The Kyiv Animajor entered its final day Sunday. Three teams remained, but only one would be crowned the champion.
Kyiv Animajor final day – T1 sent home at third
The lower bracket finals of the Kyiv Animajor featured a matchup for the ages. On one side, T1, the lone Southeast Asian representative left in the tournament. The team, led by Carlo “Kuku” Palad, took out the first seeds from China and North America before their final match. T1 have shown themselves to be a disciplined team that had a chance to take it all.
On the other side were Evil Geniuses. The North American representatives from the wild card stage have continued to prove their dominance outside of the region. Despite finishing second in the second season of the North American Dota Pro Circuit, they have pushed themselves to, at least, third place at this Major.
The first game of T1 vs. EG featured an uncommon carry matchup: Terrorblade vs. Naga Siren. While Terrorblade had been picked a fair amount in the Animajor, Naga Siren was almost unseen. Evil Geniuses executed their game plan as well as they could in the first map. They allowed Artour “Arteezy” Babaev’s Naga Siren to farm while Abed “Abed” Yusop’s Puck and Andreas “Cr1t” Nielsen’s Lion caused chaos around the map. Abed was able to end the game with a score line of 20 kills, two deaths and 13 assists. T1 also did not have an answer for Arteezy’s farmed Naga Siren.
The second game was close for the first 15 minutes, until two unfortunate deaths by Arteezy’s Terrorblade turned the tide for T1. The gold lead for T1 swelled to about 20,000 and the game looked over. However, a beautiful Toss into the fountain by Cr1t’s Tiny eliminated any advantage T1 had over the game. Forty Five minutes in and the game state returned to even and both teams continue to scrap for control. A final push by T1 with a timely buyback by Nuengnara “23Savage” Teeramahanon’s Juggernaut sealed the game for T1.
The final game was not as exhilarating as the second. An unexpected tri-lane set up by Evil Geniuses put 23Savage’s Phantom Lancer behind. From that point forward, Daryl “Iceiceice” Koh’s Pei Xiang’s Sand King took over the game. The 10-year Dota veteran used his Epicenter initiations to confirm a grand finals placing for Evil Geniuses.
What a fight! @EvilGeniuses showing us why they deserve to be in the Grand Final!#AniMajor #WePlayAniMajor pic.twitter.com/0JGquoqWUk
— WePlay Studios (@WePlay_Studios) June 13, 2021
Grand Final – PSG.LGD vs Evil Geniuses
PSG.LGD were thought to be the favorites to win the entire tournament. The sentiment manifested itself Monday as PSG.LGD took the final 3-0 against Evil Geniuses.
The first game was a complete stomp, and ended with a score of 30-6 in favor of PSG.LGD. A rare moment where Evil Geniuses were not able to win the laning stage. Arteezy was put on Nature’s Prophet, a hero that strays away from the typical hyper carry he has played throughout the tournament. As they fell behind in the early game, Evil Geniuses did not have much of a chance the rest of the game.
The second game saw Arteezy pick up Nature’s Prophet again. However, it was much more effective this time around. Evil Geniuses were sitting at a 10,000 gold advantage when they chose to siege PSG.LGD’s high ground. A surprise Blink Dagger purchase by Wang “Ame” Chunyu allowed PSG.LGD to get the jump on Arteezy’s Nature’s Prophet and kill him off early. From that point forward, PSG.LGD kept catching out Evil Geniuses’ supports. PSG.LGD did not allow Evil Geniuses to get back into the game until the moment they took Evil Geniuses’ Ancient.
"But what did it cost?"
"Everything."After stealing the Aegis, @EvilGeniuses loses the fight against @PSGeSports and it costs them the game! 👾
Now, PSG.LGD leads the series 2-0. Will they be able to close it out on the next map? 🧐🧐#WePlayAniMajor #AniMajor pic.twitter.com/9vwyV7aWW9
— WePlay Studios (@WePlay_Studios) June 13, 2021
The events of the third game were not much different. Evil Geniuses were able to get a good start on Abed’s Templar Assassin. Against most teams, the enemy would be too focused on shutting down Abed. However, PSG.LGD used a combination of smokes and Moonlight Shadow to constantly find Arteezy farming alone. Even though Evil Geniuses were doing well on their other heroes, PSG.LGD were able to shut down Arteezy, which was their win condition. It was clear after several lost fights by Evil Geniuses that PSG.LGD were the better team. A final fight near the Dire outpost sealed the deal and PSG.LGD swept Evil Geniuses 3-0.
