Geek Fam, Nigma Survive Decider Matches to Make Playoffs at Bukovel Minor

This article was written by Franz Inorita

With their backs up against the walls, South East Asia’s Geek Fam and Europe’s Nigma survive the WePlay! Bukovel Dota 2 Minor group stages. This means both teams will continue their fight for a slot in the DreamLeague Major, joining Gambit Esports and Royal Never Give Up in the playoffs.

Geek Fam and Nigma eliminated the 5th-6th teams Team Spirit and Fighting PandaS respectively. With Geek Fam set to face Gambit, Nigma is left to stand against RNG in the first round of the playoffs — a double-elimination bracket with best-of-three preliminary matches and a best-of-five finals.

The Remaining Teams

There have been no wild surprises in the results of the group stages. Gambit has been performing extremely well in the past few months, going second in the ESL ONE Hamburg tournament and third in the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitationals.

RNG, meanwhile, are going in the playoffs unscathed. They haven’t made much noise this season thus far, but the addition of September and Super last November to the team’s roster proved beneficial to the team. With their new lineup, they are able to make full use of Monet’s talents. RNG’s aggressive games is what the remaining teams have to watch out for, as they have the potential to win games right after the laning stage.

In Geek Fam, we see the reunited Raven and Kuku play in their element. They form a powerhouse core to their team with the newly arrived Karl, who, in an interview with VP Esports, Kuku says is a better fit in their team than Ryoya. Geek Fam mostly won their games by delaying to the late game, where they could make risky plays pay off large dividends. This proved detrimental for them in their series against RNG, who were more aggressive and liked to finish their games early.

Finally, we have Nigma, who were so close to elimination that they almost fell to Eternal Envy’s team twice. The two teams were evenly matched that both their series against Fighting PandaS reached Game 3. But in the end, it was Nigma who was able to secure a win in the match that mattered most. The reformed team of former TI champions still haven’t shown their fangs in full yet, making them look like underdogs instead of strong contenders. It may take them some time to return to form after taking such a long break after TI9.

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