posted by Malystryx.GDS,
After cruising past eu OG in their first-ever victory against the European team, us Evil Geniuses went up against cn EHOME in the Grand Finals of MDL Season 2.
Cty on stage earlier in the playoffs (Image: Replays.net)


EHOME's major LAN victory has been a long time coming
EHOME reached the Grand Finals through the winner-bracket, securing victories against Evil Geniuses, cn Vici Gaming and eu OG. Their form is not entirely surprising if you've been following the scene closely, as EHOME took 3rd at the Nanyang Championships and fourth at the Frankfurt Majors.

EHOME also won two events in the last month in China; The Shanghai Open and the Dota 2 Radiant and Dire Cup. They had however, never triumphed at a major LAN which featured both Chinese and non-Chinese teams, until now.

Evil Geniuses after loss to EHOME earlier in the playoffs (Image: Replays.net)


The MDL Season 2 Grand Final was EG's third in a row
Evil Geniuses record in the last 2 months is a formidable one, 3 LAN Finals, 3 Grand Finals. The TI5 winners were the Summit 4 champions on 6.85 in December, and runners-up at Starladder i-League on 6.86 earlier this month.

The NA team had to go through the lower-bracket of the MDL Season 2 Finals after losing EHOME in the first round of the playoffs. Their final battle in the lower-bracket was OG, a rather fitting final opponent based on the similarities to OG's run of results in the lower-bracket at the Frankfurt Major.




Historically Evil Geniuses had never beaten OG, losing all three of their previous encounters, but when the teams did meet in the early hours of this morning it was not the match fans expected. Evil Geniuses' encounter with OG was ruthless, in a match which on paper should have been a tight contest.

OG took third after a swift death against Evil Geniuses in the LB Final (Image: Replays.net)


The Grand Finals themselves
cn Chen 'Cty' Tianyu's Ursa play, or "Bear Force One" as commentator KotlGuy called it, was the headline of the first game of the Grand Finals. His build, Mask of Madness into Diffusal Blade, was an obscure one but proved to be an extremely effective one.

Evil Geniuses had invested a lot of resources into dealing with EHOme's Lone Druid, but cn Wang 'Old chicken' Zhiyong's Lina and the Ursa were the real assassins. In the 33 minute match, Cty and OldChicken had 20 kills between them but only one death (11-0-5 Ursa, 9-1-6 Lina), and their team scored an early lead in the bo5 series.




LanM's Abaddon babysat Eleven's Bear
In the second game Evil Geniuses took the early game by storm with us Saahil 'Universe' Arora's Bat Rider a influential part in that success. However, with their line-up focused around the single carry, ca Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev's Morphling, their advantage slowly dwindled away between the 20 and 35 minute mark.

EHOME's combination of Weaver with Linken's and Abaddon as a support made him an incredibly difficult target for Evil Geniuses. cn Yang 'Eleven' Wei Ren's Lone Druid was also nicely backed up by cn Zhi Cheng 'LaNm' Zhang's Abbadon, who kept his bear alive with Aphotic Shield and Mist Coil.

It was that bear that ultimately was Evil Geniuses' undoing, dealing over 6,500 damage in the last fight of the game with Assault Cuirass, Radiance and Maelstrom. In the last battle Evil Geniuses had taken out Cty's Weaver but EHOME sniffed out an opportunity to strike back and the bear swayed the tides of battle for EHOME even without their carry. The game ended and the score was now 2-0 for EHOME in the bo5.

Arteezy did what he could on Morphling in Game 2 (Image: Replays.net)


In Game 3 Lone Druid was Evil Geniuses first ban, while EHOME went for first-pick Earth Spirit. It was a back and forth early game, with cn Yang 'Eleven' Wei Ren's Enchantress causing the most problems early on and topping the networth chart. At 12 minutes EHOME even managed to take Roshan with only two heroes, Enchantress and Morphling with Enchantress tanking with Untouchable and Nature's Attendants while Morphling dealt the damage.

Evil Geniuses were up against the ropes for most of the mid-game, but they soaked up the hits and Arteezy's Clinkz and SumaiL's Lina started to gather steam. At 32 minutes they smoked for a Roshan and were finally on the offensive as they had successfully clawed their way back in the third game. Both teams had lost all of their outer towers at this point and pushing high ground was still troublesome even at the 40 minute mark, but Evil Geniuses were certainly ahead as they entered the late game.

Cty was not as farmed as he could be on Morphling, but five minutes later he added Satanic to his Ethereal Blade, Linken Sphere and Manta Style. Arteezy had done the exact same build in the previous game, but never reached the kind of farm and space Cty was now enjoying.

Delicious Chrono by Universe at the 49 minute mark, resulting in two kills


It was Cty who ended the show in rather brilliant fashion. a Roshan battle had ended with a 3-4 trade and with only him and Enchantress left standing he used boots of travel to go straight to EViL Geniuses' base. A duel between him and Universe's Faceless Void ensued but Universe stood little chance against the 水人 "Water person" (Morphling). EHOME had done it, a 3-0 victory over a formidable adversary in the first Major Chinese tournament of 2016.




The final moment of the Grand Final. The duel between Cty and Universe


Final Standings

1. cn EHOME - $124,000
2. us Evil Geniuses - $55,000
3. eu OG - $27,400
4. cn PSG.LGD - $21,900
5-6. cn Newbee - $13,700
5-6. cn Vici Gaming - $13,700
7-8. eu Team Secret - $6,800
7-8. us compLexity Gaming - $6,800
9-10. ru Team Spirit - $2,700
9-10. my Mineski - $2,700



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