Dota 2: DreamLeague Major Day 4 Highlights

Two more teams were eliminated from the Major yesterday. In addition to that, Team Secret were finally brought down to their knees after an impressive performance by the StarLadder Minor champions Vici Gaming. Today, another two teams had to pack up and go home. One of them was definitely not expected. Let’s take a look at what happened.

Lower Bracket

GGWP @goFORWARDgg 🇺🇸

On Tuesday at 13:30 CET, we will be facing @keen_gamingcn 🇨🇳 / @EvilGeniuses 🇪🇺 #GONINJAS #DOTA2 #DreamLeagueMajor pic.twitter.com/aWJMMj4kUb

— Ninjas in Pyjamas (@NIP) March 17, 2019

Ninjas In Pyjamas vs. Forward Gaming

As expected in those deadly best-of-ones, both teams got some of their most familiar heroes.

The laning stage was relatively slow even though the two teams had one jungler each who could have helped with the ganks. NiP’s offlane did an outstanding job and zoned Resolut1ion out of the lane.

One of the main issues for FG was the healing output from NiP’s lineup. Having Chen, WW and Juggernaut was a bit too much because FG’s damage was just not enough. Slowly but steadily, PPD’s team gained a significant advantage and was able to get a lane of rax.

The NA team was hoping to get some magical Black Hole from their Enigma, but that did not happen. Having no way to counter their enemies, Forward Gaming GG’ed out.

NiP’s next opponent will be Evil Geniuses, which means that PPD will face his old team.

Team Liquid vs. Chaos Esports Club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDsdC2_HMx4

Undoubtedly the biggest surprise of DreamLeague Season 11 so far was this game. The TI 7 champions got eliminated by Chaos Esports Club after they dropped to the Lower Bracket due to their poor group stage performance. The South American team needed just 22 minutes to completely run down Kuroky and his teammates.

The Ursa + Omni combo is kind of tricky to pull off because it’s hard to recover if you get stomped early on. Luckily this did not happen, and Ursa was having the time of his life. Having over 10k gold advantage just 15 minutes in was a clear sign where this was going.

The next challenge ahead of Chaos Esports Club was Virtus.Pro. We are yet to see if they can do the impossible two times in a row.

Upper Bracket

Evil Geniuses vs. Keen Gaming

SumaiL and his team are well known for their incredible win rating against the Chinese teams. However, today’s result was different.

In game one, EG needed just 23 minutes to finish off eLeVeN and his team-mates. Fly and Co. grabbed the lead early and kept it until the very end. KG’s Phantom assassin was just unable to keep up with Artour’s Naix.

Game two started with a first pick Ursa from EG, something that usually does not go well because the hero can be easily kited. However, probably the most interesting pick was Underlord, who was played by SumaiL in the mid lane.

The NA powerhouse had 3 roots in total after Sumail got Rod of Atos as a first item. This helped them to dominate the early and mid game by constantly ganking their enemies. Despite that, Keen Gaming’s Sven still managed to find enough farm to be the strongest hero on the map.

A very messy fight happened around the 36 minutes that actually went in favor of KG, despite wasting a few buybacks. The Chinese took full advantage of the situation, and after killing EG yet again, they were able to get two lanes of rax and just a few minutes later – the win.

In the third decisive game, Keen Gaming had a way better draft that was able to sweep through EG. The Spectre pick from the NA team was not working at all because the Chinese were just way too aggressive. On top of that, EG’s supports were way too underleveled to do anything noticeable, which also added up to their loss.

EG now have to fight for their survival in the Lower Bracket.

Virtus.Pro vs. Fnatic

In probably the most intriguing series of the day, VP had to face the SEA powerhouse.

The mid matchup in game one was fascinating to watch because No[o]ne’s Shadow Fiend had to fight against Abed’s legendary Templar Assassin.

Both teams did reasonably well for the first 25 minutes of the game, but neither was able to get a clear lead over the other. However, after wiping all five of VP’s players, Fnatic was able to get the Aegis and slowly started to gain an advantage.

VP tried to defend their base, but they just did not have the needed resources to challenge the push of Fnatic. DJ was one of the main reasons for his teams’ success. He was always there when they needed him.

Being just one game away from the victory, Fnatic decided to pick the signature Timbersaw for iceiceice. On the other hand, VP went with a carry that can actually right click, unlike Ember Spirit in game one.

Similar to game one, this one was very even during its early stages. Fnatic had the lead in terms of kills and were the more active team. Despite that, No[o]ne’s Shadow Fiend was sitting on top of the net worth and was something that Fnatic had to take into consideration every time they went into a fight. On the contrary, Ramzess was nowhere to be found. As in game one, the young prodigy was unable to unleash his full potential.

Fnatic were building a small lead, but after yet another 5-man wipe on their opponents, they were able to claim two lanes of Rax, and the game was pretty much lost for VP.

Congratulations to Fnatic, who will advance further to meet their next opponent – Keen Gaming.

Coming Up

Tomorrow we will be able to see J.storm against Mineski and Team Secret vs Infamous. Be sure to catch the games live on the official stream. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for all the latest Dota 2 news.