PSG.LGD are the first team from the Group Stage to secure enough wins to advance into the WePlay AniMajor Playoffs.
The Chinese squad won all their games on day three of the Group Stage. They defeated surging Filipino squad TNC Predator, and dismantled tournament favorites Evil Geniuses with stellar performances from Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang and Wang “Ame” Chunyu.
PSG.LGD’s pocket Axe strategy helped them dominate the Group Stage
Ame’s hard carry Axe completely caught teams by surprise.
While most teams pick Axe as their offlane and initiator, PSG.LGD showed a different way to play the hero.
By giving Ame’s Axe farm priority, he completed his Vanguard six minutes into the game. This pretty much made him unkillable early on.
Since Axe can flash farm lanes and neutral creep camps, he was also able to pick up his follow up items faster than the enemy carry.
Another reason why Axe works as a hard carry hero is that he can counter the enemy team’s Black King Bars. Axe’s Counter Helix provides pure damage, which negates a BKB’s 100% magic resistance.
To make matters worse for BKB users, his Berskerer’s Call goes through spell immunity. This makes Axe the ultimate counter to hard carry heroes.
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PSG.LGD kept the Cliffteezy meme alive at the WePlay AniMajor
While players in the tournament were hyper-focused on qualifying for the playoffs, PSG.LGD were playing at their own pace.
In fact, the team’s midlaner NothingToSay had one goal in mind during game one against Evil Geniuses — to make sure the Cliffteezy meme lives on.
NothingToSay was locked in with his Magnus, and was always on the lookout for Evil Geniuses’ superstar carry player Artour “Arteezy” Babaev.
The North American star is known for getting finessed to high ground spots around the map where he would get stuck, hence the ‘Cliffteezy’ meme.
NothingToSay outdid himself during the next team fight by sending Arteezy to the same cliff twice in a single team fight.
These plays from NothingToSay left Evil Geniuses’ hard carry Medusa out of action, which allowed PSG.LGD to focus down the rest of EG’s heroes and eventually win the game.
This is the second straight Major in which Evil Geniuses was on the receiving end of mind games from a Chinese team. During the previous ONE Esports Singapore Major, Invictus Gaming stunned the North American team with a reverse sweep in the Grand Final after Zhou “Emo” Yi hit them with a “?” after game three.
PSG.LGD is the first team to advance to the Playoffs
PSG.LGD came into day three of the Group Stage with a 6-2 record. After finishing the day with a perfect 4-0 record, they’re now guaranteed an Upper Bracket Playoff spot at the WePlay AniMajor.
Right behind them is Team Nigma and Vici Gaming, who are battling for the second Upper Bracket spot. Meanwhile, the rest of the teams are coming down to the wire with Team Liquid, Team Spirit, and beastcoast on the verge of elimination.
The final day of the Group Stage of the WePlay AniMajor will take place at later at 7:00 p.m. GMT+8. To learn more about the tournament’s results, schedule, format, prize pool, and where to watch, click here.
READ MORE: Arteezy single-handedly carries Evil Geniuses in WePlay AniMajor debut
