Main Event Day 3 Recap: The Last Champions
More beautiful Dota was played today with some very tense action. We had three East vs. West match-ups and a very hyped MVP vs. Wings chaos fiesta. Two more teams have been eliminated with only the best eight squads left in the tournament. During the interviews players frequently say they would be satisfied with a top8 or top6 placement, but when the dream is this close no one is going to stay content—there is definitely more and even better Dota to come.
Elimination Match Alliance vs. Fnatic
The early game of the first match was extremely calm—a single kill for each team, with Alliance getting the first blood. A courier kill by adam allowed Fnatic to get some economic advantage, however a beautiful defensive play by the trilane of Alliance netted them two kills getting them in the lead by the end of the laning stage.
This lead was turned around in the early mid game by Fnatic with a surprise kill on Fader vår Drow Ranger with Shadow Poison of
Fnatic.Dj and a follow-up pickoff for Storm Spirit of
NO CARE. Instead of pushing this lead, Fnatic decided to play it smart and never create an opening for
Edge of Hell's Tidehunter to turn around a fight. They have split up the map and with careful, precise strikes on different lanes slowly started getting out of control—not in a conventional manner, but rather in a very Alliance-esque way, slowly choking and tilting the opponent. 25 minutes into the game Fnatic had a comfortable lead of almost 10k.
Only taking fights they wanted to, Fnatic have solidified their position in the game, yet remained extremely cautious. Their item build have also been very defensive, with multiple early BKBs. A very unsuccessful fight in the Roshan pit has exacerbated the situation of Alliance, allowing Fnatic to take a lane of barracks. Following the same rules of caution, Fnatic surgically removed the defense lines of the EU squad and won the first game.
In the second game Alliance decided to all-in on their signature heroes with Edge of Hell Natures Prophet,
s4 on Puck and
Akke on Enchantress. It was a very different game from the get go, with Alliance taking the momentum and scoring the first 5 kills. This momentum translated into a 2k net worth lead when the teams broke the laning stage and entered mid game.
A stolen chronosphere by EGM Rubick allowed the team to turn around the first fight in the game and even got them an extra kill on its second use. The first half of the game was absolutely dominated by this player—a 15 minute Blink Dagger made him an unstoppable initiating machine. On the back of their position 4 support and great Loda+Bulldog rotations Alliance got complete map control 20 minutes into the game.
The game would have ended very early if it wasn't for some impressive Ohy` Batrider plays, who initiated a great fight, propelling his team into a 4 to 1 trade. This regained some lost ground for Fntaic and slowed down the Swedish machine. After a couple more successful fights and a game winning arrow from
Fnatic.Dj Mirana the game has economically equalized, with even some momentum on the side of Fnatic.
The SEA team have ridden this momentum and managed to claim the well-deserved victory. An absolutely beautiful game highlighting the strengths of the teams in the International. Despite their loss, Alliance as a whole and EGM specifically deserve the highest amount of praise. However it is Fnatic who will advance to the next round of the losers bracket to face 
Team Liquid
Elimination match Liquid vs. Newbee
It was unexpected to see these teams in an elimination match so early in the tournament. The last hope of EU vs. the Chinese powerhouse with three TI winners—a very exciting match indeed.
Liquid, carrying the spirit of Na'Vi have opted for a first phase Sand King pick. Newbee decided to go for the classical Batrider and Shadow Demon opening. Liquid have set up themselves for a tempo play, with a plan B Ember Spirit. Newbee decided to play extremely safe with a offlane (dog) Naga Siren pick.
The tempo draft of Liquid definitely paid off, with an early first blood and double kill for KuroKy. Smart rotations by
Fata have ensured Liquid's position come early mid game—a 3k net worth and experience advantage. After some great setups by both
KuroKy and
NGX.mc Liquid completely spun out of control with a 12:0 score by 20 minutes and a massive economical lead.
offlane (dog)'s Naga Siren, however, managed to get her Radiance by the same timestamp, giving a glimmer of hope for the Chinese squad.
Slowly but surely, Naga Siren started to get the economy graphs under control until a desperation gank by the rest of her team went south and gifted an even bigger advantage to the last hope of EU. There wasn't even a consolation prize—KuroKy toggled through
猴 Lifestealer attacks and managed to survive the 3 man rotation.
It all looked extremely well for Liquid—at one point they were leading almost 12k. With this advantage they decided to try and take the highground, but not only did Newbee manage to split-push and destroy two towers, but also successfully defend their base and even take several kills. Their gameplan started coming to fruition at the 40 minute mark, where they managed to take another great fight and gain a lot of momentum. In a span of 15 minutes, Newbbe came back from a 12k deficit to a 12k advantage, taking the first lane of barracks.
The game should have ended right there, when Newbee secured a lane advantage, but the huge plays from Liquid.MATUMBAMAN allowed them to cling onto their tournament life for a little longer. Liquid even managed to sneak a Roshan, granting their carry a protection for the newly purchased Divine Rapier. Yet the dream never came true—after a forced chaotic fight Liquid called "gg".
Second game had a very similar draft from Liquid who managed to take Shadow Demon this time around. They backed it up with a Morphling pick, while Newbee went all in on aggression with Chen. Once again Liquid managed to claim the first blood, but their early game wasn't as explosive, despite a very aggressive Undying pick for Kuro.
Team Liquid definitely managed to catch up in the early mid game with a lot of aggressive rotations. This has completely shut down ChuaN Chen, who became a liability, with almost no impact on the game. 15 minutes into the game Liquid were already leading by 7.5k in net worth. This time around it was them who also had a stronger late-game lineup. Newbee tapped out 17 minutes in.
Liquid opted for Anti-Mage for in their third game, once again pulling out their beloved 4+1 strategy with aggressive mid and offlane. They started the game by getting both of the bounty runes. KuroKy heavily bullied the Io+Morphling combo Newbee have placed mid resulting in an early first blood for
Fata.
Liquid once again managed to get a massive advantage in the early game—this time around with some very efficient stacking by JerAx. The early stacks boosted him and
NGX.mc Axe, propelling them into the mid game, where they handily won the first team fight.
With Anti-Mage practically farming the whole map and Liquid breaking even or even winning smaller skirmishes, the future looked very grim for the Chinese team. Their 猴 Morphling was confidently in the second position of net wroth chart, but the difference between him and Anti-Mage was rising by the minute. This forced a very risky move from Newbee—they tried to contest the Roshan, but a great turnaround by Axe not only secured Roshan for Liquid, but also resulted in a teamwipe of Newbee.
After this point there was almost no hope for the former TI champions—the enemy was massively outfarming them and didn't leave a chance in teamfights. The remaining hope of the EU region persisted and will face 
Ascent Esports tomorrow.
MVP vs. Wings
A very hyped match with two extremely aggressive and chaotic teams facing each other. The Korean overlords vs. the new blood of China. A year ago no one expected these teams to fight for the top3 spot at the International. No one even knew Wings then and no one still knows them well enough, it seems. MVP already improved over their last year performance, but can they go even further?
The first game had all-out aggression on both sides. MVP lineup was more concentrated on the laning stage, while Wings opted for strong teamfight with QoP and Puck picks backed up by Warlock. MVP, in their usual style, aggressively rotated to the enemy jungle and secured the first blood for dddd.
Early game was filled with crazy successful rotations by MVP, which allowed them to get ahead in score, yet it is the Wings rotation on MP which had the highest impact—with the help of Drow aura 4 ranged hero of Wings took an early T2 from the Korean squad.
Despite having a weaker teamfight lineup, with no big cooldowns, MVP still decided to run at the enemy, as expected. They managed to win the first fight in a convincing manner, yet AR.Faith_Bian on Puck managed to pass an improbable skill check and found a solo kill on pursuing
MP, salvaging the situation. This pickoff didn't allow the MVP to completely take over the game and forced them to make an aggressive rotation, which resulted in a bad 3+Aegis for 2 trade.
After the first several fight the game slowed down a little bit, with smaller skirmishes and a few smoke ganks. Wings were trying to evade fights, playing even more cautiously when their ultimates were on cooldown. Once they felt confident enough they started applying pressure with several crucial pickoffs, which quickly transitioned into a lane of barracks 30 minutes into the game. With this momentum they forced a 33 minute "gg", ending the dddd Phantom Assassin win streak.
In the second game MVP insisted on their playstyle with a very similar draft, but with Ursa instead of Invoker. Wings drafted a very classical lineup with Juggernaut and Void cores, backed up by Disruptor and Elder Titan.
The early game was a complete bloodbath with MVP rolling over the Wings lineup, racking up a massive lead. This overaggression was not punished until 10 minutes into the game, but Wings came back into the game with several kills on overextended heroes. Once again, MVP have overextended in one fight and lost their advantage as well as the freshly claimed Aegis, decreasing the lead for MVP to 2.5k 20 minutes into the game.
Wings solidified their position with several smart pickoffs on the back of AR.Faith_Bian Chronospheres and started pulling ahead. 25 minutes in they completely turned around all the lead MVP had and were 7k net worth ahead.
Where older, more experienced teams would hold down, take map control and try to win the long economy game, leaving the enemy no chance, Wings decided to capitalize on their momentum and aggressively push for victory. 30 minutes into the game they took a lane of barracks.
Where older, more experienced teams would tap out and save energy for the lower bracket match, MVP decided to keep on fighting and were even somewhat successful, getting a 6k gold swing in a Rosh fight. Unfortunately that still left Wings with a 10k lead.
The games were amazing, with tons of action, as expected. They were slightly reminiscent of the TI4 finals, but with teams eager to win and try time after time to turn the things around in their favor. Both teams showed willpower and immense mechanical talent. This time it was the Chinese team who came out on top, but MVP are not out yet and will await the winners of the Fnatic vs. Liquid series.
EG vs. EHOME - Must Watch
A much awaited battle of titans. Reinvigorated EHOME vs. the TI5 champions EG. A week before the tournament no one expected either to do that well, securing a top6 position, yet experience prevailed in both the group stages and the first two days of the playoffs.
EHOME started off strong with a first blood on ! Axe as well as a kill on
zai Shadow Demon, who overstayed his welcome in the enemy jungle. They applied even more pressure with an early
XG.old eLeVeN rotation to take a tier1 tower. They continued to shut down the enemy cores while gaining objective gold and 10 minutes into the game were in a comfortable lead of almost 5 thousands.
This early lead did not translate into an early lane of barracks—EG took an amazing fight near their bot lane entrance and somewhat stabilized the economy. EHOME played sloppy in the next several engagements overextending on multiple occasions, gifting EG a lot of tempo. Smartly playing around their Universe Chronosphere timings and on the back of massive
Aster.Suma1L- damage EG fully got back into the game.
The next 40 minutes were filled with impossible holds by both sides. Tense action that followed was worthy of the Grand Finals. Teams threw bodies at each other for the most of the game. Buybacks were spent left and right, teams did the impossible time after time. There is no discussion here—it was the best game of the International so far.
Very similar draft in the second game with EHOME going for their comfortable Warlock pick once again, while EG picked up Faceless Void. EHOME went with an all-out aggression, while EG continued with a Drow+Medusa pick ups.
The aggressive trilane of EHOME did not go too well for EHOME, with iceiceice feeding the first blood. It was somewhat equalised by a nice pick off on Sumail Medusa in mid. The early game finished almost equally with a small EG net worth advantage. The spread of net worth was better on EG, however, with both of the cores getting a lot of money. Even a relatively early Blink Dagger on
XG.old eLeVeN did not change the situation EHOME were in, where they were outpaced by a stronger late-game lineup.
EHOME have picked up some slack in the mid game, but a 2k lead was a lot less than they needed to ensure their victory. Slowly but surely EHOME were losing the ground, with less and less chance of success—Medusa was getting too tanky to kill, even for a farmed Timbersaw and Drow Ranger dished out incredible damage.
There were some exciting moments in this game, yet it definitely did not live up to its predecessor. EG confidently took the second game and ensured themselves the top3 position in the tournament, while EHOME went down into the lower bracket to face the winners of the TNC vs. DC series.
first !!!!
Second! Go EG!
For the people in the back of the casters step up the memes pls :^ )
^Such a shame. You look like a natural first...
What turn around? Bulldog cant even drop a ravage on a perfect position besides the rat does not exist, see midone?
Eg vs ehome: must watch? Lol no. The second game is so boring and ehome knew they can't take out sumail's meduda coz iceiceice got countered by void and drow.
The must watch here is wings vs mvp. The combo, unity and everything is just satisfying to watch. The void fought 1v5 on the rosh pit and still manage to kill 3 without dying. Iceice stun pediction is so cool.
Edit: -> Fourth sentence in, I think you mean to say 'content' instead of 'contempt'.
@fsociety, no the must watch is EG vs Ehome game 1, not the whole series. If you saw the game, you would understand why. It was probably the greatest game in the history of TI, comparable to game 5 of Alliance vs Navi TI3
You are not even going to mention the fact that EG fought and won against MEGA creeps? That's like the highlight of game 1
'fntaic'
Okay okay calm down guy, fsociety or whatever your name is. Why so butthurt, respect another one'e opinion. Every game in this TI is good man. EG and MVP series is best series so far, by the war etc tc. MVP and Wings are good, yes. Calm down
I mean Ehome
Evil Geniuses for the Aegis !
GO EG GO :-)
I was literally on my feet jumping up in down like during a big basketball game when someone makes a huge dunk.
There were so many amazing plays towards the end of the first EG-EHOME game.
That game was the beauty of Dota. The pressure, the calculation, positioning, strategy, and quick thinking all culminated into aesthetically great Dota.
I watch every game on this tournament and i can undoubtedly say that eg vs ehome was a fucked up game. Both teams are doing numerous mistakes like walking through ward vision, staying on a place for too long, throwing/not looking up on each other. Professional players shouldn't be tolerating this kind of acts. I already mention the second game before. The thing is casters most of the time, they over react to situations and not just focus on the analysis.i pick wings vs mvp coz the game isn't orthodox unlike what most of us have seen on some past ti. You can see how wings play the game so carefully including that one clash on game 2 i believe that they wipe mvp without losing any of their team mates but just leaving each of them a critical hp. This is what i called looking up on each other and not playing selfish.
^ only blue stareed ppl have right to cooment the match
@fsociety Eg vs EHOME g1 is just pure tension. I watched the last 30 minutes and I can safely say that is the most tense, thrilling, awesome match ever. EG made an aboslutely resilient highground stand and EHOME lost because they are too anxious to end the game. You say they are not looking up on each other, yet zai's disruption saves EG many, many times. Old chicken kinda throwed at the end to rush radiant throne, but unfortunately he just can't do it. To be fair, both teams gave their max, props to EG for coming back from megas. The teamwork and teamplay needed for that is just over the ceiling. Universe made absolutely perfect Chronos. LaNm saving the team when Universe 3 man chronos Fenrir, chicken and eleven is awesome too. TI3 Grand Finals g5 par or even above it.