From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"Okay, then after we call GG, we'll immediately move on to the second game of our first elimination match in the Immortal Cup."

After GG was announced, the draft phase of the second game was also in its final stages.

On the other side, it's still Radiant. Their first four picks were Windranger, Bomb, Doom, and Lich.

Gu Ran's team is Nightshade, and their first four picks are Ember Spirit, Rubick, Treant Protector, and Shadow Fiend.

[The opposing team should be using Diao's Windranger as their carry, but they're missing a mid laner. If we're using Ember Spirit in the mid lane, we could consider getting Kunkka in the offlane; that hero is good against Windranger.]

Lao Fang recommended a hero to Lu Chen, and Lu Chen said he could play it.

Therefore, we selected Cuenca.

At this moment, in the team voice chat on Brother Diao's side:

[Brother Diao, I feel like you could pick Lifestealer for this pick. Lifestealer can easily beat Gangplank, and Windranger is also decent against Ember Spirit in the mid lane. If the game drags on, no one on the enemy team can understand Lifestealer.]

Brother Diao glanced at the opposing team's lineup and nodded:

Can Windranger be played in the mid lane under the scorching sun? If so, I'd definitely play a game with her.

After Jiao Ge indicated that it was okay to play, Tianhui picked Soul Eater as their last pick.

The lineup is finalized: Shadow Fiend in position 1, Treant Protector in position 5, Rubick in position 4, Kunkka in position 2, and Ember Spirit in position 3.

Radiant's position 1 Lifestealer, position 2 Windranger, position 3 Doom, position 4 Techies, and position 5 Lich.

When the Dire team discovered that the opponent had picked Lifestealer, they immediately changed Kunkka to mid lane and let Gu Ran play him. This way, he could counter Windranger in mid lane, and the offlane Ember Spirit was also decent against Lifestealer in lane.

On the main stage, when you click on "Da Laoshi" (大老师), and with nothing happening at the start of the game, Da Laoshi gives the Radiant side a 79% chance of winning.

"What's going on? Is it already a 20/80 split from the start? Is the Radiant's lineup that good?"

YUNO expressed his confusion.

"They probably think that Radiant's core hero, Lifestealer, is basically unkillable in the late game, and the opposing team doesn't have any counter heroes, so they gave them this win rate. But I think Dire isn't without a chance either. Their laning duo is very strong, and they also have an advantageous mid lane matchup. The key to this game is whether Dire can gain enough advantage in the laning phase."

Feng Zhuiyi analyzed the reasons for the 80/20 split and pointed out the key to this game: if the Dire cannot accumulate enough advantages in the early game, no one can understand the Lifestealer in the late game.

However, this game is not just about who is good at the late game.

With one minute and a half remaining in the game, the bottom lane's Ember Spirit and Rubick secured two levels and easily took down the enemy Lich with a single skill, securing First Blood. This lane matchup of two ranged champions against Lifestealer was also tough for him; although Lifestealer had Berserk and wouldn't die easily, he couldn't protect his own supports.

With three minutes and forty seconds left in the game, Shadow Fiend in the top lane seized the opportunity while Ziggs and Maokai were playing hide-and-seek in the woods, and solo-killed the low-health Fiddlesticks. Ziggs, standing nearby, was also no match for Maokai and was forced to run around in circles.

At 4 minutes and 30 seconds, the Lich was once again given an opportunity by the Dire, who used four skills to kill him.

At 5 minutes and 30 seconds, the enemy Techies couldn't take it anymore and teleported to the bottom lane, attempting a 3v2 kill on one of the Dire heroes. However, Rubick lifted up the chasing Lifestealer, allowing the Dire hero to escape with a sliver of health. Meanwhile, in the top lane, noticing Techies' absence, they immediately targeted Doom, and Shadow Fiend killed Doom once again.

At eight minutes into the game, the support and mid laner from both sides met in the top lane river when the rune spawned. However, the Shadow Fiend from the Dire side also came to help control the rune. He used two shots to reduce the Techies standing at the rune spot, who was preparing to eat the rune, to low health. The Techies could only flee in panic.

Gu Ran's Captain directly marked Windranger. Even if Windranger used Wind Walk to run away, it was useless. Being marked, she was hit by Ghost Ship and Torrent, taking full control and damage. Treant Protector and Rubick came over to finish off Windranger and take her down. This is how the Captain counters Windranger: no matter how fast she runs, she will be marked back, and the splash damage from Water Blade cannot be avoided with Wind Walk during the laning phase.

After killing Windranger, the Dire team gained a 3,000 gold lead over the Radiant team, resulting in another favorable start for all three lanes.

"Why does the situation feel so bad for the Radiant? Isn't it already time to send them to their deaths? The laning phase is over and the gold difference is 3,000."

YUNO saw that the Radiant had a 0-5 start and were at a disadvantage on all three lanes, so he felt that their chances of winning were over.

"It's really hard to say this game. As long as Radiant finds an opportunity to fight a good team fight and drags the game into the late game, they will win easily."

Feng Zhuiyi chose to trust Da Laoshi's judgment. This game is infinitely easy for Radiant. Even though they are at a disadvantage now, Dire can't just snowball and kill Radiant without making any mistakes, right?

However, after the laning phase ends, both Lifestealer and Doom need to farm in lane on the Radiant side. Windranger can only slightly push the lane with Smoke of Deceit when she has her ultimate. It's much easier for Kunkka to gank. He can gank whoever pushes deeper between Doom and Lifestealer.

When the game reached 20 minutes, the Dire had a 7,000 gold lead. After destroying the Cube of Anguish, their gold lead was 9,000. After clearing the creep wave, they launched a smoke gank on the Radiant triangle at 22 minutes. They caught a Techies who was planting mines and then went straight for the Aegis. With the Aegis, Shadow Fiend grouped up and pushed the Radiant top lane tier 2 tower.

The enemy is about to push our second tower. I think we can use smoke to flank and see if we can take out their support heroes first.

In the voice chat channel of the team, Diao Ge directed a smoke gank to defend the second tower. He directly burrowed into the body of Doom, preparing to focus fire with Doom to take one down.

At this moment, Shadow Fiend, with his shield, was already at the furthest distance, starting to attack the tower. He was standing on the side closest to the Radiant triangle, with Rubick crouching behind him, ready to use his magic crystal to teleport and save him at any time. Meanwhile, Old Fang's Treant Protector was standing on the side of the Shrine of Experience, silently observing the enemy's movements from his stealth.

The Radiant five-man squad cleared the fog of war by walking from the right edge of the map's neutral camp to the stairs leading to the experience shrine. The fog was broken, and Doom immediately jumped in to the right with his Blink Dagger and saw Treant Protector. Doom then used Black King Bar and a Grim Reaper to slash Doom's head. Lich followed up with Shadow Gaze, and Lifestealer emerged from Doom's body. Ember Spirit, who was originally going to give Doom a biscuit, was forced to retreat when Lifestealer emerged. Treant Protector quickly died from the five-man gang attack.

【I've unleashed my ultimate move!】

Before dying, the Treant Protector unleashed Wild Growth, directly entangling all five members of the Radiant team. Jiang Xia's Strike Force immediately followed up with his ultimate, unleashing a barrage of attacks. Under the heavy bombardment, the fragile Lich was instantly blasted to death.

XS's Shadow Fiend walked over and started attacking Doom. Doom, who had Phase Boots, Drum of Endurance, Bracer, Magic Wand, Blink Dagger, and Black King Bar, had very little armor and was being tormented by Shadow Fiend. When the Entangle ended, Doom's health was less than a third, and he could only retreat hastily towards his own second tower.

Shadow Fiend tried to give chase, but Doom, with Drums of War and Scorched Earth activated, was running very fast. He managed to get a quick A attack but couldn't catch up.

Suddenly, Shadow Fiend was lifted up by Rubick and slammed directly into Doom!

"Holy crap, Rubick! He just lifted his buddy right into the other side of the crowd!"

The commentators were a bit dumbfounded, because the skill of telekinesis is usually used to lift teammates out when they are surrounded by the enemy, but this time it turned into sending their own teammate to the enemy's face.