China defends home soil for now.
Two of the Chengdu Major home teams have survived their Lower Bracket best-of-one elimination gauntlet against the two CIS teams in the tournament after Team Aster soundly eliminated Gambit Esports.
Gambit questionably ran a carry Chaos Knight for Kiyalbek “dream`” Tayirov empowered by an offlane Magnus for Maxim “Shachlo” Abramovskikh, instead of Magnus’ other usual partners like Juggernaut or Phantom Assassin. Aster blindsided their opponents with a last pick mid Bristleback for Kee Chyuan “ChYuan” Ng, alongside Faceless Void for Song “Sccc” Chun and Tiny for Lin “Xxs” Jing.
ChYuan was virtually uncontested in the midlane, letting him lead his team in multiple excursions into Gambit’s top shrine area to steal their neutral creep and ancient stacks.
With Aster firmly in the driver’s seat, the game slowed down as both teams became content to farm up and go for the occasional pickoff. However, Aster found an opportunity to go for the jugular by picking off dream’s Chaos Knight as he was retreating from a gank in the bottom lane. With their base in shambles and no hopes to mount a comeback, Gambit called GG after 37 minutes.
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This victory has to feel good for Aster, as they narrowly missed a spot at the Upper Bracket due to crucial mistakes in their Decider Match against Evil Geniuses in the Group Stage. They now move on to the next round of the Lower Bracket, where they will be facing Alliance.
Meanwhile, Gambit exits the Chengdu Major at 13th-16th place, with US$12,500 and 100 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points in consolation. It’s a disappointing outcome for a team that looked to be on the rise considering they took TNC Predator, who now stands as the favorites to win the Major, to five games in the finals of ESL One Hamburg.
It also means a rough start to the 2019-2020 DPC for the CIS region, as its representatives bottomed out of the first Major cycle after years of Virtus.pro repping the region as one of the top teams in previous circuits.
READ MORE: MDL Chengdu Major: Day 2 recap, EG secures Upper Bracket slot despite shaky form
