The Playoffs of the Dota 2 Stockholm Major have started, and we got an excellent match right off the bat. After ending the Group State on top, Tundra Esports has managed to beat Team Spirit and moved to the next round. There, they went against the South American team Thunder Awaken, who got the drop on BetBoom Team.
Quick Recap
Before we look into the Playoffs, let's take a step back and see what happened in the Group Stage. With Chinese teams unable to join, that left the tournament with 14 teams divided equally into two groups. At the early part of the tournament, it was announced that Mind Games would be disqualified due to players being unable to get visas on time. That gave the remaining teams in Groups a bit of relief because it meant they would move to the Playoffs.
Group A was a different story. Eight teams battled for the right to stay. In the end, it was Evil Geniuses that failed to join the Playoffs after a rather dismal showing. Out of the 12 games in the Groups, EG only won two of them.
First Blood
The Tundra versus Spirit match was the first in the Playoffs. During the regular season, Tundra finished fourth in their region, so a lot of people were expecting Spirit to win. Thus, it came as a surprise to some when Tundra dominated the first game and claimed the win.
Not to be outdone, Spirit came out strong in the second game, and despite a strong showing from Tundra, Spirit was able to snatch the victory. In the third game, Leon "Nine" Kirilin on Keeper of the Light was a treat as he ended the game with 13 kills and no death. Backing him up was Oliver "skiter" Lepko who brought 14 kills with his Chaos Knight.
For those who can remember, going to the Lower Bracket is nothing new for Spirit. That’s why it’s too early to count them out.
Hear the Thunder
For the Thunder Awaken and BetBoom match, the first game was a close one with Thunder managing to hold the lead and get the win. In the second game, Thunder would take the lead again but with a lot of team kills on top. However, Dota 2 is all about objectives and that's what BetBoom did to score a victory. Not wanting a repeat, Thunder would put the game in the hands of Crhistian Antony "Pakazs" Savina Casanova, and on Templar Assassin, he delivered big and grabbed the win and the match.
Other Matches
As of this writing, the OG vs, TSM is underway. The final match is Gaimin Gladiators against T1.
For the second day, the first two matches are in the Lower Bracket with Team Spirit trying not to get eliminated by beastcoast. The second is BetBoom taking on Team Liquid.
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