Group A looked pretty top heavy going into the EPICENTER Major, but only one team truly showed their dominance today while another failed to best their lower-ranking opponents.
Team Secret have been the most dominant force in the Dota Pro Circuit this season and they showed why that’s the case again by going a perfect 4-0 against their opponents in the group stage.
PaiN Gaming gave them some issues in the first round. Specifically, when it came to kills, paiN were able to trade and even pick off a few extra kills during teamfights. This led to Secret playing at a disadvantage in game one.
They had to work extremely hard at the end of the 50-minute game to make a comeback, but they managed it. In the end, they were down in kills 32 to 28, and yet Secret still managed to control the momentum and lanes to secure the win.
Secret’s dominance of structures in the first game helped them push to position early in game two now that they knew some of paiN’s habits. They pulled out both a Mars and Sniper to pressure and control the lanes. A quick 26-minute game in which Secret were up 22-7 in kills allowed them to claim the 2-0 victory and move on.
Fnatic were the other top seed in Group A. The Southeast Asian champions faced Royal Never Give Up. RNG weren’t even ranked in the top 20 heading into this event, but they pulled off the first upset.
Fnatic crushed them in game one, making it look like RNG only managed to squeeze into the Major on a fluke. They tripled RNG’s kills and used a Grimstroke to punch things home.
Down 1-0, RNG could have folded and accepted that they weren’t going to get into the upper bracket. But instead, they fought back and pulled Fnatic into a brawl. It was a tight fight with neither team actually forcing the other’s hand early.
Du “Monet” Peng continued to be the standout performer for RNG as his team managed to pull things out. They did the same thing in game three, too. With an extremely odd combo of Sven, Abaddon, and Outworld Devourer in the draft, they claimed another close win. This upset shoved Fnatic into the losers match while RNG clashed with Secret.
Again, Secret struggled to find their footing against an unfamiliar opponent in game one. RNG had a good initial push, but Secret brought it back easily enough and looked ready to take the first spot in the playoffs.
RNG regrouped in game two, and behind Monet’s key defensive rotations, they held Secret off for 60 minutes of intense action. It was a kill-crazy round with Secret totaling 60 overall to move on to the main event.
After falling to Secret, RNG had to face Fnatic for a second time and took them down 2-0. That sets up a match between Fnatic and paiN in the elimination round once the playoffs start.
The matches continue with EPICENTER’s Group C when Alliance and Virtus Pro face off tomorrow at 5am CT.
