NewBee have beaten ViCi Gaming in the Dota 2 International 2014 grand finals for a total of over $5 million dollars. The Chinese team have had a rollercoaster of a tournament: only last week they were fighting elimination from the playoffs. But since then they stormed through the brackets to secure their place in the grand final on day one of the main event.
The first place prize ensures that each player will receive at least one million dollars each, and automatically places them as the highest earning eSport players in the world.
NewBee’s path to the final was nothing short of one of the biggest surprises in International history. They were tied for tenth place in the playoffs, and had to battle against Mousesports and LGD to stave off elimination. Smashing both teams, they earned themselves a spot in the bubble brackets, in which they went onto beat the likes of Titan, Na’Vi and IG for a place in the upper bracket in the main event. Their snowballing success didn’t stop there, as they went onto beat both ViCi and EG to secure their place in the final on day one of the main event.
ViCi initially enjoyed a much easier route to the finals, placing in the top two teams during the playoffs and advancing straight to the upper bracket. It was in the main event where they began to falter, first being demoted to the lower bracket by none other than NewBee. There they had to claw their way back into the finals by overcoming Cloud9, Team DK and EG. The whole world was watching through Dota TV, Twitch and even ESPN.
The finals themselves were tense as both teams succeeded in retaliating against each other to tie it up one game apiece in the best of five early on. The balance began to shift when NewBee picked up the third game with an incredible performance from Mu on his Puck, with a definitive victory at the Roshan pit securing the win.
With NewBee only one game away from taking the championship, all the tension accumulated into the fourth match. ViCi drafted a core Weaver and Venomancer, a Nature’s Prophet for the push along with the support of Ancient Apparition and Sand King. NewBee responded with the famous disable from Doom, Shadow Shaman and Rubick supports and Ember Spirit along with Brewmaster for their carries.
It was a slaughter: the momentum from NewBee was unstoppable. Doom put Weaver out of the fight at every engagement, Rubick and Shadow Shaman kept ViCi in place while Ember Spirit and Brewmaster mopped up. ViCi’s saving grace of the Nature’s Prophet could do no pushing of the sort. The final blow came from a prolonged teamfight at bottom lane where NewBee crushed ViCi’s offensive, followed up another convincing win in the middle lane as ViCi bought back. GG was called shortly after.
NewBee had done it. From fighting elimination to taking the grand prize, they’ve claimed their first International and along with it the biggest prize pool in eSports history.
For the rest of us it’s time to stop watching Dota 2, and to start playing again; I’ve been itching for a game for over four days.The next couple of months will be interesting, as the infamous cult hero Techiesaredue to be unleashed anytime now.