Game 1: Never, Never, Nevermore
In the first game, both teams went for lineups that excelled in teamfighting, promising an exciting match.
Empire went for a greedy draft, putting Resolut1on´s Shadow Fiend in the mid and Mag´s Nyx Assassin onto the offlane. This allowed 
Fnatic to pick up a Spectre for Era in the safelane trilane, supported by N0tail´s Naga Siren and Fly´s Venomancer. H4nn1 was the one to fare against the Shadow Fiend mid with a Puck, while Trixi rode the batrider against Empire´s safelane trilane, consisting of Silent farmin the Doom, supported by Alwayswannafly´s Ancient Apparition and Vanskor´s Rubick.The game was off to a quick start, as
Fnatic´s supports started to roam before the horns had blown. They managed to catch out Vanskor´s Rubick at the upper rune spot and chase him down with the combination of Venomous Gale and Rip Tide, however Silent´s Doom was close enough to deny his ally and save the first blood. Denied!(click to enlarge)
No team got a lot of room to breathe in the next few minutes, as kills were traded left and right, with nobody getting a proper advantage, with the score settling on 11-11 at the 16 minute mark.
Empire had the slight lead in both gold and experience as well as a bit more farm on their core heroes, but Fnatic managed to stay toe on toe with strong performances by both Trixi´s Batrider and H4nn1´s Puck alike.Let´s go for a ride!(click to enlarge)
Getting into the midgame, it looked like
Fnatic should have the upper hand upon the likes of heroes such as Puck and Batrider, excelling in getting solo pickoffs and securing Era´s Spectre enough space to farm up the big items for the upcoming lategame. Empire however proved themselves a slippery fish to catch, only taking engagements where they really wanted to commit and otherwise spending time on getting farm on their own heroes. Leading with 15-20 in kills and on the back of a +10k advantage in both experience and gold, Empire grouped up at the bottom lane to break the highground. With Black King Bar´s on both Silent´s Doom as well as Resolut1on´s Shadow Fiend, Fnatic knew that they were unable to fight, letting Empire grab a free set of Barracks at the 27 minute mark.Barracks for free, Fnatic unable to defend(click to enlarge)
Fnatic managed to get some good engagements and on the back of Era´s Spectre it looked like they might be able to get back in the long run, however, as Empire played it out smart, they stood no chance. With a double damage rune on Resolut1on´s Shadow Fiend, who critted for over 1,3k at this point, Empire rushed down the middle lane, claiming tower and barracks as well as the "GG" at 36 minutes.
Game 2: Push those towers
In game 2, the draft looked as if both teams were influenced by the Chinese scene a bit.
Empire went for a pushing-heavy lineup, feturing a defense trilane with a farming Lycantrophe for Silent, supported by Vanskor´s Rubick and Alwayswannafly´s Ancient Apparition. Resolut1on took the Dragon Knight towards the middle lane, with Mag riding his Centaur Warrunner to the remaining offlane. Fnatic answered with a defensive trilane of their own, taking Doom as a carry for Era, supporting him with Fly´s Visage and N0tail´s Shadow Shaman. Their answer to the Dragon Knight was an Invoker for the midlane, played by H4nn1 and a Bounty Hunter offlane for Trixi to finish the lineup.The game was off to a slow start, with
Fnatic eventually drawing the first blood after catching out Mag´s Centaur Warrunner too far out 4 minutes into the game, with the courier falling almost the same second in the midlane to Trixi´s Bounty Hunter. However, as soon as Fnatic got the ball rolling, they weren´t looking to stop anytime soon. In the early game they managed to make every trade in their favour, leading to a 1-6 favouring Fnatic at the 12 minute mark, after they won a teamfight in the middle lane.A bounty awaits, Trixi on fire!(click to enlarge)
Empire fought back viciously, proving that they are indeed a top contender at the moment. Slowly but steadily they crawled their way back into the game, getting a 3v2 trade in their favour with a triggered Aegis against Fnatic, leading to a 10-14, 23 minutes in. Despite their best efforts to stop Fnatic, the European squad still managed to get an advantage of over 10k gold.Empire fightin´(click to enlarge)
The situation looked dire, after
Fnatic extended their lead to 11-19 just seconds later, however just a bit afterwards, at the 26 minute mark, Empire had gotten themselves into a position to turn the things around. Catching out Fnatic at the Roshan pit by surprise, Empire managed to get three kills on Fnatic´s core heroes, thankfully to Alwayswannafly´s perfectly placed Frost Blast. On the back of this, the Russian squad clawed themselves back for the second time, trading kills back and forth, regaining 8k in both gold and experience over the course of the next 10 minutes.Both teams clashed again at 35 minutes in the Radiant jungle. The fight was a short but brutal carnage for
Fnatic. Empire flawlessly executed all of their spells, wiping off the europeans from the map without a single casuality tipping the graphs in their favour for the first time of the game. With a lineup like Empire had it this game there is only one way to go after such a fight: straight down middle to claim both towers and barracks at 36.30. Constant dripping wears away the stone.Brute force works, too.(click to enlarge)
After losing their middle barracks,
Empire had Fnatic at the brink of their defeat. As the russians rushed in thourgh the toplane, Fnatic put up a last fight, but although they managed to kill some core heroes, Empire did manage to slowly grind down their defences, resulting in a „GG“ after they lost the top barracks and a teamfight 40 minutes into the game.
Game 2 saw
Empire making a huge comeback, keeping their nerves and simply outplaying Fnatic.Game 3: Onto the Steamroll
Normally
Fnatic would have been out after the strong performances of Empire in the first two games, however as these are the playoffs for MLG T.K.O, both teams will play out their three games.In the third game
Empire went for an aggressive lineup that favoured getting pickoffs and snowball from there on. Interestingly enough, dual lanes were the name of the game, with Silent´s Bristleback and Alwayswannafly´s Ancient Apparition on the toplane, to fare against Era´s Luna and N0tail´s Disruptor. To make times a bit easier for Resolut1on´s Ember Spirit in the middle lane, who went up against H4nn1´s Invoker, Vanskor´s Lich stayed there, stacking jungle camps and denieing creeps with his Sacrifice. Mag took the Clockwerk towards the bottom lane, having a hard time against the likes of Trixi´s Venomancer and Fly´s Undying.The game started fast, as
Fnatic rushed down the bottom lane as five, catching out Alwayswannafly´s Ancient Apparition and getting the first blood before the horns blew. Playing aggressive, Fnatic extended their lead to a clean 0-4 2:30 into the game, looking off to a headstart. Especially their combination of Venomancer and Undying left Mag no chance.
Fnatic turned up the heat, as they forced Empire into fights they had no chance of winning. With a Hand of Midas as well as a Mekansm on Trixi´s offlane Venomancer in under 12 minutes, Fnatic looked strong going into the midgame, with a 8-20 lead as well as a 10k advantage in both experience and gold at the 14 minute mark.
Empire had a lineup that promised to be most effective around the 20 minute mark. On top of a tanky Bristleback, the damage output of an Ember Spirit normally isn´t negligable, especially when you have some teamfight ultimates to back it up. However, Fnatic continued their steamroll over Empirechopping through their rows of defences, claiming Empire´s last outer tower together with a 4v1 exchange, leading to a 16-36 lead in kills, as well as a 20k lead in both gold and experience at the 25 minute mark.Undying beasting through(click to enlarge)
The situation looked bad for the Radiant side, as
Fnatic got bigger and bigger, to the point where they couldn´t get stopped. After taking out Roshan, Fnatic rushed won the middle lane and wiped out Empire, claiming the barracks at the 29 minute mark. Empire had no other choice but to call „GG“ at 30 minutes.
Fnatic slaughtered Empire in the third game of the series, however on the back of their previous wins, Empire still managed to claim a 2-1 victory.To keep up with all the MLG action make sur you check our MLG Coverage Page!
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