Esports Update: The second edition of the ROG Masters yet again took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The six participants offered plenty of action-packed Dota action and after four days of fighting, Team Empire claimed their first trophy for the season. Alongside the bragging rights, the Russian team added $117,500 to their bank accounts.
Empire conquer group stages
Team Empire were part of Group B, alongside Execration and Team MAX. The CIS team put forward a dominant performance against each opponent and topped the group with two wins, which catapulted them to the semifinals. There they had to meet the home crowd favourites, WG.Unity. The home advantage did not help the Malaysian team, however, as Empire triumphed again with another 2-0 victory.
Dramatic final awaits
In Empire’s way to glory stood OpTic Gaming – another team who managed to reach the grand final with a flawless clean sheet. Both teams gave their best and in a dramatic fashion, Team Empire narrowly edged out their opponents in a five-game nail-biter. The Russian team were tested from the very beginning after OpTic Gaming were, for the most part, leading in game one. However, Team Empire managed to take the arm wrestle into the later stages of the game and eventually pull off the victory.
Empire got the better of the laning stage in game two, but Optic gained momentum in the mid-game and gained the upper hand by winning clashes in which they were positioned and initiated better. OpTic Gaming’s better execution continued throughout the late game and Empire did not manage to match it this time.
The third game offered a lot more action from both teams. It went back and forth, with Empire again being narrowly ahead at the end of the laning stage, while OpTic came back by carefully choosing when to fight. The American team eventually forged their victory in the Roshan pit – three times they fought for the Aegis with Empire, and three times they won.
Similarly to the previous two games, Empire dominated the early game, but OpTic secured crucial items in the mid game and established map control after several successful kills. Dictating the pace and becoming overconfident, Optic started overextending in fights and pressuring the high ground prematurely. Team Empire took advantage of that and turned the tides of the game after one such encounter.
A match as closely contested as this one would deserve nothing short of an hour-long thriller to end the series in style. This time, OpTic went for a well-suited early-game lineup and built a strong lead in the early and mid-game against the better late-game-suited Team Empire lineup. OpTic pushed on and on and were on the verge of winning the game, but yet again Team Empire held their defences, waiting to play their cards in the late game. Eventually, as the game went past the 60 minutes mark, Team Empire’s Medusa became unstoppable and went on a death march towards OpTic’s base.
Analysing the champions’ performance
Empire dominated throughout the tournament and it’s no surprise that they eventually managed to win it. Their current lineup lends itself to a late-game-orientated play style, with a secondary focus on the laning stage. Team Empire start aggressively in the laning stage, but then lower the tempo down in the mid-game and switch to farming, with considerably less aggression to play for the late game.
Typical for Russian teams, Empire like to apply a lot of pressure from the beginning of the game and make a lot of rotations, directed by their captain, VANSKOR. As demonstrated by his Earth Spirit performance, his movement around the map in the laning stage and in team fights was crucial. Accompanied by the versatile Miposhka, who can play either as position 4 or position 5, the support duo of Team Empire secured the advantage of the team in the early game on many occasions.
Another strength and preferred style of play for the team are team fights – Team Empire like to fight as a five and pick lineups that fall in line with this, rather than split pushing or spreading the enemy team out. Nevertheless, the team has individually skilled players, such as fn and Ghostik. fn is perhaps the highest mechanically skilled player in the team and can win games on his own purely to his individual skill. A natural playmaker, he loves fighting one on one and picking off enemy heroes singlehandedly. fn can turn around team fights by making solo plays and more often than not, when he steamrolls from the start, his side takes the win.
Ghostik takes the position of the offlane for the team. In terms of play style, he serves well as an initiator for Empire. He likes to harass the opponent in the laning stage a lot and generally play aggressively, looking to prevent the enemy core from farming. He can be quite elusive and hard to kill in team fights.
The last piece of this winning team is the hard carry, Silent. He prefers a farming play style – one that relies on his teammates providing space for him, but can also join the fights if the teams need him early on. He can also be an initiator whenever is needed.
The way ahead
ROG Masters was a deserved success for Empire and they won in a convincing fashion. While the team displayed quite a few strengths, the team’s mid-game vulnerability and slowing of the pace were exploited by OpTic and at times, their decision-making and passiveness cost them.
Nevertheless, the team had not won a tournament on the international stage since 2016, and triumphing in the ROG Masters is a great achievement to build on. The team have already cemented themselves as one of the strongest CIS teams and naturally, more international success will be on the team’s agenda for 2018.
