picture courtesy of StarLadder
The Group B elimination match-up between Newbee and Team Faceless turned into a grueling series which saw Newbee come out on top.
After a shaky start to the series in both game one and two, Newbee were able to hold their own and eliminate Team Faceless from the StarLadder i-League Invitational 2 in a three game series, which saw Chun "Sccc" Song shine.
Game One
It took just under four minutes for Team Faceless to claim first blood as they rotated into mid-lane to pick off Sccc on the Shadow Fiend but a few minutes later Newbee were able to claim two kills in return. Both teams continued to make great rotations in the first ten minutes but it was Newbee who would find themselves coming out ahead in the early game at 9-4.
Newbee continued their five man pressure across the map, keeping their lead but Team Faceless were able to find some kills to keep themselves in the game. With the first massive team fight, Daryl "iceiceice" Pei Xiang Koh on the Nightstalker ripped through the Newbee team, bringing the score line to 14-10 in the Radiant’s favour at fifteen minutes. Soon after this, Newbee secured the game’s first Roshan kill but Faceless were certainly looking a lot more solid than they did in the early game as their cores begun to find the farm for great items.
Team Faceless begun to pull the game completely into their favour as both teams danced around the Roshan pit. With Team Faceless having claimed the Roshan kill, the aegis and cheese, they marched down mid lane and removed the barracks completely.
With thirty three minutes passed, and Newbee having no answer to the Nightstalker, the GG was called, giving Team Faceless a 1-0 lead in the series.
Game Two
Game two would be make or break for Newbee with elimination looming and after a slow first five minutes, they found two quick kills in succession. As the early game continued, Newbee made their rotations perfectly once more, claiming kills in all lanes and moving together across the map. By twenty minutes, Newbee seemed to be in complete control of the game, constantly finding kills and not allowing Faceless any space to farm.
While Newbee were in control, Faceless begun to play a bit of a split push style game, letting Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier on the Arc Warden push out lanes and keep Newbee’s line up from going highground. Fifty minutes in and Faceless were still able to hold their own in the game, not allowing Newbee to breach their highground – but the game seemed to be at a stalemate. With just over fifty minutes, as Faceless looked to move into the Dire highground, Newbee were able to find two quick kills and managed to take down the mid tier three tower.
After an elongated period of both teams playing around each other and eighty minutes having passed, Newbee finally found their opening and managed to tie up the series at 1-1 and take it to a decisive game three.
Game Three
The decisive game of the series would see a fairly even start for both teams and with ten minutes passed, Newbee had a 5-3 lead. Newbee begun to pull ahead though, grabbing map control by dropping tier 1 towers in the mid and bottom lane just before dropping three from the Radiant line up. By the time twenty minutes had passed, Newbee had complete control once again and would not be wanting another eighty minute game.
By twenty three minutes Newbee had systematically removed all the outer towers from their opponent’s side of the map and a highground push looked imminent. Ten minutes later Newbee’s highground push came and it ended with them destroying the bottom lane barracks. With an eighteen thousand net worth lead, Newbee looked all but assured the series.
With thirty seven minutes passed, Newbee managed to dominate Faceless in game three and claim a 2-1 series win. Unfortunately for Team Faceless, their road ends here while Newbee go on to face Vega Squadron later today.
