Frankfurt major dota 2 finals 2015 warriors

Dota 2 Frankfurt Major 2015: Evil Geniuses and Team Secret advance to upper bracket finals

What an amazing day of Dota. Frankfurt major dota 2 finals 2015 warriors

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It’s going to happen. It’s really going to happen. We were denied the possibility of Evil Geniuses vs. Team Secret at The International, but we are getting a treat in Frankfurt. On Wednesday both teams played amazing Dota and will meet on Friday. This major has been everything we hoped for and here’s how it happened.

OG defeats Mineski (2-0)

It’s time to really start paying attention to OG. The European team was formed less than a moth ago, but already show a preternatural level of teamwork we haven’t seen from a team in a long time. Sure, there are plenty of teams that work well together, but OG are on another level. Formed as (monkey) Business after The International, OG has ascended to being a team to watch.

There’s a reason I’m spending more time talking about their background: This series was over before you blinked. OG ended both games in the time it takes to watch an episode of a TV show, finishing in 28 and 30 minutes, respectively. Stellar play from the 1 and 2 positions proved to be the difference, and the quick-farming European team dominated.

They still need to fight through the lower bracket, but no team is playing a more complete game than OG. Watch out.

Virtus. pro defeats Alliance (2-0)

Alliance has been marred with inconsistency and strange team compositions for much of the year and it finally began to look like they turned the corner. On Wednesday they had unquestionably the toughest game of the lower bracket thus far, facing off against Russia’s Virtus. pro, who took Vici Gaming to the limit in a brutal three-game series in the upper bracket on Tuesday.

Game 1 saw Alliance return to its comfort zone in its draft. S4 played his familiar Brewmaster, while Loda played an excellent game on Gyrocopter. Two things caused these factors to be for naught. Firstly, Virtus. pro perfectly counter-picked Alliance’s single-target damage lineup by pairing Razor with Spirit Breaker, and secondly Dark Seer was played to perfection by DKPhobos, whose wall play was executed flawlessly and resulted in a win.

Alliance needed to get back on track in Game 2, but it never happened. They showed a Lich pick too early, which was countered immediately with a Broodmother. It felt like Alliance was on tilt, switching Loda to Slardar in an attempt to get some single-target lockdown, with Nuts playing Queen of Pain, instead of S4. The game felt weird in general. Alliance was never comfortable and didn’t have the wave clear to get rid of the spiderlings. The hard-carry combo of Shadow Fiend and Drow Ranger ran wild, and it was an easy victory for VP.

Evil Geniuses defeats CDEC Gaming (2-0)

It’s terrifying how good EG are playing right now. There were questions entering Frankfurt whether their mindset was in the right place after losing to Team Secret at MLG New York, but they have really turned it on again.

Their series against CDEC was a treat to watch. Well, a treat if you’re an Evil Geniuses fan. Game 1 saw EG play to perfection. SumaiL took Timbersaw and showed his astounding versatility in the 2 position. It was an unconventional lineup from EG that saw Arteezy play Tiny as both a hard carry and initiator. They won the lanes, took the team fights and blitzed CDEC (which we should note is still one of the best teams in the world).

There was a shock Lifestealer pick in Game 2 from CDEC, which seemed like a really nice selection — but there just wasn’t the support around it. This game was much closer than the first, but eventually the late-game hard carry of Arteezy on Shadow Fiend and SumaiL on Doom were simply too much. It was an aggressive, violent game that saw EG over-extend at times, but ultimately prevail.

Team Secret defeats Vici Gaming (2-1)

This was a really fascinating series to watch. Team Secret and Vici Gaming are both teams looking to earn a little more credit than they tend to get. Since TI:5 there’s been this sense that Evil Geniuses and CDEC Gaming are firmly locked as the No.1 and No. 2 teams in Dota, but Secret has been making a strong (and flashy) claim that they belong in the same breath. Quietly Vici was staking a claim of its own, largely ignored in the West.

Team Secret showed a rather greedy lineup in Game 1. They selected Spectre to be their hard carry, supported by Windranger in the 2 position and a support combo of Nightstalker and Ancient Apparation. It was a strong team-fight oriented lineup rounded out with a Dark Seer. Vici went a little more off-book. Super took his all-too-familiar Ember Spirit, but a Tiderhunter and Juggernaut added to the fray. Both teams were built to team fight and the game felt like a firecracker waiting to pop.

Vici’s lineup was built for the mid-game, but they couldn’t get enough objectives. Settling for blowing ults and abilities on supports was hugely problematic. For a while it felt like Secret would drop the hammer, get enough farm on Spectre and run away with the game — but that didn’t happen. Puppey had a problematic game on AA and Secret’s team fight began to break down. Ultimately Vici got on top and slowly surged to victory.

Game 2 was an absolute mess in the best possible way. Team Secret brought the noise to Frankfurt with a Meepo AND Huskar pick that had the crowd screaming. The unpredictability to the lineup paired with a Tiny put Vici Gaming on tilt. It was the polar opposite of the one-hour slugfest we saw in Game 1 and Secret ended in 29 minutes thanks to the Meepo that Vici had no way to deal with.

Team Secret blended some of their old strats with new techniques in Game 3, surprising with a Invoker pick. The real shocker came with Vici’s last pick, which was a Lycan for Super. One team wanted to finish quickly, the other wanted to drag it late. Invoker went quas/ wex, which was to be expected and served as the perfect counter to Spirit Breaker and Slardar, both of whom were picked by Vici.

This was all Secret. They put their foot down and had a non-stop ganking combo of Ember Spirit and Invoker. There was simply nothing they could do. Vici were on the back foot all game and couldn’t get any breathing room. Secret cruised to the win, and now we’ll get to see Secret play EG.

What’s on the cards for Thursday?

This is the day we’ll see the lower bracket solidified and it will be a nice respite before the huge day on Friday.