The Manila Major: Day One Recap
Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) and Newbee move onto the Main Event of the Manila Major in the Upper Bracket, going undefeated in their respective runs in the tournament’s group stages.
In Group A, Chinese powerhouse Newbee exhibited their trademark finesse and flawless team-fight execution throughout all of their matches as they demolished the North American team compLexity Gaming (coL) and Frankfurt Major champions Team OG (OG).
OG themselves placed second in Group A and also moves onto the Upper Bracket. They began the day by taking down Team Empire (Empire) 2-0 but got slapped down by Newbee afterwards. Nonetheless, the team followed Newbee into the Upper Bracket after defeating Team Empire in a rematch.
Group B was filled with upsets as fan favorites Shanghai Major champions Team Secret (Secret) and ESL One Manila champions Wings Gaming (Wings) dropped to the lower bracket from the get go after being edged out by Na’Vi and Digital Chaos (DC) respectively.
A resurgent Na’Vi proved that they are indeed “back”, overpowering Secret and American qualifier winners DC with their relentless aggression courtesy of Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini. In an intense 91 minute game against DC, they secured the Upper Bracket advantage off the back of phenomenal performances by Danil “Dendi” Ishutin and Akbar “SoNNeikO“ Butaev on Tinker and Phoenix.
Secret’s slump, which started after signing former teammate Artour “Arteezy“ Babaev and with him Saahil “UNiVeRsE“ Arora from The International 5 champions Evil Geniuses (EG), continues as they got swept 0-2 by Na’Vi and lost 1-2 to Wings.
DC showed they fared better from the Secret-induced player shuffle, as the adoptive team for former Secret members Aliwi “w33” Omar and Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen placed second in Group B. After beginning the day with a 2-1 upset against Wings, they booked their ticket to the Upper Bracket after decisively beating Wings again 2-0 despite an earlier 0-2 loss to Na’Vi.
Losing 2 series in this GSL format means that Empire, coL, Secret and Wings will have to fight their way through the Main Event from the Lower Bracket.
| Group A | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  NewBee |
2-0 | 4-0 | |||
| 2. |  OG |
2-1 | 4-3 | |||
| 3. |  Team Empire |
1-2 | 3-4 | |||
| 4. |  compLexity Gaming |
0-2 | 0-4 | |||
| Group B | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Natus Vincere |
2-0 | 4-0 | |||
| 2. |  DC |
2-1 | 4-3 | |||
| 3. |  Wings Gaming |
1-2 | 3-5 | |||
| 4. |  Team Secret |
0-2 | 1-4 | |||
| Group C | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Fnatic |
1-0 | 2-0 | |||
| 2. |  Team Liquid |
1-0 | 2-1 | |||
| 3. |  Alliance |
0-1 | 1-2 | |||
| 4. |  Vici Gaming Reborn |
0-1 | 0-2 | |||
| Group D | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  LGD Gaming |
1-0 | 2-0 | |||
| 2. |  Evil Geniuses |
1-0 | 2-1 | |||
| 3. |  Mineski |
0-1 | 1-2 | |||
| 4. |  MVP Phoenix |
0-1 | 0-2 | |||
The group stages continue tomorrow as the teams in Groups C and D will fight for their place in the Main Event. You can catch the action live on the official Twitch channels as well as the in-game client. — Kurt Lozano
For more coverage on the Manila Major and Dota 2, stay tuned on eSports by Inquirer.net
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