Dota 2: BEYOND EPIC Sparking Arrow Gaming Wins Chinese Division
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Zlosterr
Here is what went down in China's division of the Beyond Epic tournament.
BEYOND EPIC was a really interesting tournament that gathered some of the best teams in the world. Even though it was online, we saw the most dominant European, CIS and Chinese teams playing across three divisions for their share of the prize pool.
Although most people didn’t expect it, the winner of the Chinese division tournament is Sparking Arrow Gaming. This is a team who landed in the spotlight recently after a pretty dominant performance. However, they had the daunting task of going up against the Chinese powerhouse Vici Gaming.
What happened in the Chinese division?
China is one of those Dota 2 regions where we rarely see surprises. Here, most of the dominant teams have been in the driving seat for many years now. But Sparking Arrow Gaming did what many people thought to be impossible. Proving everyone wrong after they managed to eliminate four of the strongest teams in this region. After this event, they’ve definitely made a name for themselves as one of the best.
The first big hit for the champions happened during the Group Stage. There, they’ve managed to win against PSG.LGD and Team Aster. As you probably know, they've been among the strongest teams over the last couple of months.
After the groups were over, Sparking Arrow Gaming had to face none other than Vici Gaming. Despite having the momentum on their side, Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang and his team-mates proved to be a little bit too strong for the young squad and send the team to the Lower Bracket.
The Lower Bracket run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9N50d_2nPo
After Sparking Arrow Gaming were sent to the Lower Bracket, things became even more difficult for them. The first challenge there was the infamous TI finalists, PSG.LGD. However, this didn’t stop Ou “Op” Peng and his team mats to rip through them. Even though it definitely was not easy, the team managed to deliver its knock out punch and eliminated LGD from the tournament.
The second challenge ahead of them was RFoyal Never Give Up. This is yet another really strong Chinese team that’s been in a lot of controversies in the last couple of months. Once again, Sparking Arrow Gaming was not among the favorites but somehow, they’ve managed to win. In fact, they did it with a classic 2-0.
The final test for the future champions was the team that sent them in the LB in the first place — Vici Gaming. This was the opportunity they needed in order to take revenge for what happened.
Needless to say, Ori. and co. were the favorites once again, especially after what happened. However, little did they know, Sparking Arrow Gaming was more than prepared now. The first game of the series was really strange because Vici had the lead for the most part. Their Luna + Vengeful combo was a bit too hard to deal with and everything seemed doomed for their enemies. However, a series of bad team fights completely turned things around. Thanks to their carry Nature’s Prophet, Sparking Arrow Gaming managed to snatch the win.
Following the victory, the future champions decided not to take any chances and picked one of their strongest heroes — Terrorblade. Although Vici tried to counter him, their efforts were just futile. After several minutes of farming, TB was too strong and he managed to carry his team to the victory and the $20k USD prize.
This was definitely an amazing tournament, so if you missed any of the series, make sure to check the recordings on Twitch. As we mentions, apart from China, this event has another division; Europe and CIS. Don’t forget to see how that plays out too.