Image sourced from Sterling Global Dragons
After narrowly losing out in the Kuala Lumpur Major - SEA Qualifiers, Sterling Global Dragons got back to winning ways at the Flame Cup, taking a 3-1 victory over Dragon Gaming in the grand finals to win $3500 and gather some much-needed momentum heading into November. It is a relatively big victory for the SGD organization considering that fact that 12 teams from SEA and China competed at this event.
SGD was just a cut above the rest in this tournament. They finished in 2nd place in the group stages, after only dropping a single series (In which Game #2 was a default loss) and beating Dragon Gaming, Resurgence, and EVOS Esports. Their biggest challenge in the Group came up against Execration, against whom they tied the BO2 series, which lead to them being placed in the upper brackets of the playoffs.
Once there, they took down their former captain, Flysolo’s Neon Esports and Execration in back-to-back 2-0 sweeps to secure their spot in the Grand Finals.
Dragon Gaming was expected to be one of the lesser teams playing in this tournament. The group stages reflected that. They barely made it to the playoffs after losing 2 series and tieing 2 series. Their solitary win was a default win, thanks to EVOS Esports dropping off from the tournament.
But once they got to the playoffs, they were a whole different beast. They took down some of the most prominent SEA teams playing in this tournament including Team Admiral, Neon Esports, Clutch Gamers, and Execration stringing together a Cinderella run to make it to the Grand Finals.
Dragon Gaming looked like their fairytale would continue as they beatdown Sterling Global Dragons in 43 minutes in the first game of the day. However, SGD struck back with a vengeance taking Game 2 in just 21 minutes before two relatively straightforward victories in Game 3, 4 to secure the win and the championship.
Dragon Gaming certainly looks to be a team capable of great things but need some more time to get into the groove. The Chinese team walked home with a second place trophy and a cheque of $2000.