able to win the remaining teamfights and siege barracks with impunity, leading to the gg from EG.

Alliance

(Dire)

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Evil Geniuses

(Radiant)

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In the draft for game 2, EG tried to compensate for their lack of mobility in game one by picking up Nature’s Prophet and Storm Spirit, as well as picking up a Lifestealer to carry. Alliance responded by last-picking Loda’s favorite new counter to Naix, Phantom Assassin. In a play that characterizes Alliance’s recently matured decision making, they turned away from chasing a Furion for first blood when he went downhill, preventing themselves from being caught in a split earth from Bdiz’s Leshrac. By avoiding this over-extension, EGM's Shadow Demon was then able to secure first blood for Alliance only moments later. Despite that, EG’s defensive trilane was able to contest the aggressive trilane of Alliance decently well, allowing Jeyo’s solo offlane Lifestealer to dominate against AdmiralBulldog’s Magnus. The game stayed very close for most of mid-game, with Fear’s Rubick stealing Reverse Polarity at almost every opportunity. However, Loda was able to pick up a triple kill at minute 19, making his KDA 8-1-3. Two minutes later he would pick up two more kills in a complete team wipe of EG. Loda was simply out of control at this point, as evidenced by securing a 3 for one trade for Alliance even after Fear landed a 4-man stolen Reverse Polarity. Once again, Alliance clawed away, pushing towers and rax, even doing a bit of fountain farming. When all was said and done, EG called the gg and Loda finished with a ridiculous KDA of 22-2-11.

Evil Geniuses

(Dire)

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Alliance

(Radiant)

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In game 3, EG went for an interesting composition, picking up a Tinker and placing Jeyo on Weaver. Alliance responded by picking up Disruptor for the purpose of countering Tinker’s constant teleporting. Demon’s Tinker dominated S4’s Batrider early in middle lane, building up stick charges from Napalm spam and using them to continuously spam Laser and Rockets. This culminated in a first blood for EG and a Batrider that was forced to pass up tier two boots for core items like Blink Dagger and Force Staff. Despite EG taking this early advantage, the kill score evened out during mid-game, and Alliance took advantage, taking two towers and solidifying Loda as the more farmed carry, even against a Weaver who had picked up a Hand of Midas. After winning a big teamfight at the Dire Ancients and taking a 4 kill lead, Alliance refused to look back. EGM’s Disruptor landed several clutch Kinetic Field + Static Storm combos, preventing Magnus from Skewering and locking Down Weaver. Loda also continued his recent trend of fantastic late game decision-making, not dying a single time and racking up 18 kills before EG called the gg.

After a 32-team group stage preceded by 24 direct invites and 8 teams from online qualifiers, a second 16-team group stage, and an 8-team double-elimination bracket, Alliance (formerly No Tidehunter) sits atop the podium as the winners of the WePlay League, Season 1, winning a pot of $5,000 plus $1,500 in gear prizes. Evil Geniuses took second place and $4,000 total after a strong showing in the bracket, and Na'Vi and Team Liquid placed 3rd and 4th, respectively.