South East Asian powerhouses locked horns earlier today and some teams have already left the competition. Most successful so far are MVP.hot6, Mineski, G-Guard and Energy Pacemaker.
Earlier today (or yesterday for some) at the Mineski Pro Gaming League finals in Malaysia, 12 teams from Asia gathered up in the group stage matches, with each group consisting of three teams. The format results in a team only playing two single best-of-ones, which can be rather ruthless as losing both games will end the tournament run right there already. By winning the group, teams move on to the winner bracket of the eight team double elimination playoffs and by finishing second, teams instead move on directly to the loser bracket. For more day one impressions also read this blog by Catosaurus.
The day saw local celebrities G-Guard emerging as victors in the second group, triumphing over Rex Regum Qeon and Thai team iDeal. Other group winners were seven-man squad Mineski (although only five players are playing the event), Korean team MVP.hot6 and eventually Chinese guests Energy Pacemaker. The latter had to go through a three way tiebreaker which actually is the same thing as replaying the entire group as it only featured three teams to begin with. The other teams in the group were Pinoy team TnC who recently got a spot in the TI5 qualifiers despite being a rather unknown team, as well as Malay roster Underminer who unfortunately fell short in the tiebreakers and got eliminated without entering the playoffs bracket.
Due to the tiebreakers, one of the two loser bracket matches scheduled for the initial day was postponed to first thing in the morning of day two, namely 5eva vs TnC. The other match, RRQ vs Signature.Trust was an intense nail biter game in which Trust ultimately seized a grip and managed to throw themselves at the enemy ancient, eventually taking it down with them. On the contrary to most other events, MPGL is almost entirely consisting of best of one matches, making every game very intense by nature.
The matches continue in a couple of hours as the second and final day rolls out. For more information of upcoming matchups head on over to the coverage hub.
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