Phase Two Recap

By kupon3ss

The first round of Group A played out more or less as expected as both MUFC and RattleSnake sailed to smooth 2-0 wins as huge favorites over 1st.Vn and Gizmo.

The meeting between RS and MUFC, however, was a highly anticipated feast for the eyes. The first game played out in a slow downward spiral for MUFC as they found that they could do little against a well-protected PL. After a pair of key MUFC smoke ganks found themselves reversed by TongFu and their heroes routed, the situation became untenable even for a Syllabear with early game freefarm.

The second game began well for MUFC as their Potm-based trilane heavily pressured RS’s Antimage one while Hontrashplayer’s Lifestealer obtained more or less freefarm against Kabu’s Clockwerk. However, MUFC was unable to convert their early game advantage into a strategic one and became bogged down in midgame teamfights in which little were gained while Icy’s Antimage began to recover from the early-game deficit. Eventually, the initiation from Clockwerk and a Shadow Blade Doom would find gaps in MUFC’s play that a farmed Antimage exploited to seal the game.




Group B began with Risingstars overwhelming Mith.Trust with their hyper-aggressive style while the Chain stack obtained a hard-fought win over ForLove with an amazing performance by their Antimage and Tinker in the final game.

The series between RisingStars and Chainstack for a spot in the next phase was a strange one, the first game unfolded as a classical battle of the hard carries between RS’ Faceless void and Chain’s Antimage. While both carries obtained fairly adequate amounts of farm early game, the midgame clashes determined the fate of the game. The aoe combo of DS, Gyro and Antimage from Chains was executed far better than the (in theory) equally potent RS lineup of Qop, Mag, and Void and Chains emerged victorious.

In a twilight zone of sorts, the next game saw a hyper-agressive midgame gank lineup out of the Chinese team and a safe, concerted 4-1 out of the coalition of AustralianSEA pubstars. In a bizarrely familiar scene, we saw an Antimage weather the storm of aggression in the midgame with safe and calculated play to push the dual core of QoP and Storm Spirit into the lategame. Neither hero would prove a match for the devastating power of an Antimage with sufficient farm. Chains would go into the next phase as the biggest dark horse of the tournament.




As expected LGD.int and VG sailed through Neolutions.int and RILIMIN with relative ease. The sole exception being a debacle of a game 2 where LGD.int threw away a significant early game advantage, though even that was quickly remedied by a dominating game 3.

Everybody knew that LGD.int were the favorites after their performance in G-League, but against VG they showed the caliber of play we expected from the second best team in the world. The first game was quite literally, Godkillthemall as G racked up 10 kills and 78 last hits in 16 minutes on one of the most stellar QoP performances in recent memory before VG tapped out.

The second game seemed like a flashback to G-League as LGD.int’s Syllabear-centered midgame lineup came face to face against VG’s Kotl+PL. Despite holding their own in the early game, VG lost a few fights and a few towers midgame and suddenly found themselves against the snowball of aggression that had pushed even iG to their limits. VG was no iG, a fact that was made abundantly clear as LGD.int simply strode up the high ground with surprising ease while VG was out of position, sealing the game and clinching their ticket to phase 3 as one of the favorites.




While Zenith dispatched First Departure relatively easily, Neolutions Thailand would surprise everyone by knocking out TongFu, a semifinal of the last G-League, including an extremely entertaining game where an alchemist properly played on a farming role crushed TongFu.

But against Zenith Neolutions should do little, the first game saw Neolution’s antimage shut down by a strong midgame lineup from Zenith centered on a gyrocoptor. In 25 minutes, Neo.Thai had but a single kill and next to no farm before conceding.

The second game between the two was a bit closer, though the result was never in doubt, Zenith looked every bit as scary as their pre-TI2 online hype as they sailed to a quick and easy win and clinched their spot in phase 3.

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G-1 Champions League Third Round: Group Stage

By TanGeng

The speedy procession of the G-1 Champions League continues at its rapid pace, whittling the field of sixteen teams down to four over the course of one week of action in preparation for the third and final stage. At this stage, the big guns come out as the four finalists from last season, the big 3 from China, and the SEA powerhouse, Orange, look to join in on the fray. The teams will play round-robin best-of-three matches in two groups of four, and the top four teams will be eligible to attend the offline finals for the G-1 Champions League in Shanghai, China. Let's take at brief look over the eight contenders.

Returning Finalists

Defending Champions: LGD.cn

Burning Giant: DK

All Conquering: iG

Reconstituted: Orange

New Qualifiers

One More Bite: RattleSnake

The Dark Horse: Chains Stack

Flame of the West: LGD.int

Invincible Online? Zenith

The Draw

The truth is that at this level of competition, no games can be taken for granted anymore. Even the slightest of slip ups can mean the difference between winning, losing, advancing, and elimination. A powerhouse team like DK learned this the hard way during G-League, last December. But for the purposes of the preview, let's take a look at some of the story lines and match ups that came out of the draw.



Group A has some really tight competition as there are no clear favorites to win the group. LGD.cn and LGD.int seem destined to be forever fighting against each other since the two teams are once again drawn into the same group. They even have the honor of opening the third round group against each other as the first match-up on the 27th. LGD.int also has the misfortune of being placed against its nemesis, Orange. Of the four teams, Rattlesnake might be considered the weakest, but that is more because of a lack of record and incidental mistakes than any evidence based on head-to-head performance. Rattlesnake may very well repeat the LGD.int feat of blazing a way to the finals in its debut competition.



Group B has a clear favorite, iG, and a clear underdog, Chains Stack. iG has been nearly unbeatable in the several months since TI2 and it will probably stay that way. Chains Stack, on the other hand, will be playing with stand-ins, making the challenge of advancing ever more difficult. DK and Zenith are solid teams and both should perform at a very high level. The fight for each placement in this group will be fierce.

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