G-1: iG secures second win after winning 2:0 against DK

iG secures second win after winning 2:0 against DK

Invictus Gaming was looking for their second win in Phase three of the G-1 League to draw level with Zenith, while DK was still in search for their first win after losing to Zenith on 30 March.

Game 1

iG was able to get a first blood on Lone Druid after a gank initiated by Leshrac together with Lifestealer to dominate the lane but DK immediately responded with a kill on Nyx Assassin in the top lane. Both iG supports later rotated to the bottom lane and easily claimed the first tower kill, without any resistance from DK.

After getting totally shut down and losing the bottom tier-1 tower, BurNing’s Lone Druid was forced to rotate to the top lane jungle, leaving Lifestealer to free-farm in the bottom lane. After that, the game fell into a quite passive state as both teams continued to farm up their core items.

iG decided to make a move 14 minutes into the game with an engagement on Outworld Devourer but fortunately for DK, Chen was able to activate Hand of God to save Super. However, it turned out to be a bad trade off as both Chen and Shadow Demon were picked off by iG who then proceeded to take the top tier-1 tower as a bonus.

With superior map control and economic advantage, iG kept piling on the pressure as they executed another push on the middle tier-1 tower. Brewmaster once again attempted to take out Outworld Devourer and this time he was successful and got a bonus kill in the form of Bounty Hunter. Outnumbered, DK tried to stall the fight as they waited for both Outword Devourer and Bounty Hunter to respawn. However, Super made a critical mistake as he force-staffed himself right into the iG team that instantly led to his second death and allowed iG to easily claim another tower.

Facing the huge deficit, DK decided to make a move, targeting the solo Lifestealer in the top lane. However, a perfect maneuver by Zhou bought enough time for his teammates to arrive and turn the tide of the battle, killing off Shadow Demon, Lone Druid and Outword Devourer, along with the top tier-2 tower. rOtk make a sneaky attempt trying to pick off Lifestealer but did not succeed and paid with his own life instead.

DK tried to regain their stance by grouping up for a gank on Lifestealer in the top lane but failed once again, as the survivability provided by Rage, Infest and Armlet togglings in addition to the insane movement speed was too much for DK to handle.

Feeling confident, iG rampantly sieged off all of DK’s outer towers by the 22 minute mark without much difficulty. In a desperate attempt to turn things around, DK rallied for a smoke gank on iG but the attempt bore no real fruition.

DK finally succeeded in killing Lifestealer with a gank on the 25 minute mark but unfortunately had to pay with their lives as iG were able to get a team wipe after a quick response by their supports followed by Brewmaster. Understanding that iG were simply too far ahead, DK called out ‘GG’, taking the series onto Game 2.

Game 2

Game 2 started out in a passive manner with both teams simply trying to stabilize their early game by farming up their items and leveling in their respective lanes. iG’s supports tried to execute a smoke gank on Super in the middle lane but came up empty, forcing Faith and chuaN to return to the top lane. DK decided to abandon the top lane leaving Lifestealer to free farm as rOtk was in the jungle trying to farm up a Blink Dagger as fast as possible for his Batrider.

With two subsequent smoke gank attempts bearing no fruition, iG ceased their aggression and decided to take the top tier-1 tower and succeeded in doing so.

Meanwhile Lone Druid was not having a good time in the bottom lane at all, still sitting on level 3 as the clock ticked past the 8 minute mark. A slight over-extension by Zhou caused him to lose his life as DK quickly capitalized on the iG captain’s positioning mistake. Lifestealer and Magnus instantly teleported to the bottom lane but they were a tad late in trying to save Lone Druid but managed to kill off Leshrac as the consolation prize.

iG decided to push the middle lane 10 minutes into the game with a backstab from Lifestealer, taking down Tinker along with Shadow Demon and Leshrac, at the price of their two supports.

DK tried a smoke gank and decided to target Lone Druid in the bottom lane but Batrider decided to catch Bane Elemental instead in a bid to prevent him from using Fiend’s Grip as a counter-ganking measure. The rest of iG was fast to react, instantly teleporting to provide backup. Magnus, executed a three-man Reverse Polarity that led to four DK hero deaths as iG managed to take down a tower down in the process.

Building on their advantage, iG decided to use their smoke of deceit as well and consequently they were able to get three kills even though Ferrari only caught Shadow Demon in his Reverse Polarity. DK tried to make something happen on their own, smoking up in search of a kill on Lone Druid. Once again, iG was one step ahead in their gameplay, claiming a full team wipe against BurNing and co. in exchange for their Lone Druid.

iG slowly built up their lead and as the game progressed, control slowly slipped away from DK, as iG had an answer to everything DK was throwing at them.

iG secured the Aegis of the Immortal after killing Roshan 21 minutes into the game and proceeded to claim the tier-2 towers as well as the middle and bottom lanes, while Gyrocopter was able to push down the top tier-1 tower, giving DK their first tower kill of the game.

Slightly complacent play by DK saw iG catching Gyrocopter off-guard in the Radiant jungle along with Leshrac as iG proceeded to take the bottom tier-2 tower. iG attempted to push into DK’s base via the top lane and successfully forced a buyback from rOtk. Playing safe, iG would smartly fall back and wait for Roshan to respawn at the 31 minute mark and they easily took him down to secure their second Aegis of the Immortal.

Deciding to put an end to DK’s misery, iG initiated another push on the middle lane. Batrider initiated against iG by trying to catch Lina but instead misclicked on a ranged creep and Magnus caught both Gyrocopter and Batrider in his fatal Reverse Polarity and killed off Leshrac as well. iG decided to be patient and fell back to regenerate and then rallied for a final push, forcing the “GG” call 36 minutes into the game to claim a decisive 2-0 win over DK.