Day three at the non-profit, charity tournament organized by WePlay! Esports to aid efforts in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic started with a big name making a short return to the competitive Dota 2 and each of the three semifinals played had their fair share of surprises.
TNC Predator vs Team Adroit: 1-2
Back-to-back TI champion Anathan “ana” Pham joined TNC Predator for the day opener matchup as Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte couldn’t play due to ISP issues. However, the SEA team that dominated the start of the season still struggled despite having on their side the brilliant two times TI winner carry. They started off strong in game one, courtesy of Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios, who crushed the mid lane on Void Spirit and was able to set a fast tempo game with constant rotations. The early pressure applied by TNC was too much for Team Adroit to handle and sealed the fate of the game.
Heading into the second game of the series, Adroit recognized the weak link in their previous draft and put Mc Nicholson “Mac” Villanueva on a mid Kunkka to deal with the same Void Spirit, who this time was completely shut down. In the meantime, Ana’s Spectre was not given the chance to farm at all and in the mid-game he gave a few too many kills to the enemy, making it impossible for TNC to recover. Game three featured another staple Ana hero, Phantom Lancer, but as they were once again aiming at the late game scenario, Adroit pressed the issue early. They hunted down TNC’s Chen and Ana was once again struggling to find the farm, while Adroit’s Troll Warlord was constantly growing to the point where he simply couldn’t be killed anymore. TNC exit the tournament leaving Team Adroit to battle for the region supremacy in the SEA finals against Geek Fam.
Virtus.pro vs HellRaisers: 1-2
The second series of the day brought a pleasant surprise when Gustav “s4” Magnusson joined Owen “ODPixel” Davies to commentate the CIS showdown between Virtus.pro and HellRaisers. All eyes were on VP, who just went through yet another roster shuffle, however HR, and more precisely their offlane veteran Gleb “Funn1k” Lipatnikov, took the spotlight. While VP grabbed the first game victory with an offlane Nature’s Prophet for Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok, who managed to diminish the HR Lycan’s push power.
Game two and three were an absolute tour de force for Funn1k. He dominated the second game with Pangolier, pushing the hero to its absolute limits and harassing all VP lanes. Funn1k matched his incredible performance in the decisive game with Weaver, another hero with huge mobility that cornered VP very fast and pushed HellRaiser in the CIS finals where Natus Vincere, Funn1k’s former team, are waiting.
Evil Geniuses vs Business Associates: 2:1
Given the current COVID-19 lockdown in most of the countries, the ping was too high for Abed Azel “Abed” L. Yusop and Roman “RAMZES” Kushnarev to play from their respective homes on US servers, and Evil Geniuses had to bring two stand-ins. Kanishka ‘Sam’ “BuLba” Sosale, along with Eric “Ryoya” Dong, stepped in to help EG, while Business Associates had their mid laner, Leon “Nine” Kirilin, playing with more than 100 ping. Despite the latency, he was the key factor in BA’s victory in game one.
Nine’s Lycan brought the fastest WeSave! Charity Play victory, after sealing the deal in just 19 minutes. However, EG were determined not to miss the finals and evened the score after a 19 minutes victory of their own. EG picked Ursa for the last game while banning most of the strong counters and also picking both Darkseer and Oracle and overpowered Business Associates to claim a spot in the NA finals against CR4ZY on March 24. But until then, the fourth day at WeSave! Charity Play will bring another set of semifinals in the EU, CN and SA regions.
Day 3 highlights by WePlay! Esports
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_Ui5idSo6-0%3Fenablejsapi%3D1%26%23038%3Bautoplay%3D0%26%23038%3Bcc_load_policy%3D0%26%23038%3Biv_load_policy%3D1%26%23038%3Bloop%3D0%26%23038%3Bmodestbranding%3D0%26%23038%3Brel%3D1%26%23038%3Bshowinfo%3D1%26%23038%3Bfs%3D1%26%23038%3Btheme%3Ddark%26%23038%3Bcolor%3Dred%26%23038%3Bautohide%3D2%26%23038%3Bcontrols%3D2%26%23038%3Bplaysinline%3D0%26%23038%3B
WeSave! Charity Play Day 4, March 23 schedule:
12:00 CET: preshow
13:00 CET: EHOME vs Vici Gaming
17:00 CET: Team Secret vs Nigma
20:00 CET: beastcoast vs Thunder Predator
WeSave! Charity Play donations:
The entire prize pool along with all donations will go to CEPI and GlobalSaving for COVID-19 vaccine development and for providing hospitals with masks, ventilators, and other lifesaving medical supplies. Those who want and can help the raising funds campaign can do so via WePlay! donation page or with Twitch Bits via the official WePlay! English, Russian and Ukrainian Twitch.tv channels.
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