Nemiga Gaming forced to play 4 v 5 in official TI Qualifier match but still win 40 min game

Michael Hassall

Michael Hassall

Having a teammate disconnect in the middle of a Dota 2 game is the most frustrating experience ever. But at least it didn’t happen during TI qualifiers, right?

Nemiga 4v5: Lodine controls support lion and disced mid Pango

4v5 was the situation Nemiga Gaming found themselves in against Trident Clan in The International 10: Eastern Europe Qualifier. In their match on June 23rd, the squad had to contend with more than just their opponents as their solo mid player disconnected.

After securing game one against their opponents, Nemiga Gaming locked in their heroes and looked to continue the run. But just 1-minute and 21 seconds into the second game, Nemiga mid, Aleksey “Ainkrad” Diveevskiy, disconnected, leading to a long pause. After nearly 30 minutes of delay, Nemiga opted to continue, albeit with support Oleg “Lodine” Kvasha microing the AFK hero.

You’d think this would be a huge issue for Nemiga , but the team immediately settled into the new situation. In fact, the AFK Pangolier managed to grab first blood. 

With the Pango patrolling the jungle, and the Lion in lane, Trident Clan could do nothing to stop Nemiga. As the match continued, an AFK stopped being a problem and started being a boon. With effectively two hard supports in for him, Nemiga's Kiritych on Ursa became a monster carry. Ultimately, Trident Clan had nothing they could do to stop them, with the game wrapping up after 40 minutes.

Incredible Micro

After the match, support Lodine commented on his performance: “It was my idea. I developed a plan how I’ll move [Pangolier].” When asked whether he found it difficult, he replied. “Not so. It was my best performance of our last games.”

With a 2-0 result, Nemiga Gaming continued to the next stage of the TI qualifiers but still have a long way to go. Regardless of how far Nemiga advance, though, the feat of winning a 4v5 in a TI qualifier match will go down in history. And it definitely made an impression on the fans and talent watching the game: 

The International 10: Eastern Europe Qualifier continues throughout this week, wrapping up on June 26th. The winner will advance to TI10. 

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Dota 2 news and updates.