The Manila Major: MVP Secures Top 6 Finish as They Take Down Liquid 2-0
MVP Phoenix (MVP), South Korean Dota 2‘s top dogs, managed to send the front runners, Team Liquid (Liquid), into the lower bracket after two tense games.
The Shanghai Major 4th placers’ first game against the German-Finnish-Bulgarian squad was characterized by the teams’ hero selections. On Liquid’s end, they were able to gain access to Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka and Ivan “Mind_Control” Borislalov’s top picks in the form of Rubick and Beastmaster respectively. While some in the audience were skeptical of MVP letting Liquid pick said heroes, the former’s choices overshadowed the doubts with the audience’s awe. Paring up Pyo “MP” No-a’s Lifestealer with a surprise support Riki pick manned by Kim “DuBu” Du-Young, MVP managed to rout their opponents in 42 minutes, taking the first game.
In the second game, in part due to a fast-pushing line up headlined by Adrian “FATA” Trinks’ Death Prophet and Mind_Control’s Nature’s Prophet, Liquid quickly managed to take 2 sets of barracks. MVP however, slowly started to turn the game around by winning late-game teamfight after teamfight thanks to Lee “Forev” Sang-Don and MP’s Axe and Invoker. At the 1 hour mark, MVP had successfully managed to swing the game in their favor and took all three lanes of barracks and both tier 4 towers, winning both the game and the series.
Due to their defeat of Liquid, MVP now move on to the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals and have secured themselves a Top 6 finish. They will play the winner of Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) vs OG.
For more coverage on The Manila Major and Dota 2, stay tuned on eSports by Inquirer.
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