After several weeks of intense action, we finally know the names of the teams that will attend the Major.
The CIS Upper and Lower divisions were a joy to watch because we got to see loads of action. We expected different results from some of the teams, but in the end, Virtus.Pro and Natus Vincere are the ones that will go to the Singapore Major.
Upper Division
Team Spirit vs Team Unique
The series was really important for Team Spirit because they needed the victory in order to secure the third spot in their group. We expected them to dominate in all games, but it turns out Team Unique is a lot stronger than they first appeared.
Just by looking at the draft, we knew that the first game would be pretty interesting to watch. Both teams decided to pick some of the hottest heroes in the meta, which is why we weren’t surprised that the game lasted for nearly one hour. Unique wanted to counter TS’s Wraith King by picking Lifestealer and they succeeded up to a point. Sadly, Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek, and his teammates managed to win several team fights and secured the victory.
Following their success, TS decided to change their draft for game two. Instead of going for WK, they wanted to test Morphling, a hero that got nerfed in the last patch. Although they had some success in the beginning, Team Unique quickly managed to take full control of the game. Having Void Spirit and Wraith King on the same time is a recipe for success, which is why they needed just 28 minutes to push the series into a final game three.
The last game was different because the teams decided to focus on some of their best heroes. Team Spirit decided to focus on the late game by picking Terrorblade, whereas their opponents got heroes like Razor, Ursa and Chen. Although Unique had the lead early on, their efforts were not enough and Team Spirit eventually got the lead and won the series.
Virtus.Pro vs Natus Vincere
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This was the most anticipated game of the entire DPC in CIS but sadly, the outcome wouldn’t make any difference. After all, both teams secured themselves a spot for the Major.
We expected Na’Vi to perform a lot better, but Virtus.Pro absolutely ripped through them in both games. The CIS powerhouse had little to no trouble and became the second team alongside Team Secret to finish without losing a single series. In fact, VP only lost one game, which is really impressive.
The second game of the series was probably more interesting to watch. Although VP dominated throughout the entire game, Na’Vi had its chances because they had a very offensive draft. Sadly, they were not able to bring down the VP’s strong draft.
Lower Division
The most interesting series in the LD was between Gambit-2 and VP.P. Before the DPC began, both of these teams were considered to be among the favorites. Sadly, neither of them was able to live up to the expectations.
Unlike other series where we got to see three long games, this wasn’t the case here. The series started with a pretty big win for VP.P, who decided to try a good-old Drow Ranger strategy. Although Gambit had the needed resources to fight back, they were unable to do enough damage.
Despite the loss, Evgenii "Blizzy" Ri and his teammates managed to win the next two games. The second was really easy and took them just 26 minutes, which was strange, considering the fact they picked Anti-Mage.
The third game was perhaps the most intriguing one yet because both teams had great drafts that focused a lot on team-fighting. Luckily, Gambit secured their late-game by picking Morhpling, which is a hero that became really popular recently, despite the nerf.
Although it wasn’t easy, the CIS team managed to win the game and the series. Sadly, it was not enough for them to go to the Upper Division. The two teams that will go there next season are PuckChamp and Winstrike Team.
