From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"The Dire made their move! Puck used an Illusion Orb, Alchemist saw the enemy and immediately used his ultimate and Unstable Concoction, but was immediately silenced by Puck. Techies also used Explosive Orb to launch himself and then used three lightning bolts in one second, Earthshaker followed with a Stomp, and Pangolier used a Poke from behind the tower. Oops, even with Alchemist's ultimate activated, he still died under the tower. Techies' burst damage is really high!"

The battle was about to break out, and the commentator spoke at breakneck speed.

HG immediately used their teleports upon seeing the alchemist being attacked, but unfortunately, by the time they teleported down, the alchemist was already a corpse.

Behold the Lich!

The Lich was the first to arrive at the battlefield. He even cast a Frost Shield on Alchemist, but unfortunately, the main damage dealers on the Soul Stone side were all magic-based, so the Frost Shield was ineffective. Naturally, he was targeted by four people. Pangolier used an Aghanim's Scepter Shield Bash, and with the help of Puck's damage, he took down the Lich.

With only three members remaining, HG could only fight and retreat against the four-man Spirit Breaker army. At this moment, Luna also used a portal from the top lane to prepare to push the tower. In the end, Windranger died under his own high ground tower, and Beast and Purple Cat successfully retreated. After this wave, Spirit Breaker had a 10,000 gold lead, and the game time was less than 20 minutes.

"Uh, I feel like Radiant can start pushing now. The enemy can already push the second tower and kill people. My Purple Cat has been fed an Ace but doesn't even have a Mage Counter, and he's only level 10. The enemy Puck is already level 14, and we can still control the Cube at the Spirit Stone for 20 minutes. After closing the gold gap, we'll have 14K. What's the point of continuing?"

The professional commentators have already made their judgment, but the players on the field are naturally not going to give up. They are still waiting for the alchemist to farm a second A, and when the beast gets the A, they estimate that their BKB will be ready, and then they can make one last push.

While Radiant was suffering, Dire was having a pure, enjoyable game. Gu Ran's Puck got Divine Axe early and roamed the enemy jungle. He could easily take down minor supports like Lich with just a couple of skills. Windranger might need to use his ultimate to kill him, and even champions like Void Spirit could be killed as long as there was a teammate nearby.

Luna secured the Roshan's Aegis at 23 minutes, and at 26 minutes, equipped with Power Treads, Black King Bar, Sacrifice, Aghanim's Scepter, and Manta Style, she pushed high ground with the Aegis, taking down the enemy's mid-lane high ground before retreating.

At 28 minutes into the game, the economic gap between the two sides reached 20K. Alchemist finally managed to get his second Aghanim's Scepter. The five brothers went out with Smoke of Deceit to fight a GG team fight. They did manage to catch Jiang Xia's Techies with Smoke of Deceit, but Purple Cat was bound by Gu Ran's Dream Entangle. Luna followed up with an Aghanim's Scepter ultimate. Under the output of Moonlight Orbital Cannon, Purple Cat was instantly melted. The subsequent team fight was also a rout. Soul Stone pressed their advantage and took down the remaining two high ground towers.

【GG】

"Congratulations to Team Soulstone! They're leading HG 2-0, holding three match points, and are practically one step away from that one and only TI ticket!"

Lin Yiming, who was watching the game at home, stood up and shouted "Awesome!" Although no one was home at the moment, he felt great after shouting that. Then he immediately opened the Perfect World eSports APP and posted a comment.

[It's almost 3-0, can you feel it?]

First, give yourself a thumbs up, then start browsing other people's posts.

[The Soul-Suppressing Stone is awesome!]

This deserves a thumbs up.

[The last pick was terrible; the enemy's Earthshaker easily took on two opponents in lane. HG's third and fourth laners are already weak, and then they got a favorable lane matchup with Soul Stone. How could they not collapse? Next game, they should pick a lineup that can fight in lane and is also decent in the late game, and drag the game out. It feels like this is the only playstyle HG knows now.]

This was a rational analysis, and Lin Yiming gave it a thumbs up.

[Puck played really well this game. In the mid lane two minutes, Mao was just a little greedy for creeps when controlling the runes, and Puck almost got caught out and took both runes. I checked and it seems that in the early game, Puck was slightly ahead of Puck, but after taking the runes, Puck didn't have any supplies and gradually got caught up.]

Seeing this comment, Lin Yiming nodded silently, then opened the editing software and cut out the small operation of eating runes in two minutes. Then it was a wonderful edit of various kills by Puck in this game. Because the situation was very smooth, there were many scenes of Gu Ran.

Since I'm already sitting in front of the computer, I might as well edit the footage from the first game. There's not much to edit about the opponent's early advantage in the first game. I'll mainly edit the Roshan fight that turned the game around, the opponent's chase team fight in the triangle area, and the three team fights at the end when the opponent GGs.

He compiled clips from several top streamers' live streams into a multi-perspective commentary collection and released it, making it convenient for viewers who enjoy watching clips again.

After finishing all that, I went back to the sofa to continue watching the live broadcast of the game. The lineups for both sides were already set up.

The Soul Stone is for the Dire side, with Kayn in position 1, Invoker in position 2, Lycan in position 3, Lion in position 4, and Witch Doctor in position 5.

HG is the Radiant team, with Dark Ranger in position 1, Tiny in position 2, Tusk in position 3, Underlord in position 4, and Haze in position 5.

"In this game, both sides got the lineups they were comfortable with. HG finally got their best high-ground defense lineup: Tiny, Drow Ranger, and Underlord. This lineup screams 'come to the high ground!'"

The match had just begun, and after both teams selected their heroes, there was a short preparation time. The commentator SDN then began analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both teams' lineups.

"As for the opposing team's Soul Stone lineup, that's also one of their strengths. It's a Karl and Werewolf system, where both heroes have summons, allowing them to scout the enemy by pushing lanes. It's a very strong lineup for pushing lanes and ganking in the mid-game."

The game finally got interesting at the start. HG used Smoke of Deceit to sneak into the main jungle of Soul Stone and placed two wards, then discovered the birdman's trail. Finally, all five players surrounded the birdman under the Dire's first tower and secured First Blood.

First blood!

Y kills XS, gaining 294 gold + 104 gold split among 4 heroes.

However, Tusk was taken down by Gu Ran's Skyfire because he had been tanking the tower for too long. When Xiao Hei was using the portal to return to the bottom lane, he didn't expect that two big men were waiting for him at the entrance, and he was killed by Lycan and Lion together.

Although HG secured the first blood in this wave, the kill was taken by Tusk, and they also gave away two more kills. Mid laner Gu Ran was originally having a tough time laning against Tiny, but after securing a kill with Skyfire, he gained gold and a lot of experience. It's really hard to say which side came out on top.

"The laning phase in this game was different from the second game. In the mid lane, Malphite slightly pressured Invoker, and the top lane duo of Underlord and Squirrel was also very strong. In the bottom lane, Drow Ranger and Tusk also pressured Lycan and Lion."

"HG's lineup this game is much easier to play in the laning phase than in the last game. At least it ensures that they won't collapse from the laning phase, and they are also guaranteed a good late game."

SDN nodded in approval as he commented, indicating that at least the third game of the finals wouldn't be another one-sided affair.

No kills occurred during the laning phase until 5 minutes and 30 seconds, until Lion made a clever roam to the top lane, stunning Underlord with a poke, Kayn and Witch Doctor followed up with damage, and finally Gu Ran's Invoker finished off the enemy with a Skyfire.

Firefly kills Bage, earning 197 gold + 160 gold split among 4 heroes.

Because Radiant had a slight advantage during the laning phase, after securing this kill, the economic situation for both sides was almost even.