Dota 2: WESG 2018-2019 – Day 1 Highlights
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Eliana Bollati
Day one of WESG has come to an end. The first day of our round robin group stages saw 24 teams battle it out over a total of 24 games. It was an action-packed day of Dota 2. With so many teams taking the stage, there’s plenty of games to go around; it’s almost too many to keep track of.
Let’s look at a few of the day’s highlights.
Australia vs. Keen Gaming
One of our first match-up’s for the day saw the return of OG carry, Anathan “ana” Pham. Ana stepped up to play for Team Australia on the main stage at WESG. But it was not the triumphant return many fans were expecting, with Ana in position five, rather than playing the team’s carry.
The boys from down under had a hard road ahead of them in this B02.
Game one saw Keen Gaming come out on top, Australia seemed to fall apart in the laning phase and never quite recovered. Eleven’s Doom and Ying’s Outworld Devourer dominated the net worth, while old chicken’s Weaver secured 12 of the 42 kills for his team in this game. Things looked shaky for Australia after a twenty-six-minute stomp.
Our next match was a much closer affair as Australia got into their groove and pushed back against the pressure from Keen. The game swung back and forth, with neither team backing down.
Velo’s Pangolier was unstoppable, he racked up 17 kills for his team in this game, playing a massive role in Team Australia’s game two turnaround. The series ended in a 1-1 tie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=237aGoZ92Hg
EHOME vs. Team Ukraine
Team Ukraine end the first day of WESG undefeated, taking the top spot in Group A with a total of 6 points. But it was their second series of the day today where we saw them truly shine.
Ukraine did not give EHOME an inch, playing hard and fast. Game one started out even, but at the fifteen-minute mark, Ukraine pulled ahead.
From here, things started to look bad for EHOME. Once No[o]ne’s Ursa took the gold lead, the punishment that Ukraine brought to the map was unrelenting., Ukraine took over the radiant side, and GG was called at twenty-six-minutes.
EHOME did not fare any better in game two. Team Ukraine came into the early game strong, leading the net worth from the five-minute mark. Again, we saw No[o]ne’s Ursa on a rampage, taking team fights, finding pickoffs and delivering his team a well-deserved 2-0 victory. Unsurprisingly No[o]ne came out with the most kills, a total of 30 over both games in this series.
TNC Predator vs. Room310
TNC are down two players from their regular roster at WESG this year. Team captain Carlo ‘Kuku' Palad. Kuku is unable to attend thanks to the ban issued by Chongqing’s Municipal Government. Also missing from TNC’s recent line up is Michael “ninjaboogie” Ross Jr.
Ninjaboogie left TNC Predator in February, passing over the role of captain to Kuku. He was replaced Lotac’s Eyyou, while fellow Lotac player, Raven stepped up to fill Kuku’s shoes at the tournament.
Even with two players missing, TNC put on a fantastic show against Room310. It was another two quick matches, with neither game in this series going past twenty-five minutes. Game one saw Room310 score only 4 kills to TNC’s 26, giving the Filipino team a 22-kill lead.
Room310 tried to recover in game two, but there was no mercy from the side of TNC. Gabbi’s Troll Warlord pick proved to be exactly what they needed to carry this game to victory, giving them a 2-0 win over the Chinese team.
These were classic stomps for TNC Predator. They dictated the pace and pressure in both games, leading the net worth from the opening minutes. They left no space for Room310 to recover, controlling the map and delivering that brutally fast SEA style of play that we’ve come to expect from them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIpVsxOj4-Q
The Final Tribe vs. Team Russia (White-Off)
One of our last matches of the day saw EU team The Final Tribe meet Team Russia, aka White-Off.
White-Off is made up of most of the boys from Virtus.pro. Solo, Ramzes, Pasha, and Rodjer are representing Russia. Gambit Esport’s Afoninje filled the last spot. VP's No[o]ne, is representing his home country on Team Ukraine.
This seemed like it would be an easy win for the VP boys and Afoninje, but things didn’t go according to plan.
The Final Tribe put up a phenomenal fight in game one, wresting control back from Russia in the games final minutes to secure themselves an unexpected victory. Despite leading the net worth, White-Off were unable to counter Xibbe’s Leshrac pick, which was instrumental in helping The Final Tribe take the first win.
Unlike game one of the series, which pushed out to forty-one-minutes, game two was over quickly. The Final Tribe clearly meant business in the second game. They were leading the net worth by six minutes in and as the match neared its final moments both Chessie and Frost were ahead of Ramzes in gold and kills.
The Final Tribe might turn out to be something of a dark horse in this tournament. They’re currently sitting in second place in Group C. It will be interesting to see if they keep up the pace tomorrow.
You can check out today's final standings on WESG's official page, or on Liquidpedia. Tomorrow WESG moves into the second day of the group stages.
Only two teams from each group will progress to the playoffs. Who will be going home? Don’t forget to tune in to the games live on Twitch to catch all the excitement.
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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.