Virtus.pro advances to the play-off's upper bracket after victories over VG and TNC
A brilliant start to the Supermajor!
The right to advance to the upper bracket was decided in a match against Vici Gaming. The first game was opened up with a first blood in favor of VP. Despite our team's early skirmish success, Vici Gaming managed to reclaim the initiative after a teamfight on the bottom lane. However, the first Roshan was still slain by Virtus.pro. The Chinese team lost a couple of teamfights to Virtus.pro and lost the second Baron, as well. The CIS team pinched the opponents inside their base and forced out their buy-backs. After claiming the third Roshan, Virtus.pro pushed on the opponents Highground and brought an end to the first map.
The second game's first blood was shed by Vici Gaming. Virtus.pro were in the lead in the early game. On the 15-minute mark, the Chinese attempted to gank Ramzes but lost 3 of their heroes instead. VP claimed the Roshan and started pushing the opponents base. VG were giving up heroes and stalling until the second Roshan, which also fell into Virtus.pro hands. Not being able to guard against our team's attacks, Vici Gaming conceded — 2:0.
The match was played in a best-of-3 format. Virtus.pro were the first to claim the lead by scoring 6 kills without any retaliation from the opponent. TNC lost all of their lanes and only Troll Warlord had some net-worth going for him. VP continued relentlessly pursuing fights and catching opponents off-guard. After the 14th minute, our team started openly farming the opponent's jungle, forcing TNC Pro Team to play extremely defensively. Virtus.pro then ambushed the opponent in the Roshpit, which translated to a couple of successful fights around TNC's Highground. Not having any chance to defend against VP's pushes, the Filipinos surrendered.
In the second game, TNC Pro Team drafted a teamfight oriented team composition. The early game did not result in a significant lead for any of the teams. This time around none of the teams were as active as on the previous map. The first Roshan was claimed by Virtus.pro, but an unsuccessful fight in the enemy jungle lost them the Aegis and 4 heroes. After claiming the initiative, TNC did not give it up anymore. The second Roshan was claimed by the Filipino line-up. After losing a teamfight around Roshpit VP decided to take the game into the third map and conceded.
The winner was decided on the map number three which started after some technical issues in Dota 2. Virtus.pro choose a constant push tactic in the early game. VP were dictating the pace of the game by forcing skirmishes and ganking around the map, and on the 14-minute mark, TNC lost 4 heroes at once. Our team claimed the Roshan, but couldn't utilize the Aegis to its fullest extent. After a short fight over the Highground, the Filipino team surrendered.