This article is part of our Dota 2 series.
Ten teams, including some of the top teams in the world, duked it out last week in China to determine who would take home the Battle Fury trophy and a cool chunk of change -- $124,946, to be exact. In the end, EHOME kept the title in house, securing a 2-1 series win over the impressive Evil Geniuses, but not without some excitement along the way. Let's take a look at some of the tournament's defining moments:
Despite finding themselves in the opening round of the upper bracket, Evil Geniuses quickly landed on the loser's side of the tourney after falling to EHOME 2-1, in what would be a precursor of things to come. While SumaiL was his usual self in the first two games of the series, posting a 18/8/15 KDA line despite a Game One that lasted just over 16 minutes, his ugly performance in Game Three, in which he died seven times without so much as picking up one kill, was shocking to say the least. While EG would eventually blitz through the lower bracket to secure their spot in the MarsTV Dota 2 Finals, their multiple series losses to EHOME may have provided some chinks in the otherwise sturdy armor of the American team.
EG might get most of the attention after their dominant run last week, but two other teams, Vici Gaming and OG, actually posted a higher score through the Group Stage, each recording three wins in Group A play. While only VG could claim a first-round bye in the upper bracket rounds, OG arguably saw an easier path to success as they quickly trounced Team Secret before defeating the other team to receive a bye -- Group B winner, LGD. While Game One of the series saw N0tail amass the most amount of gold of any player in what quickly became a laugher, Game Two turned into a marathon as both teams pushed the contest to the limit. In a game that creeped over the hour-long mark, OG was victorious despite losing the battle in kills (16-13 in favor of LGD). While much of the praise for the victory could have been heaped onto eresloco's tremendous Morphling play, a rather pedestrian performance by r0tk, in which the offlaner put together a 3/2/2 KDA line and missed a couple of timely chronosphere's on Faceless Void, really became the difference in the game. OG would eventually lose to EHOME in the upper bracket finals and again to EG in the lower bracket finals, but their success at MarsTV Dota 2 tourney is a good sign for their chances at the upcoming Shanghai Major.
Speaking of the Shanghai Major, Team Spirit, one of two European teams to earn a qualifying spot for the second major, really struggled at the MarsTV tourney --- a troubling sign considering most of the teams they faced will participate at the upcoming tournament in March. While not much seemed to go right for anyone on Team Spirit, Goblak and Afterlife, in particular, really seemed to struggle. In the six games Team Spirit played during the Group Stage, neither player really performed well, as the offlane player posted a dreadful 11/30/43 KDA while their support didn't fare any better, putting forth an equally ugly 11/24/25 KDA of his own. Depending on where they find themselves in the Group Stage at Shanghai, Spirit could certainly make a promising run of their own; but if last week's presentation is any indication of their prospects moving forward, the former CIS Rejects may be in for a troubling time next month.
The MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter tournament saw all four Chinese teams qualified for the Shanghai Major square off, with two teams residing in each side of the Group Stage. While each team made their impression on the tournament --everyone advanced to at least the second round -- EHOME came away as the clear winner and one of the favorites to take home the crown come March, having taken first in The Shanghai Open and Dota 2 Raidant & Dire Cup 2015, before winning the MarsTV 2015 title Sunday. Their unique, and frankly ingenious drafting maneuvers in Games One and Two ultimately provided big dividends for EHOME, as Cty and eLeVeN marched up and down the EG lineup. While Evil Geniuses appeared to have made a game-changing breakthrough during the late stages of Game Three, a dominant performance once again by Cty gave EHOME the series-clinching victory, ending the game seconds before hitting the hour-long mark. It's this type of brilliance by Cty and impressive strategic techniques that make EHOME a formidable foe entering the Shanghai Major, but it remains to be seen how well the team will fare with other clubs now firmly placing the longstanding Chinese team in their crosshairs.
