Stomps, comebacks, and systematic wins; We break down the best games from Day 3.
Day three into the Arlington Major, the groups have begun to assume their final shape. A flurry of results – some expected and some unexpected – have arrived today. With the final day approaching, we’ll take a look at what they were and how they affected Group B.
Of the eight matches played, five were drawn and three were won and lost. Former matchups include Team Aster vs Beastcoast, Team Spirit vs Entity, Evil Geniuses vs Tundra Esports, Beastcoast vs Entity and Team Spirit vs Boom Esports. Of these, the biggest surprise was Beastcoast’s take on a game of Aster and Entity, the group’s leaders.
Boom and EG both broke the na’vi to impress the CIS team’s earlier performance, while the Aster completely broke the heavy tundra. Before the fourth day begins, let’s take a look at the best matches of the third day.
Natus Vincere vs Boom Esports
At the end of the second day, Na’Vi was flying high and Boom was struggling. This matchup could have been Na’Vi’s ticket to the top half of the table, but their double stumble today means they are now in the fight for the life of their tournament, with the skin of their teeth slightly ahead of Beastcoast for a match. With Soul Tomorrow is their only way out while the South Americans face the last-place Tundra.
game 1
The first game was pretty straight forward. Boom’s picks include patch favorites Winter Wyvern and Chaos Knight, along with Mars, Storm Spirit, and a rare Mirana in the mix. Navi, on the other hand, had a relatively weak draft in terms of teamfights. A batrider was their only real default means of initiation, the other picks being Monkey King, Snapfire, Marcy and Razor.
The laning phase was relatively uneventful with very few kills. Teams were focusing more on farming instead, and Boom began developing lead gold. As the game progressed, the South-East Asian team seemed to come out on top every time a fight broke out.
Before long, they began to dominate outright, forcing Na’Vi to call GG in just 27 minutes.
game 2
Game 2 was a much more tumultuous affair. The likes of Na ‘Vee’s Dazzle, Protector of Light, Prophet of Nature, Marcy and Doom didn’t provide much in the way of lockdown or initiation, but they put on a strong showing nonetheless. Boom, on the other hand, created a 4-melee draft consisting of Tiny, Ember Spirit, Tidehunter, and Monkey King, with a Viper thrown in for good measure.
Despite the difference in the draft, the game was one of the tightest of the tournament so far. With several battles failing to change the neck-and-neck nature of the game, neither team could take a solid lead. Even after Na’wi had a slight advantage in the middle game, Boom made a strong comeback and bounced back. The exact opposite happened shortly after.
Boom had taken the lead in the last 50 minutes, and not until Erin “Yopz” Ferrer’s rampage knocked out the Ukrainian side with a double Gs.
Team Spirit vs Boom Esports
Although Team Spirit is far from their TI10 and post-TI10 form, they are a frighteningly powerful team. Boom Esports is no pushover, but some people may bet on the latter if both are playing. In this example, however, the two appeared to match equally.
game 1
Game One saw a lot of single-target focus capability from Boom in the form of Beastmaster, Rubik, Windranger and Rubik with Dawnbreaker carry. Spirit, on the other hand, went for a more traditional faceless Void-Zeus combo, complemented by X and Tiny for quick pickoff and a dazzle for healing and saving.
It was another crazy topsy-turvy game, with both teams vying for map control. Boom maintained a healthy kill lead and had little advantage for most of the game, but Spirit showed tremendous resilience and kept fighting back.
Shortly after their loss of Spirit was reversed, however, a fight that could have been Spirit based on the double damage rune went in the opposite direction / their dazzle was dead at the time, and although they had a buyback, He chose not to join his team. This proved to be costly as everything was over within minutes of it.
game 2
The second game in the series, by comparison, was pretty straightforward. BOOM picked Chen, Marcy, Invoker, Viper and Dawnbreaker. Spirit, on the other hand, relied on a Terrorblade carry with Enigma, Tiny, Pangolier and a Dazzle.
The laning phase went as normal for both teams, but shortly after that, Spirit took a decent gold lead. With Terrorblade farming around, Spirit’s gold profits increased. Although the number of murders was fairly similar, the boom began to fail.
After several rescue attempts, Boom eventually turned out to be too different to his liking. He was team wiped and had to call GG in the last 42 minutes with Ilya “Yatoro” Mulyarchuk stamping out.
Evil Geniuses vs Tundra Esports
EG hasn’t had the strongest performance in this tournament, but they will take it on their performance in the previous major any day. Quite the contrary, it looks like it is the Tundra’s turn for a terrific tournament, and the European team currently sits at the bottom of Group B as the only team in the group that has not won a series.
game 1
EG came swinging in Game 1. His draft was a teamfight dream, with lots of provisions. He chose Bloodseeker, Puck, Dawnbreaker, Dazzle and Snapfire. As far as the draft was concerned, the Tundra seemed lost. He chose an inspiring crew of Chain, Chaos Knight, Void Spirit, Brewmaster and Shadow Shaman.
If you’re a fan of the Tundra or hate EG, you can skip this part because Europeans have handed their heads to them. Calling it a “stomp” would be an understatement, because when the match ended, the kill margin was a brutal 41 to 9.
Nothing more needs to be said about this match except that it ended quietly in the 32nd minute.
game 2
Both teams would go on to prove that they were not as mismatched as the first game suggested. EG’s draft included Prophets of Nature, Void Spirit, Prophets of Death, Dazzle and Marcy. Across the Atlantic, Ogre was the pick by Maggie, Razor, Hoodwink, Visage, and Dawnbreaker.
After an uphill battle phase, both teams were largely dead. Fighting was infrequent and teams focused heavily on farming, but when it did happen, they were explosive. EG slowly but surely took a decent lead.
As talents were getting hopeful, Tundra swooped in on an opportunity in a fight near Roshan and took charge. This advantage allowed Tundra to take an unassailable lead, and they penalized EG and took the second game.
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