BOOM Esports Succumbs to Entity’s Wily Drafting in PGL Arlington Major

A hard-fought win against Team Liquid secured BOOM Esports' place in The International 11 (TI11) direct invite, but the team was unable to sustain the performance against Entity, losing 2-1 and settling for an elimination from the PGL Arlington Major. BOOM finishes seventh-eighth, taking home $12,500 USD in prize money. Because of the way Entity has performed in the Major so far, drafting a rather unusual lineup was imperative, and BOOM got the dose of that in the first and third games despite winning the second one rather convincingly.

Jonáš "SabeRLight-" Volek, the stand-in offlaner for Entity, was visibly ecstatic after the win. He said that he now seeks revenge against Team Aster, the team that eliminated Fnatic, consisting of three TSM stand-ins, in the previous lower bracket round.

BOOM Esports vs Entity: Match recap and highlights

Recap

In game 1, Entity picked Lycan for Tobi and Enigma for SabeRLight-. Both sidesbrought all five heroes to the fights in the early game, but BOOM appeared to profit, advancing to a 4k advantage. However, Entity's draft had a wider teamfight scope, and one engagement flipped the game in its favour. Stormstormer was doing so well on Tiny with both heavy burst and sustained damage that it didn't appear as though Entity was lacking a typical safelane hero.His teammates complimented him well, and with BOOM unable to teamfight at any point throughout the game, Entity won the first game in 33 minutes.

In game 2, BOOM delivered a methodical and complete effort. Entity's draft with two offlaners can occasionally fail, and this was one of those games. SabeRLight- was unable to do much on Doom, ending with a meagre 0-6-4 KDA. All of BOOM's cores were playing well, especially Yopaj, who flexed his skill on the mid Storm Spirit and helped the team win in 35 minutes.

In game 3, Tobi's Venomancer, which had not worked out in some of Entity's earlier games, eventually worked out. In addition, the team's position four Sven made headlines after finishing the game with a 7-0-17 KDA. In this game, BOOM's draft appeared inferior. The squad lagged early on and had to rely on Aghanim's Scepter timing on JaCkky's Bristleback to make a comeback. However, Entity's squad proved too powerful to overcome with all of the items it had picked up, and the team prevailed in 37 minutes.

Highlights

Here are some highlights of the series.

Due to its use of two offlaners, Entity has adopted a unique style of drafting, making it difficult for many other teams to handle it. Somehow, the team finds itself in games where its lack of a true carry hero doesn't matter, and it continues to dominate its opponents. As the standout player for Entity, Daniel "Stormstormer" Schoetzau has excelled in the midlane in the event.

BOOM Esports will be disappointed since it didn't advance further in the Major. But more importantly, it was able to secure a direct invitation to The International 11 (TI11) by finishing in the top eight. Even though the team has looked good in the past few months, it will need to improve drastically to reclaim the spark it had at the beginning of the year and stand a decent chance at TI11.

Entity will now go up against Team Aster in the next round of the lower bracket of the PGL Arlington Major.