We’re still a few full hours away from the start of the Starladder i-League 13 Final playoffs, but already the first Dota 2 LAN of 2016 is swinging in full force.
Only six teams remain, five of which are all part of the Shanghai Sweet 16, with Vega Squadron being the sole spade in a deck of diamonds, having defeated Virtus.Pro in the tightest game of what has overall been a nailbiting group stage round.
The game, which was the last one to be played for Group B, would have determined which of the two CIS hopefuls would advance into the playoffs featured VP go up fix raxes while having the rat powers of Nature’s Prophet actually lose to the high ground defense prowess of Ember Spirit and Zeus.
It was a rather rough tournament for Virtus.Pro, as they also lost their first match of the tournament in just as close a game, as they failed to close out against Team Secret despite the huge advantage they gained early on thanks to OSFrog and G‘s Death Prophet. In the end, EternaLEnVy‘s Naga Siren was just too much, and VP ended up crumbling each time they went for a final death push.
Speaking of Vega and Team Secret, the two teams that beat VP in two of the tournament’s five most noteworthy games joined forces in providing the third game on our list, as they took each other on in a 75-minute thriller (the longest of the tournament thus far), which featured Ember Spirit taking on Sven in a battle of Divine Rapier-enabled one-hit cleaves.
Team Spirit vs Alliance is also a must watch. While the TI3 champions would race to a huge advantage early on, led no less by AdmiralBulldog‘s classic rat dota on his signature Furion, Team Spirit would respond by showing that sometimes the best way to deal with rats is with a good-ol’ hammering. Refusing to crumble under the pressure, the former CIS Rejects show the world what a death push is supposed to look like, as they went on to claim their first win of the tournament.
Lastly, Alliance makes a comeback, not just in our list, but in the whole tournament as well, as they overcame a 0-2 start to eventually claim second place in their group by defeating favorites LGD and Alliance in their last two games of the tournament. They capped off their return from the underworld by winning a base race scenario against Evil Geniuses, with Loda and EGM reprising their TI-clinching CK-Wisp combo, much to the delight of their fans.
The playoffs open with the quarterfinals later on today, as Vega Squadron try to extend their impressive run against no less than PPD and the rest of EG. Afterwards, Jacky Mao once again takes on his former teammates as Team Secret duel Alliance in the other side of the bracket. LGD Gaming and Team Liquid are both waiting in the semifinals, having convincinly conquered Group A and B, respectively. They see action tomorrow.
