ESL One Malaysia 2022: OG eliminate Thunder Awaken and Fnatic

OG made it to the top 3 at ESL One Malaysia after eliminating two teams in a long, but fantastic day in Arena of Stars from Genting Highlands.

Day 4 of ESL One Malaysia kicked off with what can be considered one of the most exciting series played on the Arena of Stars stage. Thunder Awaken and OG gave their best in an intense lower bracket quarterfinal.

OG opened the series with a mix of signature and new heroes for their players, picking Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf’s signature Mars, but also the first Outworld Destroyer of the tournament. The OD, went into Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov’s hands, who absolutely demolished Thunder Awaken to start the series with a win. However, for game two TA brought one of their best and most used combos, Kunka - Tiny - Snapfire to even out the score.

Game three brought a thrilling battle for survival between the two teams, who fought neck and neck through the entire match, trading kills and objectives for nearly a full hour before OG were able to find a better inanition and take down three of the Thunder Awaken heroes who did not have buybacks. They marched straight to the throne and booked themselves a match-up with Fnatic, the crowd favorites, in the lower bracket semifinals.

Much like the first series of the day, OG ended in style, pulling a reverse sweep over Fnatic. The latter out-drafted and completely outplayed OG in the first game with a Tempo Alchemist draft. But heading into the second game, Fnatic banned the Alchemist themselves, while trying to maintain an aggressive stance with a carry Bloodseeker and a mid lane Queen of Pain. Their game plan was countered by a plethora of lockdowns provided by an Earthshaker-Dark Willow duo support and an unstoppable bzm Invoker.

Alchemist didn’t survive the ban phase of game three either, however, it was taken out of the pool by OG, who kept the Earthshaker for their stand-in coach Evgenii "Chuvash" Makarov, which proved to be the winning pick and the key factor in OG’s victory.

While Fnatic heads back home in the top 4 at ESL One Malaysia, OG will return to the stage Sunday, August 28 for the lower bracket finals against Team Secret and the last chance at bouncing back into the grand finals, where Team Aster are waiting.