Review of The Kuala Lumpur Major

The first major tournament in this game season - The Kuala Lumpur Major - has ended up. The guys from Virtus.Pro became the winners. Now it's time to sum it up.

Disappointing teams:

Team Aster

The Chinese collective, performing under the Team Aster tag, played pretty well at the qualifiers in the strongest region. After the elimination round for  Major, the roster took part in ESL One Hamburg 2018 and took the 5-6 position there, defeating some top teams, so the roster was expected to show the same at The Kuala Lumpur Major. At the very tournament the roster got to “death group”, where they gained only one win and at the playoff they sensationally lost against J.Storm at the bo1 battle, getting the 13-16 position by results of the tournament. The only excuse for Team Aster can be a substitute - a week before the start of the event new meader loveyouloveme had joined the team.

Tigers

The guys from Tigers got to The Kuala Lumpur Major thanks to their win at  DreamHack Season 10 minor championship and the majority expected that they would make it to Ten Best, but something went wrong and the guys managed to win a only over Gambit eSports at the tournament. As a result, the 13-16 place, but it can be explained easily - the team showed their best strategies at the minor and The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018 opponent knew how to cope with the collective from Southeast Asia.

Forward Gaming

Resolut1on and his team are performing poorly in this game season and Roman connects it with Universe joining the team after The International 2018, but it's impossible to achieve teamwork yet. The collective got to the tournament thanks to the second place at the qualifier in North America and at the very championship the collective took the third place in the group winning only over PaiN Gaming X. At the lower bracket the collective defeated Gambit eSports, but at the next stage the guys weren't lucky enough and Forward Gaming lost against Evil Geniuses. We can't say that this result is a failure, but their fans didn't expect the 9-12 place from them for sure.

Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming changed their main roster and it was pretty difficult to understand the power of the team at the beginning of the season, but the collective managed to get the second place at the qualifier. A week before the start of The Kuala Lumpur Major, the guys had unexpectedly made it to the grand final of ESL One Hamburg 2018, so the team fell under the impression that they were very strong and could kick up a fuss at the next championship, but it happened not as it had been planned  by Ori and the team. The guys took the second place in the group, providing themselves with entering the upper part of the playoff bracket, but there the team weren't lucky to meet with Team Secret. At the lower bracket the collective lost against TNC Predator by the score of 2:1. This performance can't be named bad for sure, but the majority expected that they would get to Four Best.

PSG.LGD

The world vice-champions according to The International 2018, PSG.LGD, were one of the favourites to win The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018 because of their previous achievements - the collective was one of the strongest in last season and many analysts and bookmakers thought that the guys would continue playing on the same level, as after TI8 they didn't have any change and also no big patch was released. The roster overcame qualifiers for the first major tournament easily, so they were thought to have a good shape, but it turned out to be worse - PSG.LGD got placed on the 5-6 position, losing against Team Secret and Evil Geniuses. This result wasn't satisfying for Fy and his team and the fans got used to the highest places for their favs, so we put PSG to the disappointing teams.

PaiN Gaming

paiN Gaming with their captain MiseRy got underestimated at the very beginning of the season and nobody expected good performances from them, and the first positions at qualifiers in South America don't prove anything, as this region is thought to be the weakest in Dota 2 community. W33 and the team couldn't put up with the outsider status at each championship and showed a good game at ESL One Hamburg 2018, where they took the 4 position. The team had to get prepared for the Brazilian mix more properly and at The Kuala Lumpur paiN Gaming couldn't do anything. Their participation resulted in the third place in the group and leaving the championship at the first round of the lower bracket of the playoff playing with TNC Predator. In comparison with the fourth place at ESL - the last place at The Kuala Lumpur 2018 is a complete disaster.

Teams with expected results:

Evil Geniuses

The guys from Evil Geniuses made it to the championship being favourites and it was expected that they would enter Four Best and they did. The roster took the first place in “death group” and lost only against NiP and Virtus.Pro at the playoff and because of that the roster took the third position at the first major tournament in 2018/2019 season. We should mark that the players of Evil Geniuses said in their in their interviews that they were not motivated to play in this patch, so getting to Three Best can be named a good result.

Team Secret

The European mix with their captain Puppey performed very well in the new season and in autumn they managed to win two LAN tournament - the collective turned out to be the strongest at PVP Esports Championship and ESL One Hamburg 2018, so the expectations from The Kuala Lumpur Major were the same. At the very major Team Secret won the group and at the playoff they lost only against Virtus.Pro at the grand final. The second place for the team is a good result and the analysts and bookmakers predicted that the guys would make it to the final, so we put them to the section with expected results.

Fnatic

The best team from Southeast Asia was expected to give a strong performance at The Kuala Lumpur Major, but the team performed poorly and made mistakes at unexpected moments.  Despite a weak game, the collective managed to focus and get to Eight Best, sharing the 7-8 position with Vici Gaming. Initially the team took the second place in their group and at the playoff IceIceIce and the team couldn't cope with Virtus.Pro and Evil Geniuses. We should mark that Fnatic made it to the 7-8 position at the major, showing a normal game and it is scary to imagine what the team can show in their best shape.

Alliance

The Swedish roster has been performing together for about one year and the majority of analysts supposed that the guys wouldn't leave at the first stages, but couldn't fight for getting to Three Best. It happened as it had been expected - the team started to perform pretty well, taking the second position in the group and providing themselves with a place in the upper bracket of the playoff, but at this stage the collective couldn't win any map. Boxi and the team lost against PSG.LGD and then they couldn't cope with TNC Predator. As a result, they got the 9-12 place and 450 Dota Pro Circuit points for the eSports club.

J.Storm

J.Storm team was formed in September 2018 and has already asserted themselves in North America, getting a slot at The Kuala Lumpur Major. A bit later the collective participated in World Showdown of Esports #1 and took the second position there, so before the start of the first Major tournament it had become clear that the roster could surprise, but wouldn't even get to Six Best. It happened as it had been expected - at first, the guys stopped at the last position in the group and at the playoff they turned out to be stronger than Team Aster and left the tournament after the battle with Fnatic, even though their chances were good. The 9-12 position reflects the collective's powers in the best way.

Gambit Esports

Gambit eSports got to The Kuala Lumpur Major thanks to the second place in the qualifiers in CIS. The guys used the moment when all the roster had bad teamwork after reshuffle period. Bookmakers and analysts placed the CIS roster on the last position and they were not mistaken as at the tournament the roster managed to win only one map at the battle with Tigers and nothing more. As a result, the eSports club gained the 13-16 position and only 225 Dota Pro Circuit points.

Surprising teams:

Virtus.Pro

The guys from Virtus.Pro claimed that they were not in their best shape in their interviews and their words were proved at ESL One Hamburg 2018, where the collective took the third place. At the very competition, the collective made a lot of mistakes and it was clear that at the match against Vici Gaming and against Team Secret “Bears” lost matches because of their mistakes, not because of the opponents. That's why  Virtus.Pro were considered to be favourites of The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018 but apprehensively. Solo and the team won the group stage easily and at the playoff they won over Fnatic, NiP and Evil Geniuses, providing themselves with a slot at Grand Final where they played all the five maps against Team Secret. As a result, “Bears” became champions of the first Major tournament and got a slot at The International 2019.

NiP

The European mix with their captain PPD is a very strong middle team and the majority of bookmakers and analysts thought that the guys could get to the 7-8 position, but a couple of days before the competition it had been known that 33 wasn't able to get to the tournament due to visa problems and his place would be taken by Mind_Control. After the announcement, the chances to get a good result got lower, but the team didn't agree with this statement and took the second place in their group losing only against Team Secret. At the playoff Ace and the team defeated Evil Geniuses and TNC Predator, which brought the fourth position to the roster. This result was considered to be very good for the collective, especially if we pay attention to the substitute.

TNC Predator

The main surprise of the tournament is the guys from TNC Predator, who shared the 5-6 position with PSG.LGD by the results of the tournament. Not so long time ago the collective couldn't get a title of the best team in South-East Asia and at the group stage of The Kuala Lumpur Major the roster got placed in the last position, not being able to win over neither Team Aster nor Vici Gaming. At the playoff stage the second wind kicked in and the Philippines team turned out to be stronger than paiN Gaming, Alliance and Vici Gaming, and lost against NiP and stopped one step behind Four Best.

paiN X

The guys from paiN X deserved their title of the main outsiders of the competition, as they can't achieve the title of the best team in South America and this region is considered to be the weakest on Dota 2 professional stage. The beginning of the tournament was pretty expected and CC&C and the team couldn't win any meeting in the group stage so they took the last position in their quartet. At the playoff paiN X sensationally won over Tigers, who won DreamLeague Season 10 not long time ago. As a result, they got placed on the 9-12 position and we can make them join the other teams that managed to surprise as they weren't expected to win even one match at this tournament.

Interesting facts:

• Virtus.Pro became the only leader according to the number of wins at Major tournaments. Here “Bears” outrun OG, who have four Major wins.
• Virtus.Pro are the only team that managed to win over Nisha at Morphling - after moving to Team Secret, the Polish esportsman played 12 matches of this character and won everything.
• Despite the fact that NiP performed with a substitute, the collective managed to become the most flexible. At the championship PPD managed to use 41 characters, which is 7 more than the closest opponents  (Virtus.Pro).
• After the win at The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018, Aleksey «Solo» Berezin became the richest esportsman in CIS. The captain of Virtus.Pro has $1,443,945,88. He is followed by two other representatives of “Bears” - Ramzes666 and No[o]ne.
• Team Secret lost only four maps at the tournament and in all of those cases Puppey and the team lost against Virtus.Pro.