StarSeries Finals - Day 1 recap

The first day of the SLTV StarSeries LAN Finals at the Kiev Cyber Sport Arena has come to an end, with Natus Vincere taking on Moscow Five, and Counter Logic Gaming facing off against Darer in the Dota 2 matches. All of the matches were high-octane and highly-skilled affairs, and joinDOTA editors Blue_Knight and Mantis were on hand to provide you with a recap of each individual game.




Match 1: Natus Vincere vs. Moscow Five
recap by Blue_Knight

Game 1

Na'Vi

Puppey - Shadow Demon - woods
XBOCT - Night Stalker - bottom
ARS-ART - Vengeful Spirit - bottom
Dendi - Windrunner - middle
LightOfHeaven - Nature's Prophet - top

BANS: Leshrac, Tidehunter, Dark Seer, Slardar, Shadow Shaman

M5

PGG - Queen of Pain - top
Vigoss - Riki - middle
Silent - Crystal Maiden - middle
Inmate - Enchantress - woods
BloodAngel - Lone Druid - bottom

BANS: Lycanthrope, Chen, Invoker, Broodmother, Weaver

The game got off to a fairly slow start, with no team clashes of note, but M5 took the Radiant top Tier 1 tower at only the 5th minute, with Silent's Crystal Maiden rotating to the top lane to assist in the push. Meanwhile, Na'Vi surprisingly started with Shadow Demon farming in the woods.

However, Na'Vi provided the catalyst for the action in the 8th minute, with XBOCT's Night Stalker taking first blood on the defenceless Lone Druid on the bottom lane; simultaneously, the rest of the Na'Vi and M5 team's engaged each other in the river near the bottom rune spot. Dendi's Windrunner picked off Inmate's Enchantress from across the river with an expertly aimed Powershot, and then XBOCT arrived on the scene to help his teammates finish off PGG's Queen of Pain. A further clash only a minute later at bottom lane resulted in another 3 kills going Na'Vi's way, but M5 managed to take Night Stalker down with them.

After ten minutes, Na'Vi already had a 4000 gold advantage and 5000 experience lead over their rivals. In the next five minutes, they would take both M5's middle Tier 1 and 2 towers and their bottom Tier 1 and 2 towers, increasing their lead in kills to 12-3, and raising the gold and experience difference to over 10,000 each.

The final nail was arguably hammered into the coffin in the 17th minute, when Na'Vi allowed M5 to take their middle and bottom Tier 1 towers in trade for taking their opponents top Tier 2 uncontested. Still yet to meet resistance, Na'Vi marched on into the Dire's base, taking the Tier 3 without reply, as three of M5's heroes – lacking Town Portal scrolls – made the slow retreat from the middle lane back to base on foot. But they arrived home too late and too weak anyway to possibly put up a fight, and Na'Vi took both the top melee and ranged barracks. The game continued on for only a little longer, with LightOfHeaven buying a level 2 Dagon on his Nature's Prophet, just to consolidate his power, but PGG called the official “gg” in the 20th minute.




Game 2

M5

PGG - Clinkz - middle
Vigoss - Night Stalker - bottom
Silent - Leshrac - bottom
Inmate - Shadow Demon - bottom
BloodAngel - Tidehunter - top

BANS: Invoker, Lone Druid, Enchantress, Anti-Mage, Venomancer

Na'Vi

Puppey - Dark Seer - bottom
XBOCT - Morphling - middle
ARS-ART - Earthshaker - bottom
Dendi - Shadow Shaman - bottom
LightOfHeaven - Broodmother - top

BANS: Nature's Prophet, Chen, Lycanthrope, Crystal Maiden, Windrunner

M5 underlined their aggressive intent immediately, using a Smoke of Deceit at their fountain and moving as an entire team into the Dire woods in search for a victim. However, Na'Vi cautiously congregated around their middle lane and secret shop area, denying M5 the chance to take an early first blood.

Na'Vi then worked out their lanes, sending Earthshaker, Dark Seer and Shadow Shaman bottom, Morphling alone to the middle, and Broodmother solo to the top lane. M5 deployed Clinkz to the middle alone, Tidehunter solo top, with the rest of the team – Shadow Demon, Leshrac and Night Stalker heading bottom.

M5's bottom trio attempted to take first blood on ARS-ART's Earthshaker with a surprise move from their own woods, and disabling him with Shadow Demom. However, the move failed, and Na'Vi decided to rotate Earthshaker and Shadow Shaman top in response. While LightOfHeaven's Broodmother and Dendi's Shadow Shaman began to apply pressure on the lane and tower, ARS-ART cunningly moved around the back, from the river – where there were no opponent observer wards – and through the Radiant's secret shop area, to catch BloodAngel’s retreating Tidehunter by surprise. ARS-ART blocked off BloodAngel with a Fissure, as LightOfHeaven and Dendi moved in to secure the first blood for Na'Vi.

In the 6th minute, BloodAngel got his revenge on Dendi after M5 hunted Na'Vi down in their own woods, however, Silent took too much damage on his Leshrac in the process, and was forced to sacrifice himself to the neutral creeps, before XBOCT - who was approaching from the middle lane with his Morphling - could deliver the final blow.

The costly gank did not deter Silent, however, who went straight back into the Dire woods with an invisibility rune upon his revival, and found Dendi farming the small creep camp alone. Silent caught him entirely off guard, stunning him with Split Earth and dealing almost fatal damage with Diabolical Edict, however, Dendi outrageously managed to get himself last-hit by a weak poison spear from the neutral creeps he was farming, denying Silent the bounty for his death.

In the 10th minute, Puppey went to the top lane with his Dark Seer to help his team kill Inmate's Shadow Demon, taking the kill count to 3-2 in Na'Vi's favour. At this point, M5 had only a 500 experience advantage, but a 1000 gold disadvantage to their opponents, making it a much more finely balanced game compared to the first.

In the next ten minutes, M5 took the first tower kills, on both the bottom and top lanes, however they lost several heroes in a failed gank on Na'Vi in the middle lane, while LightOfHeaven's Broodmother pushed down the Radiant's top Tier 1 tower in retaliation.

By the 21 minute mark, although the game was still being played cautiously by both side, Na'Vi was leading by 8 kills to 6, with a 5000 gold advantage, having taken all of M5's Tier 1 towers, and their top Tier 2. Despite that, the experience was being shared almost evenly across the teams.

After successfully warding off M5's attempt to gank them in the 25th minute – where they only lost Broodmother, but took down Clinkz and Leshrac with him - Na'Vi took Roshan uncontested, with the Aegis of course going to XBOCT's increasingly powerful Morphling.

Na'Vi then began to twist the knife, expertly turning a gank in the Radiant woods on XBOCT in their favour, taking Clinkz, Tidehunter and Shadow Demon down, before pushing the middle Tier 2 and Tier 3 towers, and then the barracks, taking four kills in the process. It was 20-10 to Na'Vi at the 30 minute mark, ith the middle barracks down and a massive 10,000 and 12,000 lead for them in experience and gold respectively.

M5 just couldn't cope with Na'Vi's dominance, and Na'Vi pushed into their base once again in the 33rd minute, destroying the barracks and killing most of the M5 team. 12-27 in Na'Vi's favour, and sensing their lead to be insurmountable, PGG called “gg” once again, for Na'Vi to take the first match 2 games to 0.


Match 2: Counter Logic Gaming vs. Darer
recap by Mantis

Game 1




CLG
Pajkatt - Invoker - mid
Miracle - Enigma - woods
Akke - Venomancer - bot
Loda - Sandking - bot
Misery- - Bounty Hunter - top

BANS: Dark Seer, Tidehunter, Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Queen of Pain.

Darer
Artstyle - Riki - top
Dread - Windrunner - bot
G - Storm Spirit - mid
Santa - Enchantress - woods
NS - Lich - roaming

BANS: Lycan, Chen, Prophet, Anti-mage, Morphling.

The early game begins on a balanced note since both sides opt to play safely. However, the intensity begins to shape up by the 8th minute mark as CLG open their chances by taking first blood on Santa’s Windrunner with a four man gank followed by destroying both tier 1 and 2 towers on the bottom lane. Darer is able to recover by taking a few kills of their own as well as tier 1 towers on each side.

Between the 20-30 minute marks, Darer have plenty of ideal team fights and pressurize CLG; not allowing the latter to relax. However, the 26th minute marks a momentous moment for CLG and gives the first hint of a comeback with a successful team fight. Pajkatt and co are quick to capitalize on their pushing potential and they manage to bring down tier 2 towers on top and bottom lane respectively. Darer, on the other hand, manage to take down Roshan two times giving themselves a slight advantage.




By the 30th minute, the tier 2 mid tower of Darer falls thereby increasing the pressure on them. From this moment onwards, we see both teams displaying an increased interest in ganks leading to some fabulous team fights favouring both teams at times.

At the 40th minute, both sides are heavily farmed although CLG is leading in both kill and gold ratio. At one point it seemed that Darer would take the first game but, thanks to a crucial team fight at the 48th minute, it slowly turned to CLG’s favour. Misery’s Bounty Hunter grabs a triple kill on the bottom lane which gives CLG an opportunity to break into Darer’s base.

Capitalizing on this golden opportunity, CLG enter Darer’s base thereby managing to take down the mid and bottom barracks within a short duration. With hopes being lost for Darer, they make the ‘GG’ call and CLG win the first game.

Game 2




Darer
Artstyle - Vengeful Spirit - bot
Dread - Chen - woods
G - Shadow Fiend - mid
Santa - Beastmaster - top
NS - Leshrac - bot

BANS: Enchantress, Anti-mage, Windrunner, Sandking, Morphling.

CLG
Pajkatt - Invoker - top
Miracle - Dark Seer - bot
Akke - Venomancer - top
Loda - Queen of Pain - mid
Misery- - Enigma - woods

BANS: Prophet, Lycan, Tidehunter, Riki, Shadow Demon.

The second game starts on a pretty even note. Loda's Queen of Pain along with the help of Akke's Venomancer manages to take first blood on G's Shadow Fiend at mid lane.

At 2:45, Darer, with the fearsome combo of Leshrac, Chen and Vengeful Spirit, manage to take out the tier 1 and 2 towers on bottom lane, giving them the much needed boost in gold.

That did not stop Darer.G's Shadow Fiend from farming and getting his necessary equipment. Since the start, both teams were deeply involved in trying to gank the opponents and trying to bring them down. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Darer, without wasting any time quickly took down Roshan two times and gained the aegis.

The gap between kill ratio of both teams was not huge but instead was a rather balanced affair. However, Darer did have the upper hand due by means of a tower advantage.




To make matters worse for CLG, who by now were slacking behind in aspect of team gold and farm were struck by another surprise. Pressure piled up on them since Darer got Roshan for the third time in a row with an already beefy Shadow Fiend acquiring the cheese.

A final crucial team fight on top lane at the 39th minute sealed the fate of the second game in Darer's favour as they went on to wipe out the entire CLG team in the process and managed to take down top and mid barracks.

With the BO3 format being tied at 1-1 for both sides, we now move onto the decider game where the winner will advance to the winner bracket final and the loser will be pushed down to lower bracket.

Game 3




CLG
Pajkatt - Broodmother - top
Miracle - Sandking - bot
Akke - Venomancer - mid
Loda - Leshrac - bot
Misery- - Vengeful Spirit - mid

BANS: Dark Seer, Tidehunter, Invoker, Windrunner, Crystal Maiden.

Darer
Artstyle - Antimage - top
Dread - Enchantress - top
G - Queen of Pain - mid
Santa - Beastmaster - bot
NS - Shadow Demon - top

BANS: Lycan, Chen, Prophet, Morphling, Riki.

The decisive game started with an aggressive tone with CLG’s Sandking and Leshrac taking firstblood on Darer’s Beastmaster at 1:50 in-game time. However, just 10 seconds later Darer takes out CLG’s top tower as well as Akke’s Venomancer.

By the 10th minute, CLG take out towers at mid and bottom. They also manage to grab a few kills giving them a huge lead in the process. Meanwhile, CLG’s Broodmother takes down the top tower and in turn they manage to win the on-going team fight; further increasing the gold gap between these two teams.

Arriving at the 16th minute mark, CLG take down tier 2 towers on all sides thereby pressurizing Darer even more. To make matters worse, they even take down Roshan at 19th minute and with lady luck shining on them, they attempt to push down lanes and successfully destroy Darer’s top barracks at 22nd minute along with kills.

With a huge deficit in kill ratio and a big difference of 20k gold, Darer makes the ‘GG’ call and the third game goes to CLG.

This determines a slot for CLG in the winner bracket finals and pushes down Darer to the lower bracket where they meet Moscow5 in a much anticipated match-up.



The match between Darer and Moscow5 is scheduled to begin on April 27, at 17:00 CET. Stay tuned to joinDOTA as we provide you with the latest update from StarLadder Finals.