The fifth Valve Major ringed down the curtain last Sunday with a terrific grand final between OG and Virtus Pro. New records have been set, hopes and dreams have been broken and a beautiful underdog story unfolded during the four days event at the National Palace of Arts from Kiev Ukraine.
OG became four times Major Champions, and the story itself will never be forgotten. They are true living legends of Dota 2 and their play style and faith in their own ability to succeed are truly remarkable. Probably we could make a full highlights video of OG’s remarkable run in Kiev but until we commit to that, we take you on a short journey of strong individual plays and remarkable moments coming out from all the participating teams.
The Kiev Major event opened with the series between the DAC 2017 champions, Invictus Gaming and the Boston Major runners up, Mousesports (Ad Finem at that time ). Fans were expecting a fierce battle, full of big plays and teamfights, and got exactly what they wanted. Mousesports got themselves cornered by a fearless Xu 'BurNIng' Zhilei who opened IG‘s path in the main event with a Rampage.
Team Liquid were close to an early exit from the main event but their mid player worked out Miracles for them and so did their support Maroun 'GH' Merhej. Both Amer 'Miracle-' Al-Barkawi and GH are featured in our highlights video, one with an incredible comeback on Templar Assassin, one with a game winning Winter's Curse. Big individual plays were made with every game played on the main stage, but few of them will stick with us. Expected by every one to deliver big plays at any event where Evil Geniuses takes part, Syed Sumail 'SumaiL' Hassan complied in Kiev as well. EG went through a hell of series against the Brazilians from SG e-sports and almost lost the battle. Suma1L’s five men Dream Coil in the Roshan pit was one of the saving moments for EG.
But just like EG has a world class playmaker in Suma1L, so does SG e-sports. Their offlaner Otávio 'Tavo' Gabriel was a key factor in Team Secret’s elimination in the first round of the event and kept the Brazilian hope alive till the very last minute in the series against EG. His Sand King and Enigma plays are hard to forget and mark a beautiful underdog story for his team.
