CHINA'S PSG.LGD won their organization’s third Dota 2 Major after sweeping, 3-0, Pinoy midlaner Abed “Abed” Yusop and the rest of Evil Geniuses at the WePlay AniMajor.
For EG, this marks the second runner-up finish of the season, after losing to iG in the ONE Esports Singapore major back in April.
PSG.LGD came out of the gate swinging, bringing out an Axe carry pick to handily win Game 1. PSG.LGD’s Axe and Razor carry and mid easily ripped through EG’s squishier lineup, earning themselves an 11/0/10 and 12/0/11 KDA respectively.
The North American squad looked poised to even out the series in Game 2, leading by as much as 12k in net worth 32 minutes in. Abed’s Storm Spirit was seemingly unstoppable, earning himself a 14/2/6 KDA.
It was a high ground push gone wrong at 38 minutes that saw EG show signs of weakness, losing four heroes to LGD’s great defense. A Roshan steal at the 41-minute mark almost gave EG the needed space to slow down LGD’s newfound momentum, but a great counter-engage from the Chinese side saw EG lose four, including the Aegis.
The team fight would give the LGD the lead, and from there the team slowly whittled down EG’s momentum. The carry Terrorblade also reached critical mass, withstanding all of EG’s magic damage. Now nigh unkillable, this emboldened PSG.LGD to finally siege EG and end the game, 47 minutes in.
Game 3 was even quicker than Game 2, with PSG.LGD securing the major trophy in 36-minutes. LGD’s offlane Axe hand a field day, earning himself a 12/1/9 KDA.
With the win, PSG.LGD earned themselves $200,000 or more than P9.5 million. They also moved up second in the DPC ladder, with 1300 DPC points.
As for Evil Geniuses, they would take home USD 100,000 or more than PHP 4.7 million. The North American powerhouse would finish the season atop the DPC ladder with 1700 DPC points
Earlier in the day, Abed eliminated fellow countrymen Carlo “Kuku” Palad and Karl “Karl” Baldovino’s T1 to secure their grand finals slot.
Abed had a game to remember, notching an impressive 20/3/13 KDA on his signature Puck. It was the support duo of Lion and Ancient Apparition that enabled the Puck, thanks to their ultimate abilities’ burst potential. It was this three-heroes combo that took pick-offs after pick-offs that enabled EG’s cores to just snowball their way to the 40-minute victory.
T1 would even out the series in a 60-minute Game 2 win. The Southeast Asian squad withstood EG's early game burst of Tiny and Skywrath Mage combo. It was team fights wins that brought the game back for T1, including a crucial one that got EG’s double Divine Rapier out of Arteezy’s 63-minutes in to end the game 30-seconds later.
EG would regain their momentum in Game 3, giving Abed back his Puck to set up kills for Arteezy’s Terrorblade.
Arteezy would end the game with a 11/1/14, with Abed finishing with 3/1/17 KDA. Singaporean offlaner iceiceice also controlled T1’s heroes with Sand King, itemizing well for the carry Phantom Lancer while also providing clutch burrow strike to save his teammates.
As for T1, they would finish the tournament at third place, taking home $75,000 or more than P3.5 million. They also earned another 400 DPC points, moving them up to 6th in the DPC ranking after already earning their direct invite a few days ago.
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