posted by Supafida,
Evil Geniuses putting themselves on the backfoot following two defeats yesterday in the groupstage. Between them and their round 2 opponent 
Ninjas in Pyjamas* was Korean 
MVP Phoenix*, who dealt the American team one of their defeats. Could they repeat the trick in a best-of-3 or would EG come back in full force?
MVP's QO was calm and composed post-EG victory in the groupstageIn the groupstage victory slow and steady won the race for the Koreans as it took no less than 57 minutes for them to tear down the first barracks, but a few minutes later their victory was a fact. MVP.Phoenix and especially Febby brought out their A-game and showed the world and most of all the favorite EG, that one does not simply underestimate Korean gamers. (read groupstage recap) However, the stepladder bracket proved to be a different kettle of fish completely.
A good fissure from
Tae Won 'March' Park's Earthshaker resulted in an excellent trade for MVP just before the runes spawned, with Kim 'Febby' Yong-Min's Shadow Fiend getting the first blood on 
Sumail 'SumaiL' Syed Hassan's Storn Spirit and Clinton 'Fear' Loomis's Luna also died in exchange for a support ES. However, when lanes were settled, things went horrible for the Korean squad as they lost all 3 lanes. Fear and
Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling did an excellent job zoning out 
Damien 'kpii' Chok's Bristleback so he was forced to leave lane and roam. Sumail ,despite being at a great disadvantage, dominated the CS war in mid. Axe got a lot out of the offlane, with MVP’s support having to babysit Seon-Yeob 'QO' Kim's Ember Spirit who had a rough time against the Master Dunker. With all lanes going in their favour, EG looked to recover well from the first blood. The first big fight happened 8 minutes in at top lane, where MVP lost everybody but Ember who managed to solo kill off the Axe. However, his joy didn’t last long as Sumail instantly teleported bottom and finish him, effectively rounding off a teamwipe for EG.
QO vs SumaiL comparison ahead of the playoff matchWhen the mid game came, Luna and Storm were miles ahead in net worth of their Radiant counterparts, which they put to good use in finding pickoffs around the map. EG took down Roshan at 17 minutes, but MVP moved in to kill Storm Spirit twice with Shadow Demon and Axe, but Storm bought back and rejoined the fight, resulting in a four-man takedown with only BB alive.
Desperation on the side of MVP started to show as they dived deep into the Dire jungle to find pickoffs. A prolonged fight then saw 3 cores of MVP being killed, with Ember Spirit dying twice after buying back, seriously hindering his item progression. The “support” Lina had a higher net worth than the most farmed hero of MVP 25 minutes into the game.
Killing fire with fireAui put his Eul and Aghanim’s Scepter to good use, picking off Ember twice with the Eul into Light Strike Array combo. At 26 minutes, EG took down the second Roshan without any contest. They then gathered at the top lane, quickly killing Ember Spirit and Bristleback, then marched into the Radiant base and slaughtered the rest of MVP, forcing a GG call 29 minutes into the game.
EG takes the lead!Things got heated quickly in Game 2 as both offlaners suffered heavily, being killed off twice by the supports. The next few minutes were relatively quiet as both teams focused on farming their cores up.
Sumail 'SumaiL' Syed Hassan's Shadow Fiend and Clinton 'Fear' Loomis's Lycan were able to flash-farm quickly and left the Storm Spirit played by Seon-Yeob 'QO' Kim falling behind. Only Kim 'Febby' Yong-Min's Phantom Lancer with the early Hand of Midas was able to keep up. At 24 minutes, EG successfully smoked in Roshan, taking the Aegis for themselves and traded Beastmaster and PL for Lina. After the fight, SF picked up a full Scythe of Vyse and Lycan completed his Assault Cuirass. The item advantage saw EG taking another big fight shortly after at mid, wiping out 4 of MVP while only PL survived. 
You can't run!EG attempted to push bottom at 33 minutes, losing Shadow Demon, Axe, Lycan and Lina but succeeded in taking down the melee rax, killing Storm Spirit, Beastmaster, Skywrath Mage and Vengeful Spirit and forcing out buybacks on the first two heroes. At the 44th minute mark, MVP took down Roshan uncontested, picking up Aegis and Cheese for Storm Spirit. They proceeded to push mid for the counterax. But an overextension lead to both Storm and PL being killed, although EG had to expend all their three cores’ buybacks. EG wanted to take another lane of barracks, so they went down mid lane. But a brilliant Swap into Roar into Mystic Flare killed off SF in a matter of seconds, forcing EG back. Fear managed to micro his wolfs and Necronomicon minions to take down the top melee rax.
The wolf is at your door!MVP decided to finish the game, taking their turn to go down mid. Axe and Lina lost their lives but Fear already used Boots of Travel to get himself into the Dire base, demolishing the remaining barracks and gave Radiant megacreeps. He died in the process but back in EG’s base, PL also lost his life. After Fear respawned, EG delivered the final blow with full force to MVP, whose last ditch effort at defense was commendable but not nearly enough to fend off the wolf and his comrades. The Throne exploded at 51 minutes, concluding an action-packed game filled with buybacks and barracks being torn down in a blink of an eye.
EG takes the series 2-0With this victory, EG advanced to face Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Semi-Final of the joinDOTA MLG Season 1 Championship, another team that took a game off them in the groupstages.
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