no-alt
All News
article-headline
Dota 25 years ago

Nigma rise to become WePlay! Mad Moon Champions

Nigma overpowered Team Secret 3:2 in the grand finals to take the WePlay! Mad Moon championship title and trophy. 

The lower bracket kings have done it again. Last month Nigma esports seized the championship title at WePlay! Bukovel Minor after storming through the lower brackets. Now, they have done it again at another WePlay! Esports event. 

The European team showed signs of trouble in the group stage but managed to gain access to the upper brackets in the playoffs by outplaying Aggressive Mode in the best-of-one deciding game. 

They swept through B8 and entered the semi-finals where they had to go face-to-face against Team Secret, the event favorites. They might have served Secret their first (and only loss until the grand finals) of the event, but it wasn't enough to take the series. Nigma was once again relegated to the lower brackets, where fans hoped they would once again rise to the top. 

And they did. 

Nigma went on a cleaning spree, sweeping through Gambit and then Virtus.pro to set the stage for another comeback and to exact revenge on Team Secret. 

Down two at the start of the grand finals, most spectators had started to write them off. After all, Team Secret was a powerhouse who had only dropped one match and were dominating the DPC while Nigma was just a shell, a shadow of what they once were. Or are they?

With their backs against the wall, Nigma pulled out a convincing win in what could have been the final game, forcing a fourth match... and then a fifth. All three games were quick —25 minutes long, heavily one-sided and Nigma leading the way. Team Secret seemed lost against Nigma and was unable to gain any openings or take control over the course of the final three games. Nigma and Secret had swapped roles and Nigma was now the dominant team. 

Unfortunately for Nigma, this wasn't a DPC event nor are they even slated to participate in the next round, having missed the boat on qualifying. But perhaps this will be enough to help them regain some motivation, some fuel and some ideas on how to move forward as a true championship team once again. 

WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon Teams

Europe Team Secret (Direct Invite)
CIS Gambit (Direct Invite)
Europe Nigma esports (Direct Invite)
Russia Virtus.pro (Direct Invite)
Europe NiP (Radiant Winner)
CIS B8 (Dire Asia Representative)
Peru Infamous (Dire America Winner)
Europe Aggressive Mode (Reshuffle Madness 2019 representative)

WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon Prize Pool

$300,000 USD is spread among all of the teams. In addition, there will be prizes awarded to two additional players.

Place$ USDTeam
1st$130,000 Nigma esports
2nd$60,000 Team Secret
3rd$30,000 Virtus.pro
4th$20,000Gambit 
5th-6th$12,000 Aggressive Mode 
 B8
7th-8th$8,000 NiP
Infamous

 

Award$ USDPlayerTeam
The Best Core$10,000  Ivan "MindControl" Ivanov Nigma esports
The Best Support$10,000Kuro Salhi "Kuroky-" Takhasomi Nigma esports

 

WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon

Eight teams have been fighting for a total prize pool of $300,000. The tournament isl being hosted in the Concert Hall VDNG in Kyiv, Ukraine. The champions of Radiant, Dire Asia, Dire America and Reshuffle Madness 2019 have been joined by four invited teams.

Author
pandora-avatar
Cristy "Pandora" RamadaniPandora is a behind the scenes Dota 2 professional Jack of All Trades. When not busy with Dota 2 work, she is out trying to save the world or baking cupcakes. Follow her on Twitter @pandoradota2