It was the biggest mismatch on paper – champions-elect Team Secret against wildcards PSG.LGD. It was no secret that fans were already licking their lips at a potential showdown between Team Secret, arguably the world’s best Dota 2 team, and the reinvigorated Evil Geniuses (EG). But PSG.LGD had other ideas.
The Chinese side left Team Secret on their bottoms with a 2-1 upset victory on the third day of the ONE Esports Singapore Major Playoffs as Wang “Ame” Chunyu and MVP Zhang “Faith_bian” Ruida led the charge. With Ame able to use Monkey King for all three games and Zhang “y`” Yiping utilising the favoured Elder Titan twice, the underdogs took advantage of Team Secret’s less than optimal draft to seize the win.
They will now face EG in the Upper Bracket Final on Saturday, while Europeans Team Secret will take on OB.Neon in the Lower Bracket Round 3.
PSG.LGD’s Faith_bian is already prepared for a fight. “To us, EG is also a very strong team and right now it’s hard to say how we will fare but in terms of how both teams are performing, it could be a 50-50,” he said.
Meanwhile, EG’s unbeaten run continued. Powered by the lane duo of Daryl “iceiceice” Koh and Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen, the North American side mounted a scintillating display against Invictus Gaming.
Local boy iceiceice brought the X-factor, with his aggressive style allowing EG to pummel the lanes and create more pressure in mid game for Artour “Arteezy” Babaev to shine. Invictus had no chance, losing both games by the half-hour mark. They will face Thunder Predator in the Lower Bracket Round 3.
In the third match, OB.Neon sealed a comeback win against Vici Gaming – ensuring Southeast Asia still has a representative in the Major. Yang “Deth” Wu Heng, who was parachuted in following original stand-in Rafael “Rappy” Sicat Palo’s withdrawal, has seen his stock rise over the last two days and continued his fine form against Vici. Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer also played a blinder to lift the Phillippine organisation to victory.
Surprise packages Thunder Predators may have run into a brick wall against Team Secret in the previous round, but it proved a mere blip as the dark horses ran out 2-0 winners against the more fancied Virtus.pro.
Just two days of action left as we head into the business end of the tournament – will there be more drama for us to savour?
