Dota 2: MDL Paris Major – Day 1 Highlights

Day one of the MDL Paris Major at Disneyland is finished and our teams are now moving into the next phase of the competition.

We saw some fantastic performances across the day’s series, with plenty of action-packed games and some truly beautiful Dota 2 being played by the pros.

There were plenty of thrilling moments, we’ve cherry-picked a few of our favourite highlights to share, just in case you missed out on the excitement.

Group A: The Solo-Rubick showstopper

It’s difficult to discuss the results of Group A at the end of day one without mentioning Virtus Pro and Solo.

His performance during VP’s two game series against Team Liquid saw one of the most creative Rubick builds seen on a main stage. His decision to build the Crystalys made for some truly memorable plays throughout the second game and secured him some very opportune kills which helped Virtus Pro on to victory.

But Solo’s ingenuity/insanity aside, Virtus Pro emerged the stronger team in Group A.

They took their first series against beastcoast 2-1, emerging victorious in the third game, despite beastcoast maintaining a kill-lead throughout most of it.

There’s no doubt watching VP and Liquid’s first game was magical enough for a Major at Disneyland. It was a see-saw of breathtaking back and forth Dota 2, that seemed to be either team’s game at several points.

Game one ended after a gruelling hour and two minutes, and VP taking the victory with a 2-kill lead. The final score was 46-44, a total of 90 kills on the board.

Although Liquid looked strong in their opening series against Keen Gaming, Virtus Pro emerged the clear winners of Group A at the end of day one.

Group B: Secret still on top

There’s been plenty of discussion about Secret this DPC Season. The team have been on fire all year, taking out the Chongqing Major back in January, and ESL One Katowice in February.

There performance in Group B on day one of MDL Disney was no different. Their first series of the day, against Team Empire, saw them fighting at full form. Game one of this series was a quick 29-minute affair that Secret clearly dominated.

Team Empire tried to turn the tables in game two. The CIS team gave an outstanding performance, holding their own against Secret during the first half. But Secret were ready for the late phase. By the time the game reached the 30-minute mark, things were back in their favour. Nisha’s Anti-Mage and MidOne’s Ember Spirit had 12 kills by the time the game ended at 44-minutes.

Although Team Empire made them work for it, Secret secured their first series of the day in a 2-0 victory.

After their strong performance against Empire, Team Secret went on to face Chaos Esports Club in the Group B Winners Match.

https://youtu.be/4erPVhlidiA?t=449

Chaos were simply no match for Secret. They dominated the net worth throughout the first game of this series, obliterating Chaos in 32-minutes.

Game two was similarly brutal. Although Chaos managed to claw themselves a short lead in the net worth at around 15 minutes, the swing in their favour did not last long.  It was all over by 30-minutes. Team Secret scored a spot in the upper bracket and ending day one of the Major undefeated.

We’ll find out who they’ll face in the Upper Bracket after today’s elimination matches.

Group C: Vici bring the pain

Vici Gaming ended day one with a safe spot in the upper bracket alongside Team Secret.

With outstanding performances from Fade, Ori and Paparazi, Vici breezed through their first day of competition in Group C undefeated.

Their first series of the day was against Pain Gaming. But it was Vici who were bringing the pain. They ended game one in a blistering 24-minutes. Crushing Pain right from the outset of the laning phase and maintaining their net worth lead right up until the last seconds.

While game two stretched on a little longer, it was still an easy win for Vici, who ended it at 35-minutes to go on to meet PSG. LGD in the Winners Match.

PSG.LGD had a strong performance against Mineski in their opening series. They took out the SEA team in their series with a performance that looked a lot like Vici’s series against Pain.

But when the two teams from China face each other, a different story emerged.

Vici were clearly the dominant team, and it showed from game one. They thrashed LGD in 22-minutes, with the scoreboard sitting at 19-7. A 12-kill lead for Vici.

Game two saw LGD establish a strong lead in the net worth. But Ori’s Leshrac was a beast that LGD could not bring down. With one death and 18 kills, Ori played a huge role in securing the victory for Vici in this game.

On the side of LGD, poor Fy’s Shadow Shaman was a sacrificial lamb for the team. He died 11 times in game two, and only managing to assist his team in earning four kills.

After 31-minutes game two ended with a second win for Vici Gaming. At the end of day one, they join VP and Secret in our upper bracket.

Group D: Evil Geniuses Looking strong

Evil Geniuses saw some of their best performances of the season on the first day of competition at this Major.

They made their first series against Complexity Gaming look easy. EG’s were merciless, dominating with a 23-kill lead in game one, and a 24-kill lead in game two.

They went into the Winners Match for Group D looking pretty intimidating.

But so did their opponents. OG had crushed Fnatic in their opening match, also securing a 2-0 victory to progress to the Winners Match.

The two teams met to fight it out for the last easy upper bracket spot up for grabs, and EG proved that they’re thirsty to break their curse.

They brought the pressure from the moment play got underway. Taking down the bottom T1 tower at the eight-minute mark. This was just the start of the work EG did, creating all the space necessary for SumaiL and Arteezy to shutdown Ana’s Phantom Assassin.

Game one ended in a clear victory for Evil Geniuses, and they came in to game two with confidence.

OG never managed to overtake EG and gain the net worth lead, despite game two running ten-minutes longer than game one. It was a desperate hold out that just didn’t pay off for the EU team. At 48-minutes, they called GG and sent Evil Geniuses off to the upper bracket.

After an exciting day of competition, day one is now in the bag. Now it’s on to day two, and the elimination matches, where we’ll start to see our upper and lower brackets really take shape.

You can catch all of today’s games live over on the official Twitch channels for MDL Disney. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for more highlights from the Major and check out our YouTube for all the latest esports news.