Virtus Pro and Team Liquid Major

Returns Virtus.pro in the world top on DreamLeague Leipzig Major didn’t happen – the team continued the bad tradition of CIS lineups and took last place in the Dota 2 tournament. Team captain Alexey Solo Berezin admitted: VP failed the championship, and now she has to rethink “everything that happens.” But despite this, one cannot but admit that the departure of our roster turned out to be very bright – Virtus.pro remained in the game even with a lag of more than 50 thousand, and then stopped literally one step away from entering the next round. How this happened is in our material.

All images below are magnified by click.

Questions for the draft, but a good start to the match

“For me it’s strictly zero. Zero Chances to Win [для VP]if Disruptor comes to Aghanim’s Scepter here, ” Arthur Goblak Kostenko summed up the draft of the last match of the bottom bracket. Andrey ALWAYSWANNAFLY Bondarenko and Alexander XBOCT Dashkevich were not so categorical, however, colleagues could only respond to the fears of their absurd tactics, according to which Roman Resolut1on Fominok On Underlord, he had to save time after time the teammates from the Ultimate Disruptor using Dark Rift. However, the “five” Team Liquid still had to live to see “Aganim”, and therefore it would be premature to bury VP already in the draft.

By the tenth minute, it seemed that the team was able to recover after the group stage and was well prepared for the opponent. Vladimir No[o]ne minenko Outworld Devourer outplayed Max qojqva Broker on the center line and broke to the first line on the net, and Lifestealer performed Egor epileptick1d Grigorenko confidently kept on an equal footing with Naga Siren rival. Only Resolut1on dipped a little on a difficult line, but this can hardly be considered a problem – Underlord has excellent means for farming in mid-game, and such character artifacts as Slardar’s Blink Dagger are not required.

The first important item in the game was Aghanim’s Scepter at Outworld Devourerwho put Virtus.pro in a position of strength. Until that moment, the rivals seemed to be afraid of each other – by the tenth minute the teams for two made only five kills. However then no[o]ne began to play much more actively: the implementation of the item occurred almost immediately – along with Save- the VP leader took Naga Siren, which by that time had reached the first line in networking.

After that, Aghanim’s played a key role in several more episodes: No[o]ne not only made killings with Astral Imprisonment, but also rescued the allies more than once after the initiation from Team Liquid. The problem is that Outworld Devourer was the only VP countermeasure in the fight against ultimates of opponents. He needed to save teammates after jumping from Slardar and Storm Spirit, take them out of focus of Naga Siren and hide them when they got into Static Storm. At first, it worked fine, but then Team Liquid figured out this simple scheme and in each fight just started to target OD. At this point, the game moved into the second stage.

Failure in mid-game – a gap of 50 thousand

By the 32nd minute of the schedule, the values ​​of the heroes practically did not change. Naga Siren naturally won the first line, however, No followed immediately[o]ne. Qojqva and epileptick1d aligned to the net, and Resolut1on managed to compensate for the poor start and strengthened with Shiva’s Guard, Lotus Orb and Pipe of Insight. In terms of total value, the teams were equal, but by that time Disruptor had assembled the same Aghanim’s ScepterGoblak talked about.

The very first Static Storm after buying an artifact allowed Team Liquid to instantly shut down Outworld Devourer from a fight, and without it, VP turned out to be completely unworkable. Solo gave the opponent Aegis and left all the heroes except the Lifestealer next to the Rashpit. So the Swedish team for the first time pulled ahead – he will hold this advantage until the end of the game.

Three minutes later, the situation repeated itself – already at the base of Virtus.pro. Storm Spirit discovered the Outworld Devourer next to the Tier 4 tower, and that was enough for iNSaNiA to lock it in Static Storm again. For the second time in a row, hitting the tavern for 80 seconds, No[o]ne sank heavily on the netting and soon dropped to fourth place, approaching Boxi. The problem was that VP had no means of protecting OD in such situations. – the hero could only rely on himself. Over time, he assembled the Black King Bar, but he could not use it in Static Storm. Team Liquid deliberately sought after him over and over again, initiating through Song of the Siren.

In subsequent fights, OD was forced to wait for the moment when Disruptor uses ultimate on other heroes. For this No[o]ne took Ninja Gear and as a result constantly spent half the fight in invisibility. This led to a logical result: no matter how clear the implementation of all abilities from VP was, in the battles she simply did not have enough damageto finish off the liquidated Team Liquid characters.

By the 55th minute, the Swedes advantage reached 27 thousand gold, but VP still went on the attack. As it seemed then, this fight was to be decisive. Opponents met at Team Liquid shrine, and in this episode No[o]ne took all possible precautions not to fall under the ultimate Disruptor. This is how far he stood from the epicenter of the battle.

However, this was not enough. Running past Boxi noticed OD, and after a second the whole Team Liquid rushed to midus Virtus.pro. Without it, the Russian team again lost the fight, and the Swedes advantage increased to 42 thousand. Somehow this was not enough to finish off the bloodless VP – when trying to finish the game Liquid simply got stuck on the approach to the shooting range 4 tower. The team knocked out all buybacks from Virtus.pro, but then simply retreated without even realizing Aegis.

Key teamfight

Despite the unsuccessful entry from Liquid, Virtus.pro at the end of the first hour of the game openly believed in prospects with difficulty. By that time, the only truly formidable force of the Russian club was Resolut1on – he was the only one whom the Swedes could not instantly kill during the Static Storm, and his Pit of Malice with talent at level 25 greatly interfered with opponents in fights. And the damage of Underlord during the battle easily reached the mark of 400 units – enough to consider it a threat. However, all Fomink teammates died over and over as soon as they ended up in the Disruptor ultimitee – iNSaNiA, realizing this, reached the Refresher Orb by the 60th minute.

Soon, Team Liquid went on another push, ahead of VP already by 50 thousand gold. The Russian team decided to initiate the first and unexpectedly was able to pick up Naga Siren. She continued to follow the standard pattern – chased Outworld Devourer, trying to quickly turn it off from the fight, and did not pay attention to the other heroes of the opponent. Before his death, OD managed to issue an ultimate on it, and this was enough for Lifestealer to finish off Kerry Liquid.

MiCKe made a ransom, and No said the same[o]ne. However, by that time, iNSaNiA had spent all the ultimate charges, and therefore the fight ended again. The decisive fight took place already in the 69th minute, and it began with the death of No[o]ne. Boxi and qojqva drove midus Virtus.pro from the fight and were able to finish it there. All Minenko teammates at that time were far from him, trying to finish off Naga Siren. This is communication or a verified plan, it is difficult to understand.

Left without a mid, Virtus.pro retreated to the high ground, and when trying to enter it Team Liquid made a whole series of mistakes. Boxi and qojqva initiated in Solo, but could not quickly pick it up. At the same time, both heroes found themselves in a terrible position: Pit of Malice cut them off from Naga Siren, leaving them alone with Underlord and Lifestealer, and Disruptor by that time did not yet have an ultimate – 10 seconds remained before reloading, 20 seconds before Song of the Siren. This small VP window was enough to kill Storm Spirit, Slardar and Dark Willow. By that time, the Russian team, in addition to Pit of Malice, had Bloodthorn, Abyssal Blade and Scythe of Wise – enough artifacts to keep any hero in place.

Storm Spirit and Slardar made a ransom and tried to return to the fray, but Disruptor during this time spent a rolled ultimate aimlessly: without the support of teammates, Naga Siren alone was not enough to kill the stunned Lifestealer and Underlord. Qojqva at the last moment tried to correct the situation and flew into the fray, without waiting for the Black King Bar cooldown, – as a result, epileptick1d shaved an opponent in a second, hanging Bloodthorn on it. Naga tried to retreat, but she was not allowed to do this – so Virtus.pro, losing more than 50 thousand in gold, left the opposing team without Kerry and a mid for almost two minutes.

Giveaway game

Team Liquid failed the fight with “joint efforts”, but qojqva deserves more criticism. Whatever the outcome of the battle, his team at that time was ahead of the opponent by 50 thousand gold, and therefore could easily afford any losses – except the loss of Storm Spirit. This hero was the guarantor of Team Liquid’s defense: whatever the push of Virtus.pro, upon reaching Level 25, Storm Spirit was able to destroy creep waves with impunity without endangering itself. However qojqva hurried to finish the game, giving the opponent a chance at an impossible comeback.

However, the Russian team responded with the same courtesy and could not finish off the throne, although it had all the necessary conditions for that – but first things first. Having won a fight at her base, VP went to the final push, and there are several points that let the team down.

At first, Boxi and iNSaNiA showed miracles of composure and, retreating, went to collect the runes of wealth. By themselves, these runes were unlikely to matter to the teams, however, it was this gold bonus that allowed Taiga to save up for buyback. As a result, Dark Willow, which could sit in the tavern until the end of the match, in a minute played a key role in defending Team Liquid.

Secondly, Virtus.pro spent about 20 seconds meaninglessly destroying the opponent’s central shooting gallery 3. Most likely, the players thought that this way they open access to the throne, but in fact the creeps broke another tower – on the bottom line – in the 58th minute. These 20 seconds (from them you can subtract 8 seconds of the glyph, but this does not change the essence of the matter) the team would have more than enough to finish off the throne of the opponent. On the other hand, VP could also quickly finish off the barracks and bring two catapults with them to the throne. But instead, siege creeps smashed useless buildings all the way.

Thirdly, Virtus.pro showed a terrible discommunication during the final push. The only player who immediately went to destroy buildings is Resolut1on. Others spent a lot of time aiming to chase Boxi, while Underlord single-handedly broke the Tier 3 tower. This does not detract from the meritor of the Offlainer Liquid, who, perhaps, has played the “entertainment manager” the best in the world, but raises certain questions for VP coordination at a critical moment.

After a few seconds, Resolut1on will go to hit the shooting range-4 towers, where it will be destroyed by Dark Willow and Slardar. At this time, Save- on Tiny slowly walked past the central barracks – in theory, he could have jumped to Underlord and thrown him to the teammates, or at least to lure Taiga. Solo at the same time was turned off by the ultimatum Dark Willow, and Lifestealer returned to base altogether to buy Desolator.

Fourth, epileptick1d did not use any of his artifacts when the throne left about half HP. Heaven’s Halberd could have turned Dark Willow out of the fray, and Bloodthorn would at least not let her go into Shadow Realm and get a damage bonus. In the end, you could just stun her with Abyssal Blade and try to kill her – it would take Lifestealer some time, but (probably) still guarantee his team victory.

As a result, Taiga made an ultra-kill, and only a hit Boxi took his Rampage. When Solo, the last live Virtus.pro player, set off for the tavern, Three thrusts of Lifestealer on the throne were separated from Liquid defeat.

If iNSaNiA had not collected an extra rune of wealth or VP had not been distracted by the destruction of an extra tier-3 tower, today we would have discussed one of the most unexpected comebacks in the history of Dota. However, this did not happen, and now Virtus.pro is waiting for a change, as Solo has already said. Team Liquid, however, reached the next stage of the lower bracket, where it will fight for a crash with a loser from a pair of NAVI – Alliance. Perhaps, after such a hardening of iNSaNiA and its teammates, nothing will be able to unbalance.