OVERVIEW OF DPC EEU DIVISION ONE MATCHES FOR MAY 23

On May 23rd, two matches were played in Division I of the Eastern European region. The matches for this day featured Virtus.Pro vs. Hydra, and UALEIKUMNIHAO vs. Team Spirit. Here’s a quick overview of what happened in these two matches.

Virtus.Pro 2-1 Hydra

Virtus.Pro barely missed out on the Berlin Major last season; this season was time to bounce back. After losing to BetBoom a few days ago, their next opponent is Hydra, who are currently sitting at a 1-2 record.

Game 1

In Game 1 of the series, the three lanes were relatively even at the first four minutes, but things quickly spiraled out of control for the side of Hydra. VP were getting kills on both side lanes, with Hydra unable to stabilize the aggression from VP’s Timbersaw and Storm Spirit. 

The laning phase was a clear win for VP, as they were able to seize an 8,000 net worth lead 10 minutes into the game. This lead helped VP take an early Roshan and take complete control of the map. VP didn’t rush high ground and chose to farm out the entire map against Hydra, who were left stuck in their base.

After some good high-ground resistances from the Hydra side to delay the game, VP and their 20,000 gold lead, took a crack at Hydra’s high ground and claimed Mega Creeps. Hydra were down too much and was forced to tap out at the 50-minute mark.

Game 2

Hydra came into Game 2 with a much better and well-rounded draft, with Kami on Templar Assassin and Cloud on Batrider came out of the laning phase extremely strong, while Worick on his Storm Spirit struggled. 

Despite their severely under-farmed Mid-Laner, Hydra took some great team fights with their very high-leveled Batrider, allowing them to build up a 10,000 gold lead at the 28-minute mark. 

Eventually, the game was prolonged to 41 minutes, with Hydra leading by 21,000 gold. With such an advantage, Hydra walked up to VP’s high ground without aegis and wiped the floor with them despite VP heroes buying back. It was too much for VP and GG was called at 42 minutes.

Game 3

This tight series went all to three maps, and the drafting phase ended up slightly better for Virtus.Pro, as they could draft a powerful 5-man death ball lineup to dominate the mid-game.

Again, the laning phase ended even, with the gold difference being less than 1,000 in the first 10 minutes of the game. Both teams chose to focus on farming to hit their timings, resulting in the game being very passive.

VP had a better draft for farming out the map, allowing them to build up a 19,000 gold lead at 35 minutes despite not getting many kills. Kiritych on his Luna had a net worth of 26,000 and walked up to Hydra’s high ground to end the game with no issues.

UALEIKUMNIHAO 1-2 Team Spirit

UALEIKUMNIHAO is considered one of the weaker teams in Eastern Europe’s first division, with a score of 0-3. However, they did take a map off of 9Pandas in their most recent match, showing signs of improvement. Their opponents today weren’t easy though. 

Game 1

In Game 1, Team Spirit had to move their Batrider to Position 4 due to unfavorable matchups, and UALIKUM were able to draft strong laning heroes. To beat such a tough opponent, UALIKUM had to do well in their lanes, which was precisely what happened.

With a 2,000 net worth lead by the 10-minute mark, UALIKUM sought to continue their lead in the game. UALIKUM kept their consistency and took complete control of the game at 22 minutes, holding a 12,000 gold lead over Team Spirit, with all three UALIKUM cores sitting on 0 deaths.

With such a large deficit, Team Spirit were unable to claw their way back into the game, as UALIKUM managed to win fight after fight and gave no chance to Team Spirit’s experimental draft. Yatoro and Larl ended the game with a KDA of 1/8/4 and 2/8/5 respectively and were forced to tap out in the 43rd minute of the game.

Game 2

Spirit took that Game 1 loss personally and decided to stop messing around. Their draft for Game 2 was much better, with Yatoro getting to play on his Juggernaut and Collapse on his Spirit Breaker.

Team Spirit didn’t lose the laning phase this time and continued their momentum throughout the course of the game. By the 26th minute, Spirit were able to collect a 6,000 gold lead, and Yatoro seemed unstoppable. 

Team Spirit gave no chance for UALIKUM to make a comeback and closed the game at 37 minutes. This was the Team Spirit everyone was expecting in this matchup.

Game 3

More unique drafts came to light in this matchup, as this time, UALIKUM ran a Position 4 Medusa in their lineup while Spirit had comfort heroes on all their players. Team Spirit convincingly won the laning phase, with all three cores finding good farm.

Team Spirit were able to show the skill disparity between the two teams and that Game 1 was a total fluke. Yatoro’s Terrorblade and the team made excellent moves and took good fights after hitting their timings, taking complete control of the game at the 24-minute mark with a 16,000 gold lead.

Despite being behind, UALIKUM managed to make the game competitive off the back of Shergarat and his Black Holes on Enigma, making the game dead even in net worth at the 48-minute mark. Still, the very experienced players on the Team Spirit roster knew to keep themselves level-headed when things went badly, allowing them to execute better fights and deny a good comeback attempt from UALIKUM.