This article is part of our Dota 2 Recap series.
The final day of the Kiev Major concluded Sunday in the Palace of the Arts in Kiev, Ukraine. For the four teams that made it this far -- Invictus Gaming, Virtus.pro, OG and Evil Geniuses -- Sunday proved to be the ultimate test of abilities. But if OG's win at Boston hadn't already done it, its win at the Kiev Major certainly signaled the establishment of the OG Dota 2 dynasty.
Sweeps abound in semifinals
The first match of the day was between Virtus.pro and Invictus Gaming. Since its disappointing 5th-8th place finish at the Boston Major, Virtus.pro had been extremely quiet. It finished in 3rd-4th at ESL One Genting, last at Dota Pit and failed to qualify for the Dota 2 Asia Championships. Despite this, Virtus.pro absolutely demolished the CIS qualifiers for Kiev, and since the main event started, Virtus.pro has been on an absolute tear.
Its opponent, Invictus Gaming, was fresh off a win at DAC and looking for another. Although both games of this series were relatively close, they were Virtus.pro's games to lose in the end. In both games, Virtus.pro picked Magnus for Pavel "9pasha" Kvastunov, and in both games he reminded us why that hero has been first picked and banned for so long. 9pasha did a great job setting up fights for his team and enabling his two carries to dominate in both games of Virtus.pro's 2-0 win.
The second series of the day was Evil Geniuses vs OG, the ultimate western rivalry showdown. Despite also ending in only two games like the earlier Virtus.pro vs. Invictus Gaming series, these games were both extremely close. OG maintained a gold lead through most of it, but the nature of the Evil Geniuses draft meant it was always possible to win a fight with Magnus and Spectre. In both games of this series, OG's mid laner, Anathan "Ana" Pham, was allowed to dominate Evil Geniuses in the team's two wins. His Ember Spirit in Game 1 finished with an 11/3/12 KDA, and in game 2, he finished 11/6/14 on Templar Assassin. This is OG's fourth grand final appearance with its current roster, an unmatched feat in the world of competitive Dota 2. Despite getting blown out in the grand finals of DAC 0-3 by Invictus Gaming, there can be no doubt that OG has retained its form as a top contender.
A dynasty is born
The grand final between Virtus.pro and OG started off with a bang. Both teams got practically the ideal draft to start things off. Magnus, Ursa and Warlock for Virtus.pro against OG's Terrorblade, Invoker and Monkey King. Despite being in an extremely commanding lead for much of the game, all it took was one missed Reverse Polarity from Virtus.pro and OG were able to storm its way back into the game for the win.
Neither team were looking to slow down the pace at all in Game 2. Virtus.pro tried essentially the same draft with Magnus and Ursa again, but this time it was able break the OG high-ground for a nice advantage. The choice to pick Terrorblade in place of Slark in this game gave Virtus.pro what it was severely lacking in Game 1, a hero to hit buildings. Roman "Ramzes" Kushnarev managed to deal over 18,000 damage to OG's buildings on his way to a win, almost all of his team's structural damage.
Game 3 was an extremely commanding performance from everyone on Virtus.pro. The team was firing at maximum efficiency on all positions. The Virtus.pro supports dominated the early game, which ensured that team would be able to smoothly transition into the mid and late-game. OG did an admirable job defending its base, but Virtus.pro's lead was too large. OG went back to Terrorblade in Game 4, by far its most successful hero at Kiev. Virtus.pro used the hero to great effect in Game 3, and OG turned that punishment around on Virtus.pro for Game 4. OG took a commanding win to even up the series, as well as maintaining Terrorblade's 100 percent win rate in the grand finals.
With everything on the line in Game 5, Virtus.pro opted to ban Terrorblade in the first phase, forcing both teams to dip deeper into the pool of viable carries. Virtus.pro went for a very aggressive draft with Ramzes on safe lane Alchemist, who went for a Solar Crest and Armlet as his first major items. OG seemed completely unprepared for this aggression, and spent the first 35 minutes of the game fighting desperately to stay alive. A masterful fight around the Roshan pit brought OG back into the game, however, and at the drop of the hat, OG found itself on the offensive. After an incredible comeback, OG secured itself a fourth Valve Major title.
