VG Bags Starladder XII Championship
Vici Gaming swept through and defeated Invictus Gaming (IG), 3-1, in a Best-of-Five series, making them the champions of Starladder XII.
Vici Gaming was victorious against every team they faced, even dropping IG in the lower brackets, on the road to the Grand Finals.
But amid IG defeating Cloud 9 in the semi-finals and gaining the chance to deny VG the first place finish, VG emerged victorious and bagged $67,500 prize money. IG settled for second place with their $30,000 winnings.
Game 1
VG sustained their momentum during game 1. They dominated the laning stage and denied IG’s initiators: Luo-xi’s Magnus and Chuan’s Sandking in getting their early blinks. Super!’s Storm Spirit won the bottom lane against Magnus while iceiceice’s Axe, paired with fy’s Io, got kill after kill. Adding to VG’s dominance in the game, they managed to steal IG’s neutral and ancient stacks which further increased the gap between VG and IG’s net worth and experience. VG sustained their killing streaks and map control well enough for IG to call ‘gg’ before the 30-minute mark.
Game 2
It was IG’s turn to maximize Io’s whole game potential with Chuan partnered with Burning’s Sven. VG went for Hao’s Phantom Lancer but it did not went well for IG was able to counter their strategy by securing map control and preventing VG to gain any dominance in the game. It was also IG’s turn to pick Axe with Luo-xi and it turned out to be very successful for them. Despite VG holding on to the game and waiting for a shift in their momentum, IG carefully maintained their advantage and didn’t give VG any potential comebacks. The second game ended with VG admitting their defeat 45 minutes into the game.
Game 3
VG’s lineup was in complete synergy with each other: iceiceice on Tidehunter and fy on Enigma are both teamfight oriented heroes that matched well with Super!’s Templar Assassin, Fenrir’s Witch Doctor, and Hao’s Phantom Lancer. IG went for the classic Io-Tiny combo with Chuan and Burning, however it was not enough to be on par with VG’s lineup. VG won every important team fights and their heroes were relentless, making the game one-sided in favor of their team. IG was not able to face VG’s carries backed up with Tidehunter and Enigma that VG were deemed champions after gg was called during 30-minute mark.
Featured image taken from Vici Gaming Facebook Page
Video Highlights by MidasHim Youtube
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