Telkom Digital Gaming League (DGL) | DotA2 Emerald Showdown

01 February 2017 | Round 3 (Semifinals) Results

Let’s be pretty clear. This Emerald Showdown, and the two Emerald Proving Grounds tournaments that preceded it, have been fairly interesting qualifier cups. Some thirty odd DotA2 teams have competed to get to the point we were at last night. The final four teams, fighting over just two seeds. No matter who came out on top, I think it’s fair for everyone to just appreciate how well the teams below have played to get this far. Outside of the ten Telkom DGL Masters teams, these could very well be some of the best up and coming teams in the country.

If you want to see the entire tournament bracket, please head directly over to the official Digital Gaming League tournament page here. If you’re confused about how all the Emerald qualifiers and this Showdown all tie into each other, read our article explaining it all here.

Round 3 Results:

Mythic Gaming 2 – 1 ArmaGeddon

Constant 2 – 1 Sin5 Valhalla

Now, being on holiday in Japan is a bit of a double edged sword. First, I have to stay up till 3am to watch the games. Second, if I don’t stay up that late I rely on Streams. As such I missed these games, so a fair amount of what I’m going to be talking about is going off what I’ve heard from other players, or looking at the drafts and scorecards. However, I am going to point out that we were on the money with our predictions. Both Constant and Mythic Gaming advance to the Grand Finals of the Emerald Showdown, and they both secure spots in the first ever DGL DotA2 Community Shield.

The series between Constant and Sin5 Valhalla appeared to be an incredibly close one. The series ended 2 – 1 in favour of Constant. But it appears as though they were pushed all the way to earn this victory. Constant continue to heavily rely on those strength cores, but have started throwing in a Juggernaut to their mix as well (who is favoured in the meta at the moment). These strength cores usually steamroll their opposition. But it appears as though Sin5 were expecting this, drafting lineups that could dish out damage as well as maintain distance from the Constant lineup. Finding some success with Sniper, it appeared as though Sin5 had figured out how to deal with Constant.

These games were gruelling, with two matches going over an hour long each. Ultimately Constant would emerge victorious. Although, can some please explain to me why we let the Fury/Hunter stack keep getting Meepo? I mean… first phase bans ez Meepo and Underlord. C’mon people. You can’t give Constant these heroes. And they picked up both Meepo and Underlord in this series! Sin5, a Wizard should know better!

Elsewhere, Mythic Gaming faced off against ArmaGeddon. To provide a little context, this is not the first time these two teams have met. Back in the Emerald Genesis Proving Grounds it was Mythic Gaming who knocked ArmaGeddon out of the tournament in just Round 2! In that series Mythic Gaming abused ArmaGeddon in an eventual 2 – 0 series whitewash. Now, I’m pretty sure CritzeEE might not have been part of the team at that point. But I stand to be corrected on that. In any respect, ArmaGeddon would be out for blood. And CritzeEE is pretty desperate to attend a DGL Masters LAN at this point (he’s had some bad luck with this in his DotA2 career).

Game 1 would go pretty poorly for Mythic, who were seemingly outdrafted in my opinion. Mythic just didn’t have much to deal with CircusFreak on Sniper, who carried the game after going unchallenged. Sniper just got huge, devouring the Mythic supports at every opportunity. Game 2 and 3, however, required Mythic Gaming to rally. And oh boy, did they! After a pretty meh start to the series, Kuhnchun and Precious Petunia swapped out roles. This proved to be as much as the ArmaGeddon lineup to could take, as they were caught completely unawares. With a solid draft, and superior vision thanks to a pesky Bounty Hunter, Mythic just rolled back into the series levelling it at 1 -1.

Thus we welcomed Game 3. Match point, as they say in tennis. Or polo. Who knows? I haven’t been outside in an age. I digress. In Game 3, Mythic Gaming picked up a Tinker for Kunchun and Slardar for Levi. These are, as they say, signature heroes for these players. And I’m told that Levi only hit about forty seven two and three man crushes. And I believe it, because he is a monster (hehe) on that hero! Kuhnchun finished 14/2/14 on Tinker with more GPM than the Vatican, while Precious just did Ursa things. ArmaGeddon, in this matchup, had meta favourites Luna and Centuar, as well an OD (who always dishes out dps). But these picks only delayed the inevitable as Mythic proved unstoppable.

GGWP to all the teams though, you all did really well to get this far! Also a shoutout here to all the supports! I know I don’t always mention how important you are to match wins, but know that you all are. 😉

Grand Finals (Monday 06 February 2017 20h00):