Newbee defeats OG in Dota 2 Epicenter lower bracket finals

Newbee might not be unbeatable, but they sure look like it. After some uncharacteristic lapses pushed the Chinese juggernaut into the lower bracket they ran roughshod through the competition and OG were their latest victims. Europe through one of its biggest haymakers, and missed.

OG: Lifestealer, Invoker, Tusk, Beastmaster, Crystal Maiden

Newbee: Razor, Lone Druid, Earth Spirit, Batrider, Enchantress

OG ran a typical OG game involving plenty of early aggression on a lineup with lots of variability and surprises. Lifestealer has come back into favor and proved to be the big difference maker as a Linken’s Sphere became a critical item.

Late in the game a massive team fight broke out in the Radiant jungle. Newbee needed a kill on Lifestealer to push into base, but the Linken’s popped at the perfect time and prevented the OG carry from being locked down. The brutal back and forth finally came to an end following the fight.

Newbee looked vulnerable. It was their first loss in 29 games. Was this the end? No.

OG: Slark, Nightstalker, Natures Prophet, Earth Spirit, Rubrick

Newbee: Spectre, Dark Seer, Tusk, Batrider, Lion

Another long game was a slug batch between one carry-heavy lineup in OG against a pseudo five-protect-one on Newbee’s side that revolved around Hao’s Spectre. You can look at the time without knowing who won and have a pretty good idea how this went. Sure, Nature’s Prophet and Slark can get big late game, but nothing compared to Spectre’s ability in attrition games.

Slark was a welcome pick that almost turned the tide for OG, but this was a very greedy lineup that felt as if OG wanted to just end this series ASAP -- as if they were afraid of seeing this series go to three games. The problem with that kind of strategy is that Newbee is too talented to go on tilt following a single loss.

The five-protect-one strat worked perfectly and with Hao on Spectre is was just too much.

OG: Drow Ranger, Axe, Dragon Knight, Vengeful Spirit, Io

Newbee: Spectre, Doom, Tiny, Dark Seer, Winter Wyvern

This game was otherwise known as “Hao goes to town.” After losing Game 1 there was a distinct change in style from Newbee. They realized that trying to beat OG at their own game with unpredictability wasn’t going to win them the series, so they went back to their roots. This involved giving Hao Spectre and putting the team on his back.

Game 3 typified this idea perfectly. Early game it looked like OG would gain and press the advantage, but stellar defense from Newbee set the line of battle at the river which in itself was a win. It allowed Hao the time he needed to build items on Spectre which allowed absolute control of the map.

OG’s core problem was the Io selection. It’s a swingy support pick that often wins or loses games, but that depends on a team’s ability to play aggressively and push the tempo. That didn’t happen and at 21 minutes Hao already had Radiance on Spectre. That alone made OG lean on five-man smoke gank attempts and at 24 minutes they tried to throw a Hail Mary of a Roshan kill. Newbee knew it was happening, they punished it and a team wipe was their reward.

The snowball was on and within minutes it was over.

Team Liquid vs. Newbee in the Epicenter Grand Final begins at noon EST.