In what was an incredibly long match series that lasted more than 4 hours, SK Gaming came back from behind to upset rivals Evil Geniuses. Evil Geniuses, who were 1-0 up and had the most unbelievable great start to game 2, would have to be contented with a 3rd place finish as SK will go on to face Fnatic in the Grand Finals.
Evil Geniuses
vs SK Gaming
Game 1 [25708592]
Bans
SK//Bans (1st) EG// Game 2 [25712326]Bans EG//Bans (1st) SK//
Game 3 [25716312]
Bans (1st)
SK//Bans EG//
SK started off brightly at the beginning of game 1, with Fogged's Flint firmly beating se`busca's Bubbles at bottom, while Chipper was keeping up with chu's Hag and Sand Wratih's farm was kept in check. They even had the stats lead at one point, with Fogged's farm seeming to get out of hand. SK made the crucial error of giving bkid some breathing space, leaving him to freefarm at bottom lane until he had his Mock of Brilliance, and the game just went downhill for SK from that point.
bkid's Sand Wraith eventually ended the game with an impressive item set: Frostwulf Skull, Behemoths Heart, Barbed Armour, Helm of the Black Legion, Steamboots and Mock of Brilliance. There was simply nothing SK could do when he led the charge of EG players into their base.
---End Game 1---
Game 2 was probably the epic turnaround in this series. If you're an EG diehard fan, I'd suggest that you turn off the replay / VoD after the first 20 minutes. After completely dominating SK for the opening period of the game, it's possible that EG started being overconfident and made some very overextending plays. At one point, Fogged's Thunderbringer as his team's solo mid was only at the same level as his team's trilane babysitter, and somehow he managed to end the game with a 21/11/31 score.
This game exhibited SK Gaming at their very best after the opening, as they managed to keep their cool and capitalize on every mistake EG made. se`busca on Forsaken Archer was not allowed any farming room at all, and ended the game being the one with the most deaths on EG along with bench player YoDa who was filling in for FujiApples. It was quite amazing how SK managed to turn this game around and is definitely worth a watch.
The power of spellshards could also be observed in this game, as Thunderbringer with Spellshards lvl 3 dealt massive team damage with his ultimate lategame. To increase it's effectiveness Fogged also opted to get Staff of the Master and Restoration Stone.
---End Game 2---
It seemed that EG was having trouble dealing with their loss in game 2 after leading by so much at one point, as they resorted to a very passive playstyle in the final game. It could also be due to the fact that SK had a Swiftblade while EG had Madman, hence guaranteeing they would have a better lategame. Therefore it's possible that EG were going for a turtle farm strategy before ending the game late on.
This however, turned the game into a farmfest, it was as if one actually went back to the era of WHP vs 5, when turtling was the main playstyle adopted by competitive teams. It also gave Testie's Soulstealer and Tralfamadore's Swiftblade a free farming license all across the map, making it a very risky tactical move. The game was so passive that towards the 45th minute only 25 hero deaths have happened.
Evil Geniuses managed to keep their cool and play their game for a while, winning the occassional teamfight to make sure that SK's freefarm does not get out of control, but it all went to hell when Dodo on Hellbringer got caught by Behemoth. To make things worse, he wasted his ultimate in a futile attempt to save Andromeda who swapped him, forcing EG to defend without 2 of their main initiating skills.
SK eventually ran with the lead and never looked back. Evil Geniuses finally called the GGs when their final raxes went down at top lane, with SK members playfully taunting chu for his "1600%" statement pre-game.
---End Game 3---
GosuGamers managed to get to talk to SK player AngryTestie after the game, here is what he had to say:
So Testie, what do you have to say about the series?
“Well each game is different, there's a lot of clutch play on both sides. To be honest despite some mishaps we really were just on the same page this match and we kept it together even despite the horrific early starts. It really was just nobody panicking and keeping it together. Like in game 2, Fogged had the worst start imaginable for a Zeus simply due to bad rune luck. (S2 fix this please)
But he kept it together in a way that probably would have tilted me and thrown me into a frustrated feeding frenzy. But keeping it together let everyone play well and show off their talents. To be honest, I think I made the most mistakes this match, but between extremely clutch andro play by bdiz, Cardinal's great plays, Fogged keeping his cool through that mid, and Tralf's clutch bubbles...It really was the turning point. We just knew we could win at all times no matter how far we got behind.”
Did you guys feel you were the underdogs coming into the match, or were you feeling confident of a winning?#
“Even if we were the underdogs, we generally don't feel we are. We understand why we lose each match, or how one simple thing turns the tide in a game. We felt confident we could win from the start.”
How do you feel about going up against Fnatic in the grand final? Got anything special up your sleeves?
“We have a general idea of what we want to do against them. As for doing something special... we have something planned. That's all I can say.”
Seems like SK Gaming is finally back in top form after having some roster issues in 2010. Stay tuned for the Grand Finals it is FnaticMSI vs SK Gaming!
Links
own3d.tv - Videos on Demand
