MidOne’s Quirky Bounty Hunter Strategy Fails as BOOM Esports Secures Grand Final Spot

A comprehensive victory by BOOM Esports over Team SMG in the upper bracket final of the BTS Pro Series Season 8: Southeast Asia (SEA) has secured them a place in the grand final. Both teams had atypical hero picks in the series and despite a resolute comeback by Team SMG in the first game, BOOM Esports' hero picks, laning stage skills, and ganking maneuvers shined through. While BOOM Esports’ star player Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer once again took the spotlight, it was Saieful "Fbz" Ilham giving it his all in the offlane to lead the team to a 2-1 series win. On the other hand, Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng and his teammates will now compete in the lower bracket final of the BTS Pro Series S8: SEA.

BOOM Esports vs Team SMG: Match recap and highlights

Recap

In game 1, Team SMG turned things around dramatically. They were being hunted all over the map by BOOM Esports' aggressive maneuvers. Tims was a menace on a position four Monkey King, helping his team establish a gigantic 34k lead at the 34-minute mark. However, a couple of overextensions from them lead to an opening for their enemies. SMG's heroes capitalized on the enemy’s missteps and won a seemingly impossible game in 44 minutes.

Later on in the early stages of game 2, BOOM Esports did not let its guard down. The midlane play of Yopaj, who played Snapfire, was far superior to Moon's Storm Spirit. All other lanes went well for BOOM Esports, and when Team SMG realized that they could not fight head to head, they began to split push. The split pushing tactic didn't work for long, and Team SMG lost in 30 minutes.

Game 3 saw MidOne go all out with the Bounty Hunter strategy. Due to the absence of a hard carry, the presence of a midlane Silencer and an offlane Vengeful Spirit, Team SMG had to start strong. The laning stage did not pan out for them the way they had hoped, resulting in BOOM Esports carefully establishing a lead. Even though Team SMG found its initial items the enemies were too formidable at that juncture to be taken down, leading to a loss in 31 minutes for Team SMG.

Highlights

Here are some highlights of the series.

Team SMG's comeback in the first game was admirable but BOOM Esports was clearly the better team on the day.

As BOOM Esports prepares for the grand final, Team SMG will have to wait to find out who it will face in the lower bracket final of BTS Pro Series S8: SEA. The series currently taking place between Motivate.Trust Gaming vs Polaris Esports will determine Team SMG's opponent.