EG Dispatches Newbee, 3-1, at the Mars Dota 2 League Autumn Final
In a strong debut of their 2016-2017 season line-up, Evil Geniuses picked up the first LAN win of the season by going on a 3-1 whitewash over Newbee at the Mars Dota 2 League LAN last Sunday.
With Ludwig “Zai” Wahlberg and Artour “Rtz” Babaev back into the North American squad, EG began their campaign at MDL in dominating fashion.
The team finished with a 2-0 record in the group stage, going 2-1 against Vici Gaming and 2-1 against OG. The team’s streak stayed on through the Winner’s Bracket where they faced Team Secret, the team’s perpetual rival/sister team, dispatching them 2-0 before losing to Newbee in the Winner Bracket Final.
The temporary hiccup proved of little consequence however, as EG stormed through the lower bracket, defeating OG — EG captain Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen’s former team — in a 2-1 affair for the second time in the tournament.
At the grand finals, EG took a very early 2-0 lead in the series to establish dominance. Mid player Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan took control posting incredible performance on Mirana in Game 1 (11/2/8), and Storm Spirit in Game 2 (10/1/12).
The team would fall in the third game after a series of failed teamfights snowballed the game away from them and into the hands of Newbee. By Game 4, however, EG shut the door on their Chinese opponents, ending the game in only 35 minutes.
The TI5 champions looked unstoppable in the grand finals, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five match despite almost losing Game 1. EG looked very shaky in Game 3, as they made several misplays and suffered what looked like poor communication that led to sloppy teamfights, but Newbee were not able to convert that momentum into further wins. EG came back strong in Game 4 and finished off Newbee in just over 35 minutes, the fastest game of the series.
With the win at MDL over, EG posts their first victory since the retirement of Clinton “Fear” Loomis and his transition to the coaching role and the move of former captain Peter “ppd” Dager from the pro player role into a more abstract managerial position. EG’s next sortie will be at DreamLeague Season 6.
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