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Dota 2: MDL Chengdu – Day 2 Recap

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Dota 2: MDL Chengdu – Day 2 Recap

We break down all the action from MDL Chengdu Day 2

Day one of the MDL Chengdu Major was absolutely nuts! There were so many amazing games to watch that it was hard to keep track of what’s happening in each one of them. Luckily, we at ESTNN managed to cover most of them, so be sure to check our recap of Day one if you missed anything.

The second day of the Major was equally as exciting as yesterday because it was the last day of the Group Stage. Let’s take a look and see which teams got to the Upper Bracket. Unfortunately, those that didn’t make it there will have to fight for their survival in the deadly Bo1.

Group A

Fighting PandaS vs Team Unknown

The opening series of the day in the first group was between Jacky “EternalEnvy” Mao’s team and TU. Although Team Unknown had a lot of potential on paper, they were unable to achieve anything significant here.

EE and his team-mates completely ripped through the South American team like a knife through butter. On the other hand, TU finished last in their group with 0 wins. As a result, they will have to play in a Bo1 match against the SEA powerhouse – Fnatic.

EHOME vs Fighting PandaS

After securing the victory against Team Uknown, FP had a way stronger enemy to deal with. Even though EHOME was considered to be one of the favorites to win their Group, they couldn’t really live up to the expectations.

To makes matters worse, they also lost against Fighting Pandas in the last game of Group A. As a result, the legendary Chinese team will have to play versus Team Spirit in the Lower Bracket.

Fighting PandaS definitely exceeded the expectations in their performance so far. They got a well-deserved spot in the Upper Bracket.

Group B

Fnatic vs Team Spirit

Although Fnatic won this series, Team Spirit has proven that they have what it takes to challenge even the best teams in the world right now. In fact, they’ve nearly managed to snatch the victory at one point. Unfortunately, a series of mistakes let Fnatic take full advantage once more and secured their win.

Alliance vs Fnatic

This was undoubtedly one of the most interesting series of the day. After Vici Gaming secured the first spot in this group, it was up to those two teams to decide which one will go to the Upper Bracket.

Game one was full of back-and-forth action and constant shifts in the balance of power. However, it seems like Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov’s Alchemist is just too good right because as soon as he became big enough, Fnatic had no answers for him.

Having a one-game lead on their side, Alliance looked very confident in the second game of the series. They saw the opportunity to pick Drowranger and they took full advantage of it. On the contrary, Fnatic tried to focus on a late-game based draft but just didn’t work. Alliance got an early advantage and slowly but steadily, they’ve closed out the game.

Despite being one of the favorites, Fnatic will have to fight for their lives tomorrow in the Lower Bracket. On the other hand, Alliance proved yet again why they are the fan-favorite team right.

Group C

 

Adroit vs Aster

Both teams had no wins prior to this series which made it pretty interesting to watch. Having said that, Team Aster was definitely the better team out of the two and the end results show it.

The first game of the series was entirely one-sided as the Chinese got an early lead. Even though the SEA team tried to bounce back a couple of times, they couldn’t find their timings which resulted in a fast victory for Song “Sccc” Chun and Co.

Team Aster continued their domination in the second game as well. Despite the shaky start, the Chinese delivered their knock-out punch and secured themselves a match against Evil Geniuses.

Team Aster vs Evil Geniuses

The series between these two powerhouses was a joy to watch. Even though EG were the heavy favorites, Aster didn’t go down without a fight. In fact, the first two games were a constant back-and-forth brawl as neither team had a clear advantage over the other. The end result was a draw, which meant that the third game will decide which of the two teams will advance to the Upper Bracket.

Game three began in a similar way to the first two as both teams were neck and neck.  However, EG’s two melee cores + Magnus eventually managed to out farm their Chinese counterparts. For some reason, Team Aster also wanted to play the farm game when they clearly had no way to win it.

After the victory, Evil Geniuses will be playing against Invictus Gaming in the winner bracket.

Group D

beastcoast vs Gambit Esports

Game one of the first series in the last group of the MDL Chengdu Major was a one-man show as Danil “gpk” Skutin absolutely demolished the South American team.

BC got into the spotlights yesterday after a Reddit post explaining how the players got sick. Supposedly, they even went to a Chinese hospital in order to be able to play today. Needless to say, this definitely had an impact on their playstyle and Gambit took full advantage of it.

Even though they’ve won the first game, beastcoast managed to snatch the victory in game two and pushed the series into a final game three. Having the moral advantage on their side, the South American powerhouse ripped through the competition and won in just 26 minutes, sending Gambit Esports to the lower bracket.

J.storm vs beastcoast

The last series of the day was between North America and South America. Beastcoast was doing phenomenally so far, even though the odds were always against them. Despite being sick, the ex-Infamous roster still played out of this world. After each team won one game, it was time to watch the final game of the day.

Game three was very strange because J.storm absolutely annihilated their enemies for the first 20 minutes, In fact, they had over 30 kill lead at one point but thanks to BC’s Tinker, J.Storm couldn’t get any big objectives outside the tier two towers. However, once the NA team managed to find a way to kill him, they needed just a couple of minutes to completely wipe out BC’s base.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow to watch the epic LB games. We will witness the first few teams that will leave the Major.

 

Dota 2: MDL Chengdu – Day 2 Recap
Zlosterr
Zlosterr has been a fan of esports for many years and mainly focuses on Dota 2. He has more than five years of experience writing Dota 2 content for numerous platforms. Besides being a passionate fan of the game, he's also played for various amateur teams.