It was non-stop action at Leipzig, with all four of our series going to the full three games.
The DreamLeague Season 13 Major has been heating up during the playoffs. Yesterday saw some truly fantastic series. If you missed out, we’ve got the break down right here for you.
Team Secret vs Fnatic
Our opening series saw Team Secret take on SEA powerhouse Fnatic in a nail-biting three game series which had fans of both teams on the edge of their seats.
Game 1
Secret put on a dominating show for game one. Taking control of the lanes and dictating the pace right up until the game hit 48-minutes. But 23savage and Jabz were more than ready for the late game with their Gyro/Io combo. Fnatic snatched the game out from under Secret, taking the first victory at 60-minutes, despite being behind in the kills. The final score was 32–29.
Game 2
Game two was a much closer affair, with our teams both neck-and-neck through the laning phase. Secret started to establish a lead as the game past 20-minutes, but things swung back Fnatic’s way with a team fight at the 35-minute mark. But their time as front runners was short lived. As our second game pushed past 50-minutes both Nisha and Matumbaman were mopping up the kills in Fnatic’s base. Secret took the win at 60-minutes, taking our first series of the day to it’s full three games. Secret put away a massive 50-kills in game two. With Puppey securing 11 of those himself.
Game 3
Game three, our fastest game of this series, saw Fnatic coming in strong and taking control in the laning phase. But Secret’s Naix pick for Matu was definitely causing problems for Fnatic’s line up. After a promising start, this turned into a 43-minute slog for the SEA team. Despite their impressive performance in the two previous games, Fnatic didn’t have the steam to match Secret’s pace in game three. The kill count was 36–10 as Fnatic called GG. Secret now move on to the next round of our upper bracket, while Fnatic will face TNC.Predator in the lower bracket tomorrow.
Natus`Vincere vs Alliance
Next up Alliance and Na`Vi went head to head in another fast-paced series that stretched to the full three games.
Game 1
Game one saw Alliance take control early in the laning phase and snowball to a quick 29-minute finish. Na`Vi just never found their feet this game, they managed a meagre 3-kills total. A rough match for the CIS team. Nikobaby had an easy run on his Slark, 10/0/10 was his KDA as Alliance took the win.
Game 2
Game two saw Na`Vi get their groove back, and we saw a very nice midgame from them. They had a lot of damage coming in thanks to both the Drow Ranger pick for Crystallize and magicaL’s Queen of Pain. Alliance were relying heavily on Nikobaby’s Spectre pick to provide some counter, but he never managed to come online. Game two went the way of Na`Vi at 33-minutes. We were going to another game three.
Game 3
Things were looking good for Na`Vi through the early phase of our third game. Their bottom trilane was doing well, and the kills were two a piece by the 8-minute mark. The CIS team used plenty of clever, deep wards to get plenty of information, early. But a few sloppy plays around the 25-minute mark saw them start to lose their advantage. It was basically all over once Nikobaby’s Lifestealer was online. He was 14/0/3 at 35-minutes as Alliance pushed Na`Vi’s high ground, taking out the bottom lane of rax.
At 37-minutes, it was all over for the CIS team. Alliance secured the win to take the series 1–2, knocking Na`Vi down to the lower bracket.
Team Nigma vs Beastcoast
Our first series of the lower bracket saw another three-game clash between Team Nigma and Beastcoast.
Game 1
Game one saw an early laning phase, the kills were 5–5 at 6-minutes. Things started to pick up for Nigma as the game moved past the 10-minute mark. Miracle had his Diffusal Blade on Phantom Lancer by 11-minutes, and they were leading the kills, 11–8. But Beastcoast had closed the kill-gap by 17-minutes, 16–17 as Chris Luck’s Broodmother and her babies took down Miracle. It was a stomp for BC from here, they rolled to a 33-minute victory with a 13-kill lead over Nigma to take game one.
Game 2
Nigma took first blood in game two, although Beastcoast also managed to bring down MinD_ContRoL to bring the kills to 1–1 in the first minute. Still, things were looking favourable for Beastcoast through the early phase. They had the gold advantage, with K1 (Hector) and Chris Luck top of the net worth. But Nigma were still leading the kills, 15–5 at 18-minutes. Then the net worth swung back Nigma’s way, and at 35-minutes they secured the win with a massive 27-kill lead. This was an outstanding performance for w33 on Lina who did the most work to secure this win. He went 17/2/13 this game.
Game 3
Game three felt exciting from the opening. Chris Luck and w33 were doing a fine dance in the mid lane, with plenty of harass trading back and forth. Miracle was playing strong on the Lifestealer, leading the net worth through the early game. But Beastcoast started to pull the lead back at around 20-minutes. The kills were dead even, 23–23 at 22-minutes. Although Nigma managed to turn a team fight at 35-minutes to stay in the game, it wasn’t enough. At 42-minutes, it was GG for the EU team.
A fantastic performance from Beastcoast, who knock Nigma out of the Major. A disappointing end to what had been a good run for Team Nigma.
Invictus Gaming vs Team Aster
Our final series was China vs China as Invictus Gaming and Team Aster duked it out to see who would continue in the lower bracket.
Game 1
Aster took out the first blood in game one. Securing themselves a slight 1k gold advantage early on. But the lead was back and forth like a game of ping pong during the lanes. By 15-minutes, Aster had a 2k lead, but the kills were 8–9, it was shaping up to be a close game. Aster played well, executing plenty of control and Sccc’s Legion Commander was doing a lot of work. The big tipping point for Invictus came at the 30-minute mark during the fight for Rosh. They managed to bully Aster out of the pit and take the aegis for flyfly. Then they pushed this small advantage hard, taking a great team fight and then pushing straight up mid to the Radiant base. IG took the win at 39-minutes, 26–19 kills.
Game 2
Game two was another close game, with Invictus taking the first blood this time and holding that slight lead through the early game and taking out the first Rosh at 17-minutes. But Aster were playing on form, as a nice pick-off on Emo in the top lane at 27-minutes gave them a free Rosh of their own. Sccc had an aegis on his Phantom Lancer now, and Aster were ready to start taking control of the game. Invictus held out admirably till the late game, but Aster were moving like a well-oiled machine. The kills were 24–37 at 65-minutes when GG was called. We were headed to another game three.
Game 3
Invictus came into game three looking to win. They snatched first blood again, this time within the first minute of the game. But Aster were just as hungry. The kills were flying through the laning phase, 4–4 at 8-minutes, but a solid 1k gold advantage going the way of Invictus. While Aster managed to take the lead for a short while around the 12-minute mark, Invictus weren’t playing around. They snuck a Rosh at 16-minutes, and with the aegis on Emo’s Storm Spirit, they took the fight straight to Aster. The next 10-minutes saw a dominating display from IG, who racked up a massive 20-kills as they overran their regional rivals. At 27-minutes, Invictus closed out the series. Aster’s run at Leipzig had come to an end.
Don’t forget to tune in live on Twitch to catch all the excitement from today’s series as we head towards our finals this weekend. If you’ve missed out on any of the matches so far, you can catch up with our recaps right here.
Image via Dreamhack/Adela Sznajder
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