On the topic of The International, there is this amazing image I found.

http://i.imgur.com/0RPCmEe.png

Games have been great, and I don't have anything fancy to say. It will be fun to see the Alliance in the real stages though.

ALSO GO FNATIC!

 

Didn't watch the Tongfu vs Fnatic matches, but I'm still surprised Tongfu won so well. Also, as expected a Na'vi victory over Orange, though I wouldn't count them out yet. Some amazing plays from Orange in the first match, so here's hoping they can progress further through LB and get a rematch.

 

Anyone watched the LGD/Alliance game?

Lasted 61 minutes and so close. Seriously, great watch!

 

So many mistakes by [A] and LGD. Fail upgrade of 2nd diffuses by Loda. Fail decisionmaking by LGD. I'll probably wait for iG vs. DK to start than watch this.

 

I thought the games were excellent myself, that end was really tense, I really didn't know who was going to win by the end of it. Divine rapier + Empower kills shit really really fast.

Game 2 was... amusing to say the least. I thought LGD were going to win it in under 30 minutes, but then Alliance did.

I'm really really hoping for a Navi vs Alliance Winner's finals. Tomorrow's going to be awesome.

 

Well, I hope you're having fun with that. PvE doto best doto.

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I take that back. This game has gone so long with absolutely nothing happening it's switched from dead boring to the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

 

Well, that was... Interesting. Tuned in around an hour into game two and just, what the hell IG and DK?

Honestly the Korean casters made that final long dull farm fest worth it, they were going absolutely nuts at anything. And then the camera guy missed the first kill in 25 minutes by watching Roshan respawn as the crowd counts down. Still, just wow. Longest game in DotA 2 history, good or a bad thing? Either way, game 3 time.

 

Liquid vs LGD.cn was an epic game. Bulba's clock could put together a highlight reel from just that game.

 

Liquid keeping the American dream alive.

That said, Fluff got off amazing cm ulties, ixmike seemed to always get full duration fiend grips and Korok/TC did ok too I guess.

 

Alliance finally show blood but came back to just crush DK in game 3, guaranteed top 3 now. Not too shabby for Sweden.

 

They did make a few key mistakes in game 2. But definitely pulled it back very smoothly.

I'm looking forward to seeing Navi vs Tonfu now. That should be pretty explosive.

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Holy fucking shit, that game 3.

I was almost completely convinced that NaVi had lost that. But those fountain hooks... wow.

 

Holy shit. Na'Vi v Tongfu game 3. How the fuck did Na'Vi actually win? Amazing game, but the fountain hook stuff felt incredibly cheesy. Still, Tongfu was very impressive and I wouldn't have been disappointed with a Tongfu v Alliance UB match.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean, it does feel incredibly cheesy, but then think about just how hard it actually is to do. I mean, it's not exactly simple, You have like a 1 or 2 second window.

I think Valve might ban it out in the future, but im ok with it here, because it's something new and interesting.

 

It felt to me that Na'Vi spent so much time trying to get a successful fountain hook that they wasted a lot of teamfight opportunities. They could have just initiated with DendiPudge and followed through with a few solid teamwipes but they kept trying to pull off the cheesy fountain hooks instead.

I can't deny that it was entertaining and an interesting tactic, but it felt very unprofessional and isn't something I'd expect to see at such a high stakes tournament.

 

It's not that they couldn't do it, it's that they were worried they couldn't take a team fight. The only reason they won is because Tongfu lost their aegis to a fountain hook, followed by a loss of their doom next fight. A fountain hook lets them kill one with Dendi then another with nukes. If they tried to engage with a normal hook they'd go into the fight without a few key spells.

IIRC, they actually tried it, and ended up getting instantly comboed down by Magnus.

 

Yeah, it was the only way they could come back into it considering the awful start they had. Their lineup really revolved around the early/mid game, but with an OP Alchy they could easily take a 4v4 as long as Dendi and Puppy removed one of their main carrys from the fight.

It took them a while, but they managed to pull it off in the end.

On a side note, I'm incredibly pumped for Alliance vs Navi tomorrow. Don't care who wins as long as its there are some good games. A rematch in the finals would be awesome as well.

 

RE Fountain hooks: NaVi did it because they had no other choice. It's not really a bug, because Valve is aware of it and deemed it "too hilarious to fix". That is an exact quote from the dev team btw. Puppey gave an interview where he explains what was going on there. Let me see if I can find it.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OOWShzqF8Ww

 

That DK v. Orange game 3 was so wild.

Tongfu vs. ig on the other hand was a chinese farm fest.

 

Don't know a lot about DotA, hell, practically nothing but Na'Vi's greed just looked to have killed them in game 2 against Alliance. Complete turn-around by Alliance, such a slaughter after a good fight by Na'Vi at Roshan.

Yup, Alliance 2-0 Na'Vi.

 

Yeah, that was pretty disapointing for how much anticipation I had. :/

I feel like they lose whenever they put Dendi on a hero where he can't really do anything.