After dominating a two game series, VP send NP back home and qualify for the semifinals.
Game One:
Game one’s draft had teams focusing on specific members, with some respect bans from both sides towards Roman 'Ramzess666' Kushnarev and Arif 'MSS' Anwar. This lead to a curious first Sniper pick of the tournament and a questionable Spirit Breaker pick into Underlord, who can stop any charge with a Pit of Malice.
The game itself started good, with Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao taking first blood, but it was quickly turned around by VP diving T2 bot and taking two kills for themselves while giving up Ogre to a tower shot. The game went on slow until NP decided it was time for the relentless push with max Glaive Luna with a Helm of the Dominator (now providing IAS and HP regen auras instead of armor and lifesteal) and their superior teamfight potential. Those attempts didn’t pan out as VP managed to stay on top of things, getting trades, not losing towers, and keeping the score even.
After one bad fight the Russians took the second Rosh of the game and solidified their lead and superiority, with NP giving up two towers for nothing. One last attempt at a push ended up in a disaster and the Americans decided they would rather fight with the highground advantage. After two failed attempts and a third Rosh later, VP managed to break through and with NP’s buybacks expended the previous fight, GG was called and game one went to VP.
Game Two:
After drafting both Ember, who’s Spell Amp build is very strong this patch, and Slark, who still stays strong and is very slippery, the game seemed decided. VP had no answers for either, and it would be a while until their Juggernaut gets a diffusal or all pressure on Noone to hit Ember with a Tornado.
The game started reversed, with EternalEnvy giving first blood after he ran into the entire enemy team near his jungle shrine. NP answered with a successful gank mid and thus starting the inevitable trading of kills in the early game. At T1 top, 'Rose' initiated on an unsuspecting Nyx which prompted a fight. VP managed to outplay NP, but Avery 'SVG' Silverman's Crystal Maiden showed epic positioning, managing to hide in the trees. CM channeled a full ultimate. From then on many key fights started with Axe initiating and VP playing amazingly around it, dancing like professional boxers around their opponents while dishing out their spells and coming out on top. One fight that started in the Radiant jungle moved all the way to T2 bot and upped the score from 17-11 to 24-12 for VP, with only Solo losing his life on the retreat from the respawned Slark.
It's worth noting that the popularity of HotD has increased, and Ramzess666 got one anyway. He used it to dominate a small satyr creep and have a purge spell a lot earlier than wating for the diffusal blade after the manta. With all three completed, VP were unstoppable. They got Roshan and marched down mid, where a full CM ult couldn’t hold them back. Next fight was for the bot tower, and with the BKB charge baited out of Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling, the fight and the game were over. The rax fell and GG was called. VP took the series and continued on.
