From Pokémon to The International, Dota 2

"In this game, Soul Stone did indeed establish a strong early-game pressure, but for Radiant, this game was at least much better than the last one. In the last game, they were already down by about 12000 gold at 20 minutes, but this time they are only down by 8000. Although it is still a tough game, they still have a fighting chance."

SDN observed the situation on the field.

"Then it should be the same offensive rhythm from Soul Stone. They have an economic advantage and their lineup is more geared towards mid-game pushes. It all depends on how they attack."

At 22 minutes and 30 seconds into the match, the Soul Stone team opened the fog of war in the Radiant triangle area.

The werewolf's stealth wolf pups went up first and spotted the enemy Tusk and Drow Ranger's positions. Lion then used a jump attack to hit Tusk, and with a combination of Death Finger and Skyfire, he took down Tusk.

Little Jump attempted to catch Lion on the mountain collapse, but was outmaneuvered by a Push. Kayn used Blink Dagger to close the distance to Little Drow Ranger, but was pushed away and silenced by Little Drow Ranger's Whirlwind. Kayn could only use his clone to break the silence and retreat.

Just as the fierce battle was raging, the Witch Doctor, who had cleared the fog, circled around from the Ancient Wilds to behind Little Black and Little Tiny. He used a push stick to push himself in front of the two, then used a bouncer to pin them down, followed by a curse and a Death Guard.

"Holy crap, that witch doctor flanked and used Force Staff to push himself up, followed by a triple combo. Luckily, neither of the opposing team had any interrupt abilities left, so the support was just sitting there getting ganked and could only run!"

The commentators were stunned. This witch doctor was very aggressive and his timing was perfect. His teammates were just in time to absorb all the enemy's crowd control abilities.

Xiao Hei could only activate Black King Bar (BKB) and flee to the high ground, while Xiao Xiao didn't have BKB yet and was killed by Gu Ran's Invoker's burst damage.

XS's Kai chased directly to the high ground, and after Xiao Hei's BKB disappeared, he closed in and used a combo to take down Xiao Hei.

"The Witch Doctor's playstyle this time was really bold and imaginative. He used Force Staff to push himself into the faces of Drow Ranger and Tiny, and since neither of them had any interrupt skills, he was able to deal maximum damage."

The live stream is now playing a replay of the exciting team fight. The Soul Stone's attack is very layered, first eliminating the enemy, then using their key skills one by one, and finally, a support Witch Doctor actually deals the highest damage. This team fight is smooth and pleasing to the eye.

After this team fight, the economic gap between the two sides reached 12,000. Radiant completely entered the turtle farming phase, while Dire began to enter the map clearing phase. Gu Ran's Invoker drove Ghost Walk around several enemy jungle areas looking for kills. At 24 minutes and 30 seconds, he found HG's Squirrel and Tiny in the bottom lane snack street.

He completely ignored Tiny, used Extreme Cold followed by Wind Blast on Senhai Feixia, then used Force Staff to create distance, landed with a Meteor followed by a Push Wave, and then gracefully escaped. Tiny was like an incompetent husband, only able to watch the squirrel's passive without daring to initiate with Invoker. After the squirrel landed, it was taken down by the Meteor's burn damage.

Holy crap, that was a cool move!

[Husband is currently committing a crime!]

This play was very satisfying for the viewers, as Gu Ran and Karl's skill combos were excellent.

At 26 minutes into the game, the second Roshan spawned. The team with the Soul Stone used Smoke of Deceit to catch a Tusk from the Radiant and secured the Aegis of Roshan. Then, relying on the Aegis, they pushed down all of the enemy's outer towers, bringing their economic advantage to 15000.

Now, the Soul Stones are about to take the final and most difficult step of their match: advancing to the high ground.

"It's really difficult to get onto HG's high ground because the enemy has three high ground specialists: Drow Ranger, Tiny, and Underlord. Underlord can use Rain of Fire to trap people, Drow Ranger can stand on the high ground and output damage from advantageous terrain, and Tiny can find opportunities to throw people onto the high ground to kill them."

SDN analyzed several key high-ground defenders for the Radiant team for its players.

"It's very difficult to push this high ground head-on, so we can see that Zhenhunshi didn't choose to push it head-on either. They chose to suppress the enemy's development and then look for an opportunity."

Unfortunately, looking for an opportunity means that if the opponent doesn't give it a chance, it's very difficult for the Soul Stone to directly rush to the high ground.

HG, on the other hand, was clearly very good at holding their ground. They dragged out the entire duration of the second Roshan's Aegis, and the Soul Stone team couldn't find a good opportunity to push high ground. Instead, due to several relatively reckless initiations, their support Lion and Witch Doctor were killed several times.

[Don't rush. If we charge straight at their high ground, we'll be wiped out easily. We can't go all in; we have to consider split pushing.]

Gu Ran stopped Lu Chen from charging in without waiting for the shield. Although they seemed to have a huge economic advantage, if they were wiped out on the high ground, the situation could immediately turn into the opponent's advantage.

Moreover, the opposing team's lineup is already quite strong in direct combat, so if they don't have an economic lead, they could very well be wiped out in one fell swoop.

After all, their carry is Kayn, and pushing high ground to attack their high ground tower is very dangerous. However, the enemy carry is Drow Ranger, and if Drow Ranger comes with Aegis to attack their high ground tower, it's relatively easier. This is a common high ground pushing problem for melee carries in this version.

At 36 minutes into the game, the third Aegis of Champions spawned. Despite a significant economic disadvantage, HG did not immediately give up the Aegis to the opponent, but instead opted to use Smoke of Deceit to engage.

The Witch Doctor, standing at the crossroads breaking through the fog, was instantly killed by Tiny's Blink Dagger. Later, during the chase, Drow Ranger also revealed the positions of Kayn and Lion, severely damaging Lion. However, as a precaution, he used his Black King Bar (BKB) during the pursuit.

Xiao Xiao then finished off the low-health Lion, but at the same time, Gu Ran found Tusk and Drow Ranger in the back row. He knew it was his turn to shine after seeing Drow Ranger activate his Black King Bar.

Ice walls, extreme cold, and a whirlwind of meteors reduced them all to near-death. Little Black used his Shadow Blade to escape, while Tusk died on the spot.

With Xiao Hei out of form, the Roshan fight was naturally impossible. While both supports on the Soul Stone side were dead, their three core heroes remained, allowing them to secure the third Aegis of the Immortal. Gu Ran obtained the Refresher Orb fragment, Kai secured the Aegis, and Lycan took the cheese.

When we push high ground, try not to have all five of us rush one lane. I'll lead the Fire Spirit to the top lane, then Lycan and Kayn, one of you go mid and the other bottom, and we'll push all three lanes together. This way, they won't be able to concentrate their forces to defend the high ground, and we'll be able to slowly whittle down their towers.

Under Gu Ran's command, Zhenhunshi chose a multi-lane push strategy. The Lycan bought an Aghanim's Scepter, bit Kai into a wolf, and then sent Kai to push the mid lane. The Lycan pushed the bottom lane with his wolves, so Zhenhunshi had two players with extremely high movement speed who were good at destroying bases.

Gu Ran summoned Fire Spirits to push the top lane, while the support planted Roshan's Banner at the opportune moment. Radiant's defense was stretched thin, and this wave ultimately destroyed Radiant's top and bottom inhibitor towers.

"Although the Soul Stones didn't destroy the barracks this time, their strategy was correct. Knowing that the main force is difficult to fight, they used a split push. If there are a few more waves of attacks, the Radiant might be in danger."

SDN actually wanted to celebrate Soul Stone's victory, but since they hadn't cleared the path yet, they decided to hold back for now to avoid being accused of jinxing the game.

After the Soul Stone's buffs were depleted, they did not choose to force their way to the high ground, but instead retreated.