After everything Alliance went through to make it into the grand finals of the StarLadder Ukraine Minor, they ended up losing a rematch against Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Both teams will be making the trip to the EPICENTER Major, but NiP are again the top dogs of the Minor for the second-straight event.
Their run through the OGA Dota PIT Minor in April helped spark a deep run at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, which makes this win even sweeter. Despite already having their spot at The International 2019 locked in, this could be a chance to improve their seeding.
Alliance bested NiP to make it to the finals, ending a multi-series losing streak to their European rival that spanned several events, including the last Minor. As they watched NiP battle Team Sirius for the last spot, they must have been nervous.
NiP, on the other hand, were playing it cool. In fact, team captain Peter “ppd” Dager spoke about their upcoming matches before the lower bracket finals began in an interview with VP Esports.
“I thought EHOME would beat Alliance, but I was wrong,” ppd said. “I’m definitely not afraid of Alliance at all. I’m more afraid of Team Sirius. “
That fear was relatively safely placed, all things considered. NiP did have a winning record against Alliance that spanned multiple events until the winners finals loss, while Sirius were an unknown commodity that played them closely during the group stage.
Even after saying that, ppd and his crew dispatched Sirius 2-0 and stepped into the ring for round two against Alliance.
With EHOME eliminated early, Alliance and NiP were the two heavy favorites to win it all—and their clash in the grand finals showed why.
Just like in their first meeting, things weren’t close when a team took control of a match. When one squad built the lead, they were going to hold onto it until they took down an Aegis or forced a surrender.
Alliance did just that to set the tone in game one, pulling out a Queen of Pain that helped them get an edge in lane. Once they built up momentum, it was a slow, painful crawl to the finish for NiP.
They tried everything they could to hold out, but the kills kept piling up and ruining any chance of a comeback. Facing a 41-14 kill disadvantage, NiP moved on to prepare for game two after 44 minutes.
Game two was all on NiP as they flipped things around with an MVP-worthy performance by offlaner Adrian “Fata” Trinks. It wasn’t as one-sided as the previous game, but it was a lot faster. NiP had control by about the 15-minute mark and things were wrapping up by the time 30 minutes rolled around.
Game three was just straight up weird as Alliance tried to spin the series once more. If you just look at the score, NiP clearly dominated the round, but this is a game where stats only describe part of the story. Alliance played well during the early stages and teamfights were close throughout the game, but NiP’s draft played out better in the late game.
Now up 2-1, NiP went with another draft that could stand early and then sweep late. Alliance countered that with a massive draft, including a Sand King, Storm Spirit, and their third Grimstroke of the finals.
This was easily the closest and maybe the most intense match of the entire final. Both sides were tradings kills, positioning, and just overall playing well against each other. It took an entire hour for anything to even be finalized.
NiP had one good stretch where they took several teamfights in a row and positioned themselves to start seriously damaging Alliance’s structures. But Alliance were relentless in their defense, using strategic buybacks and pinpoint timing to fight back.
By the time Alliance reached NiP’s Aegis, NiP had no buybacks on deck. Once they lost the fight around their own towers, the game was over. Now tied at 2-2, game five would decide a lot for the two Minor competitors.
NiP drafted their third-straight Abaddon and a Sand King, but the big move came when they got Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard his Meepo—and from there, things were basically over.
Alliance put in a good effort during the laning phase, but it wasn’t enough to slow down NiP. They reached the high grounds around 23 minutes in and never left. Considering Alliance were only able to take one tower the entire game, it felt like we spent most of the match on one side of the map.
NiP cleaned up after that and took their second-straight Major with a 3-2 victory. This will give them a higher seeding when EPICENTER begins—and the $125,000 prize is a nice bonus, too.
Both teams will now start gearing up for the EPICENTER Major, which begins on June 22.
Published: Jun 17, 2019 08:24 am