Reality Rift avoid the upset with 2-1 win over 496 Gaming

The ONE Esports Dota 2 Jakarta Invitational Kuala Lumpur Regional Qualifier kicked off today at the Sunway Pyramid with invited team, Reality Rift, going up against Vietnam Online Qualifiers winner, 496 Gaming, in a best-of-three Upper Bracket Semifinals match.

Game One

Reality Rift drafted a well-balanced team with a Magnus, Ember Spirit, and Legion Commander.

Meanwhile, 496 Gaming mostly chose utility heroes to make sure their Phantom Lancer would be properly supported. They then last-picked a Silencer for their middle lane in an attempt to counter the enemy Ember Spirit.

RR started the game strong and won the laning phase while 496 Gaming were focusing on getting their Phantom Lancer online.

Both teams tried to get the most out of every team fight, and were not hesitant to use buybacks. 496 Gaming was able to catch up after countering RR’s aggressive pushes on their side of the map.

But as the game progressed, it was clear that 496 Gaming lacked the damage to force RR out of their side of the map. Trinh Van “358” Tho’s Silencer was able to delay RR’s ganks and aggression with his Global Silence ultimate, but this only gave them a few seconds to disengage.

RR slowly took control of the entire map and closed farming opportunities for Troong Quoc “Killua” Nghia’s Phantom Lancer.

Hiew Teck “AlaCrity” Yoong’s Ember Spirit nullified 496’s Global Silence once he secured his Black King Bar and this allowed him to easily jump towards the back lines and eliminate enemy support heroes.

RR amassed a 20k gold lead around the 40-minute and closed out game one.

Game Two

In game two, both teams opted for the same strategy, with 496 once again drafting Phantom Lancer, and RR going back to a Magnus and Ember Spirit core lineup.

Similar to game one, RR dominated the laning phase of the game. Wong “NutZ” Jeng Yih pulled off some clutch saves with his Oracle and helped his team win critical early team fights.

Andrew “Drew” Halim’s Magnus was so farmed that he was 5,000 gold ahead of 496’s highest networth hero at the 24-minute mark of game two. RR tried to push their advantage, but they were unable to put 496 away and ended up getting taking down one by one in the Radiant base by Kullua’s Phantom Lancer.

496 took the opportunity to counterattack, and completed the comeback to take game two and even up the score.

Game Three

After blowing a 17,000 gold lead in game two, Reality Rift immediately banned Phantom Lancer in game three, and drafted Troll Warlord, Shadow Fiend, and Omniknight as their core heroes.

In response, 496 chose to use the same strategy but swapped out Phantom Lancer with Medusa. The team continued to go with an unorthodox draft lineup with a middle lane Riki and support Nyx Assassin.

RR dominated the laning phase of the game yet again, with Lee Kong “kYxY” Yoong taking the top spot of the networth chart.

With their early lead, RR learned from their mistakes in game two and decided to siege 496’s Radiant base early.

With an Aegis of the Immortal on Drew’s Troll Warlord and kYxY continuously casting Heavenly Grace, 496 hard a difficult time pushing the Dire squad out of their base.

RR didn’t let 496 get back into the game this time as they stayed outside the Radiant base for the rest of the game while Ravdan “Hustla” Narmandakh’s Clockwerk dominated the game with his own Godlike streak.

With a 26,000 gold lead advantage, RR sieged the 496 base once again.

This time, RR would not be stopped, and with 496’s Medusa failing to make an impact and the team out of buybacks, they were unable to stop RR from sweeping into their base and claiming the game three victory.

With the 2-1 victory, Reality Rift advances to the Upper Bracket Finals of the ONE Esports Dota 2 Jakarta Invitational Kuala Lumpur Regional Qualifier.

They await the winner of the match between Cignal Ultra and MS Chonburi.

Meanwhile, 496 Gaming falls to the Lower Bracket Semifinal, where they’re set to face the loser of the match between Cignal Ultra and MS Chonburi in a best-of-one game.