All the action from Eastern Europe’s Regional Finals.
Day 2 of the Regional Finals in Eastern Europe has begun. After yesterday’s incredible action, Team Spirit was sent to the Lower Bracket. The team was unable to defeat the motivated HellRaisers, who finally showed their real power. The team delivered TS’s first loss because Yatoro and the rest didn’t lose a single match.
Besides Team Spirit and HR, Virtus.Pro and PuckChamp were the other two teams that had to go up against each other. Even though PC were the favorites, VP’s aggressive playstyle didn’t allow them to shine. After picking heroes that focused on pushing, Virtus.Pro defeated its opponents and secured themselves a match against HR.
After we found out what happened yesterday, it was time to focus on today’s matches which were really interesting, to say the least. Here is everything that happened in both clashes.
Team Spirit vs PuckChamp
The first and definitely the more interesting match was between Team Spirit and PuckChamp. After defeating most teams in Division I, these two squads secured themselves the first and the second spot. However, they couldn’t beat their opponents in Round 1, so it was time for them to go up against each other.
Game One
Winning this match was important, which is why both teams gave everything they had. In the first game of the series, PC decided to pick PA and BM, two heroes that work well together. On the other hand, Team Spirit chose to bet on CK, Templar Assassin, and Bane.
Even though the laning stage was even, once Team Spirit started gaining an advantage, they gained full map control. It was tough for PC to maneuver around the map and secure kills because the deadly Bane and Mirana combo were always there to score a kill. This gave Team Spirit’s cores to accumulate tons of farm.
Even though Abdimalik “Malik” Sailau and the rest tried everything to bounce back, they did not have enough damage to kill the powerful Team Spirit. Consequently, TI 10 champions secured themselves the first win in the series.
Game Two
With just one game away from elimination, PuckChamp had no other option but to step up their game. As expected, the team picked some of the strongest heroes in the current meta, such as QoP and TA. What’s even more interesting is that the roster decided to get Broodmother.
Sadly, even this draft was not enough to bring down the powerful Team Spirit. Unlike in the first game, TS had a pretty good laning stage. Everyone expected them to have problems against Brood and TA, but Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek and the rest played really well.
After ripping through their opponents in the laning stage, Team Spirit had no problems securing themselves a good advantage for the mid-game. However, PuckChamo’s TA managed to get Roshan, which allowed the team to keep up with its opponents, despite the significant difference in terms of kills.
Unfortunately, a series of bad mistakes turned the game in favor of TS and they quickly gained a massive 13k net worth lead. Needless to say, PuckChamp were unable to bounce back and had to accept their defeat.
Virtus.Pro vs HellRaisers
The second series of the day was between Virtus.Pro and HellRaisers. The two teams successfully defeated their opponents in the first round, so it was time to determine which one deserves a slot for the final.
Game One
We expected Virtus.Pro to continue to utilize its pushing strategy and we were not disappointed. Thanks to Shadow Shaman, BM and Weaver, VP had a solid pushing power. HellRaisers decided to try the DS + PA combo, which is known for its ability to snowball out of control.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned because VP demolished their opponents in the laning stage. The CIS powerhouse had a massive 5k lead just 11 minutes into the game, which was a clear sign of where this was going. HR tried to slow down the game as much as they could, but VP’s advantage was growing and growing. In the end, HellRaisers had nothing else to do but to use the GG call.
Game Two
After the stop in game one, the second map of the series was definitely more interesting because HR had a better draft. The two teams were even in the early game and shortly after that, but HellRaiser’s draft slowly but steadily gained a significant advantage. Virtus.Pro’s pick was focusing on the late game, but HR knew that they had no chances so they wanted to end the match as fast as possible.
Despite the fact that the roster Virtus.Pro killed Roshan and got the Aegis, even this was not enough to gain an advantage. HellRaisers played really well and allowed their Lina to get loads of items. Although VP tried to keep up, several bad team fights in the Dire’s jungle were the last nail in the coffin.
HellRaisers killed the entire team and secured an enormous lead which allowed them to equalize the series.
Game three
After both teams exchanged a victory, it was time for the deciding match of this amazing series. In game three, Virtus.Pro decided that they wanted to make sure they could win, which is why the team picked Templar Assassin, Puck, and Beastmaster. HellRaisers decided to focus on the mid-game and got Abaddon, Ember, and Tidehunter.
This game was significantly slower compared to the previous ones because both teams tried to be more careful. With that being said, Danil “gpk” Skutin and the rest had a slight advantage in terms of kills. It seems like this was enough for the CIS powerhouse because TA gained a massive lead over the rest. The hero also got an Aegis, which made HellRaiser’s task even more complicated.
Despite their attempts to bounce back, VP was just too strong because of the damage output. TA had almost twice the farm of other heroes and helped VP secure a very important victory. Now, they have to wait to see whether Team Spirit will defeat HR in the upcoming match in the Lower Bracket.
