Alliance bounced back from a disheartening loss to Team Aster in the Upper Bracket of the StarLadder ImbaTV Kyiv Minor 2020 by sweeping an upstart BOOM Esports squad in their Lower Bracket elimination match. Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov sparked his team’s resurgence with a Divine Rapier pickup on Troll Warlord to secure a comeback victory in game one.
BOOM drafted a very aggressive lineup to kick off the series, headed by Randy “Dreamocel” Sapoetra on Lifestealer and Rafli “Mikoto” Rahman on Kunkka.
Alliance countered with a strong teamfight composition led by Nikobaby on Troll Warlord, Linus “Limmp” Blomdin on Death Prophet, and Neta “33” Shapira on an offlane Mars.
After both teams started the game on relatively even footing, BOOM won a huge fight at the 17-minute mark where they traded three heroes for seven kills on Alliance, including two on Limmp who was killed after buying back in an attempt to salvage the fight.
However, Alliance was able to strike back soon after, thanks to counterganks that allowed them to keep pace with their opponents.
- Watch Sccc play a perfect Arc Warden game to lead Aster over Alliance
- BOOM Esports’ crucial Aegis steal sparks an upset win over Business Associates
BOOM grabbed control of the game at the 32-minute mark after 33 whiffed his Arena of Blood ultimate in an attempted smoke gank. The opening let the Indonesian squad cleanly win the ensuing clash.
BOOM looked poised to upset their opponents in game one after they took down three Alliance heroes in another teamfight win, which let them take down their opponents’ middle melee barracks at the 35-minute mark.
With Alliance having their backs against the wall, Nikobaby bought a Divine Rapier at the 39-minute mark and used it to win a crucial fight to turn the game around. The huge fight happened near the Roshan pit at the 41-minute mark. Nikobaby’s huge damage output gave Alliance three big kills and control of the game.
Alliance later sealed the deal after taking down BOOM’s two cores without buyback, forcing their opponents to call GG after 44 minutes.
Alliance went on to secure the series sweep over BOOM in a very lopsided game two, which ended in just 20 minutes with Alliance notching 23 kills while their opponents only managed to get two.
BOOM bowed out of the tournament with a respectable fourth place finish and US$42,000 and 90 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points in their first appearance at a DPC LAN event this season.
Meanwhile, Alliance advance to the Lower Bracket Finals where they will face Gambit Esports to see who gets a shot at taking on Team Aster in the Grand Finals.
