Here is a link to the DotA League Masters 2009 Grand Finals replay. The match was played in Warcraft 3 version 1.22, but the replay has been converted to Warcraft 3 version 1.23 so that it may be viewed with the latest version that everybody is running.
Ks.Int was on the sentinel side of the map, and MYM on the scourge side. MYM got first pick.
MYM banned Naix, Spectre, Meepo, and Kunkka
Ks.Int banned Zues, Chen, Puck, and Ezalor.
MYM chose Broodmother, Warlock, Sand King, Lina Inverse, and Rikimaru.
Ks.Int chose Nerubian Assassin, Crystal Maiden, Krobelus, Tinker, and Earthshaker.
In the opening minutes of the game, the MYM players spent some money to upgrade their courier to a crow, while the Ks.Int players chose to wait to upgrade their lone courier. Interestingly, the Ks.Int players showed a preference to spend their starting cash on clarity potions, some carrying as many as 3. 4 out of the 5 Ks.Int heroes got clarity potions, the Crystal Maiden being the lone exception. Earthshaker carried a set of observer wards to the North lane, while MYM’s Broodmother carried a set of observer wards down the middle lane. No other heroes purchased observer wards with their starting cash. Many heroes chose to fill slots with Ironwood branches. Some of the more interesting starting item choices were Ring of Basilius on Broodmother, and 2 slippers of agility on Rikimaru.
The Earthshaker warded the scourge’s center lane ramp that leads to the rune so that they could easily observe rune snatching and approach to Fissure the center lane from above. He then ran north and encountered the Warlock while warding the north-western most scourge creep camp. A well placed Fissure allowed him to take nearly half of the Warlocks life. The Warlock ate a tango and spent quite a bit of mana using his heal until a second wave of creeps helped him chase the Earthshaker south to the river.
Broodmother warded the sentinel woods in two places: east of the mid tower, and a view of the river just east of the south rune spot. The first rune to spawn was a Regeneration Rune, and was snagged by the sentinel Nerubian assassin. The Earthshaker ran north into the woods and caught the Warlock off guard south of the scourge top tower.
Krobelus was the sentinel’s solo hero, taking the center lane. Supported by Lina Inverse, the Sand King made a bold move against Krob during the first and second waves, zipping in with an Impale to deal a damaging attack. The scourge’s solo player was Broodmother in the south lane, who was forced to hang way back while Crystal Maiden and Nerubian Assassin farmed the early waves.
MYM scored the second rune, an Invisibility in the south river. Lina picked it up while spending a healing salve to recover from a gank mid by Earthshaker, 2 minutes into the match. His earlier placement of a ward on the ramp helped him to time his Fissure, but after the gank failed to make first blood, he ran back north to assist the cornered Tinker. While invisible, Lina rushed the unsuspecting Krobelus, who was doing the creep dance against the Sand King. Opening with an Impale, then a Light Strike Array stun from the invisible Lina, Krobelus was first-blooded by the MYM mid squad.
Meanwhile in the sentinel bottom lane, the Crystal Maiden ran some sentry wards out with a creep wave so that she could nullify Broodmother’s webs. In an impressive performance, she lured the neutral creeps into the lane just as the wave arrived, picked up the sentry wards off the courier, and used the wave to clear the neutral creep camp in short order. It was an efficient and profitable venture, the kind of thing the pros do that make it look easy. Despite being the solo laner, Broodmother was out-leveled, at 3, by the Nerubian Assassin, at 4, and tied with the Crystal Maiden.
Krobelus was faring a little better as the solo laner. After teleporting back to the outer mid tower from the fountain, she was assisted by the level 1 Earthshaker and scored a kill against Lina Inverse. Both Sand King and Earth shaker ran north, each with only a sliver of life. Earthshaker decided to make a sacrifice out of himself to neutral creeps since he was deep in hostile territory. The Sand King made a better deal for himself: he quickly ran to the top lane and assisted in bringing down the Tinker. Riki was the bait, the Warlock let him fall to an inch of his life before using Shadow Word to heal him.
The score at 4 minutes into the match was 1 – 2, but it was slightly worse than the score suggests for Ks.Int because the Earthshaker died to neutral creeps. Shortly after, Nerubian Assassin and Crystal Maiden cornered Broodmother between her two bottom towers and killed her. Both escaped unscathed. By this point, the sentinel have upgraded their courier to a flying crow and used it to deliver magic bottles to Nerubian Assassin and Tinker. After getting his bottle, Nerub ran to mid, triple ganging Lina for the kill. Krobelus used her ult, and Earthshaker, still at level 2, used a Fissure to block off Lina’s escape. Sand King only survived by expending the last of his mana to Burrow Strike all the way up to the highest peak overlooking the north river. Fortunately for him, the sentinel had chosen to ward the scourge ramp instead of that high perch, which is a fan favorite. He sat there quite some time waiting for the -unstuck command to transport him back to the scourge fountain.
Shortly after, the Earthshaker headed north to help Tinker assail Riki and Warlock, who were both cornered at the scourge outer top tower. A suprise Fissure through the treeline caught them off guard, allowing Tinker to finish off the Warlock under the tower. Riki pushed out after the Warlock arrived to heal him, but the Earthshaker had another move ready. He put down a sentry ward and waited for the push in the river. Riki didn’t know he was observed, and a Fissure combined with Tinker’s attacks took him right out.
About a minute later, the sentinel made their first big power play, which was largely a repeat of what worked before: Krobelus Exorcism, Earthshaker Fissure, and Nerubian Assassin’s attacks. Krobelus was able to score a double kill on the struggling Lina and Sand King, and then bring down the scourge’s outer center tower. At 9:30 into the match, it was the first tower to fall.
At this point in the match, the sentinel team had a 4 level advantage over the scourge team even though they had the lowest level hero. The Earthshaker was level 4, but Krobelus and Tinker were both level 8. The scourge’s biggest hero was Broodmother, at level 7. The kill count was 6 for sentinel and 2 for scourge.
The sentinel continued to build momentum in the top lane when the Warlock targeted a hostile creep instead of the Tinker with Shadow Word as he was brought down to 42 health by Missile and Laser. Riki jumped onto Tinker at the same time, but it was too late for Warlock. Tinker finished him off, then turned his attention to the out-leveled Rikimaru, whose cloud was too little too late and barely escaped with his life.
Having brought down the scourge outer center tower, the sentinel team turned their attention to the side lines, leaving mid abandoned. Abuse on Warlock continued as he submitted to Tinker, and an assault through the tree-line by both Fissure and Nerubian Assassin’s Impale. It must have been a demoralizing affair for MYM’s top lane defenders. Help was on the way, and MYM was able to repel the attackers. Tinker fell to Rikimaru, but then died at the hands of Nerubian Assassin, who then died himself!
After regrouping, the sentinel renewed their assault, trading their bottom tower for the scourge’s top tower. 13 and a half minutes into the game, the score is 11-5, with the sentinel enjoying a tower advantage. MYM was never able to turn things around, and Ks.Int carried their momentum all the way to victory.
