#MajorAllStars Coverage Blog: Major Setbacks at the Malaysian Major All-Stars Event
by eSports by INQUIRER.net Dota 2 Department
Technical problems delay MAS
MAS organizers confirmed in a tweet that an “electrical surge” burned out their local area network (LAN) cables, causing delays for today’s matches. Only two games have been played as of writing. Ukrainian powerhouse Na’Vi took the first game of the best-of-three series against homegrown Invasion. While another Malaysian team, TR, fell against Russian team Empire in game one of their best-of-three match.
Official shoutcaster of the tournament David “GoDz” Parker said in a tweet that the matches for day one of MAS are postponed until tomorrow.
A Facebook post by an admin of Rave Dota said that the Filipinos are heading back to their hotel given the situation at hand.
“Well I guess there will be no games for today. One of the servers exploded and I don’t think that it can be fixed. We are now heading back to the hotel,” Khatie, Rave’s Facebook page admin, said.
Overview
In a post by our very own Managing Editor, John Paolo “Brightroar” Bago, he mentioned two major things about the future of the tournament:
First, he mentioned that there were talks among the Western teams, particularly Navi and Empire, that they were planning to boycott the event tomorrow. However, Adrian Gaffor, one of the organizers of the tournament, told him that “Navi and Empire and the rest of the teams have agreed to come back tomorrow to play.”
As for the Philippines’ very own Rave, the team commented that “they will only leave and boycott the event should the other teams do so.”
Still, Jio “Jeyo” Madayag said that “these things (the unfortunate circumstances of the event) cannot be blamed on anyone” and so “they remain optimistic about the tournament.” He continues by saying that “they will stay and play games should it push through.”
Secondly, Bago has opined that he is “thoroughly disappointed at what happened at the event, but not because of everything that happened above.”
He concludes by stating that the thing that saddened him the most was that “this event could have been the saving grace for eSports and Dota 2 in Southeast Asia”, and that one “can only hope that they can pull out of this nosedive in time.”
[UPDATED 5:30 p.m.] “We’re pretty confident going to this tournament. I hope we finish at least 3rd/4th.”
These were the words of Mark “Cast” Pilar, captain of Overseas Filipino Gamer (OFG) team Rave Dota (Rave) when asked about their chances in the Major All Stars (MAS) tournament, a Malaysian tournament.
Eight teams coming from different regions — Southeast Asia (SEA), China (CN) and Europe — will battle it out for their share of the $100,000 prize pot, the biggest ever in SEA Dota 2’s history.
MAS will be the sixth international competition for the Korea-based team Rave. They are joined by seven other international teams: Natus Vincere (Ukraine), Invasion eSports (Malaysia), Invictus Gaming (China), Team Redemption (Singapore), Cant Say Wisps (Australia) and Team Empire (Russia) in this double elimination format tournament.
“I think iG and Empire would be our toughest opponents in this tournament,” Cast told eSports by INQUIRER.net
“(But) I could say that we became competitive and more powerful because we grew and developed our skills together. We’ve been through ups-and-downs but still managed to stick together and improve,” the proud Filipino captain said. “Thanks for the non-stop [support for] our team. We promise that we will do our best [in] all [of] our incoming tournaments!”
As the #RAVEvolution continues, the Filipinos are in for another war. Let’s support these OFGs and be witness to another chapter of #RAVEvolution!
Graphics by Pawiee Falsis
Livestream
DAY ONE
eSports by INQUIRER.net is covering the Major All Stars (MAS) live from Malaysia. Check out this page every now and then for up-to-date news and highlights about the event!
OVERSEAS FILIPINO GAMERS. Rave is now in the Malawati Stadium. (L-R; Ryo “ryOyr” Hasegawa, Mark “Cast” Pilar, Khatie Santos, Jio “Jeyo” Madayag) PHOTO BY MICHAEL TIÑA.
Rave is one of the directly invited teams in the tournament. They have showed lustrous performances in recent tournaments particularly in TS3 and MLG Asia Qualifiers where they both topped their opponents, securing two LAN finals tickets to USA.
THE SCORES SO FAR
Natus Vincere (Na’Vi) VS Invasion eSports (Invasion) [BO3]: Na’Vi 2-0
Team Empire (Empire) vs Team Redemption (TR) [BO3]: Empire 1-0
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