One of China’s three representatives at the Singapore Dota 2 Major, Invictus Gaming survived nearly six hours worth of matches on the final day of the tournament. For their efforts, Invictus Gaming will go home $200,000 richer and with 500 DPC points in tow. This will effectively secure their spot at The International 10 on August 2021.
Invictus Gaming Reverse Sweep Evil Geniuses to Win ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021
Heading into the event, Invictus Gaming were widely considered one of the better Dota 2 teams. However, many doubted whether they were capable of making a deep run. The team hadn’t exactly proven themselves outside of competitions in China. Instead, all eyes were either on Team Secret and Evil Geniuses, with the former even topping our tournament power rankings. However, Team Secret wouldn’t even last until the last day of the tournament. The European powerhouse would end up falling at the hands of Invictus Gaming in Round 4 of the Lower Bracket matchups in the playoffs after losing to PSG.LGD in Round 2 of the Upper Bracket matchups. As for Evil Geniuses, you have to give them props. Despite playing with a newly acquired player in Daryl Koh “iceiceice” Pei Xiang, the boys in blue very nearly swept their way into the Grand Finals. They’d end up dropping only 1 game en route to the Grand Finals. In fact, for a moment, Evil Geniuses looked like they were going to sweep Invictus Gaming to win it all. Perhaps fatigued from their three-game series against PSG.LGD in the Lower Bracket Finals, Invictus Gaming found themselves falling down a 2-0 hole in a rather quick fashion against Evil Geniuses in the Grand Finals. Then, in Game 3, something clicked for Invictus Gaming. With their carries leading the way, the Chinese team rallied to extend the series to a fourth game. After that, it seemed as if Invictus Gaming could not be stopped. Try as Evil Geniuses might have, Invictus Gaming had already smelled their weakness. Despite the best efforts, as well as some godly plays, from both Abed “Abed” Azel L. Yusop and Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen, it seemed as if the rest of Evil Geniuses weren’t able to recover mentally after giving away Game 3. As a result, Invictus Gaming’s carry duo led the way for them again in Games 3, 4 and 5, as they went on to secure the championship. Coincidentally, around the same time four years ago, Invictus Gaming also won a huge Dota 2 tournament after beating Tal “Fly” Aizik’s previous team, OG, at the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017.
What’s Next for Dota 2?
Invictus Gaming’s incredibly run capped off the first ever Dota 2 Major in roughly around a year. After this, teams will have a couple of weeks to rest and recuperate as the off season begins. During this time, teams can take the time to shuffle their rosters and add or remove players. However, changing players during this time will incur a 15% penalty to a team’s DPC points for each player removed from the registered roster. So far, Valve has yet to announce when the Regional Leagues for the Second Major of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit will start. Here’s a quick recap of where the top Dota 2 teams right now stand in the DPC rankings.
