After struggling since their second-place finish at The International 7, Newbee have retaken the top spot in the Chinese scene by winning the Perfect World Masters on their home soil.
To accomplish this, they swept the on-fire Vici Gaming in the grand finals—asserting their dominance over the local competitive scene and dashing VG’s hopes of winning their first premier title in over two-and-a-half years.
Song “Sccc” Chun proved once again that he is the best midlaner in China, carrying his team to victory in all three games with a total record of 48 kills, seven deaths, and 33 assists. His kills counted for a whopping 47.5 percent of his team’s total by the end of the series, and he dealt around 43,500 points of damage in the third game.
For their efforts, Newbee bagged $150,000 in prize money, as well as 150 valuable Pro Circuit points. Given that they had missed opportunities to score points in the first four Pro Circuit events, this comes as a relief to both the team and their fans—they’re finally on the board after months of relative mediocrity.
As for VG, they go home with $60,000 and 90 Pro Circuit points. Despite their disappointing result here, few can say that this team doesn’t have some serious potential going forward. Veteran captain Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng clearly has a highly-skilled squad under his command, with guys like Zhang “Paparazi” Chengjun showing that they can lift their team past strong opposition.
