Nigma’s woes continue in loss to Chicken Fighters at ESL One Los Angeles Online

Chicken Fighters upset the streaky Nigma in the ESL One Los Angeles Online lower bracket matchup 2-1 today. KuroKy’s Nigma squad now find themselves out of the Dota 2 competition after fighting hard on the final day of the group stage to prevent their elimination.

The first game was an aggressive undertaking from Nigma. Their heroes simply never stopped the slaughter. Led by w33’s Mars, four Nigma heroes charged around the entire map and boxed Chicken Fighters in, allowing Miracle-’s Morphling to freely farm his way to the top. Once Miracle- joined the fracas, Chicken Fighters didn’t have the firepower to bring Nigma down and conceded game one.

Chicken Fighters decided to give Nigma a taste of their own medicine in game two, last picking the Meepo in hopes of staving off elimination. Nigma decided to do a little experimentation, though, and attempted a position five Sniper handled by KuroKy.

This was made possible with Sniper’s new Aghanim’s Scepter that reduces the channeling time on his ultimate, Assassinate, and increases the stun duration to nearly two seconds. This makes Sniper a possible long-range support since the 3,000 cast range of Assassinate ensures that the hero can stay in the backline and consistently charge his ultimate.

The strategy might have worked if Chicken Fighters didn’t have such a good Meepo game on their hands. Nigma’s crowd control, except for Mars, was sorely lacking and had to rely on GH’s Rubick for additional disable. 

Ondřej “Supream” Štarha’s Meepo had free rein and it wasn’t until Miracle-’s Phantom Lancer managed to pick up a Divine Rapier that Nigma looked like they had a chance to push back. Nigma managed to take down the Meepo, timing the Aegis perfectly yet again.

It still wasn’t enough, however. Chicken Fighters weathered the brief storm, took another Aegis, and proceeded to take down Nigma’s only hope, Miracle-. Support Sniper proponents will be happy to know that KuroKy ended the game with the most hero damage on his team. Supream’s Meepo simply stood in Shrapnel rather than deliberately avoiding it.

Game three saw Miracle-’s Gyrocopter begin with a first blood, but Supream’s Templar Assassin was the star of the show. Nigma intended to have a mid-game tempo with the Gyrocopter and Chen but was punished for diving far behind enemy lines.

Chicken Fighters capitalized and picked up Black King Bar on their two cores. The squad proceeded to wipe the floor with Nigma with a final, beautifully-executed teamfight. KuroKy, realizing that Nigma’s timing is now in the past, stayed on the floor and yielded.

Chicken Fighters move on to the next round of the competition and will await the loser of all-CIS matchup between Virtus Pro and Team Spirit in the lower bracket. Nigma exit the tournament with a top-eight placing and $7,500 in hand. The team has been wildly inconsistent throughout the season. Their loss at such an early stage of the event will be disappointing but unsurprising for ardent fans. 

Over the course of the year, the team has now fallen in the Major qualifiers twice, executed a massive comeback vs. Royal Never Give Up at the WePlay! Bukovel Minor, threw a crucial qualifying game five against Alliance with a bizarre dive, reverse swept one of the best teams in the world in Team Secret at the WePlay! Mad Moon tournament, and crushed all in their way at the WeSave! Charity Play event.

Chicken Fighters aren’t a poor team by any means. They were the one team to actually qualify for ESL One L.A. Online rather than being an invitee and have been playing well. They were also the first team to take a game off of Secret in the group stage. But judging from how crisply Nigma played the first game, there remains a seed of doubt that KuroKy’s squad were heavily punished for not taking the second game too seriously.

Which Nigma is going to show up: The International 2019 runners-up or the team that failed to qualify for a Major twice this season? At this point, it’s nearly impossible to predict. It certainly won’t be the last we see of Nigma and they might continue their WePlay! tournament streak at the WePlay! Pushka League kicking off April 23.