MLG Finals: FNG Barathrum breaks the spirits of LGD in high-tempo encounter

posted by stanbobbler,

Virtus.Pro* takes down the TI5 3rd placed PSG.LGD squad in a convincing 2-0 sweep. LGD simply couldn't handle the constant ganks and unique drafts of the aggressive CIS boys, with Artem 'fng' Barshack's Spirit Breaker serving the backbone for Virtus Pro's success in both games. With that loss LGD will be facing up against the TI5 champions Evil Geniuses. A loss there for either team means early elimination from the tournament and a paltry 5,000 dollar consolation prize.

Game 1 - Ilya 'Illidan Stormrage' Pivtsaev's smart swaps too much for PSG.LGD to handle

The draft in game 1 showed the divide between Chinese and European/NA DotA that has formed since the start of 6.85. While VP decided to pick up Spirit Breaker and Ancient Apparition as their supports, one of the newer support combos also used by EG against Monkey Business, LGD opted for a tried and trusted Rubick and Visage pairing. A particularly interesting pickup by

Virtus.Pro* was the position 1 Vengeful Spirit for

Ilya 'Illidan Stormrage' Pivtsaev, as it really defined VP's win condition of an early Roshan into tower pushes.

A gank from DDC secured Maybe a solid start

The early-game started out fairly evenly, aside from the surprising first blood for

Yao 'Somnus' Lu's Shadow Fiend on

Sergey 'God' Bragin's Templar Assassin due to a nicely executed gank from Rubick, played by

Leong 'ddc' Fatmeng.

This was a great advantage to LGD, allowing Shadow Fiend a solid early-game. However, the problem that would plague them for all game began to appear. The deadly combo of a well-timed Vengeful Spirit swap, Spirit Breaker charge and Ancient Apparition Cold Feet caught LGD off-guard, allowing kills on Clockwerk and Juggernaut.

VP take a sneaky Roshan

As the laning phase ended, VP made a couple of slip-ups that seemed to put LGD on the front foot with a 3k gold lead. Despite this, the CIS squad continued their relentless aggression and managed to turn it around with an early Roshan - LGD overestimated their strengths, attempting to fight into an Aegis and threw away their advantage in a 4000 net worth swing.

Teamwipe after teamwipe ensued

This started a downward spiral for LGD.

Liu 'Sylar' Jiajun's Juggernaut was not having the impact needed compared to the threat of Vengeful Spirit's swap initiation and TA's damage, leading to three consecutive stomps in favour of VP. From there they were able to push the base after some more cautiously engaged clashes, taking barracks and eventually forcing a 'gg' call from LGD.

Game 2 - Artem 'fng' Barshack and Olexandr 'DkPhobos' Kucherya control the map

The aggression didn’t stop in the second game. VP snapped up the Spirit Breaker, alongside Io and Bristleback to apply global constant pressure throughout the game. Once again, the early game went evenly, leading to an underfarmed Queen of Pain for VP who had to face up against the dual lane of Witch Doctor and Lycan. However,

Olexandr 'DkPhobos' Kucherya was able to apply incredible pressure on his pesky Broodmother, winning his lane and taking towers early to create pressure, managing to grab a 12 minute orchid.

Insurmountable gold lead early on

Too Much Aggression from the Fng moon cow

Spirit breaker, Bristleback and Io proved a deadly ganking combo as they killed off four heroes, diving the tier two towers at the thirteen minute mark. This turned into the first of many roshans, followed by a fifteen minute set of bottom barracks for the CIS boys.

CIS aggression, diving a tier two

The name of the game was pressure and Roshan control for VP after that. With only one fight going LGD's way for the rest of the game, VP was able to take Rosh a second and third time and finish the game with an unkillable Bristleback and an incredibly farmed Broodmother.

What to look out for?

Spirit Breaker: Both games featured the moon cow that

Artem 'fng' Barshack used to apply constant pressure. Durka commented at the end of the series “This spirit breaker has won them this game”, with scantzor echoing his sentiments.

Roshan control: Virtus Pro got every aegis of the game and controlled the rosh pit excellently in both games. Although, they didn’t win every fight at the rosh pit, VP showed incredible prowess at fighting in the area.

Life on the line

With that loss LGD will be facing up against the TI5 champions Evil Geniuses. A loss there for either team means early elimination from the tournament and a paltry 5,000 dollar consolation prize.