TI3 West Qualifier Day Two Recap

Written by: meruna and drouks

RoX.KIS proved to be too strong for their competitors, as they took down Empire and aL, moving to the play-offs along with DD. Absolute Legends joined the teams of the previous International that will be left out of this year's version. Empire had a year full of controversies, going from absolute success to great frustration, but they were unsuccessful in their quest for a spot in Seattle. For Dmitriy 'LighTofHeaveN' Kupriyanov, this will be the first year out of The International.

Table of Contents

1. Group A
2. Today's matches

Bracket

Today's matches

[Match 1] Empire vs RoX.KIS

Game one

An aggressive smoke by RoX.KIS secured them an easy first-blood on Mitch's Rubick, giving them a slight advantage on their tri-on-tri lane. Nevertheless, both teams were playing it safe and calm until RoX' Beastmaster who was laned mid starts roaming. He managed to help out both Weaver on the bottom lane and his team's tri-lane on top. Empire's Lifestealer was not farming as well as he would like too, but Dark Seer and Puck were getting quite some CS on their lanes. With an invisibility rune, he also scouted out Disruptor and killed him close to his enemy's tier two tower in mid. Empire, however, moved their heroes fast and can kill both Beastmaster and Bane who came in to help Beast. Ten minutes in, RoX.KIS was ahead 4-2 and by 2,500 gold. They started rotating and pushing the towers as a team.

Only three minutes later, the gold difference has increased to 5,000 gold as Empire needed to stay back and loses even more map control. At this point, Empire's hard carry Lifestealer had the same level as RoX.KIS' supports. With a Blink Dagger finally up on Puck, Empire smoked and found the Clockwerk in the river. However, he hookshot onto his ally Bane and both teams retreat. RoX.KIS then decided to push the tier two tower in mid and a fight broke out. With Puck's ultimate still on cooldown and no skill point in Wall of Replica yet, Empire were not able to come out ahead as all their damage is nullified by Beastmasters Mekanism. Immediately after that, RoX moved bottom to destroy the last outer tower for Empire while still having all their own towers up and running. Empire tried to defend, but were getting team-wiped by a Gyrocopter with BKB. The gold difference had surpassed 15,000 gold in favour of RoX. They proceeded to take down Roshan and push Empire's base only 20 minutes in. With Gyrocopter reaching god-like status, Empire called the GG.

Game two

LighTofHeaveN was unfortunate enough to get put up on a cliff by Rubick before the game even starts and dies. Only a few moments later, he got picked off once again by Tinker, who is playing on RoX' safe lane. Juggernaut has been placed mid against Magnus and managed to solo-kill him as soon as he reaches level six. On the bottom lane, the two tri squads meet. Just like in game one, Solo rotated from the mid-lane after about seven minutes and moved his Juggernaut bottom. RoX.KIS dove the tower, Empire however, brought in Magnus quickly and finished clash getting three kills while losing only two allies. Another team fight happened shortly after and only Weaver stayed on his lane to farm some more creeps. Ten minutes in, RoX.KIS was ahead 9-7 and by 1,500 gold. Tinker bought Boots of Travel and Juggernaut was building towards an Aghanim's Scepter.

Just like in game one, RoX started to push the towers at this point and got some easy pick-offs. Empire's Alchemist had to stick with his team and use his Acid Spray to defend towers and did not have time to farm more than his Shadow Blade at that point. RoX again have not lost a single tower 17 minutes in while they took three of Empire's tower. After an easy Roshan kill and with 5,000 gold in their favour, RoX.KIS proceeded to take the bottom tier 2 tower. Empire's Magnus bought a Blink Dagger but did not seem to find the right initiation right away as RoX starts the split-push with Tinker. As RoX moved to push the top tier two tower, Juggernaut got an easy double-kill on Empire's support by just using his ulti. Although Magnus jumped on the enemies, RoX were simply stronger at this point and get two more kills. 25 minutes in, the first tower of Empire's base fell. Only a few seconds after, Empire called the GG. They are the first team to drop out of the Western Qualfiers.

[Match 2] RoX.KIS vs Absolute Legends

Game one

Both teams stacked early to search for an early clash, but they decided not to fight early. The aggression by both squads was high early on, especially top where the two trilanes traded blows after blows, eventually leading to a trade between Shadow Demon and Gyrocopter 5 minutes into the game. RoX.KIS were pretty offensive during the early stages, continuously assaulting aL lanes to disrupt their early game strength. The ended up taking down the middle tower by minute 11, dropping Solo in exchange. Three minutes later, RoX.KIS rotated to the top lane, forcing a fight that went strongly in their favor, giving the Russians four kills and two towers, further expanding their gold advantage. Capitalizing on their impressive early stage privilege, RoX.KIS kept picking isolating aL heroes, especially Solo with his versatile Juggernaut. With the score being 3-19, RoX.KIS penetrated aL's defenses, entering the base to take down the top barracks by the 22nd minute mark. The middle barracks went down a few minutes later. All RoX.KIS needed was a final push, which they did after taking down Roshan. 27 minutes in, the bottom barracks went down, and aL called the game.

Game two

Absolute Legends surprised with an Ursa-Io combination, and they attempted to snatch a level one Roshan. RoX, however, realised the strategy and instantly moved to the Rosh pit, where a 5v5 battle took place, giving Ryze's Io the first blood, while Solo snatched a kill on Dread's Clockwerk. Before the first minute is over, Clock got assaulted once again, going down to Ryze for a second time. The hero selection for Solo by RoX.KIS proved to be a huge advantage for the Russians.Solo's Devourer completely prevented Magnus's farm and made Ursa's life harder, grabbing a 10-minute Rod of Atos.

Clockwerk with his power cogs was relatively hard to take down by Ursa and Io, and Lifestealer had an incredible teamfight fortitude, going absolutely rampant in fights. Much like the first game, the score was completely in favor of RoX, being 16-4, 20 minutes on the clock. The only thing aL were able to pull through was a sneaky Roshan kill by minute 14. 21 minutes into the game, the Russians entered aL's base. Outworld Devourer unleashed a Sanity's Eclipse that gave him an Ultra Kill. The barracks went down pretty fast, and aL was unable to respond. They surrendered with 23 minutes on the clock, saying goodbye to The International 3.