Orange eSports, featuring four stand-ins, surprisingly outclassed all other teams in the first playoff day of the government-sponsored Dota 2 Open Championship. They defeated both Arrow Gaming and Invasion, and will enter the best-of-three finals with a one-game advantage.
Orange eSports, who just recently released three of their players, was perceived to just be participating the Malaysian government-funded Dota 2 Open Championship because the host of the tournament is their own organization. However, the team actually had a surprisingly good performance even as they featured four stand-ins, with only Raymond 'Sharky' Wong being an official member. The team finished without a defeat, claiming the upper bracket position with wins over Invasion and TI4 SEA qualifier Arrow Gaming.
Orange's stand-ins aren't exactly new players. Clanton 'Clanton' Thoo, Sim 'Ling' Woi Cheong, Daniel 'TooFuckingGood' Wong and Jun 'dabeliuteef' Liong have actually already played for Orange in the past. The latter three have also participated The International 3 with team MUFC. Despite the success, we were assured by Liong that this is but a temporary team and nothing further than this had been talked about.
Litt-Binn 'WinteR' Chan, one of the two players reportedly being retained in Orange, is not present as he is heading over to China to serve as Alliance's coach.
Arrow Gaming proceeded to defeat Invasion in the lower bracket finals to arrange a rematch with Orange. With the defeat, Invasion will be exiting the tournament as the third-placer.
The best-of-three finals is scheduled to start 11:00 CEST (17:00 SGT) tomorrow, and Orange will be having a one-game advantage from advancing through the upper bracket. There will be an English cast provided by Lily for the game/s.
There will be a 10,000 RM ($3,100~) prize pool, courtesy of Malaysia's Ministry of Youth and Sports, for this offline setting Dota 2 tournament. While all eight playoff teams will be part of the pot, it is of course the top finishers who would receive the most as the first, second and third placer will get 5,000 RM ($1,550~), 2,500 RM ($775~) and 1,000 RM ($310~) respectively.
Source: Orange eSports League
