BOOM Esports put Southeast Asia Dota 2 on a pedestal at GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022, the first international LAN outside TI held in over two years.

As one of the three SEA representatives in Dubai this week, BOOM Esports humbled some of the best European teams, cut through the TI10 champions, made a perfect group stage run and a full comeback from the lower bracket to the grand finals, where they took full revenge over Tundra Esports, the only team that was able to defeat them earlier in the tournament.

From all the nine competitors at the GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022, BOOM Esports and Tundra were perhaps the only two with a lot to prove to themselves and to their fans.

BOOM, although they took the first place in the SEA DPC regional league this season, they still went for a roster change and brought Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong aboard. With him, they won the SEA Regional Finals as well, but this past week’s event in Dubai not only gave them the chance to test themselves against teams from other regions, but it also marked JaCkky’s LAN debut.

For Tundra, this was their opportunity to prove all the doubters wrong. They’ve been dealing with quite the backlash from the Dota 2 community just recently, when they kicked their captain, Adrian "Fata" Trinks, for Martin "Saksa" Sazdov. So, by making it to the grand finals should give both these teams, their fans and their competitors as well, a good insight of where they stand now.

Tundra made it to the final act from the upper bracket, while for BOOM the road was a bit longer, as they had to survive in the lower bracket, where they'd been sent by Tundra in the very first playoffs series.

Tundra EsportsvsBOOM Esports

Despite coming to the grand finals well warmed up, after a full best-of-three series held against Nigma Galaxy in the LB finals, BOOM, who played aggressively and outclassed their opponents with strong map presence the entire tournament, got outmaneuvered in game one by an Io-Gyrocopter draft from Tundra.

From there on, Io was either first picked or first phase banned by BOOM Esports, who seemed to have two major objectives in their drafts. One was to secure a strong laning stage setup and the other one was to develop their strategies around their mid laner, Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer.

With that in mind, they gave him Invoker in game two and had a Faceless Void carry for the big team fight combos with Chronosphere, while also having strong tower damage with an offlane Death Prophet to even out the series.

In game three they went for an Io-Beastmaster-Kunkka strategy, meant to give supreme vision and constant pick offs, but their plan was completely shut down by Tundra with a last pick Timbersaw that was played mid lane by Leon "Nine" Kirilin. He dismantled Yopaj on his Kunkka from the first minutes of the game, forced him to jungle and constantly hunted him down, thus preventing any sort of aggression from BOOM.

Forced to play from behind, with no map control, BOOM were once again with their backs against the wall and heading into the fourth game, they had to respond to a first phase Broodmoother pick from Neta "33" Shapira.

BOOM’s solution came with a classical, but long time missing from the meta Bristleback - Keeper of the Light duo and a Templar Assassin for Yopaj in the mid lane. 33 was able to apply the pressure in the laning stage, but his Spiderlings didn’t make the difference once TA was ready to fight and BOOM had no issue in perfectly addressing the Brood and claiming the game victory.

Yopaj’s TA got prioritized even more in the fifth and final game of the series. BOOM took it in the first phase of the draft, forcing Tundra to have a response, which came in the form of a Jakiro mid. Unfortunately, for the European team, that was not enough, as they also had to play into an offlane Brewmaster, which was crucial for BOOM Esports’ victory at GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022.

GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022 standings

1st place: $109,013 - BOOM Esports
2nd place: $54,507 - Tundra Esports
3rd place: $32,704 - Nigma Galaxy
4th place: $21,803 - Team Spirit
5th/6th place: $13,627 - OG, Team Secret
7th/8th place: $8,176 - Nigma Galaxy SEA, TSM FTX
9th place: $5,451 - Fnatic

With the event done and dusted, the Dota 2 professional scene is preparing for the Dota Pro Circuit Spring Tour, which is set to commence next week, on the 14th of March. The Spring Tour will culminate with the first Major of the year, ESL One Stockholm Major, scheduled for May 12-22.

^{headline picture courtesy of Gamers Galaxy}

BOOM Esports are the GAMERS GALAXY: Invitational Series Dubai 2022 champions