Superior Execution Skills Propel T1 to Victory Over Team Spirit

Taking advantage of a bizarre strategy, T1 has overwhelmed Team Spirit in the third game of the Sapphire OGA Dota PIT Invitational and taken the series 2-1. After two games, the series was leveled at 1-1 with some impressive gameplay from both sides. T1 drafted a last pick Sniper and a support Treant Protector in the final game, so the enemy never really managed to push their high ground. Even though Team Spirit started strong, they gradually lost their foothold in the game to lose. Team Spirit falls to the lower bracket while T1 advances to the next round of the upper bracket playoffs of the Sapphire OGA Dota PIT Invitational.

T1 vs Team Spirit: Match Recap and Highlights

Recap

In Game 1, Team Spirit scored some early kills but T1 had a Doom in the midlane, which countered the enemy safelaner's Terrorblade. Throughout the match, T1 had a clearly defined and easy execution strategy to follow, while Team Spirit had to play flawlessly to win the teamfights. However, it proved to be too difficult for the latter as they lost in 38 minutes.

Game 2 was marked by great laning gameplay from Team Spirit. In the early portions of the game, they took control of the map. Using this advantage, they picked off enemy heroes continuously. Kuku tried to retake the map with his offlane Venomancer, but Team Spirit never gave him any openings. A careful and clean game from the CIS team resulted in a 42 minute win for them.

Game 3 saw T1 pick a defensive lineup that had a safelane Sniper and a support Treant Protector. This gave Team Spirit an enormous advantage as they farmed on their own cores and took control of the game. Despite that, they could never reach the high ground of the enemies, which allowed T1 to buy items on their cores. Kuku was a star on his offlane Vengeful Spirit, utilizing Aghanim's Scepter effectively and helping his team earn a win in 52 minutes.

Highlights

Here are some highlights of the series.

It was intriguing to witness a safelane sniper in an official game, and on the winning side as well. Since Team Spirit did not have a lot of answers for the hero, they want all in for him, allowing the others on T1 to shine.

Even though Team Spirit played an impeccable early game in third game, they just couldn't execute the right plans and strategies to deal with their opponents in the latter half. The teamfights were chaotic and despite their best efforts with some clutch buybacks and itemization, they were unable to win.

T1 plays PSG.LGD in the upper bracket's second round, while Team Spirit now plays Team Undying in the lower bracket to keep their tournament hopes alive.