The opening round of the ESL One Birmingham 2020 Southeast Asia playoffs will see Geek Fam lock horns with Team Adroit in a rematch of their meeting in the group stage last Sunday.
Having won that clash 2-0, Geek Fam will enter this match with high confidence. Although Adroit looked to be in a better spot for a short period of time on the first map, the final scores show the real picture. Geek Fam won the opening game with a 44-22 kill differential and 18.6k net worth advantage, to which they added 31-11 kill and 15.5k gold leads on the second map.
Besides their dominant win over Adroit, Geek Fam also took down the struggling TNC Predator (2-0) and Reality Rift (2-0) in the group stage. It wasn’t all roses, however, as they lost to BOOM Esports (1-2) and Fnatic (0-2) to take a 3-2 record into the playoffs.
Geek Fam entered ESL One Birmingham straight after winning Cyber.bet Cup: Spring Series – SEA, where they secured a perfect 6-0 record and lost only one map out of 14 played. While a remarkable achievement on paper, Carlo “KuKu” Palad and co. did not face any notable opponents besides Cignal Ultra, who were the only team to force GF into a three-map series.
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Team Adroit were very disappointing towards the end of the group stage at ESL One Birmingham. They started the tournament with wins over Fnatic (2-1), TNC (2-0) and Reality Rift (2-0), but Marvin “Boombacs” Rushton and co. fell flat against Geek Fam (0-2) and BOOM Esports (1-2) on the final two days. Their recent two results fail to inspire much confidence, but we don’t find it fair to criticise Adroit on two results alone.
Although this team has the tendency to occasionally drop the ball (which is somewhat justifiable in online fixtures), Adroit have shown before they are not a bad team. That is especially the case against Geek Fam, who they have already defeated three times this year.
Furthermore, Adroit defeated Fnatic a week ago and stole a map off the SEA titans in BTS Pro Series: Southeast Asia a month ago, so it’s fair to say Boombacs and his team can be potent if given a chance.
Geek Fam enter this match as massive favourites on the back of their win in this matchup a few days ago. That overrates them a bit, and it’s hard to understand how are Team Adroit priced as high as $2.62 to win.
While Geek Fam stomped Adroit on Sunday, we must also consider that these teams have met five times since the start of the year. Three of those contests ended in favour of Adroit, who hold a 8-6 aggregate map score against GF in 2020.
Because Adroit have lost some of the momentum they had at the start of the tournament, it’s hard to back them in outright. But online fixtures are often unpredictable and Adroit match up nicely with Geek Fam, so we are confident the Filipinos can win at least one map and force the series to three.
Team Adroit and Fnatic will meet on the battlefield for the second time this year on Matchday 2 of the Southeast Asian division of the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Dota2 Major.
Fnatic enter Tuesday’s bout as the favourites, which is not all too shocking as Djardel “DJ” Mampusti and co. are widely regarded as one of the top Southeast Asian Dota2 esports teams besides TNC Predator.
Since finishing 13th-19th at The International 2019, Fnatic have had quite a colourful journey through their competitive endeavours. At the start of October they pocketed silver at Midas Mode 2 Asia and a top-two finish at MDL Chengdu Major SEA Closed qualifiers, which set them up for success at the first Dota2 Major of the season. However, things did not go as planned for Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong’s men, who crashed out of the Chinese Major in round two after suffering a reverse-sweep against Invictus Gaming.
At the end of the year, Fnatic had another strong showing in the DreamLeague Season 13 SEA Closed Qualifier, where they humiliated TNC Predator to secure the top seed in their region for the Leipzig Major. Despite their regional dominance and strong displays in the Major’s group stage, Fnatic once again suffered elimination in round two of the playoffs, this time courtesy of two close defeats to Team Secret and TNC Predator.
Fnatic continued their trend of regional dominance with a strong run through the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Southeast Asia Closed Qualifier in February, to which they added an impressive run at DOTA Summit 12, where they won their first international event that included teams from outside their region since the XMG Captains Draft Invitational in April 2014. At DOTA Summit 12, Fnatic defeated the likes of Team Liquid, Cloud9, Evil Geniuses and OG Seed, which will serve as a huge morale boost for the team ahead of the first online Dota2 Major.
Although still miles from being regarded as one of the top Dota2 teams in the scene, Team Adroit have established themselves as a serious threat with a handful of strong showings against the top sides.
Adroit did not participate at The International 2019, but they saw some success in a few minor Dota2 tournaments towards the end of 2019, including gold medals at Battle of Dawn and ESL Clash of Nations Bangkok 2019. Adroit also secured a ticket for the MDL Chengdu Major with a third-place finish in SEA closed qualifiers, although they failed to claw their way out of the group stage in China.
In December 2019, Adroit finished ninth-10th at Leipzig Major SEA closed qualifiers and bounced back with a title-wining run at the Yabo Supreme Cup. But Marvin “Boombacs” Rushton and company failed to carry over the momentum into January, when they appeared at Elites Challenge S2 and finished seventh-eighth.
On a more positive note, Adroit saw some success at ESL One Los Angeles SEA closed qualifiers, where they secured the third seed, and later won the SEA division at WeSave! Charity play event after eliminating TNC Predator and Geek Fam.
Both sides have had their ups and downs since the start of the 2019/20 Dota Pro Circuit season. Adroit’s disappointing overall form is sprinkled with some upset wins against stronger teams, which inspires some optimism ahead of their clash with Fnatic.
Adroit’s last roster change came back in June 2019, when they signed Boombacs. Fnatic’s most recent two changes in their lineup came in September 2019, when they signed Nuengnara “23savage” Teeramahanon and Kam “Moon” Boon Seng. Since the last roster change these two sides have met twice, with Fnatic securing two perfect 2-0 wins.
While we would like to make a case for Adroit here, Fnatic are the stronger side and their dominant run through DOTA Summit 12 only further proves Jabz’s squad is ready to cause some serious damage at the ESL One LA Major. While Adroit are not to be underestimated, Fnatic look to be in a great form and could well notch another 2-0 win.
“Despite numerous attempts and all options exhausted to obtain a US Visa, our captain Boomy wasn’t able to secure one in time for the Los Angeles Major,” the team confirmed on Monday.
Adroit will now look for stand-in player for the tournament. Rumour has it they are eyeing a North American player to avoid any further visa problems, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Team Adroit went through a turbulent start to the 2019/20 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, finishing dead last at both the MDL Chengdu Major and DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major SEA Closed Qualifiers. A streak of poor results inspired Adroit to step up at Yabo Supreme Cup, where Boombacs and co. hoisted their first LAN title since winning the ESL Clash of Nations back in October 2019.
Although the Filipino squad dipped in form at the Elite Challenge in January, they rose up and pocketed their ticket for the ESL One Los Angeles Major with a strong performance at the Southeast Asia Closed Qualifiers. There, they defeated some of the biggest names in the SEA Dota2 esports scene, including the current DPC frontrunners TNC Predator and Reality Rift.
While a huge achievement for the young squad, there are some serious concerns about their prospects in Los Angeles. Team Adroit were priced as one of the underdogs to begin with, and their chances of making a deep run look slimmer still now that their captain is out of action.
The ESL One Los Angeles Major begins on Sunday, March 15, with 16 teams in attendance and US $1,000,000 on the line. The tournament will feature some of the biggest names in the Dota 2 esports scene, including Natus Vincere, Evil Genuises, Virtus.pro, Team Secret, and the reigning back-to-back International champions, OG.
OG will field a new-look team with Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan, Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng and Martin “Saksa” Sazdov as replacements for Anathan “ana” Pham, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs and Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka, who all left in January. The top two sides in the DPC standings, TNC Predator and ViCi Gaming, have decided to take a short break from the circuit and won’t be attending the LA Major.
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