Clutch Gamers, Execration Dominate MPGL Asian Championship 2018 Opener

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Friday, July 6, 2018
9:00 pm

| DOTA 2

MPGL Asian Championship 2018 Day 1 Recap

Execration and Clutch Gamers have secured themselves a date at the winner’s finals bracket after coming out victorious in the first day of the MPGL Asian Championship 2018 grand finals.

One of Southeast Asia’s most fabled esports league has commenced today, June 6, 2018, at the Central Plaza in Khon Kaen, Thailand to determine the best Dota 2 squad among the Philippines’ Execration, Southeast Asia’s Clutch Gamers, Indonesia’s EVOS Esports, and China’s Keen Gaming.

The resurgent squad of Clutch Gamers opened the series against the white-hot EVOS Gaming, who secured their grand finals spot after climbing from the grueling single-elimination bracket of the regular season’s playoffs. The Indonesians greeted their contenders with a questionable pick in the form of Necrophos—a hero long deemed out of meta since the conclusion of The International 2017.

True enough, the element of surprise took great effect on Clutch Gamers as they proceeded to succumb on EVOS Esports’ pocket strategy during the early to middle phase of the game. The Indonesians were able to notch a 10,000 gold lead, but their failure to clinch the game was greatly capitalized by their opponents. After a disastrous clash at the 29-minute mark of the game that led to the death of four EVOS heroes, Clutch Gamers begun snowballing out of control.

Unfortunately for the Indonesians, the second game of the best-of-three series was more lopsided compared to the first one. Clutch Gamers picked an unorthodox tandem of Broodmother and Bristleback for their cores, while EVOS retaliated with an offlane Beastmaster and position four Enigma.

The early laning phase was favorable for EVOS, thanks to the Beastmaster versus Broodmother mismatch in the middle lane. After the laning phase however, Clutch Gamers went into full schooling mode and punished every misplay EVOS made. After a 36-minute massacre, the Indonesians finally tapped out to fall down to the tournament’s loser’s bracket.

The next series featured the Filipino staple and MPGL legends in Execration against the meteoric Chinese squad in Keen Gaming. At the surface, the match-up seems pretty tied, especially if we’re considering the achievements of Keen Gaming and the slump of Execration.

But Kimo and his squad begged to differ as they reminded the Chinese squad and the whole world why they are the Kings of MPGL. For the first game, Execration only needed 27 minutes to push their opponents off the verge of a clean series sweep. Keen Gaming displayed innocence on Execration’s signature heroes after forgetting to alot ban slots for Nando‘s Faceless Void and Karl‘s Tinker.

It was dismantling defeat on the side of Keen Gaming, until they also pulled up some tricks on their sleeves for the second game of the series. The runner-ups of the GESC: Thailand Minor, a Minor tournament of the Dota Pro Circuit, made Execration work harder after their carry’s Bloodseeker got out of control.

For a couple of minutes, Execration was able to keep their towers alive but they can’t push their enemies’ either. It resulted to a long phase of stalemate until Kimo’s veteran skills came into play. Execration started picking their fights carefully and it lead to the crumbling of Keen Gaming’s rather fast pace playstyle.

The second day of the MPGL Asian Championship 2018 will begin tomorrow with the do-or-die match between EVOS Esports and Keen Gaming.

Follow the MPGL Asian Championship through these links:

MET: facebook.com/organizedbyMET