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PSG.LGD is no longer in contention at ESL One Los Angeles Online following a series loss against Invictus Gaming.
While IG was eliminated the previous day, it didn’t stop them from putting up their best efforts against LGD.
Game one was led by IG’s star mid laner, Zhou “Emo” Yi. With the aid of some good roaming from his supports, Emo’s Morphling was able to freely farm his way to the top of the net worth charts. While LGD’s new carry Chalice put in a commendable effort as Naga Siren, the rest of the team was simply too far behind.
LGD was completely caught out by a Meepo last pick in the second game. IG’s mid, Emo, while an excellent player, doesn’t have the cheesy hero in his repertoire. Rather, it was the team’s offlaner, Thiay “JT-” Jun Wen, that took the Geomancer to the mid lane. This was JT-‘s first Meepo game for his current team, but he has played the hero twice previously.
LGD demonstrated that they had no answer for the Meepo, and IG fully capitalized on their opportunity. They rolled down towers and objectives, and in spite of LGD’s best efforts, there was just no shield strong enough to block the unstoppable force.
LGD has not had the best of seasons this year. Coming off a laudable performance at The International 2019, where they achieved bronze, the Chinese giants, along with several other top-tier teams, elected to skip the first Major of the season.
Due to Valve’s rule changes for the 2019-20 Dota Pro Circuit season, LGD has to forge their way through the open qualifiers for the second Major. They tried and failed. Going through multiple roster changes, the titans tried again, and once more, they fell.
The unprecedented back-to-back meant that LGD still does not have a single DPC point to its name. If the DPC season restarts again this year, LGD will need to attempt the open qualifiers yet again. It looked like the crew has improved in recent times, taking the China Dota 2 Professional League crown over Vici Gaming, but it seemed to be a temporary high rather than a permanent return to form.
Fortunately for LGD’s fans, the ESL One LA Online isn’t the only competition the team will be participating in. The organization is one of eight members of the Chinese Dota 2 Professional Association, which will be organizing a league-style tournament amongst them.
Hopefully, the team will finally regain the mojo that’s guided them to two podium finishes in two straight TIs before the 10th edition of Valve’s flagship event in August.
