Philippine team AMD.Mineski wins GMPGL 5 SEA grand finals

Among eight of the best teams in SEA, only one emerged victorious. After winning 2-0 against Malaysia’s Team Titan, Philippine team AMD.Mineski grabbed first place in the recently held Gigabyte Mineski Pro-Gaming League (GMPGL) SEA grand finals. The Dota 2 division featured four teams from the Philippines and four foreign teams from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

The GMPGL SEA is the fifth season of the annual GMPGL. While it held tournaments for different regions in SEA, this is the first time that foreign teams were invited to the Philippines to participate in the league.

The GMPGL Playoffs

The four teams at the GMPGL Playoffs consisted of three Philippine teams AMD.Mineski, GNE.Dreamz, and Execration, and one Malaysian team, Team Titan. Execration and GNE.Dreamz were immediately knocked down to the loser’s bracket by Team Titan and AMD.Mineski respectively. GNE.Dreamz then successfully eliminated Execration who had no proper answer to the draft and strategy of their opponent.

Meanwhile in the winner’s bracket, Team Titan clashed in a very explosive match against AMD.Mineski . Team Titan was considered to be the favorites to win this tournament, as four of their members are from Team Orange who won third place in The International 2013. On the other hand, AMD.Mineski is by far the most popular teams in the Philppines having been the only team to participate in the first International in 2011 and a pioneer team in since the WC3 DotA heydays in the Philippines.

The deciding match had the audience at the edge of their seats as AMD.Mineski managed to turn the tide of the match with their Naga Siren catching up on farm while split-pushing. The Keeper of the Light also provided good counter pushing measures to prevent Team Titan from quickly pushing their lanes. The crowd was in uproar as the most prominent Philippine team took the match 2-1 in what could be considered an upset against one of the strongest teams in SEA.

GNE.Dreamz versus Team Titan

Despite suffering a loss from AMD.Mineski, Team Titan wasn’t out of the tournament just yet. They dropped to the loser’s bracket where they were to face GNE.Dreamz in a best-of-one. This time, it was the Malaysian’s turn to use a Naga Siren, but as a support. The well-timed Song of the Siren from the Naga Siren and Dream Coils from the Puck won a lot of team fights for Team Titan. Also worth mentioning was Team Titan’s very farmed support Crystal Maiden who managed to buy a Black King Bar, which allowed the effective channeling of her ultimate skill Freezing Field.

The game between Team Titan and GNE.Dreamz escalated to practically being a base race, as the Philippine team had a powerful pushing line-up with a Nature’s Prophet, Chen, Shadow Shaman, Lich, and Juggernaut. After multiple times of each team trying to break each other’s bases by going high ground, taking barracks, and eventually getting to the last towers, it was Team Titan who emerged victorious against GNE.Dreamz.

Grand Finals: Team Titan vs AMD.Mineski

Team Titan and AMD.Mineski met again in the grand finals, but this time, the Philippine team had a one game advantage. There was a back and forth trading of kills starting from the early game. While AMD.Mineski’s Clockwerk landed awesome Hooks and Cogs, they also kept losing their hard carry Weaver early on causing him to fall behind for a while.

AMD.Mineski won team fight after team fight and held on to their advantage. The Philippine team then went high ground and took Team Titan’s middle tower and managed to kill the Malaysian team’s Luna and Night Stalker. The loss of these two core heroes resulted to Team Titan losing their middle and top barracks making it difficult for them to defend their base let alone leave it. With the lanes not pushing out from from Team Titan and after a failed attempt to take the bottom tower and barracks, AMD.Mineski take Roshan for the final assault on Team Titan’s bottom lane. AMD.Mineski’s Clockwerk’s isolation of Team Titan’s Luna and Night Stalker sealed the match and the Malaysian team called “GG” at the 56 minute mark.