Alienware cup dota 2 finals

Alienware Cup Down to Six

In the first game of the day, Orange NeoES took on Zenith , who have been trying to play outside of their comfort zone and continued to do so in the first game of the series, which ended in quick and dominant win for Orange, who dominated the lanes with strong laning cores such as Outworld Devourer, Weaver and Lone Druid, forcing the ‘GG’ by 18 minutes in. While Zenith kept the game going slightly longer the second time around with their favoured Tinker pick, they still got badly outplayed and outfarmed, losing ground and eventually their base by 30 minutes, making it one of the fastest series of the playoffs so far, as Orange took it 2-0 in less than 50 minutes.

Going up against TongFu , many were prepared to write off LGD. Int straight off the bat, but confounding expectations seems to fit well for LGD’s International squad, who seem to finally be finding their own style of play after being lost for so long, as they dominated TongFu early on and used a highly farmed Per Anders ‘ Pajkatt‘ Olsson Lille Lifestealer in order to out-carry the Anti-Mage of Chen ‘ Hao‘ Zhihao.

For the rest of the series, TongFu changed up their gameplan going for multiple cores and stronger lanes, dominating LGD. Int in the second game and gaining the advantage in the third, being able to split push and divide up the fights in order to avoid LGD. Int’s stronger teamfight abilities. Running just shy of 60 minutes, the final game of the series came down to a six slotted Divine Rapier Gyrocopter by Pajkatt trying to contend with Weaver, Dragon Knight and Nature’s Prophet while two Barracks down, ultimately being split up and outpushed, as TongFu made their way into the next stage of the competition by the skin of their teeth.

Coming Up Next

The next matches of the lower bracket were drawn live on stream after the final games, in order to determine the opponents for DK and Invictus Gaming .

Orange vs. Invictus Gaming

Orange have had the stronger showings as of late, and even though there are certains issues regarding their core players and how the distribute farm accross them in certain games, the supports of Orange have been on point in terms of rotations, as well as the whole team producing consistent results. Meanwhile iG coasted through the groupstages without really being forced to up their level of play, and in their first real test up against Na`Vi they crumbled, indicating that they have not quite yet recovered from their slump. All in all, Orange has the advantage going into the series.

TongFu vs. DK

A preview of the Dota 2 Super League Grand Final, two of the strongest current Chinese teams will head it off in order to stay in the competition. While TongFu at their best show great consistent plays, they’ve also shown signs of weakness, as they can be beaten on lanes as well as in teamfight execution. Meanwhile DK certainly have the lategame execution, but they may not be best suited to exploited TongFu’s weaknesses. It seems likely that the outcome will come down to how well Fan ‘ r0tk‘ Bai and Junhao ‘ Super‘ Xie execute their respective duties, as TongFu seem better suited to punish a 4-protect-1 strategy than a multicore lineup.

Alienware Cup Finals Preview

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Alienware Cup Finals Preview

The Alienware Cup is nearing a close, after a group stage that saw the best in the world pitted against one another for the right to take home a piece of the $60,000 prize purse. Fittingly the tournament we like to think of as ‘The International-lite’ is ending with an East vs West battle, as a top-of-their-game LGD will see how they match up against a recently revitalized Natus Vincere.

With both of these teams showing their best form as of late anything can go down, and in a best-of-5 affair it would be a surprise not to see some wild card heroes or strategies make an appearance.

Get ready for the games because they will be a doozy.

Bringing Hardware Home

By Heyoka

The Unofficial World Champion is a storied tradition here, or at least has been for the last month and a half after we cribbed the idea from someone else. Giving a highly accurate, highly important way to track who is currently the king of the Dota 2 hill, this is an important means for fans to cheer for their favorite team to add an achievement of extreme class and the highest prestige to their resume.

Of course, a designation this grand isn’t without complications. In a game like Dota where Chinese and European teams only meet a few times a year, it means the title can be essentially region locked for months at a time, destined to bounce around within the continents that often play one another. Had Alliance walked away with it at G-1 League finals, for instance, their SEA counterparts may not even have had a chance to get it back until August when The International rolls around. In the grand scheme of things, though, this is also the beauty of The Unofficial World Champion title. Should one of the determined ‘white dude’ teams grab hold of its theoretical and imaginary metal (gold, presumably) casing, they can keep it in their own continent while shouting a hearty “nyah-nyah” as their friends in South-East Asia look on longingly. Forlorn, filled with sadness that their name isn’t plastered atop internet lists.

Luckily Na`Vi is here to give those in the West a chance at just that. Trusty Na`Vi, twice champions of Ehome in 2011, at The International and then ESWC, they have proven they have what it takes to bring down the Chinese. They’re ready and capable, and now that we track a superior metric, it is imperative they find the drive to bring it home. After all, they were the first to hold it. Would have been anyway, had it been a real thing.

They must win. For honor, for glory, for whatever other things accompany an Alienware Cup victory (I guess money? there is a lot of money). But most importantly, to bring that trophy to Europe.

Grand Finals Preview

By riptide

The Alienware Cup has given us weeks of Chinese Dota, and we’re here now at its culmination. LGD and Na`Vi will meet later today in the Grand Finals and, in the space of five games, will give us a glimpse at the upper echelons of TI3.

Though it’s foolhardy to predict playoff standings in a tournament that is as storied and diverse as Valve’s yearly world championship, the fact remains that with less than a month to go, the finals of a competition like the Alienware Cup give us a good indication of what we can expect from the scene in Seattle this August. But let’s not beat around the bush here: LGD is the best team in the world. The last stages of TI2 were all about the five man Dota that iG pioneered, and TI3 is going to be no different. Patches have come and gone, but multicore is still the name of the game. This, sports fans, is why LGD will shine, both in tomorrow’s Alienware Cup Finals and in TI3.

LGD are a team. Though nearly all major Chinese teams live and play together, LGD has the unique advantage of being a ‘true’ five-man team. They are not dependent on a single core like DK, and in fact, they didn’t do particularly well when the meta still favoured four-protect-one. In the current meta, however, they are pure gold. They have three solid cores in Sylar, Xiao8 and Yao, all three of whom are capable of playing a plethora of carries and semi-carries. In fact, while Sylar is still seen as their #1, we often see him being run at #3 these days, and the team is no less effective when doing so. In short, they are absolutely flexible, meaning that their opposition never knows who they will face in lane. However, they are also completely reliable. In fact, with their unshakeable three core leaning on the rock solid support of DD and DDC, they are nearly unbeatable at this point in the game’s development. Nearly. But LGD can be beaten. To do so, you just need to beat them in every stage of the game. You have to out-draft them, out-lane them and then beat them in the mid and late game as well. Most importantly, however, you need to catch them off guard by doing something so completely out there that they haven’t yet prepared a way to respond to it.

And there’s one team that can do just that.

The Na`Vi roster is wide and varied, and in terms of pure talent they are among the top three teams in Western Dota. Alienware cup dota 2 finals It’s true that they haven’t shown the best results this year, but that’s generally expected following a major restructuring. If anything, their performance in the AC playoffs show that they are now coming together as a team. They have one of the best mid players in the world in Dendi, and world-class supports in KuroKy and Puppey. Funn1k is a great offlaner, and XBOCT, despite the criticisms levelled at him, is a carry that works for Na`Vi. He fits their team beautifully, and unlike many other carries, he can play around his team, and not vice versa. Alienware cup dota 2 finals What remains to be seen, then, is how Na`Vi plays today. In yesterday’s games versus iG, they looked like a team and played like a team, with solid initiations and great team fights. They’re not yet the Na`Vi that comes to mind when we think of the play from TI2, but they’re certainly getting there. So, can they out-draft LGD? Certainly. Puppey is capable of going toe-to-toe with Xiao8 in that department. Can they outlane them? Dendi – yes, and on a good day, everyone else – yes. Can they beat them in mid and late game fights? It depends. If they play like they did yesterday, they certainly stand a chance. But if they are hyper-aggressive and allow XBOCT to run riot even for a moment, LGD will punish them mercilessly. In short, Na`Vi cannot make mistakes tomorrow. If they don’t, they may well take this series and set the tone for TI3.

The biggest question of the Alienware Cup Grand Finals, then, supersedes the tournament itself. This is the second Chinese tournament this summer to feature an East vs West matchup in the finals. It is also the second time this year that LGD faces a foreign team on home soil in a championship series. More importantly, however, this bo5 is also a precursor to TI3, and the question remains: TI1 went West, TI2 went East – where will TI3 go? This series may just give us a hint.