The GEST Challenge in June is fast approaching its conclusion, with all matches but the Grand Final already finished. IG will play against their arch-rivals DK in yet another Grand Final best-of-5 to determine who gets the $7,000 top prize.
The GEST (Gigabyte ESports Tournament) Challenge went through yet another playday yesterday in its single-elimination format. With all the SEA teams already eliminated in the quarter finals, the semi finals were an All-Chinese affair, which saw IG first playing against LGD, followed by DK going up against NewBee.
Both semi finals ended relatively quickly, with both matches going 2-0 in favour of the eventual finalists, IG and DK. In particular, IG showed no signs of holding back against LGD in their matches, forcing LGD to play conservatively and punishing them heavily for their mistakes. In the other best of three, DK took a 2-0 victory against NewBee, their only match win over NewBee out of the three best of threes they had to play against NewBee yesterday. The games were relatively close affairs, which saw DK coming back in the first game with superior positioning that caused Hao's Faceless Void to Chrono two teammates and allowing DK to reverse their fortunes.
IG will thus meet DK in the Bo5 Grand Final which will begin at 14:00 CEST/ 20:00 SGT on 23 June, Monday. The match should prove to be entertaining and tightly contested since both teams have not been scrimming against each other since the end of StarSeries Season IX.
In the 3rd-4th placing decider played today, NewBee exhibited their class and superiority over LGD, outclassing them in two straight games on the back of a solid performance by the entire team. NewBee will end GEST 3rd, and take home $1,000.
Final Standings and Prize Distribution:
1st - TBD ($7,000)
2nd - TBD ($2,000)
3rd - NewBee ($1,000)
