Dota 2: DreamLeague Season 13 Major – Day 8 Recap

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Dota 2: DreamLeague Season 13 Major – Day 8 Recap

Things were really heating up in our final day of competition at Leipzig, as our final three times duked it out to take the crown.

Our final day of the DreamLeague Season 13 Major was a real treat, with the full eight games played across both our series.

We also got to see some of the very last multi-neutral item fights we’ll ever see at a tournament, thanks to patch 7.24 dropping and the new neutral item slot.

If you missed out on any of the epic battles, we’re breaking both series down for you, game by game.

Vici Gaming vs Evil Geniuses

Game 1

We saw a fairly even start to game 1. Vici took the first blood at 3-minutes, and EG followed up with a kill of their own soon after, as Fly took down Eurus in the top lane. But by the end of the laning phase, Vici were up two kills, 5–3.
Things stayed close between both teams until around 25-minutes when Evil Geniuses began to pull ahead in the net worth. The kills were 12–9 at 26-minutes as EG took the Rosh kill. With the aegis on Abed, they were ready to push their advantage. They came up the bottom lane at 30-minutes, soaking up the kills and forcing out buy backs from the side of Vici. By 33-minutes they had an 11k gold lead and the kills were 15–18. Evil Geniuses were turning game one in their favour.

At 38-minutes they were attacking Vici’s high ground, and the kills were now 15–23 as Evil Geniuses swept the final minutes of game one. Taking a clean victory at 42-minutes.

Game 2

Game two saw EG take the first blood this time. It was 1–1 at 3-minutes, and we were seeing a very strong early game from the North American team. They didn’t seem phased by Vici’s trilane, and the kills were 1–6 at 7-minutes.
But Vici started to show some signs of life when we left the lanes. They managed to take a good pick off on Arteezy at the 12-minute mark, bringing the kills to 3–8.

If anything, game two was looking like a flip of game one, with EG seeming to have the early advantage until around the 25-minute mark. By now, The Gyro/Io combo from Eurus and Dy was online, and Vici were able to pull into the kill-lead. A fantastic team fight at the 35-minute mark let Vici really capitalize on the advantage they were building. Allowing them to secure Rosh and start looking to end the game.
Vici equalized the series, 1–1 at 44-minutes, with an 11-kill lead; 25–16.

Game 3

It was our final game of the lower bracket, and both teams were pulling out all the stops. It was a fast start to the lanes once again. The kills were 1–3 at 6-minutes. By 12-minutes they were 4–7, with EG dictating a breakneck pace in this game three.

A team fight in the river at the 22-minute mark was the real turning point in this game that let Evil Geniuses turn the tide firmly in their favour. It was a full team wipe for Vici as EG obliterated them and rolled into the pit taking the aegis.
The NA team just didn’t slow down. By 35-minutes, Abed had scored himself a rampage and the kills were 11–25 as Evil Geniuses geared up for another Rosh pit. This time with the aegis on Arteezy.
At 38-minutes, they shut down the Chinese team. Leaving Vici Gaming to take third place as Evil Geniuses closed the series to move on to our Bo5 grand finals.

Grand Final; Team Secret vs Evil Geniuses

Game 1

Evil Geniuses came into our first game fresh off the back of their victory against Vici. Secret took the first blood, but EG took the lanes. As we again saw some beautiful, crisp plays coming out from both teams.
The early game was close, the kills were only 2–3 at 12-minutes.
As the game drew closer to the 20-minute mark however, EG began to put some distance between them and their opponents. They had a 3k gold lead at 19-minutes and were seven kills ahead of Secret.
That net worth advantage was up to 10k at 25-minutes, but the kills were just 4–10. It was a much less bloody game than some of our previous series at Leipzig.
The kills did start to climb as we moved through the mid game, but more importantly, they were impactful. It was an especially nice game for Abed’s Templar Assassin, who topped the farm and the kills.
Evil Geniuses played a clean, disciplined game, closing it out at 47-minutes to take game one, 7–26.

Game 2

Game two saw Secret last pick Meepo, so fans knew they were in for a treat.
Secret took first blood at 5-minutes and had a 1k gold advantage by 6-minutes. Not surprising considering it was a Meepo game.
Still we saw lots of aggressive plays coming out from both sides in this early game. The kills were 6–5 at 10-minutes as both Zai took the tower in top lane.
This was a fantastic early game for Yapzor’s Skywrath Mage. His Mystic Flares did a lot of work in helping to secure Secret’s kill lead. They took the first Rosh at 15-minues, and were 4k ahead in the gold at this point.
The kills were 12–5 at 25-minutes as Secret geared up for their second Rosh push, letting Nisha take both the aegis and the cheese. He also had a double Eye of Skadi by 31-minutes, giving him 300 mana over Abed’s Outworld Devourer and plenty of stat buff to take objectives even faster.
EG’s high ground was melting underneath Secret’s onslaught. The mid ranged rax fell at 36-minutes, and Secret were 26k ahead in the gold now.

Evil Geniuses finally relented calling GG at 44-minutes with the kills 30–11. This was just a dream game for Meepo. Nisha was 9/1/7 by the end of the game. EG simply had no solution for him.

Game 3

Evil Geniuses came back into game two with the same sort of discipline we saw from them in game one.
They took out first blood on Nisha in the mid thanks to a beautiful rotation from Cr1t’s Tiny just before the 20minute mark.  The kills were 2–5 at 6-minutes, but Secret were still managing to keep their cores farmed and neither team had a clear gold advantage over the other through the early game.

Abed’s Storm Spirit was the key for EG this game, and they knew it. They really played around him; he was 7/0/4 at 17-minutes. Although Secret were still putting up a good fight. EG only had four kills over them, 8–12, and there were very fast movements coming out from both teams. The kills were dead even, 16–16 at 23-minutes.

Things were bouncing back and forth until the 30-minute mark, when EG really came into their own. A team fight in the mid lane saw them knock out three on the side of Secret to bring the kills to 20–24. At 45-minutes, after a very controlled performance, game three belonged to Evil Geniuses. It was a great game too for Arteezy. His Naga Siren went 17/2/6 this game, one of his best KDA’s through this series.

 

Game 4

As we rolled into game four, it really looked like this series could go either way. The previous three had all been close, and it was tough to call who would win just from the draft. Secret had a lot of push power with Leshrac on Nisha and Enchantress for Zai. But EG did have Cr1t on Io and another TA pick for Abed.

Secret took out our first blood and the second kill of the game by 3-minutes. EG didn’t take their first kill of the game until 6-minutes, and by then the kills were 4–1. They started to pick up the pace as the game left the lanes, but Nisha’s Leshrac was out farming Abed. By 18-minutes the kills were 9–5 and Secret had secured the gold advantage. The Io/Slark combo from Cr1t and Arteezy just wasn’t picking up steam fast enough. Secret started to dominate by the time the game reached the 25-minute mark. They pushed into the Rosh at 30-minutes, got the aegis on Matu’s morphling and it was all over six minutes later.

Secret close out game four at 36-minutes, 25–7 kills. Our grand finals were going to a game five.

Game 5

First blood went to EG, but the kills were two apiece before the 2-minute mark as we saw a very aggressive start to our final game. The kills were 3–4 by 4-minutes. The kills were 7–5 as we came out of the lanes, with Evil Geniuses in the lead. But Secret had managed to secure themselves a 1k gold advantage by the 10-min mark.
Fly’s Treant suffered a slow death, cliffed and napalmed around 14-minutes, as Zai’s Batrider started to make bold plays in the radiant jungle.

The score was 7–9 and Secret had stretched their gold lead to 6k.
By the 20-minute mark, Secret were overtaking. At 26-minutes Secret looked unstoppable, they had amassed a 17k gold lead, the kills were still close 11–15.
Puppey and the boys pushed into the Rosh pit at 27-minutes, taking an aegis for Matu’s Phantom Lancer. They pushed into the top high ground at 30-minutes. EG threw out a repair kit and did their best to hold. But there was no holding Secret back. They took the mid rax at 33-minutes, and it was GG for Evil Geniuses as Secret showed them no mercy.

It was 26–11 at 35-minutes, Secret took the final game of the grand final series to become the champions of DreamLeague Season 13 and the Leipzig Major.

 

If you missed any of the action from the Major, ESTNN has you covered with all the highlights available in our daily recaps.

Image via Dreamhack/Adela Sznajder

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Eliana Bollati
Eliana is a freelance editor & journalist from Australia with a passion for esports and video games. An avid player of video games for the better part of three decades, she began following professional esports circuits during the 2010s. She brings both a player and longtime fan perspective into her commentary on the professional scenes.