Due to technical issues from both the teams and the organizers, the ESL Major Series III Playoffs have finally resumed and today, myMYM.com is featuring a game review of the match between DiamondZ e.V and MeetYourMakers in the second round of the Loser's Bracket (check full brackets here).

Anything could be expected as a result of this match (well, excluding a draw), since dmZ appears to have a knack for beating MYM, which was proven twice already in quite a short period of time. This happened once in the groupstage of the ESL, and another during the tiebreak.

Pre-game:

Game 1 history: Game 1 replay

Bans  dmZ (Sentinel)  MYM (Scourge)  Chen  Puck  Nerubian Assassin  Keeper of the Light  Axe  Warlock  Crystal Maiden  Zeus

Picks  dmZ  MYM Broodmother - - Mirana / Death Prophet Lifestealer / Earthshaker - - Sand King / Lich Slayer / Queen of Pain - -  Faceless Void

The bans by both teams were a little strange as we did not see the usual Rikimaru and Spectre bans, nor were they picked. The only ban which was a totally out of order was dmZ's ban on Axe although it can be easily justified with Maelk's recent performances with Axe. The picks were somewhat interesting in this game as MYM revived Faceless Void, a hero that has not been seen much in the competitive scene up till now. Besides that, Death Prophet was also drafted early on, while being a very strong hero on her own, serving as a counter to Broodmother's push potential.

Early game

Six seconds after the creep spawn, Queen of Pain stole Sand King's haste and decided to give chase to a dying Sand King. His aid, however, came quickly and MYM managed to score first blood on an overconfident QoP. The emphasis on lane control in respect to inability of the opponent to creep-pull is transparent as both teams warded the creep-pulling camp. However, no attempt to counter-ward was performed. Halfway into mid-game, QoP had big trouble going against the combo by Mirana and Sand King, which led to a 25-minute boots. Faceless Void, on the other hand, was feeding Sentinel towers some kills as he performed some eccentric suicide kills on Lifestealer and Earthshaker. There were a lot of rune bottle actions going on in this part of the game.

The early game highly favoured MYM as they performed multiple successful ganks, especially on the vulnerable QoP. Besides that, Maelk's Death Prophet was working successfully in nullifying the pushes attempted by Broodmother on the top lane. This is clear as the top scourge tower was still standing strong at three quarters of its hitpoints 15 minutes into the game. 

The beauty of Earthshaker's ulti.

A statshot 15 minutes into the game. with MYM winning in terms of wards, kills, creep stats, and level overall.

Mid game

Upon reaching the mid game stages, the game balances out as the carry for dmZ got a little richer. Although without much items, Stryke showed the world what a Broodmother can do during mid game when he sent the Death Prophet and Lich home upon appearance. Lifestealer got his Armlet timely while Earthshaker showed off his new Dagger in a skirmish near the second Sentinel tower to kill Faceless Void and Mirana.

Mid game is a peak time for tower actions as we see two of MYM's tower and one of dmZ's taken down in a matter of minutes. As more and more towers are being taken down, MYM's map control started to get a little shaky while Broodmother's webs were partly controlling the map for his team. As the time passed, MYM heroes got picked off one by one, bringing the kill ratio to an equilibrium.  

MYM picked off once again while Faceless Void was fleeing.

Pushed into desperation, MYM attempted to do a quick Roshan but unfortunately, dmZ caught up with MYM and the battle between the two teams was held into a one minute stand-off. Due to impatience and terrible coordination, MYM heroes are again picked off, giving dmZ the first lead of the game.

However, in an insane and unpredictable scenario accompanied by a peculiar twist of fate , MYM suprised the retreating Sentinel heroes with a Roshan kill by using Death Prophet's ulti. Mid-game was concluded by this epic Roshan kill and Mirana's and Death Prophet's escape from the tyranny of Broodmother and Slayer.

MYM displaying how lack of communication will affect a teamfight.

A statshot 33 minutes into the game. MYM is clearly the better team in terms of farming although dmZ's carries Broodmother and Lifestealer are getting pretty huge.

End game

After 45 minutes of farming and a Roshan kill, MYM finally decides to make a push while they were having the upperhand. A decoy was set up on the bottom lane while Death Prophet was pushing mid with Exorcism. dmZ responded to their shattered mid tower with a push on MYM's first bottom tower. The push at bottom lane was heavily repelled by Death Prophet's Carrion Swarm and the battle slowly developed into a stand-off. Upon the arrival of Faceless Void, MYM's heroes started charging in instead, executing a perfect AOE combo, annihilating all of dmZ's heroes.

The beginning of the end.

Without delay, MYM initiated a full-fledged push into mid, and although Death Prophet's Aegis was lost before the battle started, the battle went one-sided, favouring MYM due to great teamwork in executing another perfect AOE combo. MYM then proceeded to destroy the barracks and quickly retreated in case of a counter attack. To secure the win, MYM decided to kill Roshan yet again to obtain the Aegis of Immortality. After stopping in their base for some regeneration and item purchasing, MYM resumed their push after winning another team battle at the river. This team battle depicted the end of the game as MYM headed bottom to destroy dmZ's bottom barracks as we wrap up one heck of a game.

End game statshot.

Player of the game

 MYM|Maelk (Death Prophet)
The worth of Death Prophet was invaluable this game as she was the main hero who stopped all the advances from dmZ in the whole period of the game. Besides that, Death Prophet was the one responsible in stealing Roshan during mid game and scoring a quadruple kill in the tide-turning battle a few minutes later.