posted by Olucaron,
Three days, 45 games of Dota 2, one champion. The best of China descended upon the garden city of Suzhou for the World Electronic Sports Games 2018 China Finals, and it was EHOME who departed having blossomed into champions.



Loanees prove their worth




With three of their active roster borrowed from other sides, EHOME took a relatively clean Grand Final 2-0 over Lu 'Fenrir' Chao and his Team Aster to show they can mix it at the top of Chinese Dota.

In Game One, they began to assert their dominance after fifteen minutes, overturning a slight deficit to secure what was a comfortable win in the end. With Fenrir being picked off time and time again — his 13 deaths more than half those of his entire team — Aster had no response to EHOME’s aggression.

Game Two was much the same — Aster taking the lead, EHOME roaring back then snowballing to secure the win. Although the game was closer in kills, the difference at the end was not — with the net worth lead peaking at over 18k, a seven-for-one teamfight sealed the win, and with it the championship.





Invictus suffer, Serenity miss out



Sixteen teams entered the tournament, split into four groups. With each team vying for one of the top two spots in each group, competition proved to be fierce.

In Group A it was Aster who came out on top, sharing a 2-1 record with Newbee.Young to make the quarter-finals. With 1-2 records, it was Team ACT and Team EVER who missed out.

In Group B, Vici Gaming dominated the opposition to advance with a perfect 3-0 record — the only one registered in the Group Stage. Joining them in the quarters was Team Waooo at 2-1, as Keen Gaming.Luminous missed out alongside Invictus Gaming — who failed to win a single game.

It was EHOME who took top spot in Group C — but it wasn’t clear cut. With Yz not taking part, all three remaining teams finished with 1-1 records, meaning tie-breakers were in order. Team Serenity suffered, losing to both EHOME and Keen Gaming.

Tiebreakers were also needed in Group D, as DeathBringer Gaming, Team Max and MAX.Y all ended 2-1 — with OlympicTopStar failing to win. DBG won both of their deciders to finish top of the group, while it was Team MAX who overcame their sister side to also make it through.


Vici strong, but just miss out



The Playoff stage saw the strongest teams rise to the top. Three of the four quarter-finals were clean sweep wins, with Aster taking down Waooo, Vici sweeping Newbee Young and EHOME easing past Team MAX. DeathBringer and Keen went to three games, with the former taking the win.

Things were much closer in the semi-finals. Despite falling behind after a loss in Game One, Aster came back to win their series with DeathBringer — a dominant Game Three from Liu 'Sylar' Jiajun proving to be the difference as he went 10-1-11 in their half-hour victory.

The second semi-final swung back and forward. After taking a game apiece, Vici and EHOME fought out a 52-minute marathon for a place in the final. Despite Zhang 'Eurus' Chengjun going massive with an 18-2-16 performance — and Vici having more kills and a 5k advantage — it was EHOME who snuck a famous win.

Vici made amends in the Third-Place Playoff, however, with a clean 2-0 over DeathBringer to at least leave Suzhou with a little pride.


Header image © WESG

  • Olucaron
    Olucaron

    Olucaron

    David W. Duffy
    Editor
    • Contact:
    • Location:
      Germany

Comments