ESL One Malaysia 2022 – Day 1 Overview

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ESL One Malaysia 2022 – Day 1 Overview

The last big tournament before The International 11 qualifiers is now live! Twelve of the world's most impressive Dota 2 teams will gather in Malaysia to fight for a $400,000 prize pool. ESL One Malaysia 2022 is not a part of the DPC, but it will have two groups of six teams each.


Unsurprisingly, the first day of the event gave us access to many epic matches. The best teams in each group had the chance to show their prowess because each team played two series. Needless to say, there were a couple of exciting results, so let’s learn more about them.

Group A

Interestingly, every series in Group A finished with a 2-0 victory. There were a few interesting matches, but in the end, only a few teams won.

Alliance lost 2 series

Although most of the teams at ESL One Malaysia 2022 deserve to be here. the same can’t be said for Alliance. Even though this was one of the top-tier WEU squads, the team is just not on the level of the other top-tier squads. After dropping to Division II for the second time and failing to qualify for the Major, Alliance lost their two opening series in Malaysia. 

The first match was between them and Entity, one of the top-tier squads in Western Europe right now. Although some people expected this series to be close, Entity had no problems against their opponents.

The first map was just 32 minutes, which was enough time for Entity’s Visage, Chen and Razor combo.  Even though Alliance also picked a couple of meta heroes, they were not strong enough to prevent their opponents from winning.

After losing the first map, Alliance was crushed in game two. Interestingly, both teams used similar drafts, but Entity stole w33’s Invoker and prevented Alliance from doing the combo with Void. This was devastating for Nikonbaby and co., so the team lost in just 23 minutes.

vs Team Secret

 

After losing the first series, Alliance had to step up their game and win their second match of the day against Team Secret. Sadly, this did not happen because Puppey and the rest won both games.

Alliance are usually accused of using the same heroes in every game, but this time, the team went for a different draft in the first map. Typical for Team Secret, Puppey and the rest picked a very aggressive lineup that allowed them to take fights. Despite playing against Puck and Timbersaw, Team Secret found the formula to success and won the first map.

Even though TI 3 winning organization changed their draft for game two, the IO-Bristleback-Mars pick had to play against Timbersaw. Needless to say, this hero counters all of them, which is why Team Secret secured an easy victory in just 28 minutes.

Aster starts with two victories

Despite the fact that teams like Alliance lost both series at ESL One Stockholm 2022, Aster won both matches. The first one was against Talon, one of the three representatives from the region. Although the team had a very promising draft with Storm and Sniper, Aster’s Puck, Bristleback, and Viper gave their opponent no chances.

The Chinese powerhouse knew it had to play against the clock, so it decided to do everything it could and end the game as fast as possible. Hence, the team needed just 32 minutes.

Team Aster also dominated in the second game, but this time, Talon picked more interesting heroes. The SEA powerhouse had some glimmer of hope because it had Alchemist, but the hero never managed to shine. BS, Razor, and Tiny from Aster ensured they would win the match.

The match vs Thunder Awaken

Following the victory against Talon Esports, the Chinese squad had to go up against Thunder Awaken. The South American team lost its first match against Team Secret, so it had to win this one to keep its chances of survival. Sadly, this did not happen.

Team Aste was clearly better out of the two and deserved the victory. Both games were around 30 minutes long, during which Monet and the rest had little to no problems. Thunder Awaken had a few chances in the second match, but they were not enough.

Group B

Following the action in Group A, we had the chance to watch the second group in action. 

OG won two series

There is no arguing that OG is one of the big favorites to win this event. Bzm and the rest were among the first to qualify for TI 11, and the team achieved pretty impressive results. Consequently, most people were not surprised that OG defeated Team Liquid.

MATUMBAMAN and the rest tried using their signature heroes like Lycan and Lone Druid. However, their WEU counterparts were prepared for the picks and relied on their Razor and Templar Assassin in both games.

There were some back-and-forth team fights, but Team Liquid was always behind in terms of net worth and experience. In the end, OG’s lead allowed the team to win.

vs Fnatic

The second challenge for OG was one of the best SEA teams in the last couple of years. Fnatic won its first match against BOOM Esports, so the team wanted to do the same. Sadly, OG proved to be too strong for their opponents.

The first game was completely one-sided as OG’s Alchemist had an amazing game. The hero achieved some of the best GPM and XPM in the game and ripped through Fnatic’s draft. Hence, Yuragi and the rest won the map after just 25 minutes.

Just when we thought that Game 2 would bring us something else, Fnatic failed to use their Broodmother properly. The team had a pretty strong draft that could put up a challenge. However, OG used their pick perfectly and took advantage of the fact that their enemies had no stuns.

Other results

Interestingly, OG was the only team to secure two victories in Group B after Day 1. BOOM lost one match and got a draw in the second one. The same applies to Fnatic.

Nigma Galaxy got two draws, and so did TSM. We can’t wait for tomorrow because we will watch the epic fight between OG and Nigma. Make sure to follow us for more information and definitely check our Dota 2 betting guides. You will find loads of top-tier sites that will give you good odds.

ESL One Malaysia 2022 – Day 1 Overview
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.