In the wake of the blistering Regular Season of the MPGL Asian Championship, the Grand Finals will feature three of the strongest teams from the event, alongside a fourth invited side.
The Format
The four teams will play in a double-elimination bracket. The semi-finals will be best-of-three, while the finals will be best-of-five. The overall winner will get $40,000, with the runner-up getting $20,000 and the 3rd and 4th placed teams taking home $10,000 each.
The Teams
The first team to qualify were Clutch Gamers. They secured their spot by winning Group A of the Regular Season and were permitted to progress despite having the exact same 5-2-0 record as Indonesian team BOOM ID. They had to participate in the Playoffs, where they were subsequently eliminated.
Founded in late 2016, Clutch Gamers have enjoyed a fair bit of success in their short lifespan. They have fought in tournaments boasting some of the scene’s biggest names, even earning a place in the Manila Masters last year. Although they were eliminated early, they did take a game off Invictus Gaming and thus it is clear they are developing into quite a formidable team.
One thing to note is that they were thwarted in their attempts to qualify for TI7 by Execration, whose latest iteration they will face here. The Filipino outfit, led by veteran player Kim0, absolutely dominated Group B in the MPGL Asian Championship Regular Season. Defeating all comers, they emerged with an awe-inspiring 7-0-0 record, so are justified favourites to go all the way.
With impressive total earnings of over $300,000 compared to CG’s $35,000, they do seem to have the edge over their Thai competitors. Furthermore, their former line-up managed to do what CG could not; earn a spot in TI7, even progressing out of the Group Stage in Dota 2’s showpiece event.
The last time the two teams clashed was in April, with the line-ups being similar to those participating here. Both sides took one win each at the China Dota2 Supermajor SEA Qualifier, but most of the time it seems Execration get the better of CG and there’s little reason to expect otherwise again.
The third spot is filled by the winner of the Finals of the MPGL Asian Championship Regular Season. After a hard-fought match between the two finalists, Geek Fam and EVOS Esports, the latter claimed a deserved if surprising 3-1 victory.
Perhaps the most dominant team in Malaysia, Geek Fam have taken home quite a few accolades including 1st place at the Malaysia Esports League, the Asia Pacific Predator League 2018 and last year’s ZOTAC Cup Premier: DOTA2 SEA. Comparatively, the only 1st places that EVOS Esports have secured in prominent tournaments are in qualifiers. However, they have finished 2nd in a number of Minor events recently including at the joinDOTA League Season 12 Asia back in April. EVOS’s tactics of devastating team fights and carefully co-ordinated picks have served them well so far so it will be interesting to see if they can build on their excellent Regular Season form in the Grand Finals.
Finally, receiving a direct invite in the week leading up to the Grand Finals, Chinese team Keen Gaming will take the fourth and final spot. A prominent team beaten only by Execration in terms of total earnings of teams at this event, the group is a relatively recent one on the scene, having existed for less than a year.
Despite this, they have still been impressive with a 2nd place finish at the GESC: Thailand Dota2 Minor and 5th-6th place at ESL One Hamburg being the highlights. They are also something of a dark horse as we have seen the other three teams in action throughout the Regular Season, so it’s hard to assess how they will fare against them. Team captain dark demonstrated his skills at GESC Thailand earlier this year, carrying Keen Gaming to victory against the powerhouse that is EG. His versatile roster of characters and cautious style of play seem to work well for the team and if they stay composed over the next week, they might take home the win.
Conclusion
With only four teams participating, this tournament will only last three days in total, but it does contain some of the most promising up-and-coming sides in the SEA region. As all four of them seem to be quite evenly-matched, this event could well be more exciting and unpredictable than many top-tier events. It’s certainly not one to be missed.
