Dota 2 teams Evil Geniuses and Ninjas in Pyjamas are showing just what they are made of as they beat their respective opponents and moved to the next round of the Playoffs of the MDL Disneyland Paris Major.
Despite already having a slot in the upcoming The International 2019, EG did not hold back from giving it their all. In the first round of the Playoffs, EG had to take on Team Liquid. Team Liquid won the first game on the back of Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen and his Broodmother, supported by Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi with his Morphling. Team Liquid even won the game with all of its Tier 2 towers intact.
In the second game, Team Liquid tried to do what it did in the first game, but a good showing from MATUMBAMAN on Sniper wasn't enough. EG's Artour "Arteezy" Babaev not only won the top lane, but dominated the whole game. Arteezy ended the game with the highest number of kills and the highest net worth. EG kept the momentum going to the third game, and this time it would be Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan that led his team to victory. EG dominated the third game, securing victory at around 32 minutes.
With the win, EG has made it to the upper bracket at evey Major tounament this DPC season, this is their first quarter-finals appearance since TI8.
Fun fact: despite making the upper bracket at every Major this DPC season, this is our first quarter-final series win since TI8.
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) May 7, 2019
Great resiliency by the boys to come back from the Brood Game 1, and the early tower push in Game 3.
In the other Upper Bracket match, Vici Gaming played against NiP. For NiP, this tournament is a chance to show that they can do what VG did in the previous Major. The first game started off well, with NiP taking the lead and not letting VG overtake them. In the second game, however, VG showed why the team is a championship team and limited NiP to one kill each. Zhang "Paparazi" Chengjun not only got 10 kills on his Phantom Assassin, but would have zero deaths. Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang on Troll Warlord had four kills and zero deaths as well.
In the third game, NiP bounced back and showed VG just how determined they were to move forward in the tournament. At around the 30-minute mark, with VG's top Tier 3 tower already destroyed, NiP grouped up and smoked to attempt to push to the base. VG attempted to defend, but Pan "Fade" Yi on Vengeful Spirit was the first to drop. This was followed by Ding "Dy" Cong on Disruptor. However, it led to popping the Aegis on Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard and his Phantom Lancer. A dieback on Zhou "Yang" Haiyang's Medusa led VG to call GG and hand NiP the win.
GGWP @VICI ??
— Ninjas in Pyjamas (@NIP) May 7, 2019
WE TAKE THE SERIES 2:1 AND WE SECURE TOP 6 IN THE MAJOR! ?#GONINJAS #DOTA2 #MDLDisney pic.twitter.com/Wz5ALuYh1v
EG and NiP face off against each other in the quarterfinals.
In the lower bracket matches, paiN Gaming beat and eliminated fellow South American team Chaos Esports Club. In the other match, Keen Gaming eliminated SEA team Fnatic. Both Chaos and Fnatic leave the tournament winning only one game.
