posted by Sun_Tzu,
The very last day of the second season of RaidCall Dota 2 League played out today, as after the early exit of eu Fnatic.EU, under less than ideal conditions, it came down to the two North American favourites, us Team Liquid and us Team Dignitas, as well as for the champions of Season 1, ru Team Empire, to try and pull off an upset and getting themselves back into the finals.


us Team Dignitas vs. us Team Liquid


Winners Bracket Final

While us Steven 'Korok' Ashworth made big plays in the early stages of game 1 with six kills by 12 minutes in, and with ca Tyler 'TC' Cook also putting up good farm, things looked solid for Liquid to lock things up for themselves against Dignitas. However, key mistakes helped turn things around, especially Korok being out of position twice in the mid game and getting picked off with Reverse Polarity, as well as some questionable decision making, engaging to take fights without knowing where their enemy were and being positioned poorly, allowing Dignitas to turn and win crucial team fighs, leading to ca Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling being free to take out Liquids base and winning the game with his free farm Gyrocopter, having not died once in game 1.

Liquid put up a tripple ranged offensive trilane for game 2, which kept the farm of the opposing Gyrocopter and his support Clockwerk down. Again, Liquid take a strong early lead, carrying it through the mid game and heading into the late game. However the same issues as hurt them in the first game of the series are still there, as they lose their lives trying to take fights they are in no position to take. This allows Dignitas to claw their way back into the game, with their Call Downs, Dream Coils and Black Holes doing a lot of work through the mid game. With two lanes of Barracks down, Dignitas win that crucial big teamfight, which opens it up for them to run down the mid lane and take game two of the series.

Team Dignitas defeat Team Liquid 2-0.

us Team Liquid vs. ru Team Empire


Losers Bracket Final

Sometimes, a game just doesn't go your way. With Korok going beserk on Magnus, finding not only a kill every other minute, but also landing big Reverse Polarities, destroying Empire whenever they try to group up and fight. With the strong fallback of TC on Anti-Mage, who got free farm and 4/0/3 stats, Liquid easily clear out game 1 of the series in just 20 minutes.

Liquid once again pick up Ogre Magi and Leshrac, sending them on the offensive trilane along with Juggernaut. While they are able to find kills, the rotations of ru Ivan 'Vigoss' Shinkarev on Nature's Prophet kept on turning early skirmishes around for Empire. However, the great farm and solo experience going the way of TC on Gyrocopter as well as experience for Korok on Puck allows them to take over the team fights. While the positioning from Liquid was still off, TC carried the game, reaching double the net worth of any other hero on the map and ending the game with 14/0/7 at 30 minutes, as Liquid takes game 2 as well.

Team Liquid take a 2-0 victory over Team Empire, sending Empire out of the competition in third place.

us Team Dignitas vs. us Team Liquid


Grand Final

Dignitas begin the best-of-five series with a one game advantage for the winner bracket finals victory.

While Dignitas picks one of their customary greedy teamfight lineups, Liquid instead end up taking early teamfights through superior play and the healing coming out of Chen. Being able to steal Dignitas Ancient stacks as well as farming up their own, TC goes far into the farm lead, with only Aui_2000 on Luna having a decent time from the opposing team. The dominance of TC on Gyrocopter ends up being the deciding factor of the game, as he finishes with 6/0/10 at 31 minutes, with Liquid simply rolling over their opponents.

Dignitas put Aui_2000 on the offlane as Lone Druid, but he ends up getting run off the lane and having a terrible time in the early game. Meanwhile the trio of Storm Spirit, Batrider and Lifestealer for Liquid end up running the map, however some questionable fights allow Dignitas to find some kills to keep them in the game, and their initiations kept on going for the tankiest of their enemies, allowing the grouped up Dignitas to turn around initiation after initiation with big Reverse Polarities. Lone Druid also clawed his way back into the game, to a point where Liquid started losing control of the game. The turning point came with us Michael 'ixmike88' Ghannam stealing Reverse Polarity and hitting it on four Dignitas heroes, winning an important fight. Not long after, Liquid's initiation finally managed to connect, killing off us JingJun 'Sneyking' Wu on Magnus before he can use his Reverse Polarity, and without a buyback, Dignitas is unable to defend, losing their base and the game.

Dignitas seemed to get the better draft, however once again being fairly greedy. But as Liquid were unable to punish this greed, with Sneyking on Templar Assassin dominating Korok on Puck in mid and Aui_2000 on Gyrocopter keeping pace with TC on Lone Druid in farm, as well as the supports of Dignitas getting better early experience by farming their own jungle, any weakness of the Dignitas draft evaporated rapidly. The lag-ridden game slipped out of the grasp of Liquid, as they ended up forfeiting the first game of this grand finals series without ever really making an impact.

In the deciding game of the series, Dignitas put their backs against a wall, as they picked a heavy pushing lineup, giving Sneyking a surprise Pugna pick, while TC picked up Phantom Lancer for Liquid. With so much pressure on Dignitas to perform, a delayed push and giving up crucial early kills on key heroes along with complete free farm for TC was cause for quite some concern through-out the laning stage. With a quick diffusal up on Phantom Lancer and Lone Druid getting nothing on the offlane, the timer ticked ever louder for Dignitas. After drawing a fight 3-3 at bottom they tried to force a Roshan in order to get back into the game, but instead just ended up dying and buying back to die again, making sure that TC did not only claim the Aegis, but doubled up Dignitas best farmers net worth. Unable to stand up against Liquid any longer, Dignitas called the 'GG' soon after.

Team Liquid defeat Team Dignitas 3-2, becoming the new champions of RaidCall D2L.

Final Standings



1st - us Team Liquid - $5,000
2nd - us Team Dignitas - $3,000
3rd - ru Team Empire - $2,000



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