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Dota 2: Final Highlights of WESG 2018-2019

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Dota 2: Final Highlights of WESG 2018-2019

After four days of incredible Dota, it's finally time to say goodbye. Today was the final day of WESG 2018-2019, which, despite not being a DPC event, provided an incredible $890,000 prize pool. Let’s take a look at what happened!

Keen Gaming vs Team Ukraine

 

The opening series of the day was between two of the best performing teams so far — Team Ukraine and Keen Gaming. Both of them finished first in their groups. Naturally, people expected this to be a very interesting game. However, this was not the case. Keen gaming completely tore the CIS squad apart in both games and advanced to the Grand Final.

In Game One, the Chinese drafted the classic Magnus + Phantom Assassin Combo that has proven to be very successful so far. Even though Team Ukraine was playing fairly decent for the first few minutes, one bad team fight shifted the course of the game. Suddenly, the two empowered cores of KG slowly became a little bit too much to deal with. Having no other option, No[o]ne and Co GG'ed out just 25 minutes in.

Facing defeat, the CIS team decided to do a cheesy start involving Anti-Mage. Sadly, their plan did not work. Kaka and his teammates utilized their Night Stalker pick to the max as he ripped through the enemy lanes. On top of that, their pick was focused on pushing, something which Team Ukraine had no answer for. Similar to Game One, the Chinese needed around 26 minutes to secure their win and continue further.

White-Off vs TNC Predator

 

These teams already played against each other in Group C. However, this time the stake was a lot higher – the winner advances to the Grand Final.

One of the main attractions of game one was TNC’s Morphling. After pretty much annihilating the mid lane, he continued to cause havoc to the other heroes in the game. By the 20 minute mark, the SEA powerhouse took full control of the game. This resulted in a massive 9k net worth advantage. WO had no way to deal with their cores and decided to focus on Game 2.

The second game of the series was definitely a lot more intriguing to watch. White-Off had the lead for the most part of the game but despite that, they were just unable to deliver their knock-out punch. When the dust settled, TNC realized the farming potential of their Magnus + two melee core lineup and decided to use it.

Even though WO were able to get two lanes of rax, the push for the mega creeps did not go so well. SF’s Aegis expired in the middle of the fight and forced his buyback. Just a few minutes after that, another fight went in favour of TNC as Gabbi’s Juggernaut grabbed a Rapier.  With 4 dead, Ramzess was the sole survivor but he couldn’t stop the zerg of TNC.

Even though WO deserved the victory more, the SEA team managed to snatch it.

The Grand Final

Keen Gaming and TNC Predator were the final two teams that had to determine the winner. TNC had some extra motivation – revenge for Kuku’s Chongqing Ban. Unlike other tournaments, the Grand Final here was played in a best-of-three format.

The SEA team had a very solid start of the game. Their Chen-Venomancer offlane was able to completely shut down KG’s carry. Unfortunately, the other lanes had the same problem. Keen Gaming had absolutely no answer to TNC’s aggression and had to call the GG just 24 minutes into the game.

Having the moral advantage, Gabbi and his team-mates went into game two with only one goal – victory. They completely outdrafted their opponents who clearly had no idea how to counter the Naix-bombs from TNC. Keen gaming tried to take a page out of TNC’s book by doing some ganks but they were completely ineffective. TNC continued to dominate and eventually brought KG to their knees.

Congratulations to SEA powerhouse. This is their second WESG trophy.

3rd place Match

This is probably one of the few events where the match for the 3rd place was actually more interesting than the Grand Final. The two CIS teams went head-to-head in order to determine which one will go home with $100,000.

The first game of the series went in favour of Team Ukraine, even though White-Off had the lead in terms of net worth for most of the game. They decided to get Alchemist, a hero that has recently become more popular after the changes. Unfortunately, Alch is strong only when he has the right timing, something which the Russians could not take advantage of. Slowly but steadily, Ember and Troll from Team Ukraine were able to shift the balance of power and in the end, claim the victory.

A battle between two teams from the same region definitely has a pride element in them. That’s why White-off had no choice but to win the second game of the series.

In order to counter the insane damage output of Ukraine’s lineup, the Russians chose a very tanky setup. Iceberg’s Ursa had a wonderful game,  but he was just not enough to deal with DK and Lifestealer. The final fight of the game happened near the top lane. WO had the advantage by getting a quick pick-off but Ramzess was way too strong to be stopped. There was going to be a Game 3.


The Final Game

Team Ukraine decided to get very greedy picks in the face of Alch + Spectre. Usually, those two heroes do not work together, but this game was different. Somehow both of them managed to get the needed farm in order to be effective.

Even then, despite being down by 10k gold, the Russians never gave up. After some crucial fights for them, Ramzess was able to gain a significant advantage on his Morphling. As soon as he got the Aegis, White-Off gathered as 5 and destroyed the enemy barracks. Team Ukraine tried to counter-attack them by using Specter’s ult but it was not efficient.

White-Off deserved to the third spot because they pretty much “threw” the games against TNC. Hopefully, they will learn to have more respect for their enemies.

If you missed any of the previous days, make sure to read our daily highlights from Day 1, 2 and 3.

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Dota 2: Final Highlights of WESG 2018-2019
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.