Dota 2: DreamLeague Major Day 1 Highlights
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Eliana Bollati
Day one of the DreamLeague Major is now over, and what a day it was. We saw some total stomps and some epic battles on our first day of the group stages. With plenty of action to keep up with in Stockholm, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite moments from today’s series to keep you up to date with all the excitement.
Team Secret stomp Keen Gaming; 2-0
Our first match of the day also turned out to be the fastest.
Team Secret and Keen Gaming faced-off in a two-game series that was short and sweet.
Keen came in strong to game one. Taking out Zai twice in the first three minutes. But things shifted towards Secret’s favour as the laning phase came to an end. With Nisha securing his desolator within the first 20 minutes on Phantom Assassin and MidOne’s Monkey King using tree dance aggressively to give Secret the space they needed to bring the pain.
After 23 minutes of non-stop pressure from Secret, Keen finally faltered.
Game two seemed like it was going to be a Keen comeback. They dominated the kills early on, racking up fourteen kills in the first fourteen minutes. A twelve-kill lead over Secret, who had only managed to take two kills by the end of the laning phase.
But kills alone weren’t enough to send Secret packing. They held their ground and by twenty minutes had caught up in the net worth and were pushing Keen’s top tower. This was the real turning point in game two, as Secret turned up their offense to ten. By thirty minutes they had an 11k lead in the net worth. At 35 minutes, the game was a wrap. Secret took out their first series against Keen 2-0.
Puppey was a force to be reckoned with in both games. Denying himself in game one to rob Keen of a much-needed kill, and involving himself in nearly every fight, with 33 assists by the end of the series.
Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fnatic’s epic one-hour brawl
If you only have time to watch one game from today’s series, then make it the first match between NiP and Fnatic. This was a brutal, back and forth blood bath, stretching to seventy-two minutes and ending in mega creeps vs. mega creeps.
NiP had a slight lead in both net worth and kills throughout game one, but that wasn’t enough to put a stop to Fnatic. Especially Mental Protector’s Lone Druid, who led the over all net worth for his team, ending the game with an average of 796 gold per minute.
https://youtu.be/gGaio9pP61s?t=201
But across the entire series, it was Ace whose performance stood out the most. He secured a total of 45 kills for his team across the three games, with a massive 17 on Phantom Assassin in game three. Saksa was also instrumental in bringing home the win for his team, with 70 assists.
NiP ended up taking the series 2-1, but Fnatic put up a hard fight, and it will be interesting to see them face off against Infamous tomorrow.
LGD.PSG still strong without Maybe
LGD’s series against Infamous saw the boys from China playing at their full form again. The team has experienced a few surprising losses recently, but it seems they’ve finally gotten used to playing around Xm.
LGD came into game one a little slowly at first. xNova took out papita, drawing first blood at just past three minutes, and by ten-minutes LGD had a six kill-lead. With Ame finishing his manta by 13 minutes, and Chalice on Bounty Hunter beating Mason’s net worth on PA, this game was in the bag for LGD.
Timado went for an early midas on Queen of Pain, but the item still didn’t help him secure the farm he needed to really threaten LGD’s pushes. A courier snipe by Ame early on put Mason on the back foot as well, forcing him to wait the extra two and a half minutes for his item.
Game one turned into a slaughter, as LGD picked them apart on the high ground at twenty-four minutes. This was a clean, quick game. LGD ended it with a 31k net worth advantage and 31 kills.
LGD played to a clinical perfection in game two. Although Infamous did their best to turn things around, there was just no stopping LGD’s advance. Xm’s Pugna pick came out on top in the midlane. Effectively shutting down Timado’s Viper and preventing Infamous from getting the farm they needed to come online.
Ame had just one death over both games. Both he and Xm held the top net worth in game one and two. Both playing a large role in carrying LGD to victory.
Xm brought in the most kills across the series today for a total of 15. If LGD’s performance today is anything to go by, he’s working out quite well as Maybe’s replacement.
Final Standings
Tomorrow the group stages will move into their final stage. So who can we expect to see in our winner’s bracket after today’s series?
Group A winner’s match will see Team Secret and Team Liquid battle it out for a place in the upper bracket. Keen Gaming and J.Storm will face off in our loser’s match.
In group B, Ninjas in Pyjamas will meet LGD.PSG in the winner’s match. The loser’s match will see Fnatic play against Infamous.
Group C’s winner’s match will see Virtus Pro and Mineski take the stage. In our loser's bracket, we can expect to see Forward Gaming and EHOME going head to head.
Our group D winner’s showdown will see Evil Geniuses fight Vici Gaming for a spot in the playoffs. While Chaos Esports Club and Natus Vincere duke it out in the lower bracket.
Eliminations are right around the corner. Which of our teams will make it through to the finals? Who will be going home empty-handed? Tune in to DreamLeague’s Twitch tomorrow to find out!
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Eliana is a freelance editor & journalist from Australia with a passion for esports and video games. An avid player of video games for the better part of three decades, she began following professional esports circuits during the 2010s. She brings both a player and longtime fan perspective into her commentary on the professional scenes.