Manila Major Grand Finals: OG seize second Dota 2 Major Championship Title

OG have won the Manila Major Grand Finals, as they edged out Team Liquid, 3:1. The event has come to a dramatic end with spectacular matches between the two European teams. After a whirlwind of almost two weeks and 99 competitive matches played, OG walk away with the staggering $1.1 million prize, making history as the first team to win two Valve events.

The thrilling adventure of the Manila Major Grand Finals has come to an end. OG were able to outplay, outdraft and outmaneuver some of the best teams in the world to claim their championship title.

With no experiences spared – including a mind blowing cosplay contest followed by having Kristian Nairn – Hordor from Game of Thrones – to “Hold the Door” for the Grand finalist teams, the Manila Majors final day was extraordinary.

The Manila Major Grand Finals was a war of drafts, a battle in coaching, a contest between individual talent, an encounter of team synergy and cohesion and a clash of the titans. On every competitive level, the two European teams delivered.

After falling behind in the first game of the series, OG came back with some spectacular drafting and strategies – executed perfectly to take the next three games in the series.

The European “Dream Green” team took a seed in the upper brackets after taking the second position in the group stage. They wiped through Na’Vi and then MVP.Phoenix, before besting Newbee, 2:1, to be the first team to advance to the Manila Major Grand Finals.

This is the team’s second Dota 2 Major Championship title. They bested Team Secret, 3:1, at the Frankfurt Major, in November.

Manila Major Grand Finals

OG vs. Team Liquid

The first game saw OG draft LifeStealer as first pick, countered by Team Liquid with Riki. Team Liquid get first blood, second kill and one of the runes in the first 30 seconds to start things off. With increased vision, Team Liquid were able to punish OG all over the map and grab pick offs and kills, furthering their lead after the laning stage. Team Liquid just continued to dominate through the game, taking a decisive victory for the first game edge.

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The second game took over 4 minutes before OG grabbed the first blood and found a second one shortly after. OG aggressively sought out kills all over the map, shutting down Team Liquid’s cores and looking to punish their opponents before the snowball could start from Team Liquid’s lineup. Minute 28 perfect team fight execution for a favorable 4 for 1 fight and Roshan helped OG continue to further their lead with a 10k gold lead. With the team fight advantage and the laning advantage OG easily took the second game to tie up the series 1:1.

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During the third game OG had the perfect lineup to deal with the Slardar initiations. Around 10 minutes in OG started to rev up and take a lead after taking down 3 heroes. OG’s early game and Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen’s rotation have been key factors in their success. Johan “BigDaddy” Sundstein on Sven easily topped the net worth charts being very farmed. OG take the win and the lead in the series 2:1.

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The fourth game saw the 95th hero picked as OG drafted Wraith King for the hero’s first appearance in the Manila Major. At minute 20 a five man wipe would help Team Liquid turn things into their favor after losing it slightly. With non stop swings back and forth, the action was intense. Until about minute 30 things were even but later became heavily one sided as OG just pulled away with the lead quickly. Their victory gave them game and the series.

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Manila Major Grand Finals results: OG 3:1 Team Liquid

Photo credits: PGL

The Manila Major main event

The Manila Major main event took place between June 7-12th, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. Viewers and visitors enjoyed six days of action. The Grand Finals took place on Sunday, June 12th.

Manila Major teams

Format

Sixteen teams played a double-elimination bracket.

Eight teams (top two teams of each of the four groups) started the main event in the Upper Bracket. Eight teams (bottom two teams of each of the four groups) started the main event in the Lower Bracket.

All the Upper Bracket match-ups were best-of-three series.

The first two rounds of the Lower Bracket matches were best-of-one elimination series. The following rounds were best-of-three elimination series.

The Manila Dota Major Grand Finals were best-of-five series, with no winners’ advantage.

Manila Major prize pool

• 1st place – $1,110,000 – OG
• 2nd place – $405,000 – Team Liquid
• 3rd place – $315,000 – Newbee
• 4th place – $255,000 – LGD Gaming
• 5th-6th place – $202,000 – MVP.Phoenix/ Fnatic
• 7th-8th place – $105,000 – Na’Vi/ViCi Gaming.Reborn
• 9th-12th place – $45,000 – compLexity/Alliance/Digital Chaos/Team Empire
• 13th-16th place – $30,000 – Wings Gaming/Mineski/Evil Geniuses/Team Secret