The matches for the Dota 2 StarLadder ImbaTV Minor are underway and the results for for the first day show Team Aster and Gambit Esports leading their respective groups. In fact, both Aster and Gambit have already secured spots in the Playoffs.
The StarLadder ImbaTV Minor is the third Minor in the 2019/20 DPC Season. The winner gets 140 DPC points, a large share of the $300,000 prize pool, and a spot to the upcoming ESL Los Angeles Major.
Group A
The Opening matches featured business associate playing against forZe eSports with Aster versus BOOM Esports in another match. While ba made short work of forZe in the first game, forZe slowly but surely edged out their opponents over the next two games. Aster had no problems in its match, sweeping BOOM 2-0.
This meant a Winners' Match of Aster against forZe. The first game was all Aster, as Song "Sccc" Chun and Kee Chyuan "ChYuan" Ng ended the game with double-digit kill scores each. The second game finished faster, with ChYuan again getting double digits in terms of kill scores. While Sccc only managed nine kills, he did finish with zero deaths.
Group B
Group B saw Alliance going head-to-head against NoPing e-sports. NoPing initially had the lead, but a team fight around the 26 to 27-minute mark was a disaster for NoPing and gave Alliance the lead it needed to eventually close out the game in just above 40 minutes. While the second game was a bit close, it was still Alliance in the end.
The second match was Gambit versus CR4ZY. If the latter team sounds new, it's actually the remaining roster of Fighting PandaS, plus two new players, who signed on to a new organization. It seems that members leaving took a toll as Gambit quickly gained advantage and dominated CR4ZY 2-0.
In the Winner's Match, the first game saw Gambit winning against Alliance with a score of 23-7. That's right, most members of Alliance were limited to two kills. The second game was pretty much the same, with Gambit's Kiyalbek "dream`" Tayirov on Wraith King ending the game with nine kills and zero deaths.
Upcoming Matches
With the first day done, the second day is going to see Losers Matches and Deciders Matches. Four teams are going to be eliminated on the second day.
The games scheduled are:
- Group A: Losers' Match - business associates vs BOOM
- Group B: Losers' Match - NoPing vs CR4ZY
- Group A: Decider Match - forZe vs "winner of Losers' Match
- Group B: Decider Match - Alliance vs "winner of Losers' Match
Predictions
So far, our predictions have been rather spot on as Aster and Gambit have indeed moved on to the Playoffs. We'll see if business associates manages to get an upset win for Group A and if Alliance can continue to meet the hype for Group B.
You can read more about our take on the Minor here.
