Titan ends up on top of the WD Dota 2 Pro Series after defeating Arrow Gaming 3-1. Its a rivalry in the making, with the two Malaysian teams facing each other in the finals of a tournament for the third time in the last two days.
The series started with an action-packed first game. Despite claiming a level 1 first blood, Arrow was put to a disadvantage after their Bristleback got tossed onto a cliff by a Rubick. Rubick, together with Lion, made sure that the stuck hero could not teleport out and killed it before it can move out. Despite a resilient effort from Arrow, Titan was just far too mobile with four blink daggers and three force staffs at their disposal that the latter can just engage at will. Arrow's Ember Spirit was also shut down hard.
The bad performance from Ember Spirit didn't reflect the teams' interest on him. He was actually picked the whole series. It was Titan's turn to use him in the second game, on which he finished with a stellar 13-1-16 KDA record. Arrow tried to negate the advantage that Titan has by split-pushing, but the farmed Ember and Mirana proved to be a big problem for them.
With their backs against the wall, Arrow Gaming went with a bold approach in the third game - a quad-melee line-up which included a support Wraith King. With the mobility provided by their skills and/or blink daggers, Arrow's melee cores somehow found their marks and they found themselves successful in both catching enemies and in defending split pushes. They won in the end, with the Doom and the Ember combining into a 25-7-30 KDA record.
In the fourth game, Arrow again went with an Ember, but this time they placed him in the one-position as they had Invoker man the middle lane. They also again went with a support Wraith King. Titan, on the other hand, was able to get Yamateh's Storm, Ohaiyo's Nature's Prophet, and the Naga Siren for kyxy. The superior map control of Titan because of Storm, Nature's Prophet and Ancient Apparition crippled Arrow's farming space, and the latter eventually cannot defend against Naga. Titan raked in $500 for this 3-1 series victory.
Both teams were undefeated in this tournament prior this meeting. This is the third time that the teams have faced each other in the grand finals of a tournament within the last two days. They split the last two series, with Titan winning the joinDOTA league Asia and Arrow Gaming claiming the MPGL MY qualifier. Titan, having a 6-5 record against Arrow Gaming so far, is enjoying a slight advantage in their head-to-head match-up.
The WD Dota 2 Pro Series is also having a format change. Instead of six winner-takes-all, $500 tournaments, it will now instead cut the number of tournaments to four. The last one will have a prize pool of $1,500, with the winner and runner-up taking $1,000 and $500 respectively. There will be no change in the teams participating in the tournament, and it will remain to be the same eight invited teams which took part in this series.
Schedule for remaing Pro Series:
- Series 2: 15 April - 25 April
- Series 3: 26 April - 9 May
- Series 4: 10 May - 25 May
