Photo courtesy of EHOME
EHOME is headed to China to play the Major in front of the home crowd as they claimed The Bucharest Minor championship title.
EHOME and Gambit Esports went head to head for the second time in the playoff brackets, this time with much higher stakes as they were fighting for the highly coveted Chongqing Major slot in addition to the $125,000 prize.
Previously when the two met in the Upper Bracket Finals yesterday, Gambit was unable to break EHOME's undefeated streak and the rising CIS stars had fallen to the Lower Bracket finals after a 2:0 sweep.
Until that point, both teams had been the undisputed leaders of the event - both taking top seeds in their groups and then toppling over their opponents with relative ease in the playoff brackets. Having fallen to the lower brackets was only a minor hiccup in the road for the title for Gambit as they faced Keen Gaming. The first match of the series was a stompfest, pure domination by Gambit over their Chinese opponents in just 28 minutes. The second game, however, was a much longer and hard-fought affair, lasting just over 70 minutes with swings back and forth. In the end, it was Gambit, once again, proving they were real contenders this season and performing up to the standards they had set both leading up to the Minor and through the earlier performances of the event.
The stage now set for a rematch between the two leaders, would prove to be just as exciting and thrilling as fans had hoped. While the first match was pretty much in the bag for EHOME, the second match was thrilling with EHOME fighting hard against the mega creeps and giving hope to the Chinese community that they would be able to turn the tables. Their unconventional draft didn't seem to suit them well in the end and Gambit served up EHOME's first loss of the tournament in the second game in order to tie up the series.
On the brink of elimination Gambit fought hard and tried to stave off the eventual defeat. Several times during the 30 minutes of play, the CIS team found a way to seize the lead and advantage, but always only momentarily as it would then slip from their grasp almost as quickly as they had gained it.
With the momentum of the last win and the series lead fueling them, EHOME moved forward into the fourth game with a confident swagger and powerful presence. In what looked to be a cake-walk, EHOME danced and played around Gambit with ease. They dominated from start to finish and took the game, series and event victory.
EHOME will be able to play on their home soil in their first Major of the new DPC 2018-2019 season. Gambit will take a highly commendable second place finish and continue to further their fearsome reputation as a real threat and contender to the region and international teams alike.
Bucharest Minor Prize Pool Distribution:
1st Place: $125,000 + 120 DPC points + Chongqing Major slot - EHOME
2nd Place: $70,000 + 100 DPC points - Gambit Esports
3rd Place: $35,000 + 90 DPC points - Keen Gaming
4th Place: $25,000 + 70 DPC points - Ninjas in Pyjamas
5-6th Place: $15,000 + 40 DPC points - Team Team/OG
7-8th Place: $7,500 + 20 DPC points - BOOM ID/Playmakers
