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Today we said goodbye to the two teams we had at the top of our power ranks. Team Secret and Vici Gaming end in 4th and 5th/6th respectively. Vici Gaming came into TI hot, winning two of the last three Majors while Secret ended #1 in DPC points overall, having won two themselves. However, what happened during the regular season does not matter when it comes to TI and we bid these two juggernauts farewell.
Series 1: Team Secret vs Vici Gaming
This was meant to be a clash of titans but instead it was very clear only one team had come prepared. Team Secret held Vici Gaming to just 12 kills across two games which lasted a grand total of 45 minutes of game time. To say this was the most dominant series of TI would be an understatement. Puppey unleashed Nisha’s Io, clearly taking notes from OG, and it paid off in a big way. While it didn’t look as clean as Ana’s Io it still did the job and while the game was mostly uneventful, when Secret saw their opportunity they took it and VG was left wondering what had hit them as they exited the booths.
Game two didn’t go much better for VG. While they picked up an Alchemist for Paparazi, by the time he finished his Radiance things already looked grim. Zai showed off the power of Heavenly Grace just in case anybody forgot that spell is totally busted while Midone played tree throwing simulator on Tiny. Yapzor finished the series without dying once, going 8-0-12 in game 1 and 5-0-10 in game 2. Secret looked set to take on Team Liquid but first we had a rematch of the TI8 finals to be played out in the upper bracket.
Series 2: OG vs PSG.LGD
This might have been the most anticipated rematch ever since the brackets were released. OG vs PSG.LGD, the two teams who gave us such a terrific bo5 grand finals during TI8 were back at it again in the upper bracket finals of TI9. The series started off OG looking strong during the laning phase and PSG.LGD looking somewhat slow to react. Luckily PSG.LGD composed themselves rather quickly and the game became a question of who could find the proper initiation on Ame’s Ember Spirit or Ana’s Faceless Void. Just as it seemed that OG were taking a solid lead, Ana found himself picked off without buyback and PSG.LGD was able to take the first game in the series in the blink of an eye.
Being behind against PSG.LGD was not cause for concern for OG as we could clearly see from their reactions in the booth. OG had been in higher pressure situations before and so they turned to the draft in game 2 to try to pull themselves back into the series. They locked in Alchemist for Ana and Tiny for Topson and while we have had more one sided series during TI9, this might have been the most one sided game of the play-off stage. PSG.LGD’s DK pick for Maybe did not work out at all. He ultimately ended the game 0-5-0, possibly one of the worst performances of his entire career but even before he gave up most of those deaths the game had looked lost for PSG.LGD. After such a crushing defeat we went into game 3 to decide which of the TI8 finalists would end up playing in the grand finals of TI9 as well.
The third game Ana was once again put on Alchemist and Topson got a mid Tidehunter which didn’t do too well mid but after the laning stage served its purpose quite well. PSG.LGD actually looked like they were taking control of the game, finding pick offs on multiple OG heroes at a regular enough pace that it seemed like the Slark / Tiny dual core was enough to put a stop to Ana’s Alch. However, one misplay around the Rosh pit, followed by Ame failing to dark pact or bkb a Tide Ravage quickly lead to PSG.LGD being sent to the lower bracket with a 2-1 defeat. The defending champions, OG, are now one series away from not just becoming the first team to win two Aegis’ but do it back-to-back.
Series 3: Team Liquid vs Team Secret
After the exciting conclusion of OG vs PSG.LGD we were treated with Team Liquid vs Team Secret, Puppey vs Kuro. In game 1 Puppey banned Alchemist, allowing Team Liquid to grab Kuro’s Chen in exchange for Nisha’s Io. The draft continued normally enough until Team Liquid revealed their idea of the core Io counter, w33’s Meepo. W33ha took over the game and managed to get himself a 14 minute E-Blade. While Secret put up a decent fight it wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught of Liquid heroes which pushed them far into their base before Io’s Aghs could come online. With game 1 ended in Liquid’s favor it was back to the drawing board for Team Secret.
Game 2 saw Kuro’s Chen banned, aiming to take away the early game potential from Team Liquid but they had to allow Alchemist through the first ban phase and as a result Kuro was able to snag him as a first pick. Unfortunately for Secret, their Wraith King only served to feed w33 gold with his Skeletons and a fairly typical Alchemist game followed, with Team Liquid knocking out Team Secret in two games, leaving their overall record at 9-0 through the main stage of TI9.
Interestingly enough, Kuro and Puppey are the only two players who have played at every TI and while Puppey’s tournament comes to a close with him having played his 199th game at TI, Kuro sits just one game behind him at 198, meaning he will be the first player to reach 200 games played at TI no matter the result tomorrow.
Recommended Games
PSG.LGD vs. OG Game 3 VOD not yet available
Series 1: Team Secret vs Vici Gaming
This was meant to be a clash of titans but instead it was very clear only one team had come prepared. Team Secret held Vici Gaming to just 12 kills across two games which lasted a grand total of 45 minutes of game time. To say this was the most dominant series of TI would be an understatement. Puppey unleashed Nisha’s Io, clearly taking notes from OG, and it paid off in a big way. While it didn’t look as clean as Ana’s Io it still did the job and while the game was mostly uneventful, when Secret saw their opportunity they took it and VG was left wondering what had hit them as they exited the booths.
Game two didn’t go much better for VG. While they picked up an Alchemist for Paparazi, by the time he finished his Radiance things already looked grim. Zai showed off the power of Heavenly Grace just in case anybody forgot that spell is totally busted while Midone played tree throwing simulator on Tiny. Yapzor finished the series without dying once, going 8-0-12 in game 1 and 5-0-10 in game 2. Secret looked set to take on Team Liquid but first we had a rematch of the TI8 finals to be played out in the upper bracket.
Series 2: OG vs PSG.LGD
This might have been the most anticipated rematch ever since the brackets were released. OG vs PSG.LGD, the two teams who gave us such a terrific bo5 grand finals during TI8 were back at it again in the upper bracket finals of TI9. The series started off OG looking strong during the laning phase and PSG.LGD looking somewhat slow to react. Luckily PSG.LGD composed themselves rather quickly and the game became a question of who could find the proper initiation on Ame’s Ember Spirit or Ana’s Faceless Void. Just as it seemed that OG were taking a solid lead, Ana found himself picked off without buyback and PSG.LGD was able to take the first game in the series in the blink of an eye.
Being behind against PSG.LGD was not cause for concern for OG as we could clearly see from their reactions in the booth. OG had been in higher pressure situations before and so they turned to the draft in game 2 to try to pull themselves back into the series. They locked in Alchemist for Ana and Tiny for Topson and while we have had more one sided series during TI9, this might have been the most one sided game of the play-off stage. PSG.LGD’s DK pick for Maybe did not work out at all. He ultimately ended the game 0-5-0, possibly one of the worst performances of his entire career but even before he gave up most of those deaths the game had looked lost for PSG.LGD. After such a crushing defeat we went into game 3 to decide which of the TI8 finalists would end up playing in the grand finals of TI9 as well.
The third game Ana was once again put on Alchemist and Topson got a mid Tidehunter which didn’t do too well mid but after the laning stage served its purpose quite well. PSG.LGD actually looked like they were taking control of the game, finding pick offs on multiple OG heroes at a regular enough pace that it seemed like the Slark / Tiny dual core was enough to put a stop to Ana’s Alch. However, one misplay around the Rosh pit, followed by Ame failing to dark pact or bkb a Tide Ravage quickly lead to PSG.LGD being sent to the lower bracket with a 2-1 defeat. The defending champions, OG, are now one series away from not just becoming the first team to win two Aegis’ but do it back-to-back.
Series 3: Team Liquid vs Team Secret
After the exciting conclusion of OG vs PSG.LGD we were treated with Team Liquid vs Team Secret, Puppey vs Kuro. In game 1 Puppey banned Alchemist, allowing Team Liquid to grab Kuro’s Chen in exchange for Nisha’s Io. The draft continued normally enough until Team Liquid revealed their idea of the core Io counter, w33’s Meepo. W33ha took over the game and managed to get himself a 14 minute E-Blade. While Secret put up a decent fight it wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught of Liquid heroes which pushed them far into their base before Io’s Aghs could come online. With game 1 ended in Liquid’s favor it was back to the drawing board for Team Secret.
Game 2 saw Kuro’s Chen banned, aiming to take away the early game potential from Team Liquid but they had to allow Alchemist through the first ban phase and as a result Kuro was able to snag him as a first pick. Unfortunately for Secret, their Wraith King only served to feed w33 gold with his Skeletons and a fairly typical Alchemist game followed, with Team Liquid knocking out Team Secret in two games, leaving their overall record at 9-0 through the main stage of TI9.
Interestingly enough, Kuro and Puppey are the only two players who have played at every TI and while Puppey’s tournament comes to a close with him having played his 199th game at TI, Kuro sits just one game behind him at 198, meaning he will be the first player to reach 200 games played at TI no matter the result tomorrow.
Recommended Games
PSG.LGD vs. OG Game 3 VOD not yet available
