Cybertime ROA vs DNA-SK

ROA : Priestess, Sand King , Vs , Warlock , Bear
DNA-SK : Viper , BristleBack , Qop , THD , Veno

This is the Semi finals of the tournament and the fans will surely not be disappointed. The SMM Champions square off against the Unbeatable ROA since last November.

The picks were the signs of improvement of strat lately by top teams. Bristleback has finally been recognized as a viable pick. Some online leagues actually started to ban this hero considering its 1v5 capability towards the end of the game. Priestess is a recently added hero for Dota and seems like ROA has been picking it very frequently. Its abilities to complement the team is an unknown factor till ROA start owning with it lately.

ROA's Vs and Priestess keeps moving around disrupting the farming momentum of SK in-game while filling up voids left behind especially by Bear when it goes neutraling. ROA's map control in regards to ward is also a notch higher as can be seen from them accurately pointing out where the heroes of SK were throughout the game and almost getting all runes generated by the map. SK on the hand looks rigid in their game play. The top lane of Viper and Veno failed to provide any significant threat to their opponents. Most of SK heroes tend to stick into their lanes which is not what I would expect from them.

A nice individual move by Qop avoiding certain death at the 20th min by a hasted Vs. Sandking finally got its dagger at the 23rd min after long periods harassing by Veno and Viper at top. SK could not gain any rhythm throughout the game as ROA's macro play is superb this match. The battle at the 31st min exposed SK's "lack of stuns" draft. With only THD's Ice Path as disabler, there is almost nothing that can stop the combo presented by ROA. Led by a Radianced Bear and Double Inferno ROA proceeded to take down 2 towers with ease and 3 heroes actually tped away right in front of them, emphasizing my above point.

Mid raxes of SK were gone at the 34th min with relative ease. Sandking's timing proves decisive yet again at the 40th min where ROA take down one of the raxes of SK in another push. By that time the game was virtually over, BB tried to farm to a 1v5 stage but it is all too late. As mega creeps from both sides weakened the Throne enough for ROA to complete the rout by aiming the throne with the full might of their team. Game ended before the 50th mark.

This game gave a glimpse to teams on how to counter BB. Basically its Euls and Fast Push. And for that Paulyan's solid play in this game plays a vital role in their winning. Worth mentioning is the innovative of the Priestess.


MVP : Bear , ROA'Paulyan

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Added on March 21, 2007, 2:46 amMkvl vs Autosurf

Mkvl : BB , Venomancer , Qop , THD , Sandking
Autosurf : Zeus , Viper , Rhasta , Pugna , Warlock

This is the other semifinal match pitting 2 unbeaten teams in the tournament to date. Mkvl has been an up and rising team which insiders say are among the top team in terms of skill around. Their lack of titles failed to convince a lot of people that and they are trying to end the title drought here. Autosurf on the other hand has been on the decline since their second placed placing in the Cybertime tournament few months back. News of members slacking and not training is often spread around and this surely does not bode well for an ambitious team leader that wants to go far.

Mkvl showed impressive ganking skills early game. Virtually controlling the tempo of Autosurf , Autosurf did scored some kills , but not spectacular enough to stop the BB from farming and farming, This mistake will come back to haunt them later in the game.

Realising their negative position , Autosurf decided to start pushing to gain some ground. Their initial wave took down Mkvl's first tower easily. A big battle was sparked in defence of the second mid tower by Mkvl. In the process Autosurf did everything they could to kill off some of Mkvl's heroes. Despite all their efforts , the tower stands. One of the best moves of the game happened in the 30th min when the Zeus managed to score a double kill with a single digit health left killing the Qop with superb risk taking and judgement.

A nice display of team work saw Autosurf managed to kill ALL of Mkvl's heroes at the 38th min and went on to take down the second mid tower and base tower. Sadly that is as far as they can go in this game. From then on , a farmed BB with Heart and Vanguard totally sucks in all damage Autosurf can throw. Whether in defence or offence BB is a monster from then on. Autosurf knew the game is virtually over at the 47th min mark from their in-game chat after a push gone horribly wrong.

Game ends with Qop's getting Skadi , DR and Aegis. BB getting the standard Heart, Vanguard , Radiance and Threads. This game shows why BB is banned in certain tournaments. I almost fell asleep watching the same old BB owning stuff. Its like a direct copy of Western playstyle. Hope we can get over this strat and advance to the next level.


MVP : Bristleback , mKvL' | XiGz ,

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Added on March 21, 2007, 2:49 amDNA-SK vs Autosurf

SK : Chen , Bear, Warlock , THD, Vs
Auto : Qop, Sand king , Furion . Zeus , Viper

This the battle for third place finish between this 2 vanquished teams of the semis. SK applied a classic 6.37 draft while Autosurf aims to emulate NSP-Alpha's recent Furion Zeus strat that won them W3 tourney in SMMDOTA online tournament.

Game was in favour of SK all game long. With their Chen and Vs combo , they totally demolished Autosurf from the word GO. Warlock got covered pretty well resulting in an early Blink Refresher (34 mins). Autosurf attempts to emulate the success of NSP-ALPHA failed. Perhaps Furion should have teleported more? Perhaps that strat is only viable to lag conditions? Maybe some of the pros here can enlighten me.

Anyways, SK won this game comfortably using a vintage strategy that proves to be successful. Autosurf will have to improve if they are to challenge for honours at home turf this weekend =).


MVP : Warlock , DNA-SK | Kyoshi


This post has been edited by underminer: Mar 21 2007, 02:49 AM