Image Credits: Fnatic
Elimination series are always intense and the showdown between Fnatic and J.Storm in the Chongqing Major playoffs was no different. This was a showdown between two teams who are just below the highest echelons of Pro Dota fighting for their tournament lives.
Game 1: The first game between the two sides saw iceiceice at his best on his Timbersaw absolutely dominating his opponents and made tons of space for his other two cores to garner themselves a massive advantage. Unfortunately, Abed and MP’s itemization allowed J.Storm’s cores to farm their way back into the game and swing the game around to an even footing.
While it seemed like J.Storm would make a comeback in the late-game, as Fnatic seemingly had no answer for Moo’s Phantom Assassin. But the PA just couldn’t stand up to Fnatic’s farmed tri-core lineup. A clean late-game fight in the mid-lane, where Moo was caught out without buyback, allowed Fnatic to close out the game and gain a 1-0 lead.
First map goes to @FNATIC #dota2 #sldota2 #ChongqingMajor #CQMajor pic.twitter.com/pZeXtSrLMK
— StarLadder Dota 2 (@dotasltv) January 23, 2019
Game 2: Fnatic drafted a safe, hard-scaling composition in classic fashion, while J.Storm went for a more mid-game focused one.
Fnatic itemized much better this time around, gearing up for the late-game to slowly and methodically choke J.Storm out of the game. They elevated their strong play from last game and looked like genuine dark-horse for the title. If they can hold on to their current form, Fnatic will be a beast for any team.
In the other matches of the day, we saw both South American teams: Chaos EC and Thunder Predator fall to Vici Gaming and Evil Geniuses respectively. The action continues in the lower brackets today with TNC Predator taking Team Liquid in the last game of the day.
