posted by Vekus,
Centaur got some more love and attention in yesterday's DreamLeague matches which included Alliance versus Cloud9 and Team DOG vs Team EG. Cloud9 came into the game with one win out of three, having admitted defeat to Sigma and Empire, whilst Team Dog were looking to break into the top four in their match versus EG.

world Cloud9 vs eu MYM – Rocket away!





Game 1 of the evening promised to be entertaining from the getgo, looking at the drafts alone. Clou9 went for a greedy strategy, with EternalEnvy on the Shadow Fiend for the midlane, SingSing playing a solo safelane Mirana, and an offlane Clockwerk for Bone7. For support, EE took a Naga Siren as well as a Crystal Maiden, both strong disablers, but heavily level dependant.

eu MYM answered with a more unusual strategy as they ran Exist´s Batrider in the midlane with Ace taking the Nature´s Prophet towards the offlane. Unicorn got himself a farming Vengeful Spirit, supported by Mini, jungling a Chen as well as Cr1t´s Rubick.

The game was off to a head start, as Exist´s Batrider claimed the firstblood on EternalEnvy´s Shadow Fiend only 1:30 after letting the Napalm stack a bit too often. The early game continued to be focused on small pickoffs, with eu MYM coming out ahead, until they lost 3 for none, as they initiated on SingSing´s Mirana in his own jungle, who got saved by Aui_2000´s Song of the Siren at the last second, making the score 7-8, still favouring eu MYM.

Suddenly...souls(click to enlarge)


Both teams clashed one time after another, with eu MYM coming out ahead on every trade by a slight amount, even managing to turn one important teamfight in the midlane around with the help of a wellexecuted swap by unicorn´s Vengeful Spirit, leaving the score to a 12-16 to their favour, 16 minutes in. However world Cloud9 was keeping up in both farm and experience, also due to EternalEnvy´s Shadow Fiend, who constantly lead the networth charts.

In the following 10 minutes, world Cloud9 turned up the heat, as if they were looking for kills after kills, and managed to win two back to back teamfights, due to formidable teamplay by Aui_2000 and EternalEnvy, who executed a flawless Requiem of Souls+Song of the Siren combination. A special mention has to go out to Bone7, who managed to find amazing hooks throughout the game, often catching two or more enemies in the cogs.

As the score was 26-18 against eu MYM after the 26 minute mark, they decided to go for an all-or-nothing play, pursuing Roshan. However, world Cloud9 was well aware of that, and as Aui_2000 managed to snatch the Aegis with the Song of the Siren, catching the entire squad of eu MYM in the pit, the situation looked dire. eu MYM lost 5 and had no choice but to call the "GG" as 28 minutes passed.

An Aegis steal, nothing we see every day(click to enlarge)


world Cloud9 manage an impressive 31-18 win over eu MYM in only 28 minutes, on the backs of their strong supports and especially Bone7´s Clockwerk.


us EG vs Team eu DOG – Pigs, pigs everywhere!





The second game of the evening featured two newcomers going up against each other: us Evil Geniuses vs eu Team DOG. us EG managed to get an offlane Nyx Assassin for Universe together with a Tinker for Arteezy for the midlane. Unconventional decisions were made for their safelane, as Fear grabbed Ursa to farm, getting supported by zai´s Visage and PPD´s Bane.

eu Team DOG responded with a very mobile draft, getting an Ember Spirit for MSS for the midlane as well as a Centaur Warrunner for Smulgullig for the offlane. Pajkatt took the carry role with a farming Mirana, getting supported by Fogged´s Ancient Apparition and Misery´s Crystal Maiden.

PPD was the first victim of the game, getting picked off in his own jungle before the horns had blown, as eu Team DOG rushed in there to scout out us EG and cripple the trilane by warding their jungle. The early game consisted mostly of eu DOG trying to shut down Arteezy´s Tinker and both teams searching for pickoffs. The first big engagement took place a the bottom lane at the 12 minute mark, with eu Team DOG trading three for one, establishing a 5-8 lead.

This does remind of Frozen(click to enlarge)


In the midgame both teams continued to fight all over the map with no team gettingbut noone got too big of a lead. Tinker faired well after getting shutdown in lane, in fact it was Ember Spirit who was lacking in terms of farm, however MSS still managed to get kills, using the hero to its full potential.


Despite eu Team DOG staying ahead in terms of kills, us EG went slowly but steadily ahead in gold more and more, most likely due to Arteezy´s Tinker who managed to find farm all over the map, establishing a solid 5k gold lead over Fear´s Ursa at 31 minutes.

Both teams prioritised mobility on their heroes, which worked out incredibly well. Especially the Blink Dagger on Fear´s Ursa proved to be very effective. As a counter to that, Sheepsticks were coming up from both sides, with a total of 5 Scythe of Vyse´s at the end of the game.

eu Team DOG were keeping the kill lead, but the global composition of Arteezy´s Tinker and zai´s Familiars proved to be too much for them to handle. Slowly but steadily all their lanes got pushed out until all outer towers were down, while they didn´t manage to claim a single Tier 2.

Ursa wants to get those piggies(click to enlarge)


On the back of a strong Ember Spirit, eu DOG managed to fight off us EG twice, nearly turning the course of the game, but a misplay by MSS lead to him dying and us EG claiming the bottom barracks. As eu DOG traded another four for two in favour of us EG they called the „GG“ at 53:32 with an ending score of 32-35, still in their favour.


se Alliance vs world Cloud9 – You are doomed!





Game 3 of the evening suprised with certain laning decisions more than with picks. se Alliance decided to go for a 2-1-2 strategy, laning both s4´s Centaur Warrunner and us EGM´s Lich at the top lane. Loda was heading mid with his Lifestealer, while Admiral Bulldog´s Nature´s Prophet took up the bottom lane, with Akke´s Disruptor roaming a bit and trying to get some levels in the jungle.

world Cloud9 went for a mobile lineup, including a Doom for EternalEnvy supported by pieliedie´s Crystal Maiden. SingSing fared up against Loda in the midlane with an Ember Spirit, while Bone7 headed towards the offlane with the Beastmaster, getting some support from Aui_2000´s Visage.

The game picked up slow, with the first blood being given away by pieliedie´s Crystal Maiden, as she overstayed her welcome against se Alliance´s dual lane. The top lane continued to be the place of action, as world Cloud9 dived the Tier 1 tower only 4 minutes in and getting the fight turned at them, making it a two for two exchange.


Diving that early, a good idea?(click to enlarge)


Akke´s Disruptor proved to be a key factor in Allaince´s game, as his Glimpses brought back one hero after another into the fight, most noticable catching EternalEnvy´s Doom after he teleported to safety. With this and a well placed Static Storm to disable SingSing´s Ember Spirit, se Alliance managed to get a four for one exchange in their own jungle, what gave them a comfortable 12-8 lead only 18 minutes in.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes, se Alliance fell back in their old splitpushing style trying to find pickoffs here and there. Especially a strong Admiral Bulldog on the Nature´s Prophet enabled them to take all outer towers as well as the Dire´s bottom ranged barracks at the 28 minute mark, still having a 16:11 lead in terms of kills, and approaching the 10k lead in terms of gold.

However, as se Alliance tried to break the base at the top lane, world Cloud9 managed to wipe our four heroes with SingSing playing spectacularly on the Ember Spirit and Aui_2000´s familiars soloing Loda´s Lifestealer, evening out the score to 16-16 at 32 minutes.

The fight isn´t going too well...(click to enlarge)


At this point the game wasn´t going in se Alliance´s favour anymore, as world Cloud9 managed to nearly nullify the 10k gold disadvantage they had and even come out ahead in terms of experience. Even Admiral Bulldog´s Nature´s Prophet, who sat 5k gold ahead of EternalEnvy´s Doom couldn´t just push out the lanes anymore due to Aui_2000 and his Aghanims Scepter, as he constantly pushed back, rendering the basebreaking ability of se Alliance useless.

Both teams clashed two more times, with world Cloud9 coming out ahead in every engagement, especially on the back of EternalEnvy´s Doom, who proved to be too hard to kill, as well as Bone7´s Beastmaster, who took care that Loda´s Lifestealer was unable to join the fights. As a result, world Cloud9 got both of se Alliance´s middle barracks and took the solid lead, with a score of 17-24 at the 39 minute mark as well as over 20k lead in experience and nearly 10k lead in gold.

Loda gets DOOMED(and killed shortly thereafter)(click to enlarge)


se Alliance had their backs against the wall, despite having the better early game. In a last effort to turn around the game, they headed towards Roshan´s pit at the 40 minute mark. However, as they lost five only in exchange for a Doombringer, they were forced to call out the „GG“ at 40:38, with an ending score of 18-29 in world Cloud9´s favour.

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