All the highlights from our second and final day of Groups at the Singapore Major.
Eight teams participated in the Singapore Major Group Stage and seven advanced to the playoffs. Only one team was eliminated at the end of the day, and that was Alliance. The teams that advanced to the upper bracket of playoffs were Thunder Predator, PSG.LGD and Vici Gaming, whereas the teams that advanced to the Lower Bracket of Playoffs were Quincy Crew, Team Liquid, Team Aster and Neon Esports.
Team Aster vs Team Liquid
On Day 1 of the Group Stage, Team Aster and Team Liquid had 4-4 scores in the standings. They were both considered as equals heading into this series and that’s exactly how it ended. The series ended with a tie of 1-1.
In Game 1, Team Liquid had a great start in which they had killed enemy mid hero Shadow Fiend four times just in the laning stage. Even though both the teams had good AOE damage, Liquid had an upper hand as they had more durable heroes which helped them win every team fight. On the other hand, Team Aster had picked one of the most successful position 1 heroes of this tournament, IO, but they couldn’t hold enemy heroes for IO to focus on as they lacked easy disables. Such issues in the draft led to a defeat for Team Aster.
In Game 2, Liquid again had an amazing start. With Bristleback as their position 1 hero, they were easily able to control the enemy side of the map during the mid game. Their biggest difficulty was in pushing high ground, as they lacked a good pusher, and Team Aster had good defense. In one of the high ground push attempts by Liquid at 28 minutes, they lost all of their heroes and the enemy position 1 hero, Terrorblade, got a rampage. This helped him receive a massive amount of gold and secure a good lead for his team. After this team fight, Team Aster played aggressively and secured their victory.
Team Aster vs Quincy Crew
Quincy Crew had surprised many spectators on Day 1 of the Group Stage as they had a score of 4-4 in the standings. Even though they were the underdogs coming into this tournament, they were definitely not seen the same way entering this series. Quincy Crew won the series by 2-0.
In Game 1, both the teams had a good start and things remained equal until the Roshan fight. Quincy Crew was able to kill two enemy heroes and grabbed Aegis. It was a brilliant performance by Quinn “Quinn” Callahan on Void Spirit, in that team fight and throughout the game, that helped Quincy Crew dominate every team fight. Quinn’s score on Void Spirit at the end of the game was 14/1/13.
In Game 2, Quincy Crew had an amazing start with 10 kills and only two deaths of their own in the laning stage. But Team Aster made sure not to give them more room to farm and contained the net worth difference around 2,000 until 15 minutes into the game. Once Quincy Crew grabbed Aegis, they started controlling Aster’s side of the map and started gained a good net worth lead. Just one fight at mid where Aster made the mistake of helping a support survive ended up losing them four heroes. They could have easily prolonged this big team fight by playing safely, which would have helped them take a better fight later after buying BKB on their cores. After that team fight, Quincy Crew took advantage of the enemy’s death time and pushed for the high ground straight away. Aster tried to defend but surrendered soon enough.
Team Liquid vs Neon Esports
With an incredible run in Wild Cards and a 4-4 score in the standings after Day 1 of the Group Stage, Team Liquid was assumed to be the favorites of the series. Nobody expected bottom seeded team Neon Esports to overwhelm Team Liquid and win the series with 2-0.
In Game 1, Liquid had a good start but failed to take advantage of that lead in the mid game. They couldn’t gank the enemy efficiently and were not able to defend themselves efficiently. They didn’t expect Neon to play so aggressively. Neon had complete control over team fights and Liquid saw no hope in winning any team fight, so they surrendered.
In Game 2, Liquid again had a good start, but one 5v5 fight in the early game changed the course of the game. Liquid’s strategy to play more aggressively than Neon was perfect, but at the same time, Neon was also planning for a team fight. This surprised Liquid and they lost all of their heroes in that team fight, while Neon lost only two. 10 minutes later, Liquid ganked again with five men but got team wiped. The AOE damage of Neon was too much for Liquid to handle. Later on, Neon grabbed Aegis and took complete control of the map. Liquid tried their best to fight back but Neon’s damage output was overwhelming.
PSG.LGD vs Quincy Crew
Quincy Crew with an amazing performance on this day of the Group Stage. With a score of 3-1, they were definitely not counted as underdogs, but the outcome of this series was still 2-0 in favor of PSG.LGD. The drafts and early game sense of LGD was tough to overcome for Quincy Crew.
In Game 1, LGD gained a massive lead of 3,000 gold in just six minutes into the game. Once in the mid game, Quincy Crew started getting kills around the map but somehow LGD kept on farming faster than Quincy Crew. LGD secured the game completely in their favor when they grabbed Aegis. LGD’s position 1 hero, Monkey King, was far more impactful in team fights since he had Aegis. Quincy Crew also made a few mistakes, like taking fights even when the enemy had Aegis, and in the end, missing a crucial blackhole. Quincy Crew surrendered as soon as they lost the last team fight.
In Game 2, Quincy Crew was out-drafted and they couldn’t even secure their early game. They had no chance to gank or create space for their cores to farm. LGD dominated the game and Quincy Crew surrendered the game at just 18 minutes.
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