Action at the MDL Chengdu Major continued on Day 5 with two Lower Bracket elimination matches, followed by two Upper Bracket series.
The new Beastcoast team, which surprised Dota 2 fans by finishing seventh/eighth at the International 2019, took on North America squad, Fighting PandaS in a best-of-three elimination match.
Game One
Both teams decided to have three heroes in the top lane, which surprisingly worked out well for Beastcoast.
The South Americans had an Alchemist on their hard-carry, Hector “K1” Rodriguez, while Fighting PandaS drafted a Keeper of the Light and Chaos Knight, heroes who tend to dominate their lanes.
Despite this, Fighting PandaS failed to hinder K1’s farm. As a result, the Alchemist had a Radiance and Black King Bar at the 15-minute mark of game one.
After a few more engagements that went the way of Beastcoast, Fighting PandaS decided to call gg at the 25-minute mark. Instead of struggling to change the outcome of game one, the team decided to regroup and refocus their attention on the following game.
- MDL Chengdu Major Day 5: Invictus Gaming reverse sweeps Fnatic 2-1
- MDL Chengdu Major Day 4: Alliance eliminates Team Aster in a hard-fought 2-1 elimination match
Game Two
During game two, Fighting Pandas’ Jingju “Sneyking” Wu had a great start with his position 4 Rubick. He was involved in multiple engagements that gave his team a small gold lead.
The South American team managed to take back control of the game with a tried and tested 4-man hit-squad, while K1 continued farming on the other side of the map. Beastcoast made the most of their spells during team fights, and capitalized on a slow-moving Fighting PandaS lineup.
Beastcoast’s team coordination was on point throughout the whole series, as they stun-locked Jonathan “bryle” De Guia and prevented him from casting his Black King Bar.
Beastcoast’s support heroes, along with Adrian “Wisper” Dobles, put on an amazing performance and prevented Fighting PandaS from mounting a comeback. Steven “Stinger” Vargas was impeccable with his Will-O-Wisp ultimate, and Elvis “Scofield” Peña was ready with the follow-up Light Strike Array.
With a 2-0 win over Fighting PandaS, Beastcoast secures a Top 8 finish and advances to the third round of the Lower Bracket, where they’re set to face Invictus Gaming in a best-of-three elimination match.
Fighting PandaS exit the tournament in 9th-12th place, which earns them US$25,000 and 150 DPC points.
READ MORE: MDL Chengdu Major Day 4: Liquid eliminates EHOME after a 2-0 stomp in the Lower Bracket
