Twenty minutes into Game 4 of the Grand Finals of The International 2019, OG and Team Liquid were at equal odds.
Liquid, who became the first team to reach the finals from the first round of the lower bracket, led the defending champions in kill score by a 10-6 margin, but their gold difference hovered at the bare minimum at nearly 1,000. Despite the stalemate, they were avariciously taking the issue by rapidly making their way near OG’s top Tier 3 tower. It was a near direct copy to the kind of playstyle OG has deployed in their road to their second consecutive Grand Finals appearance.
Swift, chaotic, precise, excruciating, cohesive, beautiful, and soul-breaking.
Now, in order to instantly turn things around in not only this fourth game, but the series in general, Liquid hoped their newly adopted tactic would grant them victory.
But then, after the execution of a few moves, all of the hope and soul that filled Liquid’s spirit during push to the base suddenly dissipated.
Less than five minutes after Liquid initiated the fight near OG’s tower, the game was over. By then, OG was diving in Liquid’s base, flexing their muscles from this show of utter superiority over the now perplexed enemy inhabitants. Everyone from the team was killed and their captain, Kuro “Kuroky” Takhasomi, sensing absolutely no recovery from this predicament, called “GG” and surrender, giving OG their second consecutive TI championship.
Numerous analysts that covered the last five minutes of Game 4 gave their own insight for its sudden end, and for the majority of them, they pointed to Anathan “Ana” Pham’s Io attaining a +75 in spirit hero damage and Topia “Topson” Taavitsainen’s purchase of the Diffusal Blade for his Gyrocopter as the defining factors, which is absolutely fair to judge. These two instances were definitely the key moments to OG’s successful title defense against Liquid, so I can’t not agree to those notions.
However, after careful observation of Game 4’s replay footage, I discovered that there was another person who should deserve as much praise for his play as his two teammates. That person’s name is Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, the roamer and Position 3 player for OG.
It was his excellent positioning and coordinated attacks with Tiny, who also terrorized Liquid in Games 2 and 3, that single-handedly caught them off-guard in the twilight of the game and ultimately gave his team the victory.
I make this claim, but exactly how did JerAx turn Liquid, a team that kept four members from the TI winning group from two years ago, into a ragtag group of amateurs?
Let me show you how he did so.
At the 20-minute mark, when Sebastian “Ceb” Debs/Timbersaw was stunned by Maroun ”GH” Merhej/Earth Spirit’s Rolling Boulder and Boulder Smash combo, JerAx, thanks to his possession of the Blink Dagger, teleported himself to the middle of the fight and tossed a neutral creep to stun Aliwi “w33” Omar/Windranger, saving Ceb and giving him enough time to retreat and regain health from Johan “N0tail” Sundstein/Abaddon, the support.
Once that happened, Topson unleashed Gyrocopter’s ultimate, the Call Down, and briskly followed that with Rocket Barrage. Aided by his Diffusal Blade, which was acquired exactly 2 minutes and 26 seconds before, the combo effectively turned itself into a very potent attack as it frenetically drained its target’s mana pool, rendering them useless. Knowing this, Liquid wanted no part in being victims of the drainage so they wisely backed off, giving them some time to relax.
This momentary respite is immediately upended as Amer “Miracle-“ Al-Barkawi/Bristleback rejoined the fray and dashed to kill Ceb, to which the Frenchman replied by falling back just as quickly.
Meanwhile, while jungling by his lonesome, Io reached level 15 and selected the +75 spirit hero damage talent.
JerAx by himself watching on as his team fought to defend their baseAt the same time, JerAx, who calmly stood behind his team in silence, observed the madness and waited for an opportunity to strike with his toss-avalanche combo.
Avalanche + Toss = Not a Good TimeThe combo is very effective for Tiny when used in ganking situations. It is the hero’s specialty after all. Not only does the avalanche work in stunning the enemy and forcing them to be immovable for two seconds, it becomes extremely strong when it’s joined together by the toss, which offers three times as much damage compared to using only one of the two attacks. If a player pulls off the combination at the right time, he will be able to swipe away more than half of an enemy’s health in the time frame of the avalanche.
After OG recollected themselves from Liquid’s initial surge, Io tethered itself with Gyro and the two then advanced in unison to attack Miracle, whose mana is subsequently drained almost instantly.
During this second battle, as Earth Spirit watched on from near the edge of the top radiant jungle, Tiny ambushed him by teleporting, tossing him to the middle of the scuffle, and enacted the avalanche, all in a brilliant succession of moves that denied any chance of a response from the other side.
By the time GH reacted, he was quickly losing HP to the enemy. In desperation, he tried to run out of the battle by using his Rolling Boulder move. JerAx anticipated that would be the case, so in accordance to his instincts, he used the avalanche to delay Earth Spirit’s escape attempt by two seconds.
In key moments of a battle, having one’s time, even if they circulate within seconds or milliseconds, taken away is excruciatingly vital. Any semblance of a denial to a hero’s moves or function gives a tiny window of opportunity for a team, with great zest, to pounce on them.
OG, not wanting to waste the chance their roamer JerAx graciously gave them, obliged in his offer by killing ES, aided by the simultaneous release of Timbersaw’s Timber Chain, Io’s overcharged auto-attacks, and Gyrocopter’s Rocket Barrage.
JerAx is trapped from an ensnare net.Fifteen seconds later, with both teams standing at four players a piece, JerAx found himself as the new target after he was trapped by a neutral creep’s ensnaring net. Seeing this, Liquid jumped forth to take him out, but they couldn’t do it in time. He managed to return to the safety inside his team’s base.
Following this, Bristleback, with no mana to his name and realizing he was overly committed in the attack, began withdrawing to rejoin his team. The hidden power of the Diffusal Blade in a Gyrocopter showed itself again, proving its worth at the heels of a player’s uselessness.
W33 approached behind Bristleback to support him, but as he stepped forward, a trap which was placed in secret by OG during Liquid’s attempt to take out Tiny, was set off, stunning him for three seconds. An action executed so quick and simple amidst the carnage gave OG yet another opportunity, which this time surfaced in w33’s vulnerability.
W33 should’ve watched out for the trapWithout hesitation, JerAx teleported and tossed w33 up, and by the time the latter landed to the ground, he used another avalanche, bringing forth tremendous damage to the ranged intelligence hero.
With two heroes now gone, Liquid wavered heavily, so they scrambled back to the jungle to hide and flee. Fully aware of the tides of momentum violently swinging towards OG’s favor, JerAx followed suit, sensing more blood and, possibly, the end of the game. He moved to be in front of Kuroky and was promptly in prime position of landing the next set of finishing blows.
JerAx making his first ping prior to the battle.
The location of his second ping.He gave his team two pings, the first to let them know where he will be when they attack, and the second for the location of Gyrocopter’s ultimate.
After the second ping, when the ultimate’s fire animation started, JerAx teleported in front of Kuroky, tosses him up to deny an escape, summons another avalanche, and basked in the unfortunate hero’s abrupt death.
Ivan “MinD_ControL” Ivanov/Omniknight, who was next to Kuroky at the time of his death, quickly met the same fate as he was part of the collateral damage from Tiny’s avalanche. Suffering heavy damage, the knight hero, who was miserably planted in the middle of another OG ambush, tried to defend himself.
The problem with that, though, was he had no mana. None at all.
MinD_ControL having nothing in his arsenalNo mana, no power, no moves, and virtually no health.
The Thousand-Yard Stare, ladies and gentlemenTake a look at his face. This is the face of a player who’s unable to change the fate his enemy has coldly wrought upon him. A player who’s hopelessly bound to the pitiful state of uselessness. A player that can’t do anything but watch with a blank face at what is happening in front of him. A player that realized he was minimalized to nothing but a decrepit shell of himself. A player that evidently stared into the deep depths of the abyss, waiting for the void to swallow him whole.
Without the improbable movement of JerAx, this scene of gradual anguish surrounding Mind_ControL wouldn’t have been possible.
OG’s impeccable rampage continued in the Liquid’s side of the map, where they found a newly respawned Windranger traversing around one of his team’s shrine. After a futile defensive effort from w33’s part against Tiny’s avalanche, he was slain without even landing a shot of his own.
Later, at the 22-minute mark, after OG destroyed Liquid’s middle Tier 2 tower, JerAx unabatedly moved forward to the enemy base and threw Kuroky toward his teammates, who were advancing behind him, restlessly continuing the push and not giving the other team time to breathe for air.
At this point, nothing was going right for Liquid. Seeing the game up close and personal, caster Owen “ODPixel” Davies eloquently described their grueling dilemma as the shadows of defeat was engulfing them more by the second.
“What do you do?”
Yes indeed. What was Liquid going to do to get back in this game?
As OG moved further to the enemy ancient, they focused their attack on Miracle, which eventually succeeded. When Miracle was on the brink of death, GH again used Rolling Boulder to stun Topson for a last-ditch attempt at saving his teammate.
Though he stopped the Finish mid-laner, he was soon met with JerAx upon the latter’s teleportation for another toss-avalanche combo.
This man, who was controlling his Tiny at a masterful pace up until that point, was only watching and waiting for his next move, seemingly echoing the chain of events preceding his last ambush from just a few minutes ago.
JerAx again by himself next to the enemy ancientHe saw how everyone on Liquid was so focused on saving Miracle that they forgot him, one of the best roamers in this year’s TI. There was only one auto-attack that came his way, which measly came from a Tier 4 tower.
After destroying one half of the middle lane barracks, OG went back to the low ground, alleviating their opponents from another fight—well, for a good 15 seconds. After the short break ended, they high-tailed back to face Liquid, with JerAx again lurking behind them, eagerly waiting, like a dog salivating for a treat, for the next open window.
Upon noticing that w33 was indiscreetly separated from the rest of his team, JerAx, aided by the help of N0tail and Topson, seized to take him out of the preceding team fight. As the first to assault him, he brought out (you guessed it) the toss-avalanche combo and set up another death, with no buyback in sight for the Liquid player.
With Liquid’s Position 2 out of the game for 47 seconds, OG saw the chance to end it and secure their second TI in as many years, so they acted accordingly. After diving into Liquid’s fountain and killing off the last remaining member of the team, GG was called at the 24-minute mark, officially giving OG the series win and a grand prize of over $15 million.
In just four minutes, the game went from being an even affair to an outright massacre, and it was all spearheaded by the winning team’s roamer and ganker extraordinare. When JerAx caught GH not moving for three seconds during the first fight, he didn’t hesitate. He saw the golden opportunity and ganked with fierce precision. From there, he initiated attack after attack for his teammates to then feast on. This pattern would repeat itself time and time again, and its unbreakable cycle eventually overwhelmed Liquid and forced them to surrender.
JerAx’s usability on Tiny is remarkable, and it’s especially great considering the fact he uses him quite sparingly. Prior to TI, he has only used this hero in tournaments such as the StarLadder Minor, the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, and ESL One Katowice, and they all happened about seven months ago. And even then, if one goes further back, they would find out that the last time JerAx competitively used the stone-laden hero was in 2016. Despite not constantly using this hero, JerAx still managed to play him in the same range as how a chess grandmaster would do with his field in a world championship tournament.
In the future, when people look back at what was TI9 and the team that won it, most of them will look at the plays that garnered the most attention and point at them as the deciding factors for their championship. They’ll praise Ana’s unconventional core picks, Topson’s purchase of a previously-thought incompatible item, N0tail’s carefree and meme-filled attitude, or Ceb’s meticulous planning which basically destroyed Dota 2’s conformed meta. Sadly, not many will look at JerAx in the same manner compared to the rest of his teammates, but they definitely should.
He did everything that was asked of him: roaming the map, pressuring the enemy lanes while they’re focused on his core teammates, revealing to his team where they could gank or where they could be ganked. All of the grunt work was done by him, and for that he deserves to be applauded. If by the publishing of this analysis, he does indeed gain some praise, then I’ll be happy. Finally, people will look at the blazed trail from the Finnish man with enlightened eyes.
Courtesy of Valve
If it didn’t, then that’s fine. Regardless, it can be fair to say that he wouldn’t mind if the rest of his teammates takes the spotlight in recognition of their combined achievement. It’s expected of his relaxed personality to not care about any of the glory. He can do this because, at the end of the day, besides the attention garnered, he has two TI championships under his belt, and since he won them with his teammates, that alone is worth it.
