Beyond Infinity kicked off their campaign against Pakistani team CSM in the ESL Premier League. A lot of expectations lies on the back of ZeDisBuGG and company and their army of fans will be eagerly watching to see if they can deliver. In case you missed the action last night here is a quick recap of how it went down.
Did BI knock their opponents out of the park with a smashing performance or did the grueling bo1 format get the best of them? Read on to find out …
Beyond Infinity
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Picks :
CSM
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The Draft
Both teams felt the need to limit the offlane pool and 3 out of 4 first phase bans were invested on Slardar, Batrider and Void. CSM went heavy on the meta with Lion and Beastmaster as their opening picks while BI opted for a first pick Juggernaut and the midlane crusher Bounty Hunter. Doom, Gyrocopter, Vengeful Spirit and Oracle found their way into the ban pool as BI picked up the Mirana and the Axe, 2 heroes which have been seeing a lot of action after being buffed in the new patch. CSM rounded up their draft with a Sven, Puck and last pick support Abbadon.
Both lineups have their ups and downs but CSM will lack damage if SB starts locking down Sven. Looks to be a mid Mirana for Swifty and an offlane Axe for Battosai which can be hard to deal with for melee cores.
The Abaddon pick is really impressive owing to the fact that it somewhat counters Mirana’s arrow, BH’s track, lockdown from SB and in general is good against aggressive heroes like the SB and Axe.
The Laning Phase
BI switches things up completely as BlizzarD will be taking the Jugg mid while Swifty plays safelane SB. Even the Axe looks to be stacking and jungling so that leaves offlane Mirana for Battosai. CSM will definitely not be expecting this.
BH grabs First Blood in midlane on the Puck after miscommunication between Puck and Lion, focusing their abilities on different heroes. Even Abba rotates in but no to no avail. A second kill comes the way of BH as Lion goes for the top rune without vision and Mirana and BH are able to chase him down.
Sven is farming top uncontested while BM and Abba pressure Swifty in the bot lane. But experience comes into play as Swifty picks up a kill on the Abbadon who was looking to be aggressive, before falling to the BM. Lion seems to be the go to target for BI and falls again at top to the POTM and BH. Unnecessary aggression in mid sees the Jugg falling to Puck. But Sven goes down at top from an arrow into a call as Axe makes his presence felt in his first rotation out of the jungle. The score reads 5-2 in favour of BI at 8 mins in.
Both teams are looking for kills and Puck with the s4 rune and a roar setup finds Swifty farming bot and the T1 tower as well. Meanwhile Lion is just falling apart as he presents Jugg with his first kill at top. Nonstop action and over a kill a minute in this Indo-Pak clash. Around 10 mins in, Moonlight shadow gets popped and BI find 3 kills all over the map, including one on Sven, making it 9-3. We’ve crossed the one-kill-a-minute in classic SEA style.
Gearing up for lategame
A series of fortunate events for CSM as they claim the mid T1 uncontested and find three kills on the bounty, SB and Mirana of BI. BI are imploding and feed away kill after kill and that too cores as the score reaches 9-9. But BI are looking to go late with a double Midas pickup on Mirana and SB. An extended skirmish in mid sees a 2 for 3 trade in favour of BI.
The Indians are looking to farm up while CSM smoke to prevent this. Awareness and experience comes into play as BI dances around the smoke and beats CSM back to their half. BM now has his Necro 3 while Sven is leading the last hits department and has added an Echo Sabre on top of his Helm. Puck is going for the Blink+Veil build and gets it by the 18 min mark. On the Radiant side, Mirana has picked up the Aghanims and her farm will accelerate further Midas and the Aghs pickups.
It’s a kill fest
Beyond Infinity are having an off day today and get caught pushing the top T2 feeding away 3 kills for free. Their Juggernaut also falls at bot farming aggressively. BI counter immediately and NoChance lands a beautiful 3 man call in the bot rune spot as the rest of the team quickly mop up 4 of the retreating CSM members. BI are looking shaky but will always come out on top when it comes to individual plays and clutch fights. Track gold, double midases and efficient farming patterns are keeping BI ahead in the gold and exp department but they’ve had moments of poor decision making and sloppy plays but are ahead with experience coming into play. Juggernaut is found farming deep and is brought down again with Puck’s veil plus dagon doing much of the damage. It’s not been a good day for BlizzarD, but he is out last hitting a max cleave Sven and that too before his BattleFury.
Puck catches out the Mirana in his own jungle with help from the BM hawk vision and CSM take Rosh on the back of their man advantage. Really crisp execution from the Pakistani boys. The score reads 17 kills each. A 3 to 1 exchange for CSM as Jugg gets caught farming a third time. But top T2 has been claimed by Blizzard and Sven goes down to BH after a brilliant arrow setup from POTM. It’s still baffling as to how a Jugg who went Yasha, Drums and then BF is outfarming a Sven.
Smoke Of Defeat
BI find 3 more kills after Mirana’s arrow setup and even claim the aegis on Puck, but he baits them into chasing after respawning and claims a return kill on Swifty. A stellar Puck performance is what’s keeping CSM in the game. The Indians give CSM a masterclass in how to use SOD effectively as Axe with his call setup helps secure a 5 man wipe and only losing 2 in exchange. Its Mirana out of all the heroes who leads the net worth charts and has added a Linkens and blink to her inventory. The farm distribution is far better for BI as both Axe and BH have decent farm while Abba and Lion are playing on peanuts.
A second smoke usage for BI as they catch out Lion and CSM are falling apart as they engage 4v5 and lose everyone. With 5 left for BI they quickly push highground and claim mid and top raxes. Sven buys back in panic but can do nothing but watch.
Closing out the game
CSM do find 4 as BI overstay their welcome, trying to get the mega creeps, but buybacks have been expended and it’s looking bleak for the dire as they are 20k gold behind. They go for a Rosh play and Sven claims aegis. They charge down mid in a last ditch effort, but Blizzard’s Juggernaut baits CSM into a bad position and they call GG after losing 5 heroes plus aegis.
Closing thoughts
My heart goes out to CSM, especially the Puck but experience and MMR have won today as BI wrap it up in a clinical fashion. While they have looked shaky at times, their skill and execution were superior and helped secure them the first victory of the tournament. Looking ahead teams should be banning out the Mirana against BI who utilized it absolutely brilliantly. BI too will be looking to improve on their game as the competition gets tougher in the coming weeks. GGWP to both teams.
Watch the full game below :