After a 5 game series between Evil Geniuses and Team Secret, the European side walked away with their 4th ESL One trophy.
Team Secret now holds the record for ESL One trophies by breaking their tie with Virtus Pro.
This comes after Team Secret’s recent victory at the MDL Disneyland Paris Major and Chongqing Major.
Groups and Playoffs:
Despite being the #1 team in 2019, Secret did not have an easy path to the final.
Group B was the most dangerous group of the tournament, and Team Secret felt that early on.
Evil Geniuses punished Secret in the Group Stage round-robin by taking their matchup 2-0. On the other hand, PSG.LGD and Keen Gaming took one game off them.
Team Secret did have strong victories against Alliance and Gambit Esports, which was enough to send them to the Playoffs in the Lower Bracket.
From there, Team Secret had an uphill battle. The tournament favourites regained their composure in the Playoff bracket with strong wins over OG, a 2-1 victory over TNC Predator and once again 2-0 over Gambit Esports.
Heading into the bracket finals, Team Secret had to face off against Chinese giants PSG.LGD. PSG.LGD looked strong in the opening match but Team Secret served them back in game 2. Game 3 was a closer game but it turned out to be a Team Secret and EG rematch in the final.
The Final
With Team Secret returning to form and Evil Geniuses not losing it all tournament, this was a well-fought series.
Map one went in favour of Team Secret after a long 50-minute struggle from both sides.
The second map was much more clean cut in comparison. Evil Geniuses took this game in 36 minutes to round out the score with huge plays to take the point.
The third game went similarly to game 2. Only this time Team secret would gain point advantage with a huge team fight to take us there.
BLACK HOOOOOOOOOOOLEEE!@YapzOrdota with the epic 3-man against @EvilGeniuses secures @teamsecret's second win of the series! Game 4 to start soon 🔥
🇬🇧 https://t.co/RUTJQiyOsP pic.twitter.com/230223bG94
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) June 2, 2019
With the ball in Team Secrets corner, Evil Geniuses decided to reclaim what was theirs. Game 4 was a stomping ground for EG with the fastest game win of the series. We were then headed to game 5 with the ball back in centre field.
This game swung to each time at various points of the game. the first 15 minutes were close until EG came out on top. However, around 23 minutes Team Secret made crucial picks and claimed Roshan. From there, they remained cautious around EG’s team fighting potential, only taking picks and pressuring base structures. At 38 minutes, EG went for their final fight, but Secret disengaged well and returned fire bringing them to a trophy victory.
THEY'VE DONE IT! @teamsecret ARE YOUR #ESLOne BIRMINGHAM CHAMPIONS! 🔥
🇬🇧 https://t.co/RUTJQiyOsP pic.twitter.com/54a2KcDySs
— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) June 2, 2019
Team Secret took home $125,000 with EG taking $65,000. Both teams will compete in the Epicenter major from the 22nd-30th June. Both EG and Team Secret has already qualified for The International, so this tournament is about becoming stronger and ready for TI9.
