Final group games on Wednesday in the Dota 2 WePlay! Pushka League, with one final spot still up for grabs.
Catch up on yesterday’s roundup here.
Virtus.Pro (VP) vs TSpirit – Prior to this Dota 2 game, TSpirit had already been eliminated from final contention, with the final spot open to either VP or FlyToMoon (FTM).
Game one was over by the 13 minute mark, with Secret racking up a 20-4 kill count and a 6k, and a 21 minute GG when Secret pushed high-ground. It seemed that TSpirit took exception at how they were treated in game one with a proper stomping of VP in game two: TSpirit’s Slark was too much for VP to handle, holding a 9k lead and 17-7 kill count after a full VP team wipe at 25 minutes, GG called in 30 and the Slark ending with a 23 KDA.
It looked like game three would be shaped by a VP third pick Techies, which pleased caster Tobiwan immensely, but it was a full team effort that helped VP pulled out the win – 64 assists on 35 kills in 26 minutes. The 2-0 result saw VP leapfrog to 2nd in the group, and left FTM with a 3-3 record: a good effort for a team who were invited to the tournament only two days before because of the withdrawal of Gambit Esports.
Nigma vs Secret – Top place in the Europe group was still up for grabs going into this game for Team Secret: they’d finish 5-1, tied with Alliance, but would own the tie-breaker having beaten Alliance handily in the pool round. For Nigma, nothing but pride is on the line.
And they didn’t gain much in the way of pride here, with Secret taking the 2-0 in two sub 30 minute games: the second game was indicative of the way they played – 13 minutes in, Secret had a 4k lead and 15-2 kill score to Secret. Better itemisation and speed on Secret’s side outpaced Nigma in both games, giving Secret top spot from the European side of the draw.
OG vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) – nothing but practice here for both teams, with their final positions in the group already determined: OG missing out on the finals, while NiP had secured fourth spot in the group and no way to seed higher in the bracket round.
A very entertaining match-up in a series that went to three games. Game one saw charlie’s on Terrorblade go 13/0/9 KDA and Supream’s Puck go 11/0/11 KDA, steamrolling OG in 27 mins. A seesawing game two had both teams battle for overall net worth for the majority of game two, before a full NiP team wipe at 35 mins (including a Morphling die-back) saw OG take control and close out the game in 44 minutes, with an astonishing 105 assists on 39 kills. Game three was anti-climactic, with Suma1l’s Monkey King wreaking havoc in a 23 minute win, going 11/1/5 and giving OG the 2-1 win.
With group stages now completed, the only match of the day has Nigma and OG.Seed fighting it out to see who finishes bottom of the group, with both on 1-5 records. The top four teams from the Europe and CIS groups will now start the cross-group battles in the finals bracket. May 8th: Hellraisers will take on NiP, Alliance faces the surprise packet in VP.Prodigy, and Virtus.Pro will take on a resurgent Team Liquid. Team Secret and Na’Vi will round out the quarterfinal matchups on Saturday, 9th May
