Korean-based Filipino Team Bests Defending Dota 2 World Champions in Group Stage Match

In what could be the upset match of the Dota Asian Championship (DAC) tournament, Korean-based Filipino Dota 2 team Rave-Dota defeated the reigning The International champions, Team NewBee from China.

The Korean-based team, Rave-Dota, consists of Filipino players Mark “Cast” Pilar, Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa, Michael “nb” Ross, Jio “Jeyo” Madayag and Djardel “Chrissy” Mampusti.

In an intense 32-minute game, Rave pulled away from Team NewBee and managed to end the match with a 18-9 kill score advantage.

DOUBLED. The kill score after the game between Rave and NewBee. (Screen captured from TrackDota)

This is the first recorded tournament match where a Filipino team defeated the Chinese powerhouse.

Last July 21, 2014 at the Key Arena at Seattle Center – Seattle, Washington, USA, Team NewBee from China became the highest earning professional video game players after winning the lion’s share of the 4th annual The International’s $10.9 million prize pool.

Team Newbee’s players are the current record holders for highest tournament earnings in all of eSports. The team received over $5 million, split between their five players, coaching staff and the NewBee gaming club. The team was then composed of Chen “Hao” Zhihao, Zhang “Mu” Pan, Zhang “xiao8” Ning, Wang “Banana” Jiao, Wang “SanSheng” Zhaohui.

The International, Dota 2’s grandest event, is owned and organized by the Valve Corporation. Dota 2, a popular free-to-play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, first came out as a popular mod for WarCraft III: the Frozen Throne. Dota 2 is currently owned and developed by the Valve Corporation.

The International 4 currently holds the record for the biggest eSports prize pool in history. Matches and games were streamed over popular video game streaming platform, the Amazon.com-owned Twitch.tv, and ESPN 3.

With the win, Rave continues their ascent through the group stages with a 4-1 record. The team ended the first day of the group stages as the third seeded team behind household Dota 2 names Team Secret and Evil Geniuses (EG). Rave will need to secure at least four more wins to secure a spot in the playoffs.

At the end of the group stage, the bottom four teams will be eliminated, with the remaining 12 teams advancing into the main event. The main event will pit the top 12 teams from Feb. 5 to 9, following a double elimination format with the Grand Finals being a best-of-five series.

DAC is the largest tournament outside The International with a growing prize pool of $2.4 million as of press time (base prize pool of $250,000). The prize pool was raised by the Dota 2 gaming community through compendium (a packaged book that serves as an all-in tournament pass) sales and compendium points (used to level-up the compendium) sales with 25 percent of each going to the prize pot.

Here is the prize pool distribution for the playoff stage:

1. $1,025,165 (42%)
2. $292,904 (12%)
3. $219,678 (9%)
4. $170,861 (7%)
5. $122,043 (5%)
6. $122,043 (5%)
7. $97,635 (4%)
8. $97,635 (4%)
9. $42,715 (1.75%)
10. $42,715 (1.75%)
11. $42,715 (1.75%)
12. $42,715 (1.75%)

Rave will round out the rest of the day with matches against other global elite teams. They will face team EG from the USA tonight at 6 p.m. and the reigning ESL One New York champions, team Vici Gaming (VG) from China tonight at 10:30 p.m.

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