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Dota 2: EPICENTER Major – Day 4 Recap

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Dota 2: EPICENTER Major – Day 4 Recap

ESTNN walks you through Day 4 of the EPICENTER Major Moscow.

Another day passed by at the last Dota 2 Major of this DPC season. Yesterday, Team Liquid showed everyone that their roster change to w33 was for the better as the European powerhouse blazed through LGD and Virtus.Pro in the Upper Bracket. Be sure to check our recap from yesterday in case you missed it!

Having said that, today's games were equally as exciting as yesterday's. Let’s take a look at what happened in the two brackets.

 

EPICENTER Day 4 Upper Bracket

Vici Gaming vs Gambit

The opening series of the day was between two teams which actually played very recently against one another. In fact, Gambit was able to defeat Vici Gaming at ESL One Birmingham just a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, Gambit couldn't repeat their success as they were unable to do it at EPICENTER.

The Chinese powerhouse rolled out the classic Gyro-Wisp combo in Game One. As expected, they dominated the early-mid game, which pretty much secured them the victory. Gambit tried to split push using their Lone Druid, but that's a strategy that's is definitely easier said than done, especially vs an IO setup.

Having the momentum advantage from the first game, Vici completely demolished Gambit's lineup in the second one. Gambit tapped out just 22 minutes into the game after Ori’s TA ripped through their lineups.

The CIS team will have to fight for their survival tomorrow against NiP.

 

TNC vs Royal Never Give Up

 

TNC and RNGU was definitely one of the most unexpected series in the Upper Bracket. Both of those teams did a phenomenal job in the Group Stage, despite the fact that many fans and analysts considered them underdogs in this tournament.

The first game between the two teams was a constant back-and-forth brawl, at least during the early game. However, as soon as TNC got a few items, the balance of power completely shifted in their favor. RNGU relied heavily on their Naga, but the hero was heavily focused down and picked by the SEA squad. Having no way to deal with their enemies, the Chinese had no other choice but to prepare themselves for the second game.

Game Two started in a similar way to the first bout, but it turned out to be the longest game at this Major yet – 76 minutes! The first big difference in power happened around the 30-minute mark after TNC successfully secured the Aegis. The SEA team eventually managed to secure a lane of rax, even as their advantage slowly started to fade away.

Eventually, RNGU were able to take advantage of the mistakes made by TNC and grabbed the victory.

Despite the heavy loss, the SEA powerhouse did not give up. What’s more, they pretty much dominated the entire Game Three and needed just 18 minutes to score the victory. In addition to their win, they also secured their TI 9 invite after gaining the needed DPC points.

 

Vici Gaming vs TNC

 

The Upper Bracket R2 match was the last one for this amazing day of Dota.

The SEA powerhouse was on fire after the epic series against RNGU, which is one of the reasons for their epic performance in Game One. They pretty much dominated ViCi Gaming from the start, even though Vici Gaming attempted several combacks. Unfortunately for Vici, all of them fell short.

While just one game away from the Lower Bracket, the Chinese went all out in the second game of the series. In fact, they had a pretty solid lead throughout the entire game. However, TNC did an amazing job at not letting their enemies push or gain pressure on their territory. Regardless of their efforts, Vici eventually killed their Storm and secured the victory.

Game Three was yet another dominant performance from Vici Gaming. The Chinese managed to deal with TNC’s Alchemist very well, which pretty much won them the game because, like every Alch line-up, he is the most important hero in that composition.

The next challenge ahead of Ori and his teammates will be the powerful Team Liquid. It is definitely set to be one of the most interesting games yet, especially considering TL’s recent performance.

 

EPICENTER Major Lower Bracket

 

Alliance vs Infamous

The first Lower Bracket match of the day was between Alliance and Infamous, one of the underdogs of this tournament. As expected, the Swedish squad had little to no trouble dealing with their enemies, crushing them in the best-of-one.

They managed to build a very strong lead early on after winning the laning stage. What’s more, qoijva was on his Storm Spirit again, which is one of the hardest snowballing heroes in the game. This made the life of the South American squad pretty hard.

The team had an over 25k net-worth advantage just 27 minutes in, and Alliance definitely deserved their win. They will have to fight against Royal Never Give Up tomorrow if they wish to get the direct invite for TI 9.

 

Evil Geniuses vs OG

This was undoubtedly the most anticipated game of the day and it certainly lived up to the expectations of Dota fans and analysts across the world. Many people expected the NA team to demolish OG, especially since n0tail was not playing. However, Ceb and co. proved yet again why they are the reigning TI champions.

Evil Geniuses tried to execute their usual Bo1/ LB start by picking an Alchemist. Everything was going as planned for Artour, and his team-mates had a massive 16k net-worth lead. Despite that, EG pulled off a devastating 322 play which changed the balance of power in favor of OG.

Ana and his team-mates slowly started to snowball, something which EG had absolutely no defense planned for. After losing yet another team fight, they had no other choice but to pack their suitcases and head home. This has been one of EG’s worst Majors ever, but, luckily, they already secured their spot for TI.

Don't forget to keep up with all the action at the Major over at the official EPICENTER Twitch.

You can follow us on Twitter for daily updates from the EPICENTER Major. Don’t forget to check our YouTube for daily esports news and highlights.

Image VIA: EPICENTER

Dota 2: EPICENTER Major – Day 4 Recap
Zlosterr
Zlosterr has been a fan of esports for many years and mainly focuses on Dota 2. He has more than five years of experience writing Dota 2 content for numerous platforms. Besides being a passionate fan of the game, he's also played for various amateur teams.