The ESL One: Birmingham – SEA Qualifiers kicked off yesterday with 2 BO3 matchups in the very first round. Execration was taking on PG.Barracx, while BOOM ID was taking on Team Admiral. Two matchups that on paper should have provided us with some great Dota. And it did, even though both matches ended up finishing 2-0, there were some great plays and pretty good comebacks.
Execration vs PG.Barracx
The first game started with a very convincing laning stage for PG.Barracx, however a couple of overextensions by ramz allowed Execration to come back into the game. After that point PG.Barracx became timid, despite never having a deficit of over 1k gold until 25 minutes into the game, which ultimately cost them the game.
Game 2 started with a very questionable draft from PG.Barracx, with a support Chen and Sand King support duo. They finalized it with a Lycan for a potential contactless warfare, but too much was on the back of ShinymF.Sades’s Queen of Pain to get them to the point where it would actually be an option. That never happened, however, and the whole team seemed disorganized for the whole game, giving Execration a relatively easy victory and moved on to the next round.
BOOM ID vs Team Admiral
Game 1 had a last pick mid-Kunkka for BOOM ID. With great laning, he gained a good amount of momentum in the early game and managed to carry the game. A questionable safelane Outworld Devourer from Team Admiral had little impact on the game and the team, who severely lacking disables and teamfight, crumbled from the pressure of BOOM ID.
The second game started really bad for the Filipino squad, but a couple of good rotations to kill Dreamocel’s Leshrac allowed them to stabilize in the game and even gain a small lead, while Fbz's Lifestealer was farming. Past that point, they were no longer that lucky. BOOM ID started applying a lot of pressure with their teamfight-oriented draft. It rarely translated into objectives, however, it allowed them to gain a lot of momentum and start acquiring an economic advantage. It ended in 35 minutes mid barracks being taken by BOOM ID and after that Team Admiral had little chance of coming back into the game. BOOM ID took the win and moved on to the next round
Later today, round 2 of the ESL One: Birmingham SEA qualifier kicks off with Clutch Gamers taking on Execration and Geek Fam taking on BOOM ID. The winner of those two matchups will move on to meet Fnatic and TNC Predator respectively.