DOTA 2: WESG 2018-2019 Quarterfinals Highlights

The WESG quarterfinals are all wrapped up. Of the 24 teams who started WESG, only four remain as we now move into our last day of competition in Chongqing. Let’s take a look at which teams made the cut.

Keen vs Ehome

Our first quarterfinal match of the day was Keen Gaming vs EHOME.

Game one of the series started out even. EHOME punished Keen’s 17-minute Rosh attempt, and the game looked like it was going to end in their favour.

But at 34-minutes, Keen pushed back, and turned the game around and snatched right out from under EHOME’s nose. Old chicken was the standout player for Keen in this game, cleaning up 19 kills and bringing in an average of 606 gold per minute.

But with game two, EHOME seized themselves a three-game series.

In a gruelling 73-minute battle that bounced back and forth. This game was EHOME’s victory. They ended with 44 kills to Keen’s 37. XinQ and END were responsible for 33 of those kills. END’s weaver pick earned him the top kills, 19. While XinQ on Ursa was only 5 kills behind him, with a total of 14.

Our final game of the series saw Keen come back hard. The gold advantage swung their way as the game reached ten minutes and never swung back in EHOME’s favour. After a 41-minute bloodbath, Keen took the win.

Eleven delivered a truly outstanding performance for Keen in this final game of the series. He secured 17 of the teams 46 kills, almost 40% of the total.

But it was old chicken who was the overall standout player across all three of Keen’s games, with 39 kills to his name. KaKa also deserves an honourable mention, being involved in 75 of Keen’s kills in this series, providing the game-winning support they needed to be our first team to move on to progress to the semi-finals.

Ukraine vs Gorillaz-Pride

Ukraine have been a team to watch at WESG. They’ve been almost invincible, with both No[o]ne and iceberg delivering some truly blistering performances.

Their quarterfinal match against Peru’s Gorillaz-Pride saw more of the ruthless pace they’ve been bringing to their series here at WESG.

Game one looked tricky for G-Pride from the draft. Masoku’s Oracle didn’t turn out too badly, but Berna’s Chaos Knight struggled to be effective in the late game. Peru took out the first two kills and were looking strong throughout the laning phase. But No[o]ne on Spectre was a force to be reckoned with.

The swing came in the Rosh pit at twenty-three minutes. Ukraine contested G-Pride's attempt, forcing a buy back out from SmAsH. Then used that momentum to take the aegis for themselves.

Ten minutes later, it was all over for Peru. A successful mid push to the high ground saw Ukraine snatch themselves the first win of the series.

Game two was a great game for Ukraine. Some fantastic early pick-offs that helped No[o]ne, Iceberg and ALOHADANCE get farmed quickly. G-Pride’s Enigma pick made it difficult for the team to play around SmAsH. While vanN had trouble getting the farm he needed on Kunkka in mid. It was these early mistakes that cost G-Pride the game.

Ukraine’s draft worked together like a well-oiled machine. Ending the game at 29 minutes with 35 kills to G-Prides 11.

Iceberg took out the top kills in this series, a total of 25.

Although they’re heading home, G-Pride have played very well at WESG. They earned the second-most points in Group B during the round robin stages. Their performances at the tournament are a clear indication that the South American Dota 2 scene is improving.

NoLifer5 vs Team Russia

Our third quarterfinal series saw NoLifer5 from Kyrgyzstan meet Team Russia.

The first game went to NoLifer5, who had game one in the bag by 27 minutes. Largely thanks to StormC4t’s SF. He pulled in a total of 14k gold for his team and claimed seven of their kills.

But Team Russia were not interested in going home. The next two games of this series were fast and brutal stomps.

Game two was in Russia’s favour from the outset. The boys from VP and Afoninje were ahead by 4.6k net worth 14-minutes in. Their high ground push top lane as the game reached twenty-minutes was the decisive moment that decided their victory. They took both top rax, and a 14-kill lead before GG was called at twenty-six minutes.

Game three was an even more of a massacre. NoLifer5’s Leshrac pick in the draft phase didn’t do them any favours. There was no way to stop Russia’s onslaught. They dominated from the outset of the laning phase, controlling the map and the pace in this final game. It was a tough loss for NoLifer5. They only managed to take 3 kills the entire game, 18 kills behind Russia's 21.

Team Russia have had a patchy performance here at WESG. They suffered a few surprise losses during the group stages, but after their quarterfinal series against NoLifer5, they are looking like one of the stronger teams moving in to the semi-finals.

TNC Predator vs Team Canarinho

TNC Predator have delivered some of our strongest performances of the tournament so far. They’ve approached each of their series aggressively. Playing fast games with greedy rosters that outpace the competition. Their Bo3 against Brazil’s Team Canarinho was no different.

Game one saw an interesting draft from Canarinho, with hFn k3 playing Luna as carry and 4dr on Leshrac. Unfortunately, innovative picks were not enough for the boys from Brazil. TNC pulled ahead within the first 10 minutes. Leading the net worth with a 2k advantage.

It was the carry picks that swung this game of the series.  At the end of game one, Gabbi was 11/1/9 on Phantom Assassin, compared to 6/4/5 for hFn k3’s Luna.

TNC took the win at 38 minutes..

https://youtu.be/sXh_ScWtJP0?t=228

Game two was over even faster. Although it started out even in the laning phase, TNC quickly pulled ahead. However, the 15-minute mark was the real turning point. Canarinho’s unsuccessful attempt to stop TNC in the Roshan pit marked the beginning of the end.

By twenty minutes TNC were dominating with an 8-kill lead and an 8k lead in net worth. Three minutes later the kills were 23-12. With two rax down, Canarinho had nowhere left to go. Twenty-six minutes into game two, Brazil bowed out. Making TNC the last team to secure their spot in the semi-finals.

It won’t be long now until the final day of competition at WESG is underway. We’ll see China face Ukraine, and Russia will face the Philippines, as our top four teams fight to take home the title and the lion’s share of the $890,000 USD prize pool.

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