Evil Geniuses throws in Singapore Major finals, iG wins it all

Steven Rondina • Apr 04, 14:30

Invictus Gaming is the ONE Esports Singapore Main champion.

China’s high seed entered the event on considerably shaky footing after a mediocre month spent competing in quite a lot of tournaments. However when the stakes have been highest, the crew stepped up and took the Singapore Main championship on the expense of Evil Geniuses in dramatic trend. The crew took the title in a 3-2 collection, however iG members weren’t fairly certain how one can deal with the championship belt that served because the occasion’s trophy.

Evil Geniuses appeared poised to lock the collection up in very brief order. A pair of sturdy showings from Artour “Arteezy” Babev propelled Evil Geniuses to a pair of straightforward wins, with Evil Geniuses taking on the late sport in sport one and operating away with a simple victory in sport two.

The collection was set to shut with a sweep in sport three, however a string of overly aggressive performs from Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop noticed a 15,000 gold lead evaporate. The third sport closed on a taunt from Zhou “Emo” Yi that fired up his crew and left followers laughing.

Recreation 4 was neck and neck all through the early and mid sport, with Invictus Gaming getting the sting in kills whereas Evil Geniuses farmed extra successfully. As soon as the late sport kicked in, Emo’s Ember Spirit and Jin “flyfly” Zhiyi’s Troll Warlord took over because the duo scored a pair of crew struggle wins to take the web price lead and spearheaded a game-ending crew struggle. Similar to that, Invictus Gaming was threatening a reverse sweep.

Evil Geniuses felt the stress in sport 5 and it confirmed because the crew pushed for a frantic early sport with fights aplenty. Invictus Gaming truly received the higher of these engagements, however the mid-game kicked off with an enormous crew struggle win and Roshan kill for Evil Geniuses. Looming over this was flyfly’s Spectre, a ticking timebomb that pressured Evil Geniuses to maintain the tempo excessive regardless. 

When Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang’s Enigma twice failed to seek out the mark on Black Holes it allowed Invictus Gaming to take a small internet price lead in the beginning of the late sport. That lead grew with an aggressive crew struggle win behind Evil Geniuses’ tier-three towers that seemingly left the North American crew feeling determined. 

By the point iceiceice discovered his first good Black Gap, Invictus Gaming was too tanky to kill. This led to a climactic crew struggle loss that wrapped the collection 3-2 for Invictus Gaming.

Evil Geniuses now has a second-place curse

Following The Worldwide 2015, Evil Geniuses had a supposed “third place curse” that noticed the crew fall within the decrease bracket finals or semifinals in a number of occasions. They seemingly shook it after The Worldwide 2019, however have as a substitute been bothered by a second-place curse after stumbling within the grand finals of a number of occasions.

That made this loss to Invictus Gaming significantly brutal. Not solely did the crew make plenty of errors to see the collection determined, but it surely additionally let a fast victory slip away beforehand.

Evil Geniuses remains to be in a very good place shifting ahead. The second-place end within the Singapore Main is price 450 factors and that places Evil Geniuses in a really sturdy place in terms of qualifying for The Worldwide 10. Except they make roster adjustments or utterly punts the following North American Dota Professional Circuit League cycle, the crew ought to be capable to get a direct invitation to the season-ending present.

However for now, Evil Geniuses might want to lick their wounds and rebuild their psyche. And endure a variety of vicious mockery on social media.

Chinese language Dota 2 dominates Singapore Main

Invictus Gaming didn’t simply win the Singapore Main due to Evil Geniuses’ stumbles. The Chinese language squad continued a really sturdy begin to the 2021 Dota Professional Circuit season, beat plenty of elite groups, and closed out the occasion in spectacular trend. Invictus Gaming wasn’t alone when it got here to displaying the power of Chinese language Dota 2.

Alongside Invictus Gaming, PSG.LGD completed in third place. Vici Gaming additionally had a powerful displaying within the group stage, albeit one which ended with a fast exit from the playoffs.

Although issues weren’t excellent as Group Aster worn out within the Singapore Main, the occasion reestablished China because the clear greatest area in Dota 2. Group Secret, the favourite to win the occasion, was ushered out in fourth place by losses to PSG.LGD and Invictus Gaming. Alliance, Group Liquid, and Group Nigma all did not make a lot of an influence because the European area struggled as a complete regardless of its 4 seeds.

As with Evil Geniuses, Invictus Gaming is successfully a lock for a direct invitation to The Worldwide 10. The crew additionally will get to flex on its regional rivals after selecting up its largest event victory since The Worldwide 2012.