Banner Image: Sam Hibbert
With the TI-esque lineup to the Game 5 finals, some of the best Dota this season was played with some of the best teams, with Team Secret coming out on top for the $300,000 prize pool and coveted Mercedes-Benz MVP award going to Clement “Puppey” Ivanov, Secret’s Captain.
Day One saw the Lower Bracket Round 1 games, with Team Liquid facing off Gambit Esports after a middle-ground 5:5 group stage effort, with Gambit taking game one and three of the best of three. Gambit then went on to face Vici Gaming in the first match of the Lower Bracket Round 2, making up for the StarLadder Minor earlier in the year with a quick 2:0, with both games finishing under 31 minutes.
We also saw reigning TI Champs OG take on current DPC top-of-the-leaderboard Team Secret, going out in a spectacular 2:0 series, Secret taking both games under 35 minutes. The three games saw the unfortunate departure of Liquid, OG and Vici for the rest of the event from the Main Stage.
Day Two opened with a good effort from TNC Predator as they went up against Team Secret in a 1:2 result in the second game of the Lower Bracker Round Two, with game 3 ending in an unfortunate 23 to 8 for TNC, seeing Team Secret progress to Round 3, and a goodbye for TNC.
Next, we saw PSG.LGD against Evil Geniuses, for the Upper Bracket Finals, EG taking the win with 2:0 and an iconic Sumail Leshrac zipping around the map for both games. This win saw EG take their place sitting comfy in a confirmed Grand Final.
For Round 3 Losers Bracket we saw hearty Team Gambit against Team Secret, with Secret taking both of the games 2:0, with a fantastic Enigma game from Team Secret’s resident Off-lane Support Yapzor. The fantastic run Gambit had against Liquid and Vici was hopeless against the Team Secret steamroll, ending their presence on the Main Stage for the event.
Day Three saw the Upper Bracket Finals and Grand Finals, starting the day with PSG.LGD versus Team Secret. Going to the third game in the best of three, with a questionable ban phase in game two seeing the infamous Puppey Chen make its way onto the battlefield. This was picked up by LGD for game three, Chen making his way into their ban phase but it still wasn’t enough to clutch the victory. This saw Secret make their way onto the Main Stage one last time for the Grand Final versus Evil Geniuses.
Photo: Helena Kristiansson for ESL ©ESL 2019
The Grand Finals opened to a very promising game for Secret, going 47 - 27, seeing an unexpected Arteezy Arc Warden and the God-Like Yapzor Rubick, setting a precedent for the rest of the series as it started off with a confident 1:0 to Secret.
Game Two swung back in favour of EG as the previous 51-minute loss was tidied up in 35 minutes, seeing Sumail again on the favoured disco-pony Leshrac with a K/D/A of 13/3/11. This also saw a surprising and anti-meta pick of IO for Secret, which did not pan out as expected with a sad looking 2/4/7 for Yapzor, paired with the Nisha Gyrocopter, and the Chen pick for Fly, looking less downtrodden with 1/3/18.
Game Three was anybody's to take, and Secret did, in fact, take with 28/18. Hard fought but won overall by lane push alone, Secret saw the meta draft of MidOne on Death Prophet and Yapzor again on Enigma, with some crucial blackholes winning team fights to prolong their push. EG again picked Leshrac for Sumail, but didn’t go entirely according to plan with his K/D/A at 7/5/9 by games end.
Game Four could have seen Secret walk away with the trophy, but alas, with the game ending in 6/32 to EG, we would be seeing a game 5 series. With a theoretical good draft from Secret, an IO pick again did not see the game going in their favour. Paired with a Phantom Assassin, neither Yapzor on the IO or Nisha on the Phantom Assassin could defend against the Sumail Storm Spirit and Arteezy Spectre, with both Arteezy and Sumail getting 11 kills each out of the 32 total for the team, ending in a mere 30 minutes. Secret fans in the arena fell silent as it appeared that Secret had fallen apart, playing a previous 6 games before this one. Was the grind getting to them? Had they had enough for the day? Would Game 5 also fall apart? Between this loss and the commercial break for Game 5, fans for both were sat on the edge of their seat waiting for the Final.
Game Five saw the extreme meta pick of Naga Siren for Nisha of Secret, with Arteezy for EG staying comfy on Spectre, having won the previous game quite hard. With MidOne and Nisha swapping lanes for the fifth game, MidOne picking up the safe-lane Monkey King against the Spectre, having a hard time in the lane from the start. Top lane saw a Doom for EG’s S4 and Warlock for Fly, whilst Secret had their secret weapon of Darkseer Zai, seeing S4 drop as Doom twice within the first minute, securing the early game for Team Secret. Evil Geniuses picked up later in the game, picking off Nisha Naga and Darkseer Zai before getting Secret’s Mid Tier 1 tower, showing promise of a turnaround at only 8 minutes, after a disastrous start. Secret retaliated by picking off EG’s Top Tier 1 at 9 minutes, collecting kills on S4 Doom, Fly Warlock and Crit Mars in team fights, dropping themselves during them, before obtaining the EG Top Tier Two at 20 minutes. More team fights kicked off with S4 Doom picking up a much needed double kill on MidOne Monkey King, Nisha Naga Siren and Yapzor Nyx Assassin, clawing back at his net worth from the bad start.
From 24 minutes onwards in this 38-minute game, Secret dominated the lanes, pushing and picking EG off, as well as decimating the remaining towers, helped with Puppey’s Shadow Shaman mass serpent wards. As EG ultimately called GG’s at 38 and a half minutes, after a disastrous team fight to protect their Tier Three bottom, this marked the seventh game in a row for Team Secret in this series and a much well-deserved win for the EU team and DPC number ones.
Photo: Helena Kristiansson for ESL ©ESL 2019
Between the games, the pre and post-match fun of balloons, Weatherman Purge and the Undying love for DHL, ESL One Birmingham was a fantastic example of how much the UK fans and scene as a whole can fully appreciate and enjoy an arena experience, and how much love was poured into a home event. I for one look forward to ESL Birmingham 2020.
In the meantime, if after Birmingham you’re running on empty and hungry for more Dota 2, join the NSE Discord for upcoming Dota events.
