The DAC 2017 lower brackets continue to inch along, bringing to end the championship dreams of more and more teams. Team Empire became the seventh team to fall victim to elimination after a 2:1 loss to iG.Vitality.
Team Empire and iG.Vitality were the last teams on the chopping block for the day.
The CIS team left opponents and fans dumbstruck in the aftermath of their group stage journey as they slid into the second place spot. Taking center stage in the upper brackets, Empire’s win in the first round was flanked by two overwhelming and lopsided losses at the hands of Invictus Gaming. They were quickly dropped into the lower brackets to patch up their wounds and piece together their next strategy.
iG.Vitality had a much longer and harder road in the main event so far. Surviving the merciless best-of-one elimination round, the rising Chinese stars had taken the crucial victory over LGD.Forever Young. Then only earlier today, the team eliminated Vici Gaming J after besting them 2:1.
Game One
In the first match of the series Team Empire came out of the gates swinging hard - a tempo and pace that would continue to favor them until the end.
In the first five minutes, Team Empire had taken a 3:0 lead. Their early aggression would favor them until a disastrous fight at the Roshan pit would hint at turning of the tides in the mid game. To much surprise, the team was able to turn it back again in their favor quickly with incredible combos and coordination. Their hunger for blood would drive them to hunt down and pick off iG.Vitality with an insatiable appetite.
The mid game didn’t go so well for iG.Vitality, as one after one their heroes would fall. Losing objectives and control of the game served to bolster and play into Team Empire’s hand.
Running all over iG.Vitality with perfectly executed plays and relentless destruction, Team Empire took the first match.
Game Two
The second match started out with early pressure midlane and great rotations by Team Empire. A killing spree at the 6 min mark by Rostislav "fn" Lozovoi on Alchemist would boost the CIS team’s confidence as they continued to outplay iG.Vitality.
17 minutes in, iG.Vitality lost two fights simultaneously. Things were looking grim for the Chinese team and a lesser experienced team might have buckled under the stifling pressure. But not iG.Vitality.
Shortly after their lowest point of the match, iG.Vitality was able to take out two of Empire’s cores, their tier 3 tower and began to head high ground - forcing buybacks and giving them the space and time they needed to turn everything around.
And they did. Team Empire started to feel the pressure and most likely a gut deep churn of emotions as their control started to slip from their grasp.
About 27 minutes into the game, Team Empire sealed their fate with a failed attempt to contest Roshan. Losing heroes, Roshan and towers, iG.Vitality’s siege of high ground the end was near and Team Empire was only able to stall the Chinese players at the very best.
GG was called by the CIS team, resetting the series to an even score and forcing a third deciding match.
Game Three
The third game once again began with Team Empire posturing strong.
With a 5:0 lead into the early minutes, the CIS team were screaming that they were not ready to go home yet. After Zhang "Paparazi?" Chengjun’s fantastic last match, Empire turned their attention directly onto him - shutting him down and picking him off time and time again.
The continued to dominate the game, taking down all tier 1 towers by minute 13 and showed no signs of slowing down. iG.Vitality on the other hand, were on the brink of losing all control and elimination.
Two back to back fantastic team fights for iG.Vitality then gave them the opening to take Roshan and the pendulum swung hard and fast into their favor.
Energized and on fire, the Chinese team then charged forward with vigor. As the pressure intensified, Team Empire started to look a little shaken and without initiators, were forced into slowing down the pace and conceding objectives and control.
Continuing their recovery, iG.Vitality were patient and disciplined - making sure to not overextend or overstay, taking objectives systematically.
DAC 2017 Lower Brackets Round 3 Team Empire vs iG.Vitality: Team Empire 1:2 iG.Vitality.
iG.Vitality continues in the lower brackets tomorrow, April 4 at 11:00 CEST.
Team Empire takes 6th place.
