The slow build up to The International’s Grand Finals was almost too much to bear. Two monster teams, Alliance and Na’Vi, fought their way up the upper bracket (once in the lower bracket on Na’Vi) and finally faced off in the best of five Grand Finals Sunday evening. All five matches were fought, and the series win eventually went to Alliance.
The level of play seen by both teams during the entirety of the Grand Finals was more than impressive, though Na’Vi simply could not compete with the iron will Alliance brought to the table. The team had only lost one match before the final event, losing to DK once but winning the best of three against them.
Do not overlook Orange
It’s far too simple to boil down the entirety of the last day of matches when Orange, a Malaysian team no one saw coming, showed team play far above what anyone had ever expected them to do.
Orange made it to third place, narrowly being beaten by Na’Vi after an accidental Aegis deny and too many greedy plays near the end. Primarily solo mid (though sometimes safe lane solo) player Mushi of Orange is going to be a player to look out for in the professional Dota 2 scene as he just played magnificently untill those last few mistakes at the end of the team’s time at The International.
It is really difficult not to wonder what would have happened if Orange had kept their cool in that last match against Na’Vi and went on to the Grand Finals against Alliance. Here’s hoping they will work on keeping their cool before next year’s The International.
Let’s also not forget the longest match in TI history
There is one thing that Chinese Dota teams are best known for, and that is farming the game away. Chinese giants DK and Invictus Gaming fought head to head in a best of three last Thursday, August 8, and decided to go the ultra-passive route, pushing the match up to 2 seconds short of a 99 minute game.
This was not an entertaining game to watch.
DK repeatedly put off pushing while iG’s Outworld Destroyer farmed in-base, eventually growing fat enough to win them the game after an hour of being behind.
This match is notable not only because of its duration, but shows that it just may be possible to win when you are that cornered. Then again, there were plenty of surprise comebacks during the duration of The International. Perhaps this one stands out because of just how stupidly passive DK played trying to secure three cheeses before they wiped iG out, which they failed to do.
Na’Vi beats TongFu using Chen + Pudge hook cheesing
The Na’Vi versus TongFu matches on Friday were certainly spectacles to watch. Dendi, ever the showman, took Pudge into the matches one and three and won Na’Vi those two matches with some interesting hooks.
The first match, which you can watch here, shows a number of impressive Pudge hooks from Dendi that force a win against TongFu. The third match is something a little special as Dendi on Pudge and Puppey on Chen took back their disadvantage by pulling off some amazing fountain hooks. This is definitely one to watch.
The hooks!
