DK beat Vici Gaming in a thrilling and action packed best of three winner's bracket final of the Sina Cup. DK have earned a place in the Grand Finals while Vici Gaming will meet DT, the young upstarts of this tournament tomorrow in the loser's bracket finals.

DK and Vici Gaming came into the Winner's Bracket Finals as the surviving 'tier 1' teams in China, after DT claimed the scalps of iG and LGD last night in back to back matches. Having beaten LGD 2-0 enroute to the Final, Vici Gaming looked to be on form, while DK seemed slightly shaky in their match against iG. With a spot in the Grand Finals and a guaranteed second place position on the line, both teams were ready to go at each other, no holds barred. 

Game 1

 

DK began their draft with two supports they had seen good results with, Shadow Shaman and Nyx Assassin, while Vici Gaming picked up Invoker and the roaming jungler Enchantress, signifying their intent for a strong mid lane challenge. DK went on to pick a conventional Lifestealer and Puck infest bomb combo, while Vici responded with an early game push with a strong pushing lineup of Bristleback and Luna. DK finished up with a support Bounty Hunter and Vici picked up Disruptor. 

Having warded off most of the jungle, Lanm was able to limit Fenrir's farm on Enchantress, sharing all of Enchantress's experience. First blood came at the fourth minute when Bounty Hunter made a rotation into mid when both Mushi and Super went to contest the rune. An early push at 5 minutes by Vici was stopped by a rotation by Puck, but DK's bottom tower still went down at 6 minutes. An infest bomb on Bounty Hunter and a follow up from iceiceice's Nyx allowed DK to make a good trade of Bounty Hunter for both Luna and Disruptor, followed by another pick off on rotk's Bristleback by Mushi and Iceiceice. 

With an early blink at 10 minutes, Mushi took down Vici's top tower and started rotating to make ganks happen. This culminated in a smoke on smkoke gank that saw a 2-0 trade in DK's favour, followed immediately by a Bounty and Nyx gank on Invoker. With all three tier 1 towers down at 14 minutes, Vici made a push for DK's mid tier 1. An iceiceice initiation saw Fy's Disruptor immediately dying, and a 4-0 victory for DK, but multiple buybacks saw them get revenge kills on Nyx, Shadow Shaman and Puck, while losing more in the process.

Yet another gank in the jungle resulted in a 3-1 trade off going DK's way, and with a 12,000 gold and experience deficit, Vici Gaming were forced to call the gg at 16:30. 

Game 2

DK began their draft with an ambiguous Venomancer and an Io pick, while Vici responded with Shadow Shaman and Batrider. Vici went on to pick up Doom and Rubick, and DK picked up Nyx again, together with Tiny to complement the Io pick. Vici Gaming decided to counter Io with a Morphling, and DK finished up with an Undying support. This left DK to run a Io-Tiny dual lane against Rotk's Batrider, while iceiceice soloed middle with Venomancer against Sylar's Morphling. Top saw a Lanm-Mushi Undying-Nyx dual lane against Vici's defensive trilane. 

The early game went Vici's way at the start, killing the DK dual lane 3 minutes in. Meanwhile, the Io-Tiny dual Lane got a kill on Batrider, while top lane did a 1-1 trade between Mushi's Nyx and Fenrir's Shadow Shaman. The Io-Tiny lane got another kill on Rotk after tossing in the Io, and another 2-1 trade at 7 minutes at top, with both Io and Undying going down for Rubick. 

10 minutes in, Vici took three kills across the map with Batrider's Blink Dagger picking off Burning and a failed gank by Mushi on Morplhing left iceiceice to die. Even though DK took down the mid tier 1 in the process, they were 2,000 gold and 4,000 exp behind. A failed gank on Burning and Io left their top tower exposed, taken out by iceiceice while Burning ticked out to Doom in exchange for both of Vici's supports. 

A smoke gank took out iceiceice at 16 minutes, and transitioned into an attempt on Roshan. A failed contest by DK saw Burning dying almost immediately after getting caught on a ledge after Io's relocate was cancelled, followed by the enventual death of all of DK's heroes for just Shadow Shaman. However, Burning's rush to farm his Aghanim's Scepter left him exposed to a gank, delaying it even further. With two tier one towers going down for DK in the 21st minute, it was the cue for Vici to start snowballing despite Tiny's Aghanims. 

With a 10,000 exp lead and 8,000 gold lead at 24 minutes, Vici pushed the tier two top for DK who traded for the bottom tier two, but losing Wisp in the process. A failed gank on Morphling saw DK losing both Undying and Nyx for no reward, and Vici took the second roshan uncontested at 30 minutes. Despite the 11,000 gold lead and 14,000 exp lead, Burning was still outfarming the Vici team. An uphill push by Vici at 34 minutes saw DK losing their Tier 3, but a successful defence of their Barracks, with the relocate back out saving Tiny. 

A huge teamfight broke out at 34 minutes, seeing Mushi getting instantly killed by the Morphling shotgun, while the Refresher Doom did little in the fight, with Tiny and the Wisp clearing out Doom, Rubick and Shadow Shaman. A Doom buyback stopped DK from taking Roshan, but yet another teamfight at Vici's tier two saw Doom dying again, allowing DK to pick up Roshan and Aegis on Tiny, with Lanm's Undying providing the damage amplification and Vladimir's Auras to buff Tiny even more. 

An uphill push by DK at 45 minutes saw Burning lose his aegis and Io's death after being doomed twice. The instant Io and Tiny buybacks saw an overextension by DK, essentially losing the advantage they had gained in the previous two team fights. The return push by Vici saw DK losing both their mid and bottom barracks, despite forcing out the buybacks from Nyx Assassin and Venomancer dying instantly to the shotgun. 

A backstab smoke gank by DK at 50 minutes went awry, with the farm difference and lack of damage on DK other than Burning becoming too telling a difference. A wipe by Vici saw DK tapping out, calling the gg at 51:28. 

Game 3

Vici began their draft with Enchantress and Lycan, exposing their intentions to push hard and early. DK's chose both supports, with Shadow Shaman and Ancient Apparition making the pick list. DK picked up a Centaur and Puck for AoE disable, while Vici responded with a Vengeful Spirit and Dragon Knight. DK ended  their draft with a Faceless Void, while Vici picked up an Elder Titan. 

First blood came immediately at the first wave with Lanm's Ancient Apparition finding an Invisibility rune and ganking Super's Dragon Knight with Chilling Touch going to work. Lanm's next rotation to the DK safelane saw a max range Shackle and a Faceless Void timelock, again with Chilling Touch, getting a second kill on Elder Titan. With the early game in the bag for DK at 3 minutes in, the onus was on Vici to force a push, which they did at 3 minutes, but failed to accomplish anything. Lanm's movement continue to work, finding a third kill with Iceiceice's Centaur this time in the river, instantly bursting down Enchantress. 

A 6 minute smoke rotation by Vici to gank Puck did not work out, while a Puck and Ancient Apparition movement into the jungle saw Enchantress dying again. Almost simultaneously, Burning on Faceless Void expended his Chronosphere at top to once again take out Elder Titan. A 9 minute Blink Dagger on Mushi exemplified DK's lead in the game, allowing DK to pick off Vengeful Spirit and the Tier 1 mid tower while delaying the Vici push at top with a Chronosphere. 

A 12 minute smoke rotation by Puck and Ancient Apparition got DK another pickoff on Vengeful Spirit, giving DK a 4,000 gold and experience lead at 14 minutes in. Another pickoff on Super's Dragon Knight at bottom allowed DK to transition into Tier 1 bottom push, and simultaneously countering Vici's push at top with a well timed Chronosphere and Cold Feet combination. After denying their Tier 1, DK turned around on Vici at 16 minutes, getting a 3 man coil and a full teamwipe on Vici Gaming, while still forcing out a Lycan buyback. 

A pickoff on Burning in middle allowed Vici to take the tier 1 tower together with MMY's Shadow Shaman, essentially a misplay by DK, losing two for despite their advantage. DK moved on to take the first Roshan at 20 minutes, with Burning already sporting a Mask of Madness, Treads and Battlefury, and Shadow Shaman picking up a Blink Dagger as well. 

A 25 minute engagement by DK into Vici saw Enchantress immediately imploding, but Vici somehow managed to burn the Aegis off Burning, pick up the gem after Mushi's death, and kill Ancient Apparition without further losses: a 1 for 2 + Aegis trade. The game then went into a period of farming while waiting for Roshan to spawn. Two consecutive pickoffs on Vengeful Spirit and Elder Titan saw DK picking up the aegis while Lycan took the top tier 2. 

Burning picked up a Monkey King Bar at 32 minutes to counter Dragon Knight's Heaven Halberd, and almost immediately countered Vici's gank by taking out both Vengeful Spirit and Elder Titan and forcing Dragon Knight to BKB teleport. They transitioned into a tier 2 middle push, which saw Burning losing his Aegis, and Centaur and Shadow Shaman dying as well. An uncharacteristic error by Burning caused him to die.

Vici decided to push middle, taking out both tier 2 and tier 3, and forcing out Void's buyback. The fight at the tower went well for Vici at first, with Puck getting blown up, but Mushi's buyback and a chronosphere swung the fight in DK's favour, making it a 4 - 1 trade at the cost of two buybacks and a tier 3 tower. 

A short Roshan timer saw DK attempting to take Roshan at 40 minutes, and Vici deciding to contest slightly too late after Void had already picked up the Aegis. The AoE disables of DK proved too much for Vici to handle, with Dream Coil, Hoof Stomp and Chronosphere hitting multiple Vici targets in the river. This resulted in a 5 for 0 wipe of Vici, and the resultant push saw Vici losing their mid Barracks and bottom tier 3 before DK retreated unharmed. 

After picking up several core items on their heroes like Euls on Shadow Shaman and Aghanims on Ancient Apparition, DK decided to push top. A brilliant Chronosphere from Burning saw three Vici heroes evaporate immediately, followed by Mushi's Coil catching the remaining two heroes. The teamwipe and extra deaths after the buybacks left Vici no choice but to call GG at 45 minutes. 

This win has guaranteed DK a place in the Grand Finals, as well as an assured $3,200 second prize finish. Vici Gaming will go on to meet DT, the amateur team on a hotstreak, tomorrow, 7 March 2014, at the same time in the Best of 3 Loser's Bracket Finals. The winner will then go on to face DK for the honours of the first Chinese championship after the Lunar New Year. 

Prizepool:
1st: 60,000 RMB (~$9,800)
2nd: 20,000 RMB (~$3,200)
3rd: 10,000 RMB (~$1,600)