Alliance have been in the second tier of teams competing in the Dota Pro Circuit all season. But by beating Ninjas in Pyjamas, they’ve made a statement that could shoot them into the top-tier of competitors.
The clash in the upper bracket finals was a fast-paced, epic battle with both sides dominating each other in different games while fighting for the first ticket to the EPICENTER Major.
Alliance beat Team Sirius in a close, three-game series to guarantee a top-three finish at the StarLadder Ukraine Minor. Sirius have made some serious strides this late into the season and they’re clearly on an amazing upswing for a smaller organization.
Meanwhile, NiP cleaned up Team Anvorgesa 2-0 in round one to move on. They were the heavy favorites heading into the event and a fight with Alliance was almost guaranteed to happen at some point.
Game one of what could be a deciding match in this Minor was heavily in NiP’s favor from the start. An aggressive draft and matching playstyle from NiP caught Alliance sleeping on defense and ran them over to take the 1-0 lead.
Alliance had to play the line of offense and defense so they could match whichever style NiP wanted to try next. A Storm Spirit and Juggernaut turned the tides for Alliance as they duked it out with NiP, trading blows and towers in the lanes. It really took some work in the teamfights for Alliance to gain any kind of edge, but once they started getting kills, things rolled along for them.
With the match tied up 1-1, Alliance pulled a second double spirit lineup and were off to the races. NiP stood no chance as they were outplayed completely in the early game and made the critical error of constantly trying to contest the offense without pulling back to regroup.
When the dust settled, Alliance finally had a series win over NiP, a team that eliminated them from several events and qualifiers this season.
With that win, Alliance also guaranteed their trip to the final Major of the season, EPICENTER in Moscow, Russia later this month. This puts them in a great position to fight for one of the last direct invites available to The International 2019.
NiP will battle Sirius at 6am CT on June 16 to decide who will take the final Major ticket and compete in the grand finals.
Published: Jun 15, 2019 07:15 pm