BOOM Esports' journey at the Stockholm Major ends after a 0-2 defeat against OG

OG defeated BOOM Esports 2-0 to send one of the tournament favorites packing and having to settle for a 9th-12th finish at the ESL One Stockholm Major.

Coming into the ESL One Stockholm Major, there were no clear favorites, but one team everyone had on their minds was BOOM Esports. BOOM won the GAMERS GALAXY invitational in Dubai before the 2021-2022 Spring DPC Tour began, and considering the Stockholm Major is being played on the same patch as that tournament, it was natural to think BOOM Esports would have a say in who got their hands on the trophy.

But in a competition, the burden of expectation can have a profound effect on a player or team’s performance, and that is exactly what happened with the SEA giants. They had a bullseye on their back since day 1 of the event, and couldn’t manage to win a single series in the group stages, with five of their series ending 1-1 (including a best-of-2 against OG) along with a 0-2 loss in their final matchup against Tundra Esports.

 

OGvsBOOM Esports

The consequence of BOOM Esports’ subpar performance in the group stages was that they had to start the playoffs from the lower bracket. In their first playoff game, they got matched up against OG, who dropped down to the lower bracket after a 0-2 loss to TSM FTX. The series promised to be a competitive one with elimination on the line.

Game 1 did live up to expectations, going a little over 52 minutes before OG closed it out. Till around 37 minutes, the game was dead even in terms of net worth, but a fight gone in OG’s favor in the Dire jungle started tipping the scales. There were a lot of instances where BOOM were about to get a kill on one of OG’s cores, but Tommy “Taiga” Le’s Pugna came in clutch, keeping his cores alive to turn the fights.

Game 2 was a lot more straight forward. OG pulled out an unexpected pick in the position 1 Morphling, who a had a free game and finished with a score of 10/0/13. BOOM let the Timbersaw through in both games, and Ammar “ATF” Assaf was more than happy to show why the hero was being banned against OG in the group stages. While the entire OG roster showed up to play some amazing Dota 2, Sebastian “Ceb” Debs was on the receiving end of a lot of tips from his teammates for making stunning plays (pun intended) with his position 5 Windranger in both games. Ceb managed to land fight changing two-hero Shackle Shots multiple times throughout the series. OG will now face the winner of two other SEA teams, T1 and Fnatic, in the Hovet Arena on May 20^th in front of a crowd.

 

As for BOOM Esports, they go home, having to settle for 9^th-12^th position at the ESL One Stockholm Major. The thing that possibly hurts the most is that even though they were touted as one of the main contenders for the Major, they will go home with no additional prize money or DPC points.

However, it is a learning experience for a team with a lot of potential. When the DPC season arrives, this team will have a lot to prove and with the talent they possess, should not have too much trouble overcoming this loss.