After losing three consecutive series in Division I of the Western Europe Regional league, Nigma Galaxy seem to have found a fix to their problems.
Amer "Miracle-" Al-Barkawi carrying the team from the mid lane isn’t something new for Nigma Galaxy. They went with this strategy before, when Aliwi "w33" Omar was their mid lane player. This time around, their carry, Igor "iLTW" Filatov, played Queen of Pain in the safe lane while Miracle- carried the team with two different heroes against Team Secret.
Nigma Galaxy
vs
Team Secret
Nigma started the new DPC year with their coach standing in for Miracle-. They played the first two series with Roman "rmN-" Paley in the midlane and lost to Team Tickles and Tundra Esports. Miracle’s return for the third series on the schedule didn’t make a difference and the losing streak continued, OG also taking them down 2-0. With their backs already against the wall, having to fight to keep their Division I spot from here on, Nigma picked Queen of Pain in the first phase of the draft in game one against Team Secret and Doom in the second phase, while their last pick was Kunkka.
None of these heroes were picked for their traditional roles, which put Secret in a dilemma and allowed Nigma Galaxy to have the element of surprise. Miracle- took the Doom in the mid lane and crushed Syed "SumaiL" Hassan on his Invoker. All lanes went perfect for Nigma and that meant a smooth transition to the mid stage of the game and a commendable first win in the DPC.
For the second game, Nigma kept the same first two picks, Bane and Queen of Pain, but had the overall last pick of the draft and saved it for Miracle-, who brought a clean 2-0 sweep with a mid lane Medusa. They once again secured a strong laning stage presence with Dark Seer being the absolute annoyance for Secret’s safe lane, which led to even a more convincing victory in game two for Nigma.
Their series against Team Secret marked the last official match for Nigma for 2021, and while they are already in the winter holidays vacation, Team Secret have a few more battles to fight before Christmas. They will return to action in the DPC Western Europe League on the 21st of December, when they will play against Team Liquid, while this Sunday, December 19 at 21:00 CET they will fight against Team Spirit for a spot in the OGA Dota PIT Season 5 grand finals.
headline image courtesy of DreamHack
