The Dota 2 Asia Championships group stage is slowly drawing to a conclusion. Without a doubt the most contested group, Group B has been nothing but a nerve wrecking experience for all the teams.
Although no team is getting eliminated at the end of DAC group stage, the stakes are still high, because only the top two teams from each group will start the main event from upper bracket seats. The rest of the squads will have to fight for their lives on the first day of the main event, in the best-of-one first round of the lower bracket. Four teams will be exiting the tournament on the 1st of April, no jokes involved. With the meta in full development, as the new 7.04 changed some things, it’s understandable why now, more than ever, no team feels ok with gambling their chances in a bo1 match.
After two days of bo2 series, the heavy favorites of Group B, Newbee and Evil Geniuses ended up in need of a lifesaving 2-0 victory while Team Liquid have no chance left at a possible top two finish. Newbee concluded the first day at the top of the group with one victory and one draw, however, in their first series of day two, they got simply smashed by a very determined EG. Both Syed Sumail 'SumaiL' Hassan and Saahil 'UNiVeRsE' Arora had explosive games, Suma1L ripping through Newbee with a godly Invoker, while UNiVeRsE played a mesmerizing offlane Puck. Things went from bad to worse for Newbee, who also lost their next series, against Invictus Gaming.
On the other hand, IG have been on fire on the second day and gathered two clean 2-0 victories to claim the lead of the group. The only scenario in which they might lose the Group B top seed is if they lose their series against EG, tomorrow. At the same time, if EG does not win that game, they have no chance at a top two finish, not even a draw score can save them right now.
NP are in a much better position after they have been quietly grinding their way to the top of the group. With three draw scores and one victory, EnVy’s team sits now on the second place of the group and just another draw score in tomorrow’s matchup against Newbee could potentially propel them in the upper bracket of the main event, upsetting all the group favorites.
Day three of the group stage is the last one, and for the currently top four teams in Group B everything is at stake in the tomorrow’s games. The schedule for day three stands as follows:
03:00 CEST Evil Geniuses vs Invictus Gaming
05:30 CEST iG Vitality vs Team Liquid
08:00 CEST Newbee vs NP
