Dota 2: DreamLeague Major Day 7 Highlights

Day seven of competition at the DreamLeague Major is all wrapped up. This tournament has produced some of the most surprising results we’ve seen at a DPC event this season. Today we saw

Today also marked the last day of games during the studio phase of the tournament. We’ll see the rest of our tournament play out at the Annexet arena in Stockholm.

J.Storm vs Team Secret

Our first series in our lower bracket today was J.Storm vs Secret. There’s no denying that this was an unexpected match-up. But with the way J.Storm were playing combined with Secret falling into the lower bracket, it was almost inevitable that the two teams would meet.

Game 1

Secret surprised everyone in game one with their first pick Outworld Devourer for Mid0ne. The response from J.Storm was Moo’s Lifestealer, a hero which we’ve seen him dominate on throughout this tournament.

First blood in game one went to J.Storm, who took out Zai’s Puck. Moo’s Lifestealer pick was leading the net worth right up until ten minutes, and although Secret had a few more kills on the board. The game was looking even.

But Secret’s rotations were not only clever, they were confident. They had a 10 kill-lead before 20 minutes.

Pushing their advantage, Secret went for the Roshan kill and secured themselves the aegis to start pushing lanes and taking building objectives. Nisha’s Phantom Assassin was farmed enough by this stage to have finished building both a BKB and a Desolator. The mid T3 tower and rax just melted underneath his assault.

The next big team fight at 32 minutes saw Nisha commit everything to shutting down Moo’s Lifestealer once and for all, forcing out die backs so that Secret could secure themselves a game one.

Game 2

We saw Secret take OD for their first pick yet again in game two.

Once the game began to move out of the laning phase, we saw that Mid0ne Outworld Devourer pick start to come online for Secret.

J.Storm seemed to be aware that now was the time to start applying pressure. They tried to find some kills in a team fight around 16 minutes but ended up with little more than an even one-for-one trade with Secret.

Just like in game one, we saw Secret looking strong, with a 6k gold lead by 20 minutes.

When Nisha’s Juggernaut began to come online, it suddenly became a whole lot trickier for Bryle and Moo to hold the line.

Secret took aim for an easy Rosh kill at 22 minutes. J.Storm’s attempt to contest proved to be costly as Secret stepped out of the pit and cleaned them up. Leaving them free to secure the aegis.

As the game moved into twenty-six minutes the kills came in thick and fast from Secret. Both Moo and March were taken down, and Nisha moved up to the high ground and decimated the mid rax. There was just no defending against the onslaught, as Secret trapped J.Storm inside their base.

Game two was called at 28 minutes. Another stomp by Secret.

J.Storm’s performance throughout this tournament has been commendable, and although they lost to Secret, they certainly proved that they have the skill to take down some of the top teams in the DPC.

Virtus Pro vs Evil Geniuses

Virtus Pro and Evil Geniuses gave us our last three game series before the winning teams move on to Annexet on Friday. It was a nail-biting back and forth series that gave us some of the most action-packed team fights we’ve seen in this Major so far.

Game 1

Game one saw EG claim first blood on Solo’s Shadow Demon at 3 minutes.

But the lanes seemed to be in VP’s favour, Ramzes (Lone Druid) and No[o]ne (Puck) both had their midas by ten minutes.

Things were looking a little static for EG. But as Arteezy began to get farm on his Lycan, that advantage from the laning phase began to fade.

EG had a strategy to win this game and that was take down Pasha’s Underlord first in fights. So that was exactly what they did, attempt to shut down the support he could provide to Ramzes and No[o]ne and let SumaiL’s Nethertoxin do its work.

Pasha’s lack of a BKB really let him down against EG’s line up in a team fight, and they capitalized on this.

Despite trying to hold on and admirably keeping up in the kills, Evil Geniuses took their second Roshan of the game, and with the aegis on Arteezy’s Lycan, they pushed VP’s top rax to take game one at 49 minutes.

Game 2

Game two was an epic 62-minute battle between these two iconic teams.

VP had gone for the Lone Druid pick again, but this time the hero was picked up by No[o]ne. Freeing up Ramzes to play Ursa.

Again, we saw EG take the first blood, with Cr1t securing the kill. Arteezy on Sven was leading the net worth and things were looking very promising for EG in the early stages of this game, but they seemed to want to take it all the way to the late phase.

Virtus Pro were just as ready for that strategy though. It turned into a slow, methodical poke and prod. With both teams testing the waters and not overcommitting anything for objectives or fights.

At 51 minutes, the kills were 19-22, with VP in the lead. A massive four-minute team fight from 54 to 58 minutes saw some amazing plays come out from both sides. Buy backs were forced and the kill lead switched with 25 for EG and 24 for VP.  But EG could not afford another fight like that, and that was exactly what VP were going to give them.

They went straight for another Rosh push and another aegis for Ramzes was exactly what VP needed to finally bring this game to an end. Taking this lower bracket series all the way to a game three.

Game 3

It was the make or break match. Virtus Pro took a different approach to their line-up, losing the Lone Druid on No[o]ne for a Razor. Evil Geniuses stuck to a similar draft to their previous games. SumaiL again took Viper, and s4 picked Bounty Hunter for the second time.

It was No[o]ne’s Razor that really made the difference for VP however. The pick was something EG wanted to shut down from the laning phases. But despite big rotations from Cr1t and Fly early on to do just that, No[o]ne’s Razor continued to dominate the net worth.

All Ramzes did early game was farm. Which pushed Arteezy’s Terrorblade down to third in the net worth.

Virtus Pro kept coming out on top in every team fight that was initiated. At 28 minutes they took Rosh, secured the aegis for Ramzes and his very farmed Phantom Lancer, and made the push for EG’s base.

Evil Geniuses held out until the very end, but there was no stopping VP’s offense.

At 35 minutes, it was a Virtus Pro victory.

Evil Geniuses are headed home, things looked promising for them in game one. But this was always going to be a tough matchup for them.

We say goodbye to both our NA teams, J.Storm and Evil Geniuses.

There’s a short break tomorrow, before all the excitement from the DreamLeague Major continues at the Annexet on Friday 22.

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Images via DreamHack.