The International 10 Main Stage. Day 4 Results

On the first map, OG took on their usual active pick, with Void Spirit for Topson and the meta Tiny for SumaiL. Team Spirit decided to go late game, taking Faceless Void and Magnus. In order to create enough space, Ember Spirit was picked in mid. Team Spirit's idea was simple, to avoid fights and quickly get farm for Ember Spirit and Magnus. If nevertheless, a teamfight was inevitable, the CIS team had very strong ultimates and good save skills form Winter Wyvern. As expected, OG with their active heroes dominated the early stages of the game and was able to seize the advantage on the map due to the Towers and Roshan. True, the networth advantage was insignificant, due to the abundance of frags among the Spirit. OG, on the other hand, did most of their kills on supports, but they rarely managed to pick up cores. The game gradually moved into the late game, where Spirit's peak looked much stronger. OG could only hold on to the advantage because of SumaiL's phenomenal performance on Tiny, who actually beat Spirit 1v5.

OG understood that they needed to finish faster, so at the 34th minute they took Roshan and tried to go high ground. But due to the phenomenal Skewer from Collapse, Spirit was able to fight back and kill the Tiny twice. It seemed after this move, Faceless Void became unkillable for the OG, but after giving an incredible combination on the bot, they were able to pick him up with 3600 hp without a buyback. The former International champions were on the verge of winning, but Collapse showed another great Skewer and was able to get two OG heroes, including Tiny, under the fountain. After that, the Spirit team's cores was too strong and the OG did not have enough damage to kill them. 1-0 for Team Spirit.

Second map. Team Spirit's strategy has changed a bit, but the Magnus from Collapse still remains. This time, the CIS team decided to play more aggressively, taking Void Spirit and Lifestealer. OG took the signature QW Invoker for Topson and repeated Tiny for SumaiL. The early game began with a 7-0 score in Spirit's favor, and their dominance did not end there. Spirit was able to do what only a few teams were able to do. They were able to outplay the OG in their own game, constantly imposing indiscriminate fights on them. The performance from the CIS team was at its best and they simply pressed the buttons better in fights. And Collapse on Magnus found and caught OG heroes all over the map, preventing the team from Europe from getting the artifacts they needed. As a result, Aegis of the Immortal for Lifestealer and entry to HG. The OG took the fight, used a bunch of buybacks, but that was not enough. 2-0.

First map. T1 picked a strong laning and were able to play perfectly, winning all 3 lanes. After capturing an early advantage, they continued to push the opponent, constantly taking more and more space on the map. The advantage exceeded 16 thousand in the 27th minute. But Vici Gaming was able to fight thanks to the magnificent Arena Of Blood from Mars and the stolen Reverse Polarity from Rubick, made minus 4 and took the aegis.

Unfortunately, for the Chinese team, the advantage was already too great. They certainly had several successful exchange fights, but the exchanges were not in their favor. A natural fight for Roshan which ended with an ultra kill for Karl and 1-0 for T1.

On the second map, Vici decided to play through Faceless Void and damage in the Chronosphere. To do this, they got Elder Titan and Lina. T1 wanted to play through the active carry Monkey King and Dragon Knight in the mid lane. Early and mid game were equal, both teams defended the lines well and had a couple of good fights in the mid game. But after 30 minutes, Vici's peak became much stronger. Void just jumped out of the 23savage arena, killing supports under the Black King Bar, and Lina had so many slots that she could shoot Monkey King right there. Pulling the game into the late stage against Void does not lead to anything good, a few successful fights, Roshan, and the excellent Chronosphere when entering the HG brought Vici the victory in this match.

On the third map, T1 have already taken one of their strongest blanks with carries Wraith King and Magnus. Vici decided to play through Tiny and a physical Shadow Fiend with an aura. The teams again showed equal play. Constant fights in which one team won, then another. The only difference was that Wraith King died in fights, but Tiny did not, which prevented 23savage from snowballing. At the 22nd minute, VG were able to catch and kill Batrider without a buyback, and due to the huge amount of minus armor, they were also able to pick up a Roshan in few seconds. Then went to high ground. Due to the fact that the main damage was physical, it was not difficult for VG to kill Wraith King 2 times. And due to the Shadow Fiend aura and the building damage from Tiny, the throne of T1 fell in the blink of an eye.

First map. The CIS derby for the top 4 started quite unexpectedly. Both teams decided not to experiment and took worked cores for this tournament - Medusa for Virtus.pro and Monkey King for Team Spirit. Both picks were active and could fight both in the early game and in the deep late, so the question was only in the pick realization. In the first game, Virtus.pro did it better, in particular, because of the great gpk~ game on Kunkka. But this did not last long, in a mid-game Spirit was able to hold some good fights, seize the advantage and take Roshan. True, their attempt to enter the high ground was unsuccessful, VP took several heroes, but they could not knock out the aegis. After that, Spirit decided to try to go to mid again at the end of the aegis in order to impose a fight. In the forest, they found Medusa and thanks to the excellent zone Ravage from Collapse and Bloodthorn on Monkey King, they removed Medusa from the game in a few seconds. Thanks to this kill, Spirit was able to make megacreeps and build up the advantage, followed by one good fight and 1-0.

Second map and an incredible Viper from gpk~. Spirit decided to play through Terrorblade and Leshrac. Viper was stronger than the Leshrac in the mid and realized his hero perfectly, not only winning the mid, but also giving the opportunity to comeback his lost bottom lane due to constrictions. Throughout the game, gpk~ was in the right place at the right moment. Thanks to this domination, Viper was far ahead of Leshrac in networth, and with the help of Elder Titan, he was able to cope with even Terrorblade without any problems. Spirit tried to regain the advantage, had several good fights. Collapse even managed to steal Aegis of the Immortal. But Ursa with Viper under Elder Titan was too good against Terrorblade, and even more so against Tidehunter. Confident comeback and 1-1 from VP.

Third map. VP decided to play through one strong core - Luna. Also Beastmaster and QW Invoker with Alacrity were picked. Spirit decided not to bet everything on one hero and divided the farm between Doom, Lina and Tiny. The early game was completely for Virtus.pro, they were constantly looking for fights, trying to impose a fast pace of the game and capture objectives before Spirit took their artifacts. On the contrary, Team Spirit did not want to fight until the moment when Lina and Doom had Black King Bar. And they succeeded. Spirit avoided fights, but if VP managed to catch them, they got off with the death of 1-2 supports. Virtus.pro tried to catch the Spirit heroes through Fiend's Grip Bane, but Silencer's excellent pick completely covered this opportunity. After the appearance of BKB, Spirit began to take fights. The goal was to focus Luna as the other heroes didn't have enough damage. Doom was perfect for this task. Several of his ultimates and stuns from Lina to Luna helped bring the game into late game. After another Doom in Luna, nightfall pressed buyback to take Roshan, but VP had no luck with the timer and all Spirit heroes who were killed by the Luna buyback managed to resurrect. Retreating was no longer an option for VP, they waited for Roshan, but Spirit was ready for this and killed Luna without a buyback. Spirit took Roshan themselves and the advantage has already become 11 thousand in their favor. Then a quick regroup from Team Spirit and entering the high ground. VP tried to split, but Tiny and Lina broke the top in a matter of seconds and managed to leave. At 44 minute, VP hits Smoke of Deceit and finds Lina with no buyback. It brings VP Aegis with a Refresher Shard, and forgotten Cheese in Roshpit. Vp begins to squeeze the opponent on the HG, beating off the advantage while Aegis is acting, but TORONTOTOKYO single-handedly hits 5 heroes and knocks out Aegis from Luna, dying without a buyback. It costs Spirit the center line. The game was already in deep late, Spirit had 3 strong cores and two Doom. While VP only counted on Luna. 2 good initiations from Yatoro and two Doom in Luna helped Spirit take at least the top 4 at The International 10.