MPGL SEA Grand Finals Group Stages Begins Today
Last night, eSports Inquirer attended the Mineski Pro Gaming League (MPGL) Season 6 Southeast Asian (SEA) Grand Finals player’s meeting at Gerry’s Grill in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.
After a night of good food and bonding among the teams, the team captains quickly went to business and studied up on the rules and regulations of the tournament. Each team was patiently waiting for the most important part of the night: the drawing of the group stages.
After the drawing of the group stages, Group B became known as the “Group of Death”, housing some of the most powerful teams in the tournament: Arcanys Gaming, Team Malaysia, MiTH-Trust, Rave-dota and MVP.Hot.6.
As the festivities and camaraderie were being celebrated in a restaurant tucked away in Quezon City, battles were being raged elsewhere in the metro.
In the end, MSI.Evolution Gaming Team bested Mineski Dota 2 in a Best-of-3 match for the Wildcard slot for the grand finals this weekend, thanks to a creative Broodmother pick that obliterated the Mineski back-line with Dagon, Ethereal Blade and Spawn Broodlings. This year will mark the first time in the history of the league that it will miss Ryan Jay “Bimbo” Qui.
As the teams get ready for the group stages today, we asked some players on who they think are the most dangerous teams to face in the tournament. These were their most common answers:
For most teams, Rave-Dota was consistently pointed out as the team that has most improved in a short amount of time, recently doing well in StarLadder Season 11 SEA qualifiers and winning against powerhouses Team Malaysia. The Malay tiger’s captain Chong Xin “Ohaiyo” Khoo said that Rave-dota has become very strong in recent weeks with a powerful draft, even besting the favorites in Team Malaysia a few days prior to the tournament.
Of course, Team Malaysia is the big team on most people’s radar. Despite losing Chai Yee “Mushi” Fung and Joel Chan Zhan ” XtiNcT” Leong, the team has still been performing well as they routinely take games off other international teams.
Arcanys Gaming, recent winners of MPGL Philippine Finals remain one of the favorites, especially for fans in the Visayas-Mindanao area. The young team and roster created in the Post-The International 4 era has shown dominance in local tournaments, placing third in the recently concluded International eSports Federation (IESF) 2014 Asian Grand Finals held in Cebu in September of this year.
Last but not least is a surprise pick and last-minute headturner, MSI-EvoGT. After losing their entire roster to match-fixing allegations, MSI picked up the roster of Powerplay and upset favorites to win the Wildcard slot in Mineski Dota 2.
Three of the four teams identified are all placed in the group of death. In talks with observers and other analysts, it seems to be no surprise that whoever gets out of Group B alive will have the highest chance of taking the grand prize.
Schedules for today’s matches as follows:
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
