The last American team was eliminated on Sunday night, setting up an all Chinese final.
It felt like 2014 would be Evil Geniuses' year. The team won several premier tournaments, and a narrow victory over Team DK in June paired with a crushing win against Na'Vi at the HyperX D2L Western Challenge set the stage for EG to become the first American team to reach the finals of The International. ViCi Gaming had other ideas.
A two day layoff for EG appeared to be their undoing. Sloppy play in the first game of the lower bracket final led to GG being called just over 16 minutes thanks to a stellar ganking and split-push lineup from VG. Sylar went 4/0/5 on Nature's Prophet for ViCi, gaining one of the fastest Orchids seen in competitive Dota -- finishing the item shortly after the 10-minute mark.
Evil Geniuses were on the ropes, but roared back in a game two that shook off the cobwebs and proved they deserved to be playing for a final spot. Arteezy's switch from Templar Assassin to Viper provided huge early and mid-game dividends, shutting down Super's Dragon Knight and preventing his farm. Ultimately it was a standout performance by mason on Weaver that turned the tide and prevented a late-game collapse, leading to an EG win in 45:48.
For a while it appeared that the third game of the series would be a rematch of the same lineups, but a few lineup changes were enough to turn the tide for Vici gaming. rOtk took control of Venomancer to provide early push and a blitzing early push didn't give mason enough time to farm on Faceless Void, leading to a 15-minute GG.
International victory continues to eludeTeam DK
On paper Team DK should be one of the most dominant teams in competitive Dota, but once again the predominantly Chinese team came up short. There had been some rumors of communication problems inside the team since adding Mushi from Malaysia and iceiceice of Singapore, but the team insisted the difference in nationality wasn't an issue. Ultimately their problem was a lack of consistent teamwork, which lead to their round-three lower bracket loss to ViCi.
The games took DK firmly out of their slow, methodical comfort zone. It seems unthinkable to call BurNIng a non-factor, but outside of solid play on Anti Mage in game one he didn't find his role. Two games and losses later they're once again leaving Seattle empty handed.
The stage is set
The road to The International final was unexpectedly quick for Newbee, a team that hasn't been together a year yet. They were seen as a capable team, but nowhere near the heady heights of TI4 glory. Their aggressive style flies in the face of what Chinese Dota is expected to be, and now a single best of five series separates them from the prize.
It's a different story for ViCi Gaming, but from an equally unlikely genesis. They weren't pegged to advance this far, but have continually fought off assaults from some of the best teams in TI4, beating Cloud9, Team DK and Evil Geniuses to make it this far. Their advantage will be practice, where Newbee has had been resting since Friday in preparation for the final.
This final has all the trappings of a classic series between two aggressive teams. It should make for a fantastic series.
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