There is no mercy when it comes to a best of one format in the first round of lower bracket competition. Unfortunately for Tigers and paiN Gaming, both become the first eliminated.
Teams never enjoy losing to a last pick Huskar, and certainly not when the repercussion is being knocked out of a Major in the DOTA Pro Circuit. This is precisely what happened to paiN Gaming. In a best of one series, teams tend to be extra cautious about losing to such strategies. TNC Predator tipped their hand just a bit by banning out Bloodseeker. The hero’s “Thirst” passive benefits from heroes consistently sitting at low health and is generally considered a solid counter to Huskar. Regrettably, paiN Gaming chose to ban out Phantom Lancer instead and the consequences were devastating. The game lasted just over 23 minutes. At no point during that time did paiN Gaming hold a net worth lead and eventually Armel Paul Tabios developed into the raid boss one would expect in a quality Huskar game.
The game featuring paiN X and Tigers entailed much more traditional drafts. Both teams opted for cooldown-oriented heroes. However, it was Tigers that went all in on the fact by drafting an Enigma, Magnus and Silencer. PaiN X’s lineup was not as dependent on their cooldowns and evaded the multi-hero Blackhole and Reverse Polarity spells brilliantly. The spells were baited out and avoided with minimal damage done then followed up on aggressively. With big cooldowns unavailable, Tigers would be depleted of all fighting power and bleed hero kills as a result. This trend was ongoing until the SEA team was unable to hold out any longer. The first DPC minor winners of the season were eliminated from the tournament at the 35-minute mark.
Two more teams will be eliminated tomorrow and games are scheduled to begin Monday, November 12, at 06:00 CET.
The Kuala Lumpur Major details:
- Group Stage
- 9 to 10 November 2018
- Four groups of four teams each.
- Bo3 double-elimination (GSL) bracket.
- Top two teams from each group advance to the Upper Bracket of Main Event.
- Bottom two teams from each group advance to the Lower Bracket of Main Event.
- Playoffs
- The playoffs will be held from November 11 to 18.
- Only the final three days will be in front of a live crowd.
- Double-elimination bracket.
- All games except Grand Finals and Lower Bracket Round 1 are Bo3.
- Lower Bracket Round 1 are Bo1
- Grand Finals is Bo5
