Dota 2: MDL Chengdu – Day 5 Recap

The playoffs continue into their third day at MDL Chengdu with two more teams eliminated.

Another action packed day at MDL Chengdu has come to a close, as we saw another two of our teams head home and two more fall into the lower bracket.

Lower Bracket

Things are getting tight in our lower bracket, with two more of our teams eliminated today.

Fnatic vs Invictus Gaming

Game One

Fnatic took control of game one right from the start. Dominating their lanes. They had nine kills on the board and a 2k gold advantage by the time the game hit nine-minutes.

Invictus hardly had an opportunity to put up a fight. Fnatic were pushing Roshan at 16-minutes. 23savage took the ageis and Fnatic made ready for their high ground push.

This game was over fast, just 22-minutes on the clock when Invictus called GG. The final score was 30–8. It was a complete stomp by Fnatic, to take game one of the series.

Game Two

Invictus knew they needed to win this game two if they wanted to keep their dreams alive at this Major.
They took the first blood, and then a second kill by the two-minute mark. By the end of the laning phase the kills were 4–9 and Invictus had nabbed themselves a 1k gold advantage. At 20-minutes in, they had stretched their kill-lead out to 13.

Fnatic did their best to hold, but Invictus had their number this time around. The kills were 15–42 at 36-minutes when they took the win. Invictus Gaming had pushed the series to a game three.

This was a fantastic game for Emo’s Ember Spirit. His KDA was 14/2/17. Oli also put in an excellent performance on his Ancient Apparation, going 7/1/26.

Game Three

Fnatic took out an early first blood in our final game. But iG punished the aggression quickly, and we had our second kill of the game just past the two-minute mark. Still, Invictus owned the lanes, with jT’s Kunkka having a fine time in bottom. He earned himself a megakill streak with a pick off on 23savage’s Spectre at 8-minutes in.

Fnatic were on the backfoot in terms of farm. Both jT and iceiceice were at least 2k behind iG’s flyfly, who was third on the board. At 20-minutes iG had an 8k lead in the net worth and the kills were 13–18. Fnatic just never got the chance to catch up.

At 35-minutes, iG closed out the victory. Taking the series 1–2, to knock Fnatic out of MDL Chengdu.
Invictus Gaming were advancing to round three of our lower bracket.

Beastcoast vs Fighting Pandas

Game One

The kills were one for one by the first minute of game one in our series between Beastcoast and Fighting Pandas. The early aggression served as a clear indication of the pace of this game, which was blistering.

There were nine kills on the board by nine-minutes in, the score was 5–4, with Beastcoast up by one. It was a back and forth affair for the next few minutes, with the kill count staying very even. But Beastcoast’s control over the gold lead continued to grow, and by 15-minutes they had a 5k advantage over the Pandas.

Things really started to look grim for EternalEnVy and the boys once the game reached the 20-minute mark. Beastcoast had netted themselves a 9k advantage by now, although they were only three kills up at this point, that was about to change.

Beastcoast racked up another 7-kills over the next six-minutes of the game, as the Panda’s defense crumbled. At 26-minutes, with the score 21–11, game one belonged to Beastcoast.

Game Two

Beastcoast again brought the aggressive plays in the early game. Taking first blood just past the one-minute mark. But Fighting Pandas were fighting back, and took two kills for themselves by three-minutes in. It was looking like another fast and brutal back and forth game.

Still, the Pandas were not rolling over for Beastcoast. They worked hard in the games early phase to secure objectives, securing themselves a 7-kill lead and a 2k gold advantage by the time things moved past 10-minutes.

Things had started to even out by the 15-minute mark. The kills were 8–10, and Beastcoast had cut the Panda’s net worth lead down to less than 1k.

But, k1’s signature Wraith King had slipped through the draft, by 20-minutes in he still hadn’t died. With a beefy k1 to soak up all the damage that EE and Bryle were putting out, Beastcoast made setting up kills look like child’s play. Both Wisper and Chris Luck secure 11-kills each, with KDA’s of 11/3/20 and 11/5/18 respectively.

The Fighting Panda’s put up their best fight, but it wasn’t enough to stop Beastcoast. The score was 34–18 when they took this game at 38-minutes, eliminating the Fighting Panda’s 2–0.

Upper Bracket

There was plenty of excitement in our upper bracket as well, as our teams fight it out to avoid facing elimination in the lower bracket.

TNC Predator vs J.Storm

Game One

Our first game in this series between TNC and J.Storm was our longest game of the day. Our teams slogged it out for a full 70-minutes in a bid to take this game one victory.

TNC took first blood, with TIMS taking a kill on MoOz in top lane just before the game hit two-minutes. But J.Storm were the real early aggressors. They had taken three kills by the five-minute mark, and TNC hadn’t managed to secure themselves a second yet. By 10-minutes, J.Storm had six kills on the board, and TNC still just had the one.

But it was objectives TNC were focused on. Even though J.Storm mopped up kill after kill, Gabbi was on Alchemist, J.Storm just couldn’t catch up with them in the farm.

As the game stretched past the 40-minute mark, the kills were 11–21, but TNC had a 27k net worth lead.

J.Storm missed their opportunity to press their advantage early and close out this game one. TNC didn’t need a higher kill count to rule the late game. All it took was patience and a disciplined defense. After a gruelling 70-minute game, TNC finally took the win.

Game Two

First blood went to J.Storm this time around. But TNC looked much more in control through the lanes than they had in game one. It was 2–3 at the six-minute mark, with J.Storm again grabbing the early kill lead. By 14-minutes, the kills were 4–7 and J.Storm had a slight 1k gold lead. Things were looking promising for the NA team.

But things had switched just three minutes later. Now TNC had the kill lead and the gold lead, and they weren’t planning on letting it go. At 33-minutes, the kills were 22–15 and TNC were pushing for Roshan. With the aegis on Gabbi, they made for a high ground push. But J.Storm bought back, holding off the assault.

A reset and another Roshan, and TNC were back at J.Storm’s high ground. The kills were 32–22 at 45-minutes as TNC took down the final rax. J.Storm called the GG at 46-minutes. TNC.Predator took the series 2–0, knocking the NA team into the lower bracket.

Vici Gaming vs Evil Geniuses

Game One

Vici Gaming took control of this first game in our series, taking out first blood early. Evil Geniuses matched the aggression, and we had two kills on the board in the first two minutes of the game. Despite the Alchemist pick for Arteezy, Vici were securing themselves the gold advantage during the lanes. By the 10-minute mark, Vici had scored themselves a lead in the kills, 8–4. That lead was up by ten; 17–7, by 20-minutes and although the gold advantage was small, Vici had it.

At 28-minutes Vici were taking Roshan, with the aegis for Ori. EG held their high ground as long as they could, but at 41-minutes it was over. Vici took game one with a 14k lead in the net worth.

Game Two

It was another close start for game two. The kills were two apiece by the five-minute mark, but things slowed down a little as the game moved out of the laning phase.

Vici were again in the lead, they had an 5k advantage in the gold at 19-minutes and the kills were 18–8.

Things still were looking good for Vici around the 40-minute mark. They took a Roshan and went hunting with the aegis on Eurus. But it was EG who ended up taking some much-needed kills. Bringing the score to 29–19.

But EG were putting up a hard fight. While they never quite managed to seize back the net worth lead, they did stay close in the kills. They also made the most of every opportunity they created. Ramzes put in a lot of work this game with his Pudge pick in terms of both body blocking and initiating team fights during this game. It was a much more sacrificial style of play from him and his KDA reflected it, 8/11/16. When Arteezy’s Void took a triple kill at 51-minutes, and with 4 down on the side of Vici, they went straight for the T4’s.

At 54-minutes, Vici were defeated, our final series of the day was going to three games.

Game Three

EG took out first blood in this final game the series. But the laning phase was not as vicious as some of the other’s we saw today.  take first blood. The kills were 1–3 at nine minutes. The pace had not sped up much as we moved into the mid game, the kills were 8–10 at 15-minutes. Evil Geniuses had the lead, but Vici’s cores were starting to come online.

Evil Geniuses were behind in the gold, but they still had tricks up their sleeves. A nice team fight in the late game let them push for the Roshan and gain some gold and 11k XP to even things out.

But Vici were still 12k ahead in the net worth. It was a gap that EG just could not close. At 51-minutes, Vici secured game three to take out the series, 2–1 and knock Evil Geniuses down into the lower bracket.

We now know the second finalist of the Upper Bracket as @VICI successfully took down @EvilGeniuses in the third game of their series.

VG confirm their status of favorites, but still have at least two more matches to win if they want to lift the trophy. pic.twitter.com/PAVVS33utG

— Mars Media (@MarsMedia) November 20, 2019

It’s break day for our remaining teams at Chengdu tomorrow. All the action from the Major will be back Friday, live on Twitch.

Image via Mars Media.