In an unbelievable day at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, Virtus.Pro and Vici Gaming were sent packing; while Evil Geniuses and Team Secret set up a clash at the Winner Bracket finals in an action-packed Day 4 of the Playoff brackets.
Although their history versus VP has always favoured the Russians in recent times, PSG.LGD had some measure of revenge finally defeating VP with a 2-0 victory. While Ame and Fy pulled off their fair share of heavy lifting xNova carried most of the load for PSG.LGD. His impact on the 5 position role cannot be understated, as he pulled off some incredible plays across both games. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to state that he is currently the best 5 position support in the world.
As for the other elimination matchup, Team Liquid took out Vici Gaming in the first series of the playoffs that that went the full distance of three games, thanks to strong performances from GH and Matumbaman. Although Vici Gaming managed to win Game 1, the European teams made a massive comeback in Games 2 and 3 to move on to the next round.
Team Secret stepped up first against the reigning International champions OG. OG were looking like they were in quite a hot-streak having absolutely decimated Virtus.Pro in the previous round. However, Team Secret showed the world that it was in a completely different tier, compared to OG. They dominated every single aspect across both games in the 2-0 victory, securing themselves a berth in the Winner Bracket Finals tomorrow.
For the last match of the day, Evil Geniuses went up against a familiar nemisis, PPD and the rest of NiP in a match which took three games to complete. Evil Geniuses were the first to draw blood, with Sumail and Arteezy leading the charge, giving them the 1-0 lead in the series. The game was very even with both teams showcasing some of the best Dota we’ve seen all weekend. But in the end, Ace’s shoulders were simply too short to carry NiP to victory.
But in Game 2, NiP struck back with a vengeance. Although Evil Geniuses had the better late game draft, NiP countered their advantage with some great engagements and incredible aggression combined with top-notch cohesion to force the series to a game 3.
WE TAKE GAME NUMBER TWO - ONE MORE TO GO!
— NiP @ #MDLDisney / BLAST (@NiPGaming) May 10, 2019
VS @EvilGeniuses
https://t.co/xZS4Hwwbtk#GONINJAS #DOTA2 #MDLDisney pic.twitter.com/5yRkyBoZ8K
Sadly, whatever aggression and good execution NiP displayed in the second game was overshadowed by EG’s incredible late-game ability. With a Spectre as their Hard Carry, EG knew that all they had to do was to delay the game to the Ultra-Late game stages where victory was basically guaranteed for the NA stalwarts. NiP fell into the trap and hence lost the series 2-1 dropping down to the Lower Brackets.
Top 3 secured. After a scary start to the game, we come back late to knock @NiPGaming to the lower bracket 2-1.
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) May 10, 2019
We move on to face @teamsecret to see who will head to the #MDLMajor Grand Finals. GGs! #BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/sEmFHV4AVX
Both PSG.LGD and Liquid will now face elimination matchups once again, against OG and NiP respectively, while Team Secret will battle EG in the Winner Bracket Finals. The action resumes at 01:30 PM IST later today