posted by Matthew Elmas,
ph Rave have defeated cn Invictus Gaming in the second round of the DAC Asian Championship losers bracket. The Filipino underdogs have not only eliminated the TI2 champions, but they have also advanced to the losers’ bracket semi-final, where they will carry the Southeast Asian flag into a match with cn Big God. Rave played consistently throughout the series, and even after dropping the second game to IG’s aggressive draft, they managed to bounce back to take the final game.


Jeyo petrifies IG! – Game one



With both teams only one game away from match point it was no surprise to see stable drafts coming out of both teams, with Rave opting for ca Jio ’Jeyo’ Madayag’s signature Medusa and IG responding with an Anti-Mage pick of their own. Although it was IG’s early game that set the pace for the match; utilizing their aggressive support combination to inhibit Rave’s attempts to secure early farm. However, despite Rave’s shortcomings across the map, Jeyo was steadily farming on Medusa, managing to avoid dying once throughout the midgame.

With IG’s aggressive capability limited by Rave’s grouped four protect one strategy the TI2 champs quickly adapted to a much slower paced split pressure style, with Anti-Mage and Invoker threatening Rave’s base. It wasn’t long before the Southeast Asian squad crumbled under the pressure, giving up a lane of rax and with it any map control they had managed to secure previously.

Rave's only remaining hope was Jeyo’s Medusa, who opted for a relatively early Divine Rapier in an attempt to wrestle back control of the game, however, with the base broken, IG were able to simply play around Medusa’s immobile nature to gradually chip away at Rave’s base. It was only when the Filipino squad began to pick up multiple hexes that IG’s game plan began to fall apart, suffering a multitude of pickoffs that evened the playing field by the 60 minute mark. Eventually, after over 70 minutes of gameplay, Rave found themselves in a position to barrel down the mid lane with their side lanes pushed out, with IG unable to fight into the divine rapier Medusa; they ultimately had to concede the game to rave at the 74 minute mark, granting the SEA squad a 1-0 lead in the series.




IG exert their dominance! - Game Two


IG decided a change of pace was in order for game two, drafting a heavily aggressive midgame lineup with Juggernaut, Sniper and Clockwerk, they were quick to exploit Rave’s weak lanes and after several successful rotations in the early game; the Chinese squad were snowballing out of control. With a successful high ground push before the 20 minute mark it became clear that Rave had no recourse but to tap out and take the series to game three.


The underdogs seize the day! - Game Three


In the final game Rave opted the same Templar Assassin Necrophos combination that helped us Evil Geniuses advance to the winners bracket final on the previous day. They then proceeded to utilize this aggressive draft to explode into a 1-9 kill lead by the 11 minute mark, stifling IG’s attempt to counter Chen with Bounty Hunter. From there the Filipino squad continued to seize map control, besting their Chinese opponents at every junction. It was only a matter of time before Templar Assassin broke IG’s base, forcing IG to face the prospect of elimination. In the end IG tapped out at the 35 minute mark, giving the series to the Southeast Asian squad, who will now move on to face Big God in the losers’ bracket semi-final.




Standings




This article was written by au Matthew Elmas, joinDOTA's Senior writer. Matthew has been an e-sports fan since 2008 and is currently undertaking the second year of his university studies; majoring in journalism. He also manages the Southeast asian team Can't Say Wips. Location: Melbourne, AustraliaFollow him on @Moxjoo.

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