It’s no longer a Secret game – The International 5 top 8

The results at the end of Day 2 of The International 5 are simply shocking. 6 of the top 8 have been confirmed. Spoiler scores for all matches follow.

RedEye hosted a great analyst panel for both days. Great job!!

The International 5 is AWESOME. If you haven’t watched Ti 5 but are into DotA 2, watch this highlight clip of just one of many insane plays made at the biggest DotA 2 tournament this year.

Fy, the star of the show. VG was saved by the prince’s (his nickname) amazing plays on Rubick.

The way the game is played at The International is definitely of the highest calibre and extremely entertaining to watch. Even though Gabe Newell introduced the tournament humbly, the games speak volumes about the 5 years of professional DotA 2 we’ve all experienced.

Day 1: LGD vs Empire 2:1, CDEC vs C9 2:0, MvP Phoenix vs Newbee 1:0 (BO1), VG vs Navi 1:0 (BO1). VP vs Fnatic 1:0, iG vs MvP Hot6 1:0.

Day 2: EG vs coL 2:0, Secret vs EHOME 0:2, Empire vs MvP Phoenix 0:2, C9 vs VG 0:2.

MvP Phoenix is a true Cinderella story. March, their team leader, is 28 and will be going into mandatory Military service next year. This is the last year of international tournaments for him, and his swan song continues. MvP took out defending champions Newbee after a steady mid-game which gave them plenty of track kills and tower gold. QO’s Shadow Fiend and kpii’s Juggernaut were the cannons fuelled by NutZ’s Witch Doctor. Their sieging strategy, which abused Healing Ward and Voodoo Restoration, was able to overpower Newbee’s high damage composition involving Queen of Pain, Lion and Templar Assassin. QO’s Shadow Fiend grabbed early game kills off Newbee’s Winter Wyvern (SanSheng) and Clockwerk (June), which allowed him to have a comfortable mid-game and grab one too many track kills thanks to his item advantage (which gave him more damage), making him into a late-game powerhouse at 38 minutes with Treads, Eye of Skadi, Sange and Yasha, BKB and Mekansm.

March, giving a roar of victory after his win over Empire, a clean 2-0 sweep.

They would go on to face Empire in Day 2, giving up their early game to Empire in Game 1, surrendering 11 kills at 14 minutes. However, when the clock turned 16, MvP’s draft of Lina and Lion came online with their level 6 ultimates. They would use their high single-target DPS to turn every team fight from then on into a 4v5, with March at minute 20 creatively using ALWAYSWANNAFLY’s death ward and Maledict damage to fire off a deadly series of 6 quill sprays which turned Empire’s smoke gank into his own double kill despite him losing his own life. Empire would lose the lead that they have and 4 heroes after that failed gank, allowing QO to snowball out of control with Aegis, protecting with so he can deal the damage with Daedalus and Desolator.

Game 1 of MvP vs Empire involved a lot of 4v5s off the bat thanks to Lina and Lion.

It seemed that Empire wrested back control of the game at minute 29 with a team wipe, 2 minutes after MvP took Roshan, but alas, even if it was QO vs the World, he still managed to destroy Empire single-handedly after Storm Spirit misplayed his hand and zipped too far, the lack of stuns allowing QO to kill the two Empire cores chasing after him, Storm Spirit (Resolut1on) and Razor (Silent).

MvP vs Empire’s teamfights were chaotic and in MvP’s favour.

In game 2, Empire fell behind early in the game, with NutZ on his Witch Doctor once again going unchallenged despite there being a tusk and a bane on the enemy’s team. 5-man teamfights broke out all over the map from minute 8 onwards, and when Anti Mage (Silent) started to join in Empire’s fights minute 15 onwards, Empire took the fight momentum and ran with it until MvP’s Phantom Lancer (kpii) managed to farm up with Diffusal Blade at minute 25, which made him deal too much damage for Empire’s Anti-Mage (Silent) to handle. Interestingly, Phantom Lancer went for a farming/splitpusher item Boots of Travel first, which caused him to hit like a wet noodle until he got a diffusal. This was very important as MvP’s win would have been much more decisive if Phantom Lancer had the additional damage provided by the Diffusal Blade rather than a Boots of Travel for movement and farming.

Another shocker result is EHOME’s 2-0 victory over Team Secret. Team Secret, looking to be the most dominant team in the current meta of DotA 2 coming off their wins at ESL One, Summit 3 and MarsTV Dota 2 League Spring. EHOME drafted a pocket strategy of Phoenix (rOtk) and Winter Wyvern (ddc), with Gyrocopter (YJ) and Storm Spirit (cty). Every fight after minute 22 involved a Supernova-Winter’s Curse combo which utter decimated Team Secret’s Teamfight in spite of their early game kill lead. From 13-5, Team Secret bled all the way to their loss, ending the game at 20-22. Team Secret’s Arteezy, at a respectable 22k networth, was food for Gyro and Storm spirit, who ended the game with 29k and 25k networth. Cty had 24 bloodstone charges at the end of game 1, a statement to Team Secret for underestimating EHOME.

Game 2 was a systematic dismantling of Team Secret. Team Secret drafted Shadow Fiend and Anti Mage right off the bat, hoping to discourage EHOME from picking Phoenix again, but EHOME already had another strategy in mind. They drafted an Aggressive line-up, with Gyro, Dark Seer and Templar Assassin. Team Secret responded with Dazzle and Witch Doctor, but the final pick Night Stalker could not be answered by Team Secret’s final pick. They resorted to Axe, but it was a poorly-planned and desperate pick that would paint Team Secret’s first ever outdraft in a major blood-red. By minute 18, EHOME’s wards illuminated the entire Team Secret side. By 25 minutes, the game was over. Team Secret tapped out after a 5-man team wipe at 37 minutes, s4 calling the gg.