mouz takes direct placing for TI, Bear to the play-in’s
Virtus.Pro re-awakened
Entering the European Qualifier probably not a single passionate Dota 2 fan thought of Virtus.pro coming out and grabbing a spot in Seattle. Still the star-stacked Russian squad was steadily improving as the tournament went on. They barely got to that fourth spot that led them into the playoffs, but after that their game just got much, much better. Eliminating Team Coast was a slight surprise, but the real challenge was the bo3 versus RoX.KIS.
It was clear that VP needed something different, something special to help them win versus Artour' Goblak' Kostenko & co. and what better than a level 1 Roshan? That first game was just a plain blowout. From the starting point, when VP got the Roshan, until the 22nd minute when RoX called GG, there was only one team on the map.
Still, RoX wasn't gonna go down without a fight. In game 2 Rox was much more dominant and better in terms of making decisions and their teamfight coordination. It wasn't a stomp like in the first game, but it was a convincing win for Rox never the less. Solo's Brew was just too big for VP to handle and we were heading to a deciding game 3.
Surprisingly enough momentum wasn't on the RoX's side. They were being sloppy in the early game, while VP knew exactly what they wanted; early fighting items on Sergey 'Ars-Art' Revin's Nature's Prophet and safe farm for Sergey 'God' Bragin's Outworld Devourer. That's just what they've managed to get as well, and RoX had no answer for both teamfights and push that was coming from VP and after 40 minutes in game 3, it was clear, Virtus.pro is going to Seattle!
mouz come back from behind
mouz were the heavy favourites going into the qualifier finals and it showed as they carved out a 9-0 lead in the first game and got up two Hand of Midases for their core heroes. But the greed ended up costing them as they tried to defend a tower right as VP got their items in order, losing the fight and giving up their big killstreaks. With newfound momentum VP were able to keep up the pressure and in the span of 10 minutes went from being down and out to breaking their opponents base, sealing the first game of the series.
The second game followed a similar script as mouz got the better of the trilane vs. trilane at bottom lane, but lost a lot of momentum as a strong highground lineup from VP kept the mice at bay while Ars-Art pushed out the lanes on his Nature's Prophet. In the end the game dragged on past 60 minutes, with VP growing stronger throughout. They almost gave it up with a fight at mid lane but were able to recover enough as mouz overextended a bit in turn trying to end the epic game, allowing the Russians to take their second win of the series.
The turning point came in the third game of the series as was again at risk of giving up a strong early game, but were able to rally themselves and hold on, securing the win on the back of Per Anders 'Pajkatt' Olsson Lille's spectacular Slark performance, going 22-1-7. This hero would also carry mouz through the fourth game, a relatively easier match where Pajkatt racked up 12-0-2 statsm for a combined 34:1 KD ratio.
The final game of the series went again down to the wire, as VP managed to get some big teamfights on the back of Chronospheres, looking to drag things out for their Faceless Void. However the deciding factor turned out to be heavily influenced by mouz strong draft, as the Disruptor and Batrider combined to put VP out of position time and again, allowing mouz to break the base of the Russian team and eliminate them from the competition.
mouz go directly to TI4 with a 3-2 win over Virtus.Pro, who will have to play for the 16th spot in Seattle.
Photo from mousesports bootcamp courtesy of the team.
