T1 ended the second day of the ONE Esports Dota 2 SEA League Playoffs by eliminating NEW Esports, 2-1, in the second Lower Bracket matchup of the day.
T1 came back from being down almost 20,000 gold in game three of their series to avoid an early exit and oust their opponents from the league.
T1 looked dominant to start the series, as they rode a four-protect-one strategy, headlined by a Phantom Assassin for Galvin “Meracle” Kang Jian Wen, to take an easy 27-minute victory.
However, NEW Esports turned the tables in game two to send the series to a deciding game three. Longtime veteran Ng “YamateH” Wei Poong put on a show with his support Zeus and finished with an absurd 19/3/19 KDA to help his team tie up the series.
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NEW Esports looked to close out the series with a strong midgame lineup headlined by Ursa for Hsien Wan “Lance” Fua and a mid Vengeful Spirit for Yi Liong “ddz” Kok.
T1 opted to run another four-protect-one in the decider with Meracle on Anti-Mage, while Muhammad “inYourdreaM” Rizky was on a mid Tiny and Lee “Forev” Sang-don was on an offlane Doom to back up their carry.
NEW dominated game three from the get-go, heavily applying pressure on Meracle’s Anti-Mage while shutting down the rest of T1’s attempts at making space for their carry. With a gold lead of over 19,500 gold by the 27-minute mark, T1 looked like they were on the verge of being eliminated. However, they were somehow able to defend NEW’s push on their mid lane of barracks to spark their comeback.
NEW kept running head-first into T1’s base and taking questionable engagements, even if the fights started with Lance’s Ursa getting picked off. NEW’s gold lead evaporated as Meracle caught up to, and eventually eclipsed, Lance on the net worth charts to give T1 the momentum.
NEW desperately kept on forcing fights to try and finish off a game that quickly slipped away from their fingers, but by that point T1 was already too much for them to handle. T1 overwhelmed their opponents in one last teamfight at the 44-minute mark then forced them to concede the game and the series two minutes later.
After starting the game 0-3, Meracle’s Anti-Mage went on a rampage to fuel his team’s comeback and finish the series with an excellent 13-3-14 KDA.
With their victory over NEW Esports, T1 move on to the next round of the Lower Bracket, where they will be facing off against Neon Esports.
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