Last weekend, the finalists of the Silver Division Cycle 6 fought for the title of Silver Division Champions and also for some extra money and tour points. For those of you who did not get to watch the replays yet or who would prefer a summary rather than bother with watching the replays, here's a recap of the games.

Game 1

In the first game, [iPel]Isot Pelit started on the Legion side, with Tuubey on Parasite, Hossa` with Nomad, ElectricSix as Engineer, Ethni`on Magmus and TT`_` as Keeper of the Forest. On the Hellbourne side, team [MOG]MVP Open Group Slot had Link06 on Tempest, sympa3st with Silhouette, eatmy with Plague Rider,ANNOUNCER with Master of Arms and finally Xv3n0m on Rally. Solid teams on both sides.



And the game started off aggressively right away. While still in pre-game, there was already bloodlust when the whole team of MOG surprises iPel in the Legion jungle. The stuns added up on poor Parasite and since there were no creeps yet to retreat into, he died to Plague Rider while there was still -30 seconds on the in-game timer. Happy with the result, MOG retreated to their part of the map again before the first creepwave spawns.

The lanes were rather conventional at the beginning; Keeper of the Forest and Silhouette battled for experience and gold on the top lane, dual lanes with Magmus and Engineer versus Rally and Master of Arms in the middle, Parasite and Tempest in their jungles and finally Nomad against Plague Rider on the bottom lane.

The game started out slowly and it took almost 5 minutes for the next kill. No lane was really dominated by any team, but MOG managed to get a small advantage both in gold because of that early kill and a very aggressive Plague Rider in the bottom lane. But thanks to some team work and a few kills of their own, iPel took the lead around minute 10. The action got more intense with several ganks in the mid and top lanes, resulting in kills on both sides. The first towers fell at minute 12 when the Hellbourne pressured the middle lane. After that the middle was pushed back and the Hellbourne tower fell too around minute 14, destroyed by Tuubey. This secured a little more significant gold lead for iPel and another kill and another razed tower by TT`_` only increased this lead. At 15:00 the Legion was owning.

The action increased further over the next minutes, and iPel was almost unstoppable. They set up a beautiful gank in the Hellbourne jungle with Keeper and Enginner, killing poor Tempest. Then yhey united with the rest of the team in the middle lane, where Magmus, Nomad and Parasite joined the fray, killing Rally and Master of Arms quickly. The secondary tower was quickly destroyed and the gold and experience lead increased further. They would have even gotten Silhouette in the bottom lane, but sympa3st was wise enough to use a homecoming stone before they reached him. The secondary bottom tower of Hellbourne also became history at minute 18:30 and Silhouette was picked off in the subsequent fight near the base. It looked grim for MOG, but a quick counterattack and good use of their ultimates made iPel retreat hastily after Keeper and Nomad died. And in the chase, the LEgion team was completely wiped out. It wasn’t over yet!

After another very good teamfight by iPel in the top lane killed 4 enemy heroes without losses on their own side, and the game now slowed down. iPel did not want to risk getting caught off guard and giving MOG a chance to recover, and MOG had to be very careful not to go under completely. It took to minute 28 for anything significant to happen again. At that time, Rally was caught outside of the base while both teams were waiting to go in on each other. In the resulting teamfight, MOG lost three heroes while iPel only lost two, but they recieved enough damage to not be able to push into the base, so once again they had to fall back and wait for another chance.



Several minutes later, the Kongor pit was the next battleground. iPel were trying to kill Kongor and MOG had to react to that, so shortly before the big gorilla died, another teamfight ensued. In the wake of this fight, Kongor died first, allowing iPel to pick up the token, but they got caught in an epic Tempest ult. So in the end only Parasite got away unharmed on the Legion side, while the Hellbourne were victorious. Several minutes later, another teamfight happened, where iPel was able to come out on top again. This was how the game was going now: lots of farming that turn into a big teamfight, after which both teams retreat to lick their wounds and go back to farming.

15 minutes and a Kongor kill later, the game remained this way; MOG was slowly balancing out the lead of iPel, while iPel struggled to make anything significant happen. Perhaps it was the fear of another devastating Tempest ultimate by Link06 or just being careful and looking for a good opening, but iPel played rather passively and even let MOG have Kongor. Again.

At minute 55, MOG had almost balanced out XP and gold, and they also had the token of life and bananas to work with. MOG was finally confident enough to pick a fight themselves and near the top rune, the teams clashed. In the resulting chaos, several heroes on both sides died and buybacks were used. Another great Tempest ult was disrupted by an equally great Keeper ult and this was enough to give iPel the upper hand in the fight. When the Legion pushed the mid lane, Silhouette bought back and another teamfight happened, although with less people this time. In this teamfight, a huge Magmus ultimate helped iPel win and allowed them to destroy barracks and forced MOG to concede the game.



iPel wins the first game in an entertaining but rather long game. Those Tempest ultimates kept MOG in and almost cost iPel the game.

Game 2

In the second game, MOG was on the Legion side, with Link06 on Keeper of the Forest, sympa3st on Torturer, eatmy with Legionnaire, ANNOUNCER on Aluna and Xv3n0m on Moraxus. On the Hellbourne side, iPel fielded Tuubey on Tempest, ElectricSix with Nymphora, Hossa` with Soul Reaper, Ethni` on Fayde and TT`_` on Wretched Hag. The initial game setup was similar to the first game: Keeper of the Forest against Soul Reaper in the top lane, Moraxus and Aluna fighting for dominance against Fayde and Nymphora in the mid lane, Torturer versus Wretched Hag in the bottom lane and Tempest and Legionnaire in their own jungles.



This time it took longer for anything to happen. And even though the mid lane faced action early on and several heroes were so close to death, it took until 5:30 for a bloodlust to happen; Torturer took out a weakened Wretched Hag, who underestimated the damage output of said Torturer. The mid lane continued to be kill free, even after several heroes clashed and got low on HP, with both Tempest and Keeper ults used. It was amazing to watch, how close to death the heroes got on both teams. The next kill happened at 8:30 in the top lane after iPel pushed the tower and Keeper of the Forest stayed a bit too far up, close enough for Soul Reaper to eventually reap his soul. And shortly after, the curse of the deathless mid lane was finally lifted when Moraxus stayed a bit too long with low HP and Fayde took advantage of that.



Now the action picked up and the first really big teamfight happened near the secondary top tower of the Legion, when Nymph and Fayde teleported in to help out Tempest and Soul Reaper, and the Legion used several homecoming stones to counter this push. In the resulting battle, Soul Reaper was killed but not before he made sure that this secondary tower would fall too. The rest of the Hellbourne retreated to make this an acceptable tradeoff. A slight gold advantage and minimal experience disadvantage for iPel in minute 10 was the result.

The game was now a back and forth. iPel razed several more towers and tried to gank enemy heroes, making use of their Nymphora, but MOG always reacted in time with Homecoming Stones and good map awareness. This changed when MOG was attempting a push around minute 15. iPel initiated on them and in the course of the fight, managed to take out 4 heroes, which made it possible for them to push on their own, destorying the secondary mid tower of Legion. Finally they gained a lead in experience as well as increasing their gold advantage. Both teams now played very carefully, just like last game, iPel again did not want to lose their advantage and MOG could not afford to lose any more fights.



At minute 23, MOG pushed the top first tower, which gave iPel enough time to kill Kongor. The Hellbourne used the Nymphora teleport and Homecoming Stones to get back to base in order to defend their secondary tower and both teams clashed. Thanks to a great Tempest ultimate, they sent MOG packing after killing 3 heroes while losing only Fayde themselves. The game of MOG now fell apart, as iPel was able to pick off several heroes in a row. iPel dominated and kept up the aggression. Near minute 30, they stopped another top lane push and used the momentum to get a push going themselves. And after another great Tempest ultimate and a prolonged fight near the barracks, MOG had realized that they had no chance of turning this around anymore, so they conceded the game.

iPel also won the second game and is now the Champion of Silver Division in Cycle 6! They did not let MOG get back into the game this time and relentless ganking and good ultimates eventually secured their win. MOG does not have to hide though; I am sure they will do well in Gold Division as well.

Tuubey: "We entered this cycle with a good mind set and a trusty attitude. We knew we'd win all the Silver games easily if we played on our own level. The games didn't give too much trouble and the 1st place came as it was planned. We are eager to enter the Gold division and our goal is to play in the Diamonds in the last cycle."

Good luck to both teams in Gold Division next cycle!


- Blaze