As we march towards the finals bracket, Tuesday saw four Dota 2 games instead of the usual three. It also saw the finalist confirmed for one of the two groups.
Read: DOTA 2: WePlay! Pushka League – Monday 4 May Roundup
Secret vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) – the reincarnated Chicken Fighters line-up has been putting in some impressive performances of late, and were looking to secure their spot in the top four against a Secret team that’s been doing what it does: solid performance after performance. Game one was a very even contest through 38 minutes before a full NiP team wipe by Secret saw them take the advantage for good. While Matumbaman managed 16 of the 41 kills, Secret as a team managed an incredible 120 assists combined, with Puppey leading the way with 32. Secret 1-0 after 57 minutes.
Game two again saw a see-sawing contest with NiP taking multiple net worth leads as they tried to bring their Naga Siren online, only for Matumbaman’s Spectre to have to get there sooner. Secret brought it back from a 5k gold deficit and managed to go 10-0 in kills over the last ten minutes to take the series 2-0, and leaving NiP waiting on other results to see if they were through to the finals.
Nigma vs Alliance – Nigma just doesn’t seem to be getting right at the moment, and were hoping to turn it around against the group topping Alliance team who have only dropped one game in the tournament. Things initially looked good for Nigma in game one, keeping it tight for Miracle- to farm up on his Phantom Lancer, but Alliance’s Death Prophet/Riki combination kept the gold lead in their favour for the entire game, culminating in a full team wipe at 44 minutes securing the gg. Kuroky and w33 both had rough games, with 14 deaths each stemming Nigma’s progress.
Nigma has built it’s storied reputation with its ‘backs against the wall’ style in lower bracket runs, and a Miracle- Sven looked like it would echo these performances but game two was anti-climactic: Nikobaby’s Morphling had a ball with a 12/1/10 KDA performance in a dominant 25-minute win, which saw Nigma’s run of consecutive WePlay! titles ending at 3, and locking down the finals places for the Europe group.
Virtus.Pro (VP) vs VP.Prodigy (VP.P) – two 31 minute game victories for VP saw them keep their finals hopes alive, with VP.P already safe in the top four. VP ran Ogre Magi/Spectre/Centaur Warrunner in both games, while VP.P kept with Phoenix/Axe/Disruptor in both of theirs, but it may have been VP not wanting to lose to their stablemates which prompted them to bring their A-game.
B8 vs FlyToMoon (FTM) – while B8 was eliminated from finals contention on Monday, FTM still has a chance to make the top four in their group if VP goes down to Tspirit on Wednesday. FTM got off to a great start, forcing a 20-minute gg with their Templar Assassin/Earthshaker combo racking up a combined 11/1/16 KDA on 22 kills. B8 came back hard in game two, holding the gold lead for the first half of a 43-minute game. Five kills, including a Dendi Queen of Pain die-back, saw the momentum swing to FTM and they took control from there for a 2-0 win.
The final day of group games starts at 1 pm Wednesday with all eyes on the VP/TSpirit match up determining the final standings in the CIS group. Secret will get some finals warm-up against Nigma in the second game of the day before OG will look for some pride against an enjoyable NiP team that’s going to have an impact in the finals.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Dota 2 WePlay! Pushka league roundup as the action continues from 1pm today.
