(This piece was written for Acer's Predator League. It was sent across numerous media outlets.)
After four gruelling days of back-and-forth esports action, the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final for the Asian region has now concluded.
Out of the 20 teams across eight regions, only two stood out in the competition as both Team Veteran from Myanmar and DWG-KIA from South Korea secured the coveted Predator League trophy.
The latest 7.29 Dota 2 update didn’t seem to faze Veteran as they clawed their way from the lower bracket final, where they ousted The Council, the representatives from Bangladesh.
The Council were unfortunate that they suffered from connectivity issues, forcing J1N to toggle between two mechanically-centric heroes, namely Chen and Visage. Veteran capitalized on this opportunity and dominated the entire match.
Some would argue that their victory was caused by a stroke of luck, however they proved in the grand final that they rightfully deserved their spot. They went up against Team IMG, a team from Mongolia.
IMG were considered to be favorites to win the event given their undefeated streak and the leadership of Ravdan "Hustla" Narmandakh, however they stumbled in the final.
Veteran placed a lot of pressure in game one, where Kenji’s Enchantress and Mice’s Drow Ranger combo bombarded tsl’s Death Prophet in the early laning phase. The rotations from GuGu’s Storm Spirit and the presence of Kalay99’s Pangolier disrupted IMG’s momentum.
IMG redeemed themselves in game two, where Hustla’s Tiny and WarpteN’s Grimstroke made crucial teamfight setups, which created space for Kwagod’s Void Spirit to jump in. Bell’s decision to purchase an Aghanim’s Scepter for the Phantom Assassin likewise helped, as this gave him the ability to dispel most of Veteran’s crowd control abilities.
The final match was decided by Veteran’s hyper aggressive strategy, forcing Bell’s Wraith King to switch to another lane. However, this created space for Bell to recover as he acquired the Assault Cuirass and Radiance.
Unfortunately, his progress was stomped in the 29th minute, where Veteran’s vision propelled them to go for a surprise wombocombo, eliminating the key threats of IMG.
Not only did Veteran win the coveted Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 Trophy, as they also bagged USD20,000. Second placers IMG earned USD10,000, while third placers The Council garnered USD5,000.
Besides Dota, the PUBG Asia event also culminated where DWG-KIA slowly climbed their way to reach the top spot, usurping their fellow representatives, GPS Ghibli.
Prior to the final four rounds, DWG-KIA trailed as their 96 point tally was below GPS Ghibli’s 107 points. Initially, Ghibli seemed as if they were destined to maintain the top spot given DWG-KIA’s 13th place finish and Ghibli’s 6th place finish in round nine.
However, Ghibli suffered two major casualties. First in round 11, where DWG-KIA battered them after the parachute drop.
The second took place in round 12, where Ghibli made one of the most catastrophic moments in the tournament as they were caught in a vehicular accident that was capitalized by JDI, a team representing Hong Kong. In the end, Ghibli attained 122 points with USD15,000 as cash prize.
During their demise, DWG-KIA secured two consecutive second place finishes in rounds 11 and 12, amassing 142 points. Not only did they bag the Predator League PUBG trophy as they also brought home USD37,500.
Even the third place finish was heavily contested as the two teams from South Korea namely Danawa e-sports and defending champions Afreeca Freecs, MP5 from Macau, and Rascal Jester from Japan were caught in numerous skirmishes.
Though Afreeca Freecs started strong with a second place finish in round nine and Rascal Jester secured two consecutive chicken dinner victories in rounds 10 and 11, it was Danawa who secured the third place finish.
Their three chicken dinners in rounds two, seven, and 12, their second place finish in round 10, and a strong start have propelled them to attain the third spot. Overall they earned 112 points as compared to Afreeca Freecs’ 100 point tally. Their efforts yielded USD7,500.
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