Chinese Dota 2 team Keen Gaming took home the championship at the recently concluded ESL One Mumbai 2019 after beating out Mineski 3-0. The win gives Keen Gaming $135,000 of the total $300,000 prize pool.
Keen Gaming had a good start, taking the top spot after the group stages and securing a slot in the upper bracket. The team's first game in the Playoffs was against Natus Vincere. Na'Vi took the first game with KG taking the second. The third game saw KG getting a strong start, but a disastrous team fight gave Na'Vi the win. In an interview with VPEsports, KG said that this win was an accident.
The loss meant that KG now had to fight its way from the lower brackets, beginning with The Pango. KG dominated Pango in the first game with Wang "old chicken" Zhiyong getting 17 kills on his Wraith King. Overall, KG had a total of 53 kills against Pango's six. Pango did have a strong showing in the second game, taking the lead and finishing strong. KG's thirst for the win was strong enough that the team took game three.
This was the last time that Keen Gaming lost in the tournament, as the team took charge of its next matches. KG swept TNC 2-0 in a series of long fights, with the first match lasting more than 50 minutes and the second around 40 minutes. The Lower Bracket Finals were a rematch versus Na'Vi. The first game was a blowout, with Keen Gaming securing the victory. The second game was more of a back-and-forth, with KG eventually grabbing the win after 45 minutes. In both games, old chicken and Zhai " 一 " scored double digits in terms of kills.
The Grand Finals saw Keen Gaming play against Mineski, and again KG had a strong showing and swept the match.
The big surprise of the tournament however was the MVP going to Mineski and not Keen Gaming.
'I have no words but thank you to the crowd.'@Febbydota on winning the #MBmvp! #ESLOne pic.twitter.com/wsSyaZxfdI
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) April 21, 2019
Kim "Febby" Yong-min was voted as MVP and with it gets to bring home a brand new Mercedes Benz. Even more interesting was that Febby had previously left Mineski. He was only in the tournament as a stand-in for Ryan Jay "Bimbo" Qui, who is currently processing his visa for the upcoming Disneyland Paris Major.
