Ice loses to Duskbin in Loser's Bracket

The Malaysian underdogs Ice are the fourth team out of the East qualifiers of The International after a close 1-2 loss against Filipino powerhouse Duskbin. The latter will move on to face WE in the Loser's Bracket Round 3.

The triple lane clash at top was set to be full of action with four kills going off in the first minute. Anti-Mage racked up a killing spree with the help of Crystal Maiden and Vengeful Spirit while Sand King was able to help Queen of Pain pick off Prophet a couple of times at mid lane.

At 12 minutes, a Teleport to top lane gave Queen of Pain an ultra kill as well as a Holy Shit streak - things were looking good for Duskbin, yet only minutes later, Ice made a come back with quick reinforcement to Duskbin's ganks and sloppy play from the Filipino side. The score was 20-22 at 22 minutes.

After deciding to claim Roshan uncontested, a push for bot barracks at 32 minutes gave Ice the bot tier 3 tower while a 4-0 team fight which occured at 36 minutes forced a buyback from Morphling but Duskbin were still unable to defend bottom and middle barracks.

Shortly after, the Malaysian team calmly decided to make their last push into top barracks, and one team fight later, Duskbin had no means to defend their base and gave game one to Ice.

Both teams met even before the creeps spawned, with Morphling netting a double kill. The rest of the early game and mid game went smooth for both Ice and Duskbin, who were contented to farm up before taking any tier 2 towers. Ice's heroes, however, were mostly caught out by Puck's Blink Dagger and Invoker - the score was 8-18 at 26 minutes.

A 3-0 fight went in Ice's favor at 31 minutes, even though Invoker had his Black King Bar and Earthshaker managed a blink Echo Stun. The same scenario repeated itself later at Radiant's tier 2 tower, with a lost Aegis on Anti-Mage. Swaps were coming out from Vengeful Spirit mainly to save Windrunner from dying.

A Shackleshot caught out both Puck and Anti-Mage at 47 minutes, leading to yet another team fight won by the Malaysian team. Even a buyback from Anti-Mage could not stop Ice from claiming Roshan and placing the Aegis on Morphling.

Yet, out of nowhere, Morphling was caught off guard at 53 minutes by a smoked up Duskbin roster farming alone, and with no money for buyback, the entire Filipino team went all mid and took the throne. Ice had no choice but to watch a seemingly won game slip away from their hands.

Invoker's Sun Strikes kept Duskbin on the edge during the first ten minutes, scoring a couple of kills on the bot lane. He later turned out to be quite the force in the mid game as well, making quick work of Shadow Shaman and Lone Druid across the map - with the latter dying frequently to ganks by Vengeful Spirit and Sand King.

A 4-1 fight going in Duskbin's favor at top tier 2 tower at 17 minutes further increased their advantage as they went on to take Roshan and then win the next team fight convincingly with only Lone Druid surviving on Ice's side.

With all outer towers claimed on the Radiant by 30 minutes, Ice were slowly forced into their base - a third major fight took place at 32 minutes, which Duskbin were able to claim three lives for the price of one. Storming into Radiant's mid barracks, they easily claimed the towers with minimal losses including the Aegis on Anti-Mage.

Duskbin were able to claim a second Roshan, and with the Aegis placed on the 'un-killable' Anti-Mage, the team was able to pick off Dark Seer alone at 41 minutes. Having no money to buyback and with Ice unable to defend their base without a Wall of Replication, a simple push into bot barracks sealed the deal for Duskbin.