Battle Cup Weekend - Game 3

We made it to the Grand Final!

Match ID 3314960903 (DotaBuff / OpenDota)

They actually banned Clockwerk and CM first, which is pretty funny, but I guess those two heroes really worked for us, so it made sense. They then went on to ban Ursa, Morphling and Necrolyte. Which means my beloved Shadow Fiend made it through, but I guess Viper was a better pick-up, so I ended up playing him again.

They had a weird line-up, with Enchantress in middle lane, but it worked, as I really struggled against her, being ganked by Spirit Breaker and Rubick so much that I had to have redbeanpork and MrMoustache babysit me again.

Radiant
MrMoustache - Witch Doctor
redbeanpork - Warlock
Pharmacist - Wraith King
Me - Viper
Ridehunter - Earthshaker

Dire
Spirit Breaker
Enchantress
Axe
Visage
Rubick

It actually looked like they were going a strong pushing line-up, which is why we picked Earthshaker. It ended up being a bit of a mixed bag, as it allowed Rubick to steal Fissure, and with Rubick's faster cast point, meant he'd usually get it off first.

The game was quite touch-and-go, with us being quite far behind until the 25 minute mark, where we managed to turn it around. But then we lost our lead in 10 minutes, and it was pretty back and forth until we finally managed to break their base.

Earthshaker gave away first blood, and then died 2 more times in the early game. I got ganked a couple of times, as well, and it was a really rough start for our team. Things finally started turning around for me once I got Shadow Blade, which I turned into Silver Edge, as it meant we could get rid of Enchantress' Untouchable passive and she started dropping a bit more. Earthshaker also ended up picking up a Silver Edge, probably for the same reason.

Warlock's Aghs also came online at around the 42 minute mark, and it was much smoother sailing from there.

It was a really close game, and we lost all of our tier 2 towers. I actually had quite a bad death in bottom lane, that should have cost us the game, but fortunately, the other team didn't push their advantage, and we managed to stay in it. Teaches me not to be so cocky!

And that's the end of that Battle Cup weekend!