Replay 50: EDC Finals G1: MYM vs OK

6.66b / 1.24d

Download Game (1.13 Mb)

Replay Length: 71 mins
Match Format: Best of 5 [This is Game 1]

Okay, lets start with explaining the picks. First of all, none of the teams pre-made any strategy for this game. Most of the bans are powerhouses no one wants to play against.  As far as the Chen ban is concerned, team OK were afraid of MYM's chenpushstrat which they used against them in a previous encounter as mentioned on Dray's blog.

OK start the picking phase with the perma-first-pick of 6.64-6.66 era Vengeful Spirit which does not present any surprise. MYM go for Lion and Nevermore consolidating their mid game while OK go for one of the  most imba heroes of this version (in my opinion), Medusa. MYM don't see much threat from Medusa and go for their usual (and famous) Mania Sand King and Playmate Mirana. At present, one can forecast OK losing in team battles as Dagger Nevermore + Dagger Sand King == whole team dead. This is where OK come out with 2 marvellous picks... Zeus and Void... pretty much a great combo to break apart a dagger team. Now, a late game would mean farmed Void & Medusa which probably equals MYM's defeat. Last pick Rhasta for MYM is viable taking into consideration he can push early while disable Void late game.

Another beauty of OK's picks here is that either of Void or Medusa can farm and gain control in later stages of the game. Hence, their team can safely split 4-1, 4 defending and 1 farming.

Madurang at Gosugamers wrote a very nice line for this game summarizing it completely

From the get-go, it felt like MYM was up against a ticking bomb, and they had to finish the game quickly or it would explode in their faces.

It's amazing how I cherish replay of intense games. :P Anyways, I put down important advancements of the game as I was watching it so people can enjoy a written commentary. These are my first thoughts while watching the replay so things might go the other way as opposed to what I thought.

First of all, notice how aggressively both teams ward the top and bot lane so that the enemy is not able to last hit or gain experience... a step ahead in the harassing process. :P

Game Start: Void+Vol'jin will face a tri-lane == no farm for Void due to absence of a proper healer. Even a solo nevermore looks awful but probably he'll farm when creeps push till his tower. MYM realise the fact and Lion goes top to help Nevermore. OK did a mistake by sending Vengeful to bot lane as there was not much benefit of ganking either of Mirana or Sand. [Now, all timings specified are game time NOT replay time]

[5:xx] I'm finding this totally weird that Venge just doesn't return top.

[6:xx] Nice arrow by Mirana == Smiske killed. I hope now that he returns top.

[9:xx] A big lead for MYM... got the mid tower [imp to push against Void] + Sand gets a double kill top [Dagger in the making]

[11:45] Void got lucky! He should've felt a gank incoming when Vol'jin died in Sentinel woods but we was late to react and just manages to get away alive. :P

[13:00] Lakost looking pretty good. Has a BoT already and some nice ganks he did. 

[17:00] MYM have a lead at the moment... MYM all towers > 90% hp while OK have three down.

[18:00] Sand King gets lucky with the Venge's stun. Here's what happened...

1. Sand goes invisible

2. Zeus uses bolt on creep for true sight in the area

3. Sand is revealed due to true sight.

4. Venge throws the stun but Sand leaves the 'AoE of True Vision' hence dodges it.

Mania again showing his awesomest Sand :D

[20th min] Crixalis has dagger... MYM TOTALLY controlling the game for now.

[21st min] Team fight well played by OK specially Void

[23:xx] team fight... Void seems really tanky with the imba item Vanguard... MYM need a coordinated push to take base towers now.

[25:xx] Pusher does not plant a ward in Scourge forest inspite of being there... weird but maybe he predicted an anti-ward.

- Void makes a silly move of destroying serpent wards despite enemy having dagger... this was a big mistake... a blunder actually. Luckily Void got saved by Vengeful.

[27:xx] Void saves Venge. It was important to use any kind of spell to do that (here chronosphere) because even one of Scourge dead meant big trouble for them. [MYM didn't want to win team battles, all they wanted to do was push quickly]

[32:xx] MYM lost team battle but good game by Maelk and Mania stopping enemy from Roshaning. OK now looking stronger with somewhat farmed Dusa/Void and all base towers intact.

[33:xx] Silly move by Maelk... going near enemy's base without nearby vision == die to gank

- Void completes Desolator... now OK looks to have the upper hand

- MYM have no vision in Scourge Forest... sounds pretty bad for them

- Voljin actually doing a marvellous job as far as warding and counter-warding is concerned

[38:xx] MYM win the team battle near Roshan but can't convert the advantage to push. Game still in OK's favour.

[41:xx] MYM again win a team fight but still away from enemy base towers. Killing Medusa seems to require the whole day! Still looking bad for MYM.

[45:xx] MYM pushing from all sides together... 1 3 1 split... looks decent because almost all have some kind of escape mechanism and they need the push desperately.

Gosh, it worked! MYM gets 3 towers simultaneously... big lead for them. Three towers means around 4000 gold and now MYM got all the money for buyouts. OK would be probably the ones pushing now so I think the next fight would be near Sentinel base in which 4 MYM players can defend while the last can teleport to push... could be a sticky situation for OK.

[49:xx] MYM successfully defend their base 5v5 (not my way). Now things look much better for MYM... Another thing to notice is the ZOMG number of disables in Sentinel... why is Void not getting a BKB? Spell tanking can seriously be done by Medusa.

[54:xx] OK take 1 rax mid but lose 1 rax top... still in OK's favor with farmed Medusa and Void. I'm thinking of the marvelous comebacks MYM makes.

Later I just watched the game finish. Another amazing game worth posting here :D

Recommended game for Sand King, Rhasta, Vol'jin and Vengeful.

Winner :: OK