Dreamhack DOTA 2 Invitational – a look at Day 3

 

 

8 invited teams from the European and North American region battled it out for a spot in Dreamhack 2013. In partnership with The GD Studio, the Dreamhack Invitational is an online DOTA 2 tournament with a prize pool of almost $12,000.

 

The event started 14 March and featured a round robin group stage format. Group A featured Empire, Evil Geniuses, QPAD Red Pandas, and Team Liquid while Group B comprised of  Team Dignitas, Fnatic.EU, Mousesports, and No Tidehunter.

 

Evil Geniuses was unable to compete, as Maelk was unavailable, and was replaced by Russian team Virtus.Pro. On the very first day of the tournament, the replacement team found themselves in a deep hole against the rejuvenated Team Empire.

 

The series between Team Empire and Virtus Pro went 2-0 in favour of Scandal and friends. First game was a complete rollover with Team Empire using their key combo, Chaos Knight and Wisp. The second game was a much closer affair but Team Empire’s Alchemist was able to carry the team to victory and give them their second win.

 

 

The following day, Team Empire was again in the hot seat but this time was up against QPAD Red Pandas. The evenly matched series went into the deciding 3^rd game where Wagamama and SingSing of QPAD Red Pandas showed the carry synergy that they had with the use of Faceless Void’s Chronosphere followed by the Torrent and Ghost Ship combo of Kunkha. As a result, QPAD Red Pandas went home smiling with a 2-1 victory over Team Empire.

 

 

The third day of the tournament featured QPAD Red Pandas battling it out against the “Fluff-less” Team Liquid. SingSing opted to go with his favourite hero Kunkka again but was this time easily countered by Korok’s Puck, allowing he Americans to claim Game 1. QPAD Red Pandas showed that they were able to dominate Team Liquid by sotrming back in Game 2 in a rout. With the series tied 1-1, many viewers were anticipating an explosive showdown between Team Liquid and QPAD Red Pandas. In the end, it seemed as though QPAD Red Pandas did not have enough gas to go all the way against Korok and Team Liquid as they bowed out with a 2-1 scoreline.

 

 

The tournament also showcased superb production execution on the part of The GD Studio, with creative and interactive overlays including sensational statistics from Bruno during the well casted event. 2GD and his crew also showcased their new state of the art poll system that was able to tally votes by typing inside the chat of their Twitch stream, which was another first from the great production studio.