Image Courtesy: Dreamleague | Adela Sznajder
In the last day of the playoffs at Dreamleague Season 11, before it moves to the Annexet, Evil Geniuses couldn't move on to the next round and were eliminated by Virtus.Pro 2:1 in a thrilling series which showcased some incredible Dota.
With elimination on the cards for either one of these teams, the stakes were high as they went into the BO3 lower bracket match-up to see who would survive in the Dreamleague Season 11 Major.
Both teams have been playing some amazing Dota this season, and have already secured qualification to TI9 as a result – so this was set to be extremely interesting and intense. They fought to the bitter end, but unfortunately for one of them, their run would finally come to an end today.
Game 1: Fans of the NA team were reminded to never doubt the tenacity of EG and how broad Arteezy’s back is when he is given space and farm. Arteezy, with some help from Cr1t pulled off a miraculous win against Virtus.Pro battling against two Hand of Midas carries on the VP’s side with some great farming and incredible teamfighting.
SumaiL and s4 had minimal farm, but Arteezy and Cr1t more than made up for it with crisp execution in EG’s fights allowing them to secure a late game win to grab a 1-0 lead.
"This is a Cr1t show right now" - Matumbaman
— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) March 20, 2019
https://t.co/dxnTnInCS7 #DreamLeagueMajor pic.twitter.com/bMaFXi9YLR
Game 2: VP, made an equally impressive comeback in game two to level the series. The 2nd game went on for over one hour with both teams taking back and forth teamfights, and pushed the limits of their heroes, to incredible new highs. In the late-game, EG finally seemed to have secured an insurmountable lead after s4 picked up a Refresher Orb on his Tidehunter.
But Solo, on his Disruptor, turned the tide with a late game Aghanim’s Scepter allowing VP to close out the game after some crucial errors by s4 in the deciding teamfight.
What a god tier fight from @virtuspro!
— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) March 20, 2019
This game is INTENSE!!#DreamLeagueMajor pic.twitter.com/Kud3WCCGke
Game 3: In the last game, VP finally seemed to have woken up and systematically broke down EG’s lanes to grab themselves a networth lead, and secured a relatively straight-forward victory thanks to Ramzes666’s ultra-farmed Phantom Lancer to move on to the next round.
And @virtuspro are victorious and will now be present during the arena days for this event! GGWP! #DreamLeagueMajor pic.twitter.com/ODTZihMCix
— DreamHack Dota (@DreamHackDota) March 20, 2019
On the other side of the lower bracket, Team Secret eliminated J.Storm with a relatively quick 2-0 victory to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
The DreamLeague Season 11 Major will resume with the main event matches on Friday, March 22. You can find the brackets below.