10 man buyback in an all bets off Upper Bracket BO3 matches at the Dota 2 The International, between SEA Kings Team T1 and Chinese Gods PSG.LGD in a back and forth match
T1, formerly known as SK Telecom T1 (the notorious team for which Faker played League of Legends)and PSG.LGD have never met one another on a pro-circuit match this big. Team T1 was formed last year during pandemic lockdowns around the world. TNC and Fnatic closed their doors to a lot of professional Dota 2 players.
Unstoppable Force meets immovable Mountain
Eventually, Xepher, Kuku, 23Savage and Karl formed a team with White mon as their overall commander. Right off the bat, they started making serious impacts in the SEA pro Dota 2 circuit, winning multiple titles in majors and minors. They eventually accumulated enough DPC points to get invited.
Also: Torte de Lini’s tweet
10-MAN KILL, 10-MAN BUYBACK, MAYBE THE FIRST EVER AT #TI10 #Dota2 pic.twitter.com/3zsT0UXfZ8
— Torte de Lini #TI10 (@TorteDeLini) October 13, 2021
PSG.LGD on the other hand had a rough start to the year due to some roster changes going into the pandemic. Strict Chinese regulations and even stricter internet norms have destroyed the Chinese gaming industry scene for a while now.
When an unstoppable Force meets the immovable Wall, we witness something awe-inspiring. Today we just witnessed such an event in the show match between Team T1 and Team PSG.LGD.
Game 1 was a stomp as PSG.LGD steamrolled over T1 Bois, with Ame’s TerrorBlade dishing out 1500+/-64 crit dmg per auto atk. T1 23Savage looked to counter the damage-core of PSG.LGD by picking the walking tower, Medusa.
Game 2 could not have been any better. After back and forth fights in the Radiant and Dire jungles, at 48 minutes into the match, Death Prophet(Nothing to say) was looking for a pickoff. They found Xepher in the Top Lane small camp on Dire side.
Also read: When did Evil Geniuses last performed a 322 in a TI tour
This ensued a series of fireworks and sick crowd control skills of both teams. This just shows how much Pos3 and Pos4 players have control over team fights in the late game.
The Team Fight went on from 48:09 until 49:58 in which there were multiple deaths and buybacks
The show of skills was exceptional in the match by Earthshaker(Faith Bian) and Magnus(Kuku). The absolute timing of their SS skills is just a dessert for the eyes.
After the chaos subsided, T1 commanded a 27k lead in gold. Yet, the game felt absolutely neck and neck. But with Ame’s TerrorBlade picked off before the final team fight, the game was lost for PSG.LGD.
In game 3, PSG.LGD was back with vengeance. With Ursa and Io pick the Damage and sustain combo was the name of the game. There was just not enough damage on T1.
Also read: How to get your very own Twitch drops from the Dota 2 TI official stream
Eventually, it was clear T1 would move to the lower bracket. It was a wonderful performance from the young team against the Chinese Dota 2 GODS.
A purist could argue that Topson won First TI, and this no not good enough of a performance. But remember Bois and Gals, OG and Liquid won the Aegis of Champions from the Lower Bracket.
But then, the last team to win the International from Upper Brackets was Wings Gaming, which was a Chinese team.
