PSG.LGD swept EHOME (3-0) in the grand finals of China Dota 2 Pro Cup Season 1 this Saturday, October 3, which solidified PSG.LGD as one of the strongest Chinese Dota2. It marked PSG.LGD’s third tournament title of the year and the first trophy Zhang “y`” Yiping and Co. have won since ESL One Birmingham 2020 – Online: China in June.
Near-Perfect Run To the Title
China Dota 2 Pro Cup Season 1 marked the first Chinese Dota2 LAN event since the COVID-19 pandemic halted all offline events earlier this year. The conversion to LAN for Pro Cup has been accepted with open arms as the offline format is widely regarded as the “proper” format. Offline, only the best teams shine in contrast to online tournaments – which often produce more than a handful of upset losses.
Despite PSG.LGD’s lack of success this year, the Chinese juggernauts entered the tournament as one of the main favorites along with Invictus Gaming, ViCi Gaming and Royal Never Give Up. All these teams have had their fair share of struggles in online competitions. Even though PSG.LGD failed to produce a perfect run, it’s fair to say they did not disappoint.
PSG.LGD’s adventure began in Group A alongside Sparking Arrow Gaming, Invictus Gaming, Team Aster and a newly formed Chinese stack LBZS. Comprised of only three pro and two amateur players, LBZS smashed PSG.LGD (2-0) on the penultimate day of the group stage.
Nevertheless, y` and his crew still locked in the second seed in their group with relative ease (3-1) and earned their spot in the upper bracket playoffs. At this point, PSG.LGD shifted into a higher gear and went on to decimate everyone in their path including EHOME (2-0), Royal Never Give Up (2-0), ViCi Gaming (2-0) and again EHOME (3-0) in the grand finals.
PSG.LGD’s run to the title saw them win seven out of eight series (7-1) and produce an incredible 17-3 map differential. The only three maps PSG.LGD lost came against LBZS (0-2) and Team Aster (2-1) during the group stage.
Players Reunite with Former Teammates
The grand finals between EHOME and PSG.LGD carried additional importance for the players since four of PSG.LGD’s members (besides Wang “Ame” Chunyu) previously played for EHOME. That includes Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang and Zhao “XinQ” Zixing. That group recently left EHOME in a swap deal which saw Yang “Chalice”‘ Shenyi, Jian Wei “xNova” Yap, and coach Yao “Yao” Zhengzheng all join EHOME in favor of NothingToSay and XinQ.
With players and coach facing their former organization, the China Dota 2 Pro Cup grand final between PSG.LGD and EHOME was bound to make sparks fly. It definitely was an exciting bout, it was also very one-sided.
Slow Start and Strong Finish From PSG.LGD
The series started relatively slow with both teams trying to feel each other out without risking too much. That, however, proved to be very beneficial for PSG.LGD who seemingly anticipated a more slow-paced match and drafted accordingly with scaling champions.
As soon as PSG.LGD started acquiring the needed items to enable their composition, the series spiraled out of control. Before EHOME got a chance to respond, they fell like dominoes at the hands of PSG.LGD who left nothing to chance closing out the game in just over 32 minutes.
The second game of the series started with EHOME utilizing early aggression to get themselves in a substantial 6.1k net worth lead at 15 minutes. Unfortunately, they failed to keep up the pace with PSG.LGD who forced EHOME into small skirmishes which turned the game upside down.
PSG.LGD’s counter-aggression allowed them to reclaim the lead at 25-minute mark and they never looked back. Thanks to strong macro play and controlled approach throughout the remainder of the game, PSG.LGD slowly built up their lead and secured a 2-0 series advantage in just over 35 minutes.
PSG.LGD rode the momentum into the third and final game of the series, where they kept EHOME at bay from minute one. Even though EHOME opted for a strong combo draft with Faceless Void and Skywrath Mage, it proved to be mostly inefficient against the individual quality of PSG.LGD players.
PSG.LGD dominated their adversaries in the laning phase, and used the early advantage for another convincing win. PSG.LGD needed just over 34 minutes to seal the series at 3-0, and with that pocketed $40,000 in tournament winnings, also extending their head-to-head record with EHOME to 5-0.
Meanwhile, LGD’s League of Legends team continues their run at the LoL 2020 World Championship, where they lost their first match against the Korean Gen.G. LGD Gaming’s next fixture at LoL Worlds is scheduled for Sunday, October 4 at 21:00 local time (CST) when they will face off against 2018 grand finalists Fnatic.
