It’s always a good day for Dota 2 when the two former TI champions meet, and OG having a field day with Chen during the TI10 WEU Qualifiers is just the icing on top.
TI10 WEU Qualifiers Day 2: one of the best days ever to watch EU Dota
Fans may not have known it when they tuned it, but day 2 of the TI10 Western Europe Qualifiers proved to be one of the most amazing this year due to the volume of good games across the tournament. A ton of upsets happened in both the lower and upper bracket, and in the end six teams ended up being eliminated in just a single day, with fan-favorite Vikin.gg being included in that list.
The highlight, however, was Dota 2’s version of the El Clásico. After winning their respective series yesterday, back-to-back TI8 and TI9 champions OG faced off against TI7 champions Team Nigma in a brutal series to decide who will get to keep their upper bracket standing in three games. While it did go the distance, and Nigma certainly played their best, it’s OG and their out-of-meta picks that ended up taking the series in a decisive fashion.
El Clásico – OG vs. Team Nigma
OG
- Syed Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan (position 1)
- Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen (mid-laner)
- Sébastien “Ceb” Debs (off-laner)
- Martin “Saksa” Sazdov (soft support)
- Johan “N0tail” Sundstein (hard support)
Team Nigma
- Igor “iLTW” Filatov (position 1)
- Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi (mid-laner)
- Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov (off-laner)
- Maroun “GH” Merhej (soft support)
- Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi (hard support)
Game one: if there’s a player who can make Chen look good, it’s N0tail
Just as they did in their first series against Vikin.gg, OG made an unexpected pick in this first game that managed to seal the deal against Team Nigma. Chen, a hero that has not seen proper competitive play in quite some time, is picked up by OG team captain N0tail to support SumaiL’s favored position 1 Leshrac. However, this draft was a smoke screen for their true intentions, which was to enable the off-lane Axe of Ceb, who will emerge as the actual carry of this game.
With probably almost no experience playing against this hero in quite some time, Team Nigma failed to realize the danger Chen poses against their team, especially if OG can hit their timings earlier thanks to the record number of neutral camps N0tail stacked. Indeed, the way Team Nigma played in the earlier parts of the game was confident, as Miracle-’s Lina manhandled Topson’s Pangolier in the mid lane, scoring early solo kills against OG’s position 2 even with Saksa’s Dark Willow providing assistance.
It did not take long, however, before Team Nigma realized that the damage had already been done and OG hit their crucial item timings before iLTW’s Lifestealer even hit his. At eleven minutes into the game, Ceb reveals his Blink Dagger on Axe to secure a kill on GH’s Winter Wyvern in the mid lane, surprising Team Nigma. Even though OG ended up losing that engagement in the long run as only N0tail and Saksa escaped with their lives, it managed to give Team Nigma an idea of just how far ahead the OG is in terms of both farm and experience.
Despite making key pick-offs on both SumaiL and N0tail, Team Nigma lost their carry player numerous times in several engagements, severely hindering the farm of iLTW who is remotely the only player who can possibly deal with OG in the late game. The first big team fight in the river ended with both cores plus GH dying for Team Nigma, leading to the first Roshan of the game ending up in the hands of SumaiL’s Leshrac
The rest of the game painted the same story, as both the Axe and the Leshrac became too big to handle for Team Nigma without much-needed items. This became apparent during a big engagement near Team Nigma’s base. KuroKy’s Hoodwink managed to land a big Bushwhack on an isolated Axe, and with all of the combined skills of the entire Team Nigma lineup they managed to take down Ceb. However, OG’s backup is not far off, and their response proved that Ceb was not the only one dealing immense damage to Team Nigma but the Leshrac as well. In the end, both the Lina and the Lifestealer ended up dying in exchange for Axe and Dark Willow, a trade that favored OG.
OG started to push Team Nigma’s high ground 32 minutes in. From there on, with an Aegis on the Leshrac and Cheese on the Pangolier, OG pulled out their specialty in farming enemy heroes in their base as Team Nigma’s players kept on dying and buying back, just to be killed once again by the endless onslaught of damage backed by heals from N0tail’s Chen. At 34 minutes in, the Throne falls and GGs are called, with OG ending the game at 33 kills to Team Nigma’s 15.
Game two: it’s not an OG series without throws
Facing the possibility of dropping to the lower bracket and still wounded by how they were dumpstered by a Chen pick, Team Nigma pulled out all the stops in the second game, as proven by a draft that served them well during the AniMajors. They put GH on Io, a comfort hero for him and one he has always been known for, and paired it up with iLTW’s Luna. This pairing was one of their most successful support-core duos during that tournament, and it made a lot of sense to pull it out now. OG on the other hand drafted a bit more conservatively as they found Ceb’s Axe and Alchemist banned. Topson also ended up playing Puck, and it’s one that does not work for him as well as his weird picks in the mid lane.
As was expected, Team Nigma kept a tepid lead against OG for most of the early to mid game, with iLTW farming on his Luna effectively and keeping a significant lead against SumaiL’s position 1 Chaos Knight. Miracle- was also, once again, effectively dumpstering Topson in the lane due to his proficiency in regular mid heroes, as opposed to Topson who favors the weird off picks and not something like Puck. Ceb’s Dark Seer and Saksa’s Clockwerk also ended up being under-farmed in the laning phase as OG’s off lane duo got zoned out by GH and iLTW.
Although OG managed to pull off some very nasty combos of their own during the mid game to give them the advantage in number of kills, Team Nigma rallied and found their rhythm to poke back with iLTW finding key kills thanks to Eclipse. One of the key factors in them ultimately taking back the lead is OG’s susceptibility to overextending. The game was ever slightly in favor of OG after the 22 minute mark, and it was on the verge of expanding after a team fight near Team Nigma’s base which killed both KuroKy’s Lion and GH. This led to the first Roshan kill being taken by OG, which itself led to a massive team fight which wiped out everyone on Team Nigma except for MinD_ContRoL’s Centaur Warrunner. This, however, would be the last big team fight that they win.
After a failed attempt on iLTW’s life by SumaiL, Team Nigma tries to strike back in an area between their bottom tier 2 and tier 3 towers. It was a good area to fight in, even if OG managed to catch Miracle- circling back to try and catch them off-guard. Another key factor is SumaiL’s item choice – instead of going for a Black King Bar which would’ve protected him from iLTW’s Lucent Beams and the insane burst damage Team Nigma has, he opted to go for a Desolator, which does nothing if he can’t even hit. In the end, Team Nigma managed to take him down once in addition to wiping out OG and provoking a dieback from Ceb, who was the first to be taken out by iLTW’s Eclipse. Only SumaiL managed to escape this team fight with his life for OG.
This team fight set the tone for the rest of the game as SumaiL’s lack of spell immunity meant that he was getting bursted down before he could even deal damage. After a couple more engagements that would often see most of the team wiped out, OG found themselves being besieged by a farmed Luna and her deadly Glaives at the 41 minute mark. A valiant effort from Saksa to cut the middle creep wave halted this attack ever so slightly, but in the end there was nothing left to do for the OG squad as the last team fight resulted in both tier 4 towers being taken down. GGs are called by OG, and Team Nigma takes game two with 37 kills against OG’s 34.
Game three: a lesson for Team Nigma to never pick Tide + TA against OG
It’s almost always inevitable that an OG versus Nigma match would go the distance, although it could be said that this only happens because of how OG sometimes gets too overzealous and they’re punished for it. The third game, however, was Team Nigma making questionable drafts themselves that ultimately resulted in their downfall.
The first signs were the Tidehunter and Templar Assassin picks, which, while Team Nigma has seen success with, has never worked against any roster iteration of OG, past to present. They also put iLTW on the Nature’s Prophet, a poor-scaling core, which meant that their entire win condition rests on Miracle- getting a perfect game. Meanwhile, on the OG side of things, N0tail picks up Chen once again to prove that it was not a fluke, while they assign tanky heroes for the rest. Topson once again goes for the Pangolier, while Ceb pulls out his Beastmaster and SumaiL gets core Magnus. Saksa also gets to flex his soft support Hoodwink, which means that OG has all the lockdown they need to secure the game, provided they don’t lose out by a lot during the early to mid game.
The game remained quite even well into the 14 minute mark, with both teams scoring seven kills apiece and Miracle- on his way to get the first Aegis of the game. A failed attempt to contest this costs OG four deaths, which now puts the game squarely into Team Nigma’s hands. This lead, however, was not to last for long, as iLTW managed to get picked off by a rotation from Ceb, Topson and Saksa. With a questionable early Crimson Guard purchase instead of a Black King Bar, this spelled the beginning of the end for Team Nigma.
After the death of iLTW, OG positioned themselves for the next Roshan. MinD_ContRoL managed to pull off an impressive five-man Ravage that immediately secured the Chen kill, but to no avail. Topson and SumaiL managed to stay healthy throughout thanks to fast BKB usage, and iLTW’s positioning in the river between walls resulted in him being perma-stunned by the Pangolier. SumaiL and Saksa took down the two supports while the Tidehunter and Templar Assassin were zoned out of the Roshan pit entirely.
With that big win and now a sizable lead, OG continued to dominate the rest of the game thanks to iLTW not getting his BKB yet. A final ditch smoke from Team Nigma ended up being disastrous, as Topson survived a big Ravage to reconnect with his team. Without any more control left and with Miracle- getting bashed and disarmed endlessly by Topson’s Pangolier, this last attempt to pull back their game only sunk them deeper.
OG began their high ground push 31 minutes into the game, and by then the ending was already written. With no way to wrestle back control from a lineup filled with incredibly tanky heroes sporting big stuns and a healing backline to boot, Team Nigma fell one by one to buybacks and diebacks until only GH’s Nyx Assassin remained. OG takes game three and the series, scoring 32 kills against Nigma’s 15.
