The sole Asian representative in The Summit 2 has done it. After defeating Cloud 9 (C9) 3-1 in the grand finals, Vici Gaming (VG) secured their second Western championship following their win at ESL One New York. In case you missed the final series of the tournament, here’s a detailed recap of each match.

Game 1: Early movement and pushing power

VG decided to secure early farm and experience for their supports. Aside from moving around the map to find kills or apply pressure on lanes, their safelane trilane with a core Jakiro, Rubick and Elder Titan took an early tower against an offlane Omniknight. iceiceice’s Broodmother kept Centaur occupied and forced him to stay on the top lane instead of ganking to secure kills. An early Vladmir’s Offering and Medallion of Courage on the Lycan allowed VG to take an early Roshan.

Without fear of taking team fights with the Aegis, VG pushed tower after tower. At 17 minutes, C9 no longer had any outer towers while none had fallen for VG. C9 attempted to get back in the game by getting pickoffs and winning some team fights. The team even purchased Diffusal Blades to counter Omniknight’s Repel. However, it would be the Phantom Assassin dying without buyback at 32 minutes that would be the nail in the coffin for C9 in this game. With the hardest hitting hero dead for almost two minutes, VG fearlessly marched towards the Dire base and successfully forced out the GGs.

Game 2: Broodmother in your jungle

Seeing an Anti-Mage in a lineup mostly meant a farming, hard carry. However, in Black’s expert hands, all he needed was an inch of space to farm a mile — and that’s precisely what Broodmother did. iceiceice practically invaded the enemy jungle and pushed back a very hesitant C9 from going out of their base. His amazing control and scattering of the spiderlings across the map gave VG important vision.

Towers fell quickly for C9, but when VG went high ground to take the middle barracks, C9 managed to kill three of VG’s heroes without buyback. Led by Phantom Assassin, C9 charged straight down the middle lane and took down the third tower. It seemed C9 was back in the game, but VG managed to push back and regain the upper hand. The Chinese team continued their assault and forced their way into C9’s base until the latter conceded.

Game 3: C9 bounces back

For the third time in a row, C9 drafted a Phantom Assassin and VG had the same response. Vengeful Spirit headed to top lane with the Axe against an Elder TItan and a Puck to secure an early Blink Dagger. This mobility allowed the Axe to move around the map, ganking heroes and transitioning this movement to pushing lanes and taking towers. An Orchid Malevolence on the Invoker allowed VG to get more ganks and opened up space for the Terrorblade to farm. Throughout the game, VG kept the pressure and the advantage, but C9 held on with Phantom Assassin putting efforts to split push to regain map control while the rest of the team defended their base.

At around 50 minutes, VG decided to force their way into C9’s base while the Dire creeps kept pushing into the mid lane, taking the tier four towers. With both Ancients exposed, it was suddenly anyone’s game to win. At this point, VG was hell-bent on just taking the Dire Ancient, but C9 kept their defenses up and not only managed to fend off the Radiant team, but also managed to kill their carry who had no buyback. C9 then grabbed the opportunity, headed straight for VG’s base and took the Ancient to force a game four.

Game 4: The curse continues

After drafting Phantom Assassin three times in a row, C9 decided to switch to Terrorblade, which they sent to the middle lane with a Lich against the enemy Death Prophet. Puck headed to top lane with Ogre Magi against Tidehunter. During the early game, both teams attempted to trade kills with one another, but the roaming Mirana from Fy pressured the lanes.

The Mirana continued to roam the map, shrinking the map and forcing C9 to hole up in their base. At 40 minutes, a disastrous clash in the river, right at the mouth of Roshan’s Pit, saw Black’s Faceless Void and iceiceice’s Tidehunter catch four heroes from C9, including EternalEnvy’s Terrorblade in a Ravage into Chronosphere combo.

The combination of Faceless Void and Death Prophet proved too much for C9 to handle, as a desperation clash to save the Dire top lane wiped C9, giving Vici Gaming the win and the $130,000+ prize.

For those who missed the matches, you can check out The Summit 2 YouTube replays here.

Related articles:

• First Departure unable to attend The Summit 2 LAN finals
• The Summit 2: Team Secret Tops Day One as EG Falls to Bottom of the Group amidst Techincal Difficulties
• The Summit 2 Day 2 Conclusion: Are You Ready for Best-of-Five Matches at the Playoffs?
• The Summit 2 Day 3 (Now with 100% more pictures)
• The Summit 2: VG and C9 Advance to the Grand Finals

Image source: Vici Gaming’s Official Facebook Page

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