WePlay AniMajor playoffs. Day 3 Review

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

On the first map, fans saw Team Spirit's gorgeous Naruto-style performance onstage. Vici Gaming responded to this with a calm appearance and picked Doom with Faceless Void on core position and meta Winter Wyvern on pos 5. Spirit picked Mars for Collapse and Leshrac for TORONTOTOKYO. Despite all the predictions, Spirit fought well in the mid game, won fights and didn't give VG an advantage. They even managed to take Roshan. On the 34th minute was a decisive fight for Spirit, in which Leshrac was caught. Supports who were rushing to save him were out of position and were caught by poyoyo on Faceless Void. As a result: Spirit lost four heroes and Aegis. After this fight, Faceless Void was very difficult to kill and after winning a fight on Roshan, VG won the first map.

On the second map, Vici Gaming decided not to take the late game core, but picked the signature Kunkka for Ori and Juggernaut with strong meta supports. Spirit decided to try to play with Sven and Invoker. Unfortunately for Spirit, both cores needed a farm, which VG simply didn't let them get. Five-men push with Juggernaut's healing ward didn't give TS the opportunity to win back the advantage. Two fights, Roshan and a quick GG. Team Spirit doesn't get enough DPC points for an invite to The International 10.

On the first map, all analysts' expectations came true. EG just smashed their opponents, outplaying them on all fronts. EG showed carry Nature's Prophet, to which TNC responded Morphling, who just couldn't farm. Great play from Cr1t - in the early game allowed EG to dominate. The first kill by TNC was made only at 20 min. Great play from Evil Geniuses and a crushing score of 36:3.

On the second map, no one believed in TNC after such a devastating defeat. Cr1t- on Earth Spirit helped on midlane and give the already strong Batrider an advantage over Templar Assassin. But Abed died twice and both times the kill was made by Armel. Due to this, TA managed to comeback. In the game TNC tried to initiate fights, with the unusual combination of Lycan + Grimstroke, which also worked very well against iceiceice on Razor. Non-stop fights didn't allow EG to get ahead. One of the important moments was the fight on Roshan, in which Armel picked up the Aegis of the Immortal. Even though EG had the advantage, TNC played aggressively and hunted in smokes, which helped to catch and kill Arteezy several times. After that, the advantage was on the side of TNC and they went to the high ground. But due to buybacks, EG were able to repel their attack. Evil Geniuses didn't sit and wait for buybacks, initiated a fight at their outpost, killed four heroes and reduced the enemy's advantage from 10 thousand to 1. Still without buybacks, EG went to fight in the mid lane, killed three heroes, and entered the enemy base. But all TNC heroes had buybacks that buried EG's chances of winning a second map. Rampage from Armel on Templar Assassin and 1-1.

On the third map, both teams decided to pick signature heroes. Arteezy played Nature's Prophet again, iceiceice played Timbersaw, and Abed picked Ember Spirit. TNC took one of the best meta carry Luna for Gabbi and Batrider for Armel. None of the team wanted to be knocked out of the tournament. And for TNC it was important, an invite to TI10 is at stake. Luna and Nature's Prophet began a real farm race and were 2 slots ahead of others. On the 32 minute, EG finally manages to take Roshan and seize the advantage. But for 40 min, the 7k advantage was negligible. At 42 minutes, TNC were able to kill Nature's Prophet and Lion at the cost of two buybacks and knock buybacks out of EG. But Roshan's spawn timer, which was unsuccessful for TNC, allowed EG to take Aegis and Refresher Shard. EG didn't repeat the mistakes of the second map and waited for buybacks. Then they had a fight in the enemy's small jungle, killing Magnus after the buyback. Nature's Prophet was too strong with its Eye of Skadi and buffed by Solar Crest that neither TNC heroes nor even a fountain could kill him. 2-1 for EG and TNC have not enough DPC points to qualify for the tournament of the year.

A very difficult tournament bracket for Nigma brought them to the Chinese monster of macro games - PSG.LGD. Both teams decided to play the first map with late cores: Nigma picked Spectre, and LGD picked Terrorblade. In the early game, everything was calm, everyone knew perfectly well what to do on their heroes. Miracle- was pushing with Diabolic Edict on Leshrac, while NothingToSay was looking for kills on Puck. In the mid game, LGD began to seize the advantage through excellent positioning in fights. TB shooted from back while Undying with Tidehunter moved forward and absorbed the damage. Having perfectly realized the farming potential of Terrorblade and their heroes, LGD crushed their enemy and won the first map.

The second map and Gyrocopter + Io from Nigma vs. Storm Spirit and Drow Ranger from LGD. Nigma tried to take advantage of the fast farming Gyrocopter, but NothingToSay had other plans. A few good ganks from Storm Spirit helped to hold back Gyrocopter, but not Templar Assassin. On the 14th minute, Nigma pressed Smoke of Deceit and killed Drow Ranger, after which they took Roshan. However, due to too aggressive play from MinD_ContRoL, they lost the fight and lost gained advantage. After that, the teams decided to farm, and Nigma, thanks to the excellent Smoke of Deceit from KuroKy, managed to silently take Roshan and go 7k ahead. After that there were several successful fights for Nigma. Storm Spirit just didn't have enough damage to quickly kill Io like before, and Miracle- on TA killed enemy heroes in a few seconds. The third Roshan and again a great game from NothingToSay, who was able to steal Aegis and helped focus TA. But Gyrocopter already had enough slots to kill Mars and Drow Ranger without a buyback. Immediately after that, Miracle- and KuroKy pressed buyback and went to destroy the enemy base.

On the third map, we again saw two late cores: Phantom Lancer from LGD and Terrorblade from Nigma. For Miracle- was picked Dragon Knight, and for MinD_ContRoL - Broodmother. NothingToSay on Death Prophet should have created a space for Phantom Lancer. With the help of Broodmother, Nigma was able to seize the advantage and bring Terrorblade to the top in the net worth. LGD, on the other hand, decided not to spend a lot of resources on Broodmother, but focused their forces on the mid lane. Against Broodmother, LGD chose an unusual strategy and distributed the farm on the map among all the players. As a result they had a very rich 4th and 5th position, while Nigma had the main networth in TB and BM. At 16 minutes, Miracle- jumps into the Shadow Demon. And it would seem that an excellent initiation into the desired target ends fatally for Nigma. KuroKy lost position and y` on Phoenix was able to set Supernova on a cliff superbly. As a result: 4 kills by LGD. After that, LGD were able to make minus 4 again, thanks to the excellent 4 hero silence from Death Prophet. By that time, Broodmother had lost its relevance. And all LGD had to do to win the fight was to kill Terrorblade. They did it on the 23rd minute, after which they seized the advantage and Phantom Lancer was already too strong. Chinese team victory.

On the first map, QC picked Luna and Death Prophet for early aggression. T1 wanted to play in the late game and picked Spectre and Dragon Knight. At first, QC dominated and increased the advantage. But were run for opponents too far and lost 3 heroes and advantage. But thanks to the fight on Roshan, they were able to get it back. Luna managed to get key artifacts and after another Roshan, QC finished the map in their favor.

The second map and again Luna from QC. T1 again decided to try their luck in the late game and took Terrorblade, despite the enemy's Elder Titan. Everything was calm on the lanes, until Karl on Doom moved to the top, which allowed him to kill Dark Seer even without using ultimate. This action by Doom gave T1 2k advantages in 15 minutes. Another successful attack from Doom to Ember Spirit and the advantage is already 5 thousand. QC tried to comeback, had several successful fights, but TB kept farming while Luna wasted time fighting. As a result, Terrorblade was able to out-farm Luna, and Doom simply turned off Ember Spirit or Dark Seer from the fight. T1 won fight after fight, building up their lead. And after the deaths of Luna and Ember Spirit without buybacks, the game for QC was over.

On the third map, the Quincy Crew decided to take the carry Nature's Prophet, Windranger to the mid lane and Broodmother to the offlane, which destroyed the top lane and occupied the enemy forest. QC managed to gain the advantage, but in a fight on the 25th minute, Winter Wyvern gave out an excellent ultimate, as a result of which Broodmother and Windranger died. Later in the fight near Roshan, four QC heroes are killed and T1 takes the advantage. Using the situation, T1 pushed two lanes and tried to enter the high ground. The decisive fight was near the Quincy Crew base at 36 minutes. T1 retreated from the enemy base, and then turned back and counterattacked the QC heroes. Meanwhile Nature's Prophet split pushing their base, T1 killed QC heroes without buybacks and ended this match with a victory.