Dota 2: The Chongqing Major – Main Event Day 2 Recap

Chongqing Major – Main Event Day 1 Recap

The second day of the main event was packed with games. The Lower bracket best-if-one massacre started for eight teams, followed the Upper bracket clashes.

Lower Bracket

Alliance vs. Chaos Esports Club

More than disappointed.

Chaos showed up strong and did not give us a moment to breath.

Only thing to do is to try even harder. Reaching the major means nothing if we can’t perform when we are here.

GGWP @ChaosEC

— Jonathan Berg (@LodaBerg) January 22, 2019

In the opening game of the day, the TI 3 champions had to fight for their survival against one of the South American representatives at the event.

In the best-of-ones we rarely see experiments, because the teams play their most comfortable heroes. This game continued the tradition. There was yet again a Medusa vs. Anti-Mage, which are one of the most picked core heroes in the tournament so far.

In the early stages of the game, it was a relatively passive farm-fest. Alliance looked a bit messy and Chaos EC took full advantage. The only hope left for the Europeans was the AM, but he couldn’t carry his team, and 26 minutes into the game GG was called, sending Alliance home.

ThePango vs. Thunder Predator

One of the least anticipated games in the Main event was surprisingly pretty fun to watch. Pango had an excellent group stage and was even close to winning against Team Liquid, which is a clear sign that this team has a bright future.

In this game, they went with a very tanky lineup, whereas TP had a more aggressive approach to the game. The early laning stage was chill as both teams were slowly building up farm, but as it went on, the Peruvians started to outmaneuver their enemies.

After a very messy fight around Pangos’ tier 3 tower, the South American team was able to close out the game, having that insane push power from TB.

Forward Gaming vs. J.storm

This was definitely one of the most interesting games in the best-of-ones. Both of those teams had an awful Group stage, leading them to the deadly Lower bracket.

The game began relatively slow as both teams decided to go with a late-game lineup. Forward gaming chose a Terrorblade for Resolut1ion, while J.storm had a classic OD + Juggernaut setup. The game was even for the most part, however, after a horrible call for FG, J.storm were able to take the upper hand, and at one point they had around 30k net worth advantage. Despite that the game felt as if there was none, mainly due to the over-farmed TB.

In the end, after 70 minutes of highest quality Dota, J.storm managed to snatch the victory. Their next opponents are going to be Fnatic, and it will be one heck of a game.

TNC Predator vs. Team Aster

The last game of the Bo1 hell saw two teams, which are capable of ruining the plans even of the so-called “favorites” to win this event. Team Aster is probably the most under-performing team at the event so far, which was certainly not expected, considering the caliber of their players.

As expected, both teams decided to go with a late-game orientated lineups, which resulted in a slow-paced game, mainly focusing on getting those last hits. Team Aster went with a snowball mid laner that had to make enough space for their Terrorblade to stand a chance against the enemy cores. However, having that Tinker and Morphling did eventually pay off as TNC were slowly and steadily closing the game. After a crucial fight in Asters’ base, the GG was called, and the Chinese had booked their tickets home.

Upper Bracket

PSG.LGD vs. Virtus.Pro

It's a great tradition – winning against PSG.LGD in China! GG WP @LGDGaming#GOGOVP #ChongqingMajor pic.twitter.com/Dhnun4w0Tk

— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) January 22, 2019

By far the most interesting game in the event so far, the two Dota titans had to go face to face. The prize – a slot for the Upper Bracket Final and a guaranteed top 4. To make it even more interesting, VPs’ captain Solo could not play, because of his illness. His substitute was their coach – ArsZeeqq.

In game one, LGD rolled out the good old IO + Gyro combo, which turned out to be not as strong as they thought. VP decided to put their hopes on a classic Juggernaut for Ramzess, who was able to carry his team to victory yet again. The Chinese tried to stop the CIS prodigy by getting a rapier for the Gyrocopter, but sadly it was not enough to deal with the pressure from VP and game one went in their favor.

Having nothing to lose, LGD were looking to recover in the second game by getting an Anti-Mage as well as an OD. Everything was going according to plan until the 20th-minute mark. From this point on, VP was able to take control of the game and even got Mega Creeps, which made the life of LGD a living hell. Having that advantage, Virtus.Pro was able to close the game, sending LGD to the Lower bracket where they have to fight for their survival.

EHOME vs. Team Secret

The current Bucharest Minor champion and Team Secret started the first game with two different mindsets. The Chinese went with a Drow strat, which did not turn out to be a good idea. If you fall behind early in the game with it, bouncing back is really hard. Fortunately for Secret, they won the laning stage, which gave  Dusa tons of farm. After claiming the Aegis, finishing the game was just a matter of time. Realizing the situation that they were in, EHOME decided not to waste any more time, giving the lead in the series to the Europeans.

The second game was pretty much a one-man show from Nisha, although EHOME had the game in the bag. The talented player utterly destroyed the Chinese with his Phantom Assassin. In the most important fight of the game near the Radiant ancient camp, he single-handedly killed each of the enemy heroes, scoring a triple-rampage. After the fight, EHOME had no other choice but to surrender, which means that Team Secret will be facing Virtus.Pro in the Upper bracket finals.

The Action Continues

Tomorrow we will be able to watch the Lower Bracket games, whereas the 24th will be a day off. There is always a little bit more drama when teams are playing for their survival, so it should be pretty interesting to see what will happen. One thing is sure – it will be epic.

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Images via: Starladder, Egamersworld, and Team Secrets Twitter.