The third day of the SEA Qualifiers for The International 10 continued with the upper bracket finals and some exhilarating Dota 2 in the lower bracket.
Boom Esports vs Galaxy Racer – lower bracket, round 4
The main series of the day brought together Boom Esports, who provided fans with excellent Dota 2 against TNC Predator, and Galaxy Racer, who amazed everyone with their undefeated streak thus far – they eliminated both Omega Esports as well as Motivate.Trust from the upper bracket while doing so.
The first match of the series began with Galaxy Racer choosing a line-up that included Leshrac, Shadow Demon, Tusk, Necrophos and Doom against Dreamocel’s Spectre on Boom. It was apparent based on the Boom-TNC matchup that Galaxy Racer could not afford this match to stretch to the 60-minute mark.
Shadow Demon on GXR’s side began the game with heavy camp-stacking but inYourdreaM’s Leshrac fell to Boom’s Pangolier, giving them the first blood. GXR tried to apply early game pressure on Dreamocel’s Spectre but timely interventions from supports as well as the hero’s resilience allowed him to avoid dying in the lane.
One particular engagement saw the Tusk and Necrophos die thanks to a timely TP by Boom’s Riki. At minute 14, Boom smoked to punish the Doom pushing bottom lane and while they managed to kill both him and Shadow Demon, they lost four heroes in the following engagement. Finally, at minute 22 GXR managed to kill Spectre as well as gain control of Radiant’s triangle thanks to the BKB on Doom.
Boom managed to get an uncontested Roshan at minute 23 and GXR started a fight despite the Aegis on the Spectre – the lengthy engagement featured multiple buybacks and the loss of the Aegis, culminating in a four-man wipe for GXR and a triple kill for Dreamocel.
Spectre proved the strength of his ultimate in the next fight at minute 28 when GXR barely managed to kill Riki but the subsequent Haunt saw Necrophos and GXR’s two supports die. It took four heroes from GXR engaging Spectre to kill him two minutes later and three more heroes from Boom quickly followed.
At minute 36, Spectre barely missed his BKB at a midlane engagement which resulted in three deaths for Boom, though it also cost GXR three buybacks. At minute 45, GXR’s mizu managed to take out Spectre with his ultimate at Radiant’s secret shop while Alacrity’s Doom killed the Pangolier as well as Mikoto’s Riki despite a quick buyback.
GXR pushed on to midlane high ground with Leshrac applying pressure but Spectre bought back and managed to kill inYourdreaM with his Haunt. Boom proceeded to kill the Tusk and Shadow Demon and finally got the tanky Necrophos. Immediately following with a Roshan kill where Spectre took the Aegis, Boom killed Alacrity’s Doom at the bottom lane. GXR responded by killing the Riki with Reaper’s Scythe, taking him out of the game for two minutes without a buyback. Boom could not contain Leshrac’s pushing capability from that point on, despite the best efforts of the Spectre and GXR got the mega creeps by minute 51 – Boom had to call gg shortly thereafter.
GXR began the second match with a Lifestealer carry and pitted their Puck mid against Boom’s Ember Spirit. GXR’s offlane, consisting of Dragon Knight and Mirana killed Phoenix for first blood by the second minute. Boom’s Mikoto defied GXR’s attempt to kill him in the midlane, managing to turn the tables and kill Mirana at a minute 8 attempt and getting a Puck kill at the top lane by minute 10.
Puck once again died at minute 13, this time falling to Legion Commander’s duel and Lion’s ultimate. Minute 19 saw GXR get four kills on Boom: AlaCrity’s Puck made amends with a well-placed Coil, taking out the Legion Commander and the Lion. GXR continued by killing the Phoenix egg and brought Ember Spirit down despite a helpful Sunder from the Terrorblade.
The same Terrorblade tried to man-fight the Lifestealer and the Dragon Knight but was quickly taken out at the top lane in the 23rd minute. The Roshan pit engagement five minutes later began with the Legion Commander getting stunned by Dragon Knight and Lifestealer making quick work of him. Alacrity’s simultaneous Coil took out both supports of Boom who both immediately bought back. This allowed Boom to turn the tables on their opponents, killing the tanky Dragon Knight as well as Mirana and Puck. After killing the Grimstroke (and losing Lion to the well-positioned Lifestealer), Boom were able to take Roshan, with the Aegis going to Terrorblade.
Emboldened by the Aegis and Skaid on their Terrorblade, they pushed high ground at the top lane, but a Heaven’s Halberd and the damage from the Lifestealer managed to break the Aegis and GXR defended their top barracks. After taking an uncontested Roshan at minute 48, Boom once again went after the same target, the Terrorblade standing his ground and taking out both barracks this time while the Ember Spirit managed to kill Grimstroke and Mirana by the ancient.
Boom went on to clear the mid barracks and destroy one T4 tower by minute 50. Dreamocel, still hanging on to the Aegis, was pushing bottom high-ground at minute 52 when GXR smoked up and wrapped around the Dire Secret Shop trying to kill the Ember Spirit. Mikoto’s BKB could not prevent Puck’s Coil but Terrorblade sacrificed his Aegis to save Ember by using Sunder. Boom then killed the Lifestealer with Duel and forced a buyback from him, losing two supports in the process. Puck played outrageously in the following engagement, allowing Lifestealer to kill Terrorblade (who missed a critical Sunder) and GXR managed to hold the high ground.
Lifestealer then pushed on to Boom’s high ground with a Divine Rapier, taking the mid barracks and forcing a Phoenix buyback. The definitive fight of the game was right outside the Roshan pit at minute 58, with the Mirana falling to Ember and Terrorblade and immediately buying back. Dragon Knight was the next to fall to the Terrorblade and Mikoto took out the Grimstroke. The Lifestealer could not survive against 4 heroes of Boom and was killed by the Terrorblade, the Mirana following him shortly after. Mikoto wrapped up the engagement by killing the Puck and GXR were forced to call gg.
The final game of the series saw Boom opting for a quicker, more aggressive lineup and GXR opting for the Spectre. Fbz’s Batrider fell to GXR in one of the quickest first bloods of the qualifiers (36 seconds after the match started). Boom were able to kill the Spectre and the Lion at the bottom lane in the sevent minute. Dreamocel’s Bristleback was level 12 by minute 13 with a Vanguard and a Hood, and solo-killed the Winter Wyvern at the bottom lane. Soon, mizu’s Dark Seer followed suit, barely falling to the Batrider at the mid lane when he almost completed his TP.
GXR them smoked and ganked the Doom pushing bottom lane, opening with Lion’s Hex, only for Boom to respond with a smoke of their own, Lassoing Lina and using the Phoenix Egg. A well-placed Winter’s Curse by the Wyvern completely nullified their efforts though, ensuring their ultimates were used in vain. A Boom attempt at Roshan at minute 19 saw the Batrider and Enchantress killed by Lion’s and Winter Wyvern’s ultimates respectively. Phoenix was the next to fall, to the Spectre and GXR were able to score the Aegis.
A minute 23 engagement at the bottom lane saw the Bristleback almost dying, but managing to survive and allowing Boom to kill the Lion, Lina and Winter Wyvern. Boom were pushing for the second Roshan during minute 31 and they used Winter Wyvern’s ill-placed ultimate to their advantage and killed Lina. While Spectre was able to get the Aegis in the following engagement, Boom took out all remaining heroes of GXR and they followed inYourdreaM doggedly – it was Winter Wyvern who came to Spectre’s rescue.
Boom would not relent, however, and they engaged GXR in the mid-lane, killing Lina and Winter Wyvern. At minute 40, Doom used his ultimate to kill Winter Wyvern at the top lane, allowing Dreamocel to take Lina out. The next Doom ulti at minute 41 was aimed at Spectre, and Doom and Phoenix were able to kill him at the bottom lane. The following engagement by the Roshan pit saw the Doom killed with no buy-back, and GXR were able to take Roshan right as he spawned. At minute 47, a teamfight Radiant’s bottom lane saw two buy-backs from GXR, their Spectre losing the Aegis and the Winter Wyvern and Dark Seer killed. As Boom pushed the higher ground, they killed Lion again after his buyback and destroyed the bottom barracks. Dreamocel then almost single-handedly took the mid barracks and Boom moved on to the top lane. After killing the Winter Wyvern, it was time for mega-creeps for GXR. A team wipe at minute 50 at the bottom lane, initiated by Doom on the Dark Seer meant gg for GXR.
This breathtaking series served to show just how advanced SEA Dota 2 skill level has become, and also given hope to Galaxy Racer fans for the next season.
TNC Predator vs Fnatic – upper bracket finals
Two of the tournament favorites faced each other in the upper bracket final. Fnatic started the first game with a stronger looking draft, especially with their choice of Abaddon. Raven’s Luna proved quite decisive, finishing the game with 16 / 3 / 11 against Gabbi’s Lifestealer going 10 / 5 / 10 and Fnatic were able to win the match 34-30 at 58 minutes. Mirana and Leshrac combined for a total of 24.1k building damage, allowing Fnatic to push objectives quicker than TNC.
The second game saw Fnatic go for an Arc Warden-Storm Spirit combo while TNC opted for Terrorblade and Tiny to have a better shot at taking buildings. Stellar performances from ChYuan (16 /2 / 22) and Aster (he applied 28.1k building damage – more than Terrorblade and Tiny combined), coupled with the fact that the game went on for 70 minutes meant that Fnatic were in the advantage throughout the game, however, and they were able to win the series 2-0 and proceeded to the finals.
Execration falls in the TI10 qualifiers
Execration faced OB Esports in a lower bracket round 4 series to start out the day. After losing a very close game 1 (40-43 at 67 minutes), they quickly rallied and won the next two games (40-33 at 45 minutes and 38-24 at 55 minutes). They then had to face Boom Esports in the fifth round of the lower bracket.
Dreamocel’s Mirana proved too strong for them in game 1 (32.2k net worth and 14.8k building damage – more than the entire Execration team combined) and game 2 was a similarly straightforward affair for them: this time Mikoto’s Templar Assassin carried Boom to a 36-22 victory at 35 minutes. Thus Execration said their goodbyes to the qualifiers, and their opponents advanced to face TNC Predator at the lower bracket finals.
