Stage 1 - 05.02.2014: Swagenteiger - Team Liquid

posted by nooDy,
br Swagenteiger - Team Liquid us
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The game kicked off with Nyx picking up an Invis rune bottom just as Shadow Fiend placed a Sentry Ward that caused the creeps to deviate towards the Nyx and ruin his hopes of a sneaky First Blood.
Early on at the Top, the offlane TImbersaw almost got a First Blood on the Shadow Fiend who was saved in the nick of time thanks to DIsruption. Even so, Timbersaw was able to get free farm and experience at top, while 2 dire sentry wards keep an eye out for ganks from Nyx. About a half minute later, Prophet teleported in, and Sprouted the Timbersaw in place as Visage, Shadow Fiend and Spectre simultaneously right clicked him into giving away the first blood.


First Blood. (click to Enlarge)


A smoke gank by Invoker and Shadow Fiend to the bot lane was able to kill off the Luna who had been free farming for quite some time. TO get back at the Dires, Nyx, Timbersaw and CM rotate top, but after chasing Spectre back under her Tower and still failing to secure a kill, Nature's Prophet uses his ultimate to kill the CM and use the gold to finish off his midas at 7:37.

For the first time in 252 games Spectre did not level up his ultimate after reaching level 6. This quickly followed a death at the hands of Timbersaw with the TP supports being just a little too late.

Using these kills to their advantage, Liquid pressured all lanes and by 12 minutes, they had taken down the all the Tier 1 towers.

With a smoke gank at 13:21 Liquid trade a 2 for 1 teamfight from the high ground infront of the Dire's Mid Tier 2. A well timed Disruption from Shadow Fiend managed to save Spectre from the Nyx stun and Luna's Beams but the pure right click damage later was enough to kill off both the heroes and Prophet only gets a single return kill by using his ultimate.

Items 20 minutes in.
At around 20 minutes, Liquid go into the Roshpit and as Luna picked up the Aegis, Prophet destroyed their top tier 1. Only 2 minutes later, the Radiant team had 3 BKBs up, including one on CM, which is only the 5th time in Dota history that a CM has picked up such a fast BKB. With this, Liquid tried to push into the Mid tier 3 while Prophet pushed with his Treants further into the top lane, forcing the Radiants to back up and kill him.

A long pause followed and Nature's Prophet disconnects and was unable to reconnect which forced Swag to micro him. This hindered their pushing potential, as despite the recently build Radiance on the Spectre, Swag had to use multiple buybacks in order to defend the Bot racks and get just 2 kills. They then move on to Roshan.

With the Aegis in hand, they try to initiate a teamfight and pick off the Luna first off quite efficiently, however the BKBs help Liquid stay alive as they demolish their opposition and move in for the throne. Swag stayed in a game a while longer, with Shadow Fiend and Nature's Prophet trying to make something happen but have to call GG in a few moments anyways as the Throne falls.



Writer: Venediction