Vici Gaming gave a solid performance during the Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, sweeping Evil Geniuses to claim the championship. With the win, VG gets to take home $200,000. The tournament was organized by One Esports in partnership with PGL.
Road to the Grand Finals
EG had a rather smooth run going to the Grand Finals. The team ended the Group Stage at the top, sweeping most of their opponents 2-0 and losing only one game to Gambit Esports. This resulted in EG going to the Upper Bracket against Team Secret. EG beat Secret 2-0 in relatively short games. Up next was Gambit, who was also having a solid run in the tournament. EG defeated Gambit in two games, with both ending just above 20 minutes. This allowed EG to secure a spot in the Grand Finals and a guaranteed second place finish.
Meanwhile, VG had a slow start. Starting in the same group as EG and Gambit, VG ended the Group Stage in third place, which meant a Lower Bracket start in the Playoffs. VG's first match was against TNC Predator, who was not having a good showing in the tournament so far. TNC got the first game, but VG would not be denied as it took the next two games to move to the next round. This time it VG faced off against Secret. VG took the first game with Secret getting the victory in the second game. Both games had taken more than 40 minutes to play out. However, the third game was a surprise as VG dominated Secret with GG being called in under 20 minutes.
The next two matches were smooth sailing at VG took out Alliance 2-0 and then beat out Gambit 2-0 in the Lower Bracket Finals to secure a spot against EG in the Grand Finals.
Grand Finals
In Game 1, VG went for the tri-core safelane composed of Zhang "Eurus" Chengjun on Magnus, Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang on Viper, and Zhou "Yang" Haiyang on Underlord. EG meanwhile had Artour "Arteezy" Babaev on Phantom Lancer, Abed "Abed" Yusop on Invoker, and Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev on Beastmaster.
EG initially had the advantage, getting a good 2K lead mainly due to solid rotations coming from Andreas " Cr1t-" Nielsen on Earth Spirit. VG, however, slowly chipped away at this lead by making moves of their own. VG managed to get inside EG's base and eventually get Mega Creeps. With the game on the line, EG tried to contest VG at the Roshan Pit, but this failed and resulted in a GG.
For Game 2, VG tried to shut down Arteezy by banning Blood Seeker, Naga Siren, and Phantom Lancer. This led to EG giving Arteezy Gyrocopter, with Abed going for Razor. Like the previous game, EG again had the advantage during the laning phase. Ori in particular, despite being on Viper again, had trouble against Abed. The tide slowly turned for VG after a successful gank against Abed in the top lane.
However, rather than retreating, EG pushed the issue and committed to a fight. This fight went in VG's favor and EG lost three more heroes. After another fight that saw three of EG's heroes die, VG took the chance to push in the midlane. Despite the best efforts of the two remaining members, it wasn't enough and EG called for GG, giving VG a 2-0 lead.
For Game 3, EG decided to use Faceless Void and Enigma. Surprisingly, VG didn't ban Tiny. However, they would pick up Kunkka, Slark, and Omniknight Omniknight. Again, EG got initial advantage. A team fight went the way of EG, but at the expense of using Black Hole and Chronosphere. With two ultimates on cooldown, VG responded and took down four from EG. EG regained the lead, but again made another crucial mistake. Instead of retreating, they overextended and thus fell to VG's counterattack. With the momentum going for them, VG didn't back down and kept the pressure up until EG called GG.
With the tournament done, most teams are now going to prepare for the upcoming DreamLeague Season 13, the second major of the 2019-2020 DPC Season.
