WePlay AniMajor Playoffs. Day 1 Review

The first day of the WePlay AniMajor Playoff is over. We have made for you a short analysis of all matches and results of the game day.

T1, PSG.LGD and Quincy Crew advanced on the playoff bracket and earn enough DPC points, so they guarantee themselves a slot at The International 10

Aster started the first map with Terrorblade and Mars, Lina on mid lane, to which T1 responded with Morphling carry and picked Broodmother on the last pick, which was fatal for the Chinese team. Broodmother was able to destroy t1 tower very quickly, which is why Aster had to spend a lot of time to stop it. As a result, all T1 heroes managed to farm key artifacts, take Roshan, drive TB out of the forest and quickly finish the game.

On the second map, Aster decided to take 4 active heroes, led by Death Prophet on the mid lane and Medusa for late. T1 picked the melee core Lifestealer and Magnus. Aster tried to dominate and push towers with the Death Prophet ultimate, but this didn't work out for them, since T1 constantly defended their buildings. Medusa was unable to keep up with the farming behind Lifestealer buffed Empower and after a great fight in the enemy small jungle and on Roshan, T1 were able to win the match.

Alliance picked up heroes for early aggression and mid game. Towers were supposed to be destroyed using Exorcism. LGD decided to play in late game through Morphling. Although Alliance were able to quickly destroy t1 towers and take Roshan, their advantage did not grow, Morphling continued to farm. That all changed at minute 32, when Morphling was able to take Aegis of the Immortal with the double damage rune and LGD took the lead. Alliance managed to have a good fight in the 35th minute and knocked out Aegis. But this was not enough, Morphling was too strong. Victory for the Chinese team.

On the second map, Alliance picks Tiny on mid lane, which gets Razor from LGD, which completely counters it. Axe and Mirana picked by LGD against Faceless Void. Early game would be entirely for LGD if it weren't for the great game from Handsken on Shadow Demon. Thanks to the beaten down Drow Ranger, the teams keep on par. After that, a macro game began, in which LGD broke the position of the European team fight after fight. Shadow Demon had no time to save from Axe, and LGD began to seize the advantage. The fights on 26 and 32 minutes became decisive, after which gg was written, 2-0.

America's strongest teams decided to show their strategies in the battle for the top 8 major. QC picked a strong teamfight heroes and tempo cores: Ember Spirit and Luna. NoPing responded to this with carry Medusa and mid Kunkka. Unfortunately for the SA region, QC were able to outplay their rivals on all lanes. Luna and Ember Spirit took their artifacts.

On the second map, NoPing were able to fight and show that they are top 1 in the SA region. They took the comfort heroes for themselves: Gyrocopter and Storm Spirit, which they played in the qualifiers. The lanes played well and had some good fights on mid lane, in one of which Storm Spirit miraculously escaped Ursa. On the 17th minute, Storm Spirit ran for Warlock, caught Rod of Atos and died. After that, his team followed him and died one at a time, the advantage was in the zeros. At the 28th minute, Ursa tries to take Roshan, but the excellent initiated fight from Storm Spirit and Centaur Warrunner does not allow him to do so. After that, the SA team won fight after fight, and Gyrocopter made a rampage to equalize the score.

Quincy Crew on the third map decided to pick Terrorblade and Viper, who could create enough space for him. NoPing wanted to finish the game quickly without letting Terrorblade farm by picking Luna and Leshrac. Despite the strong pick of the opponent in early game, QC were able to seize the advantage by having a good fight near the enemy outpost. But when entering the high ground, NoPing made a teamwipe thanks to two buybacks from Leshrac and Tiny. After that, the QC were able to seize the advantage again, as Terrorblade was too strong and difficult to kill. But when entering the same cursed bottom lane, NoPing pressed all buybacks and managed to kill Terrorblade. Then they went to push, trying to suicide to the throne. But they didn’t have enough damage or coordination to do it. Terrorblade shot several heroes without buyback and QC with great difficulty and with two broken lanes were able to snatch victory.

On the first map, Nigma was counting on the late game and therefore picked Spectre and Invoker. Axe with two strong supports should buy them time. VP decided to crush them in an early game and picked Ursa and Magnus. Gpk played on mid lane very well and was able to make a couple of good fights in the early game due to his Reverse Polarity. After that VP won a few more fights in the mid game, but they didn't kill Spectre in any of them. VP always killed Miracle- on Invoker, while iLTW survived and farm on Spectre. Then Virtus.pro took Aegis and killed several enemy heroes. But Nigma was not taken aback, pressed Smoke of Deceit, was able to find Magnus and have a great fight. The game was even before the top fight in the 32nd minute, where VP again gave Reverse Polarity at Invoker, but thanks to GH's excellent play on Rubick, Miracle- was able to survive. And there were no resources left to kill Spectre. Then Nigma seized the lead, and iLTW on Spectre became too strong.

On the second map, Nigma decided to repeat Spectre, but Razor and Winter Wyvern were added to it. In VP played Nightfall on Mars, DM on Kunkka, gpk on Templar Assassin in the mid lane. Razor won the mid lane and was draining the enemy's resources. After that, he had a good network and created a space for Spectre. Everything went according to the same scenario as on the last map. ILTW constantly survived thanks to the great game from GH and made money from fights, while Virtus.pro focused on Razor. Despite a couple of successful attacks from VP at iLTW, Nigma still managed to gain critical mass. And since VP had no late cores, Nigma won the series without any problems.