NoTideHunter clinch Raidcall ESL Major Series Cup #2 title

 

 

The second cup of the RaidCall ESL Major Series One has ended and NoTideHunter top the scoreboard with 150 points after cruising through the finals and taking down Team Empire to grab 100 points and take home the $600 cash prize for first place.

 

Both Natus Vincere and Fnatic, who were finalists from the first cup, decided not to participate in the second cup, allowing the other teams the chance to catch up on points.

 

Despite failing to advance to the finals during the first cup, NoTideHunter and Virtus Pro are now back in the top four along with Na`Vi and Team Empire. In the second cup, Team Empire had a walkover in their semi-final and advanced to the finals after Virtus.Pro decided to forfeit their match in order to participate in the StarLadder StarSeries.  On the other hand, NoTideHunter was able to crush Redefining Madness in the other semi-final match on the back of S4’s Night Stalker and Loda’s over-farmed Luna. 

 

In Game 1 of the finals, NoTideHunter opted to pick Magnus first, before looking towards a Bounty Hunter and their classic Chen pickup. Meanwhile, Empire opted for the Naix and Silencer picks in a bid to counter. Unfortunately, neither hero worked out as planned, as S4’s Queen of Pain was able to dominate the match and forced Empire to call “GG” at the 22 minute mark.

 

Game 2 saw NoTideHunter taking Magnus while Empire picked up Nyx Assassin. This time, Empire denied NoTideHunter both Chen and Bounty Hunter, forcing the Swedish squad to opt for a Luna and support Gyrocopter instead. There was not much action during the first 9 minutes of the game with a combined total of 6 kills. However, NoTideHunter kicked it up a notch at the 19 minute mark with a huge team wipe and a tower down without losing a single hero. Meanwhile, Empire managed a huge comeback at the 36 minute mark, allowing them to take down the top barracks of NoTideHunter. By then, Loda’s Luna could no longer stand up against BlowYourBrain’s fully stacked Alchemist and the Russians were able to finish the game after 46 minutes, forcing a Game 3.

 

Game 3 – NoTideHunter vs Empire

 

In Game 3, Empire went with a clash oriented lineup with Dark Seer, Magnus, Gyrocopter, Jakiro and Enigma while NoTideHunter got their hands on the Keeper of the Light and Phantom Lancer tag-team. Syllabear and Phantom Lancer were able to get their core items quickly, which made it difficult for Empire to fight against during clashes, even with the huge AOE skills at their disposal. The fire power of Empire was just not enough to take out the tanky Lone Druid and Phantom Lancer and alas, Empire had to forfeit the title to NoTideHunter after a mere 28 minutes.

 

Below is the complete points standing after two cups.

TEAM	POINTS
NoTideHunter	150
Natus Vincere	100
Virtus.Pro	100
Team Empire	100
Fnatic	75
Re-defining Madness	50
Kaipi	50
DDdota	35
mousesports	35
Absolute Legends	35
rat in the dark	25
Out of Tangos	25
TCM-Gaming	20
QWERT12345	20
Imaginary Gaming	15
Top igrokai	15
Tera.Mindfactory	15
RoX.KiS	15
EYES ON YOU	15
ICCup	15
Tremendous Bunnies	10
Colina cu Brusturi	10
Monomaniac Esports	10
Aurochs	10
Down Them All	10
3DMAX	10
Fena suxx	5
Lucid Lunatics	5
HelloMota	5
Lions Pride	5
Team Rocket	5

 

Source:  http://dota2.raidcall-emsone.com/season1/cup-2/