Coming into the tournament, Ks.Int was seen as the number 1 team in the world. Of course, there are always disputes about this as rowdy American fanboys will always say EG is the best even as they have had to remake the team with many leaving not too long ago. And there is always talk of Ravens being a top team, albeit they have struggled lately with a lack of motivation it seems. This tournament would most likely define the new #1 team however, with 4 of the world’s best teams playing [EG, TeG, Ks.int, Ravens]. We saw a powerhouse matchup right off the bat however, with the “new” EG facing off against Ks.int.
Replay Download: 
Evil Geniuses vs 
Kingsurf.International Game 1
Evil Geniuses, Sentinel
EG.Fear (Top)
dignitas.Azen (Top)
EG.Miley (Middle)
bigdaddyG (Jungle)
[K]Merlini (Bottom)
Kingsurf.International, Scourge
Ks^Swy (Top)
Ks^KuroKy.ir (Top)
Ks^Levent.tr (Middle)
Ks^JOKER.de (Bottom)
Ks^Miracle.se (Bottom)
The beginning of game 1 started with action right off the bat. Enigma went to jungle like normal in the sentinel jungle, however Ks.Int had him warded at the start. Swy grabs a double damage immediately and goes right to ganking him. BigdaddyG (Swissbeatz) is able to escape, thanks in part to realizing the clarity going off on SK and canceling it, allowing him to escape. SK proved to be somewhat useless when he ventured top for a while, until a nice double kill by PotM was made. Slowly, however, EG gained a small kill advantage by the 12 minute mark.
Ks.int tried to push early. At the 15 minute mark, 4 of their heroes advanced mid and ended up killing 2 of EG’s (Warlock, Puck), but then lost 2 of their own (PotM, Sand King) and ended up losing their own mid tower thanks to that. EG kept their advantage by killing towers and making sure they kept up a kill-for-death to keep it about even, waiting for their chance to take control of the game completely. A fast dagger on the Enigma led to this happening quicker than expected and got EG the ability to push the second middle tower by the 21 minute mark, which was crucial in EG’s domination of the rest of the game, controlling the map on Ks.Int’s side. EG.Miley (Demon) played an amazing Clockwork in this game, unable to die it seemed while dismantling Ks.Int’s chances with great hooks and overall brilliant play. The very fast 23 minute BKB seemed to show just how badly Ks.Int had been doing, and with all the AOE ultimates by EG combined with great coordination led to a quick victory to the Americans. Game 2, however, was to be much tougher for EG.
Replay Download: Evil Geniuses vs Kingsurf.International Game 2
KingSurf International, Sentinel
Ks^Swy (Top) Ks^Miracle.se (Top) Ks^JOKER.de (Middle) Ks^KuroKy.ir (Middle) Ks^Levent.tr (Bottom)
Evil Geniuses, Scourge
dignitas.Azen (Top) EG.Miley (Middle)
[K]Merlini (Middle)
EG.Fear (Bottom)
bigdaddyG (Bottom)
It seemed like Ks.Int wanted to mix it up a bit this game, and it threw off EG at the start. At first, it seemed like an odd choice to lane Morphling and Sand King together, but quickly showed it’s power by killing Tinker very fast. EG adapted however, sending Demon’s Clockwork down to middle and quickly dismantled the lane by killing KuroKy’s Sand King twice.
Yet again, it looked as if Ks.Int was down for the count. They were catching up in kills slowly, until a team fight top that left them devastated and looking dead, especially when azen was able to dodge Scream of Pain from the QoP with Leap, and then dodging the Sonic Wave, which gave enough time for Clockwork to tp back in and finish her off. That was after Ks.Int had already lost the battle 1-3.
But H4nni (Ks^JOKER.de) and his morphling was not down. A quick boots of travel and 3-1 record quickly turned the tides for Ks.Int. The 3-1 turned slowly into 7-1 because of the ganking ability of the BoTs morphling, as well as being able to farm like a beast. All of the sudden, you saw GODLIKE flash on the bottom of the screen with a nice burrowstrike by KuroKy and the finishing Wave of the Morph. Even though Ks.Int preformed poorly early, it seemed as though Ks.Int was riding on the backs of JOKER and his amazing play.
The thing was, it just didn’t seem enough to be able to push hard. Midgame turned into a stalemate that lasted for ages. Tinker was able to TP everywhere and keep the lanes pushed. Axe and Clockwork could tear apart the rest of Ks.Int’s supporting crew if they pushed at the wrong time. At the same time, EG couldn’t push without running into the AOE of Puck and QoP, as well as the ults of all the heroes, while Morph was getting quite a bit of DPS. Each team was picking off each other, with EG having more success in doing this with Axe’s dagger and Clockwork’s hook, with a few good arrows by Azen. Finally, around the 59 minute mark, EG tried to push, but failed as 4 out of the 5 heroes died in the attempt thanks to some good spacing and timing by Ks.Int. The third Roshan kill for EG was crucial in their next push however, as PotM picked it up. Because PotM was able to revive and Axe and Clock would survive in that push, they were able to finish all of Ks.Int’s heroes and take Mid and Bot rax towers, and both of middle’s raxes. Ks.Int tried pushing a few times, but to no success. Eventually, there was a dramatic sequence right at the end of the game, with Ks.Int trying an all push, and EG deciding not to TP back. However, EG had started pushing faster, and had a bit more DPS (even though a stacked Morphling with Manta and Replicate made it close), and were able to push the tree for the win. EG played solid both games, and definitely deserved the wins.
[http://web.dota-allstars.com/2009/07/14/vic-analyzes-eg-vs-ksint-in-farm4fame]
Leave a comment