The International 4 Comes To A Close
With $5million on the line everyone had high hopes for the grand final of The International 4 that took place yesterday. The final saw NewBee take on ViCi in the first all Chinese final. After last years stunning series many people were hoping for another thrilling 5 game series unfortunately the finals were over after 4 games and were dominated by one team.
The first game was by far the best of the bunch. Many expected both teams to start out conservatively but they did the exact opposite. NewBee picked up a LifeStealer along with a Lion whilst ViCi broke out the Lone Druid. ViCi played very aggressive, picking up multiple early kills. Some shocking plays and questionable decisions form NewBee seemed to show a lack of communication and resulted in them losing the first game within 25 minutes.
The 2nd game saw a much more common draft with saw ViCi get their hands on the favored Morphling and Natures Prophet. In what was almost an exact opposite of the previous game it was NewBee who went aggressive early, picking up multiple kills before the 10-minute mark and gaining a significant lead. ViCi continued to trade poorly and NewBee forced the GG call at 26 minutes in another quick game.
The third game saw a very similar style of draft with many of the same heroes appearing. More early aggression from NewBee gave them a significant lead early on. ViCi tried to amount some pressure and come back but a bad Roshan fight was the last nail in the coffin as ViCi called GG at 17 and a half minutes to give NewBee a 2-1 lead.
A win in game four would give NewBee the overall victory and the $5million prize money. Again the drafts feature similar heroes as neither team change their strategy too much. Once again NewBee applied early pressure and gained a massive lead within the first few minutes. At 15 minutes ViCi called GG after being down 19 kills to 3 and give NewBee the victory in the series.
Overall the finals were incredibly disappointing. No game went late and every single one of them was a stomp. They were so boring that mid way through game 4 the discussion between me and my friends turned to what we would buy if we won the $5million. I decided I wanted a hot tub and spent a good 5 minutes researching hot tubs and not watching the final… it really was that bad (if your wondering a hot tub is way more than I can afford right now.)
With TI4 done there wont be any major competitive Dota until September time, but to keep all you Dota fans entertained Colm Ahern discussed The International on this weeks Debatable, which you can check out below.
