Evil Geniuses crowned Dota 2 champ at Manila Masters

After three days of furious battle, USA’s Evil Geniuses was crowned the ultimate champion after a shocking comeback against China's Newbee at the international Dota 2 tournament Manila Masters.

Organized by Philippine eSports organizer Mineski Events Team (MET) and supported by Germany-based Electronic Sports League (ESL), the Manila Masters was held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena from May 26 to 28. It gathered 8 professional Dota (Defense of the Ancients) 2 teams from around the world to fight for the $250,000 prize pool.

Day 1 saw the elimination of Europe's Team Secret and Filipino-Malaysian team Clutch Gamers, while Day 2 proved the undoing of China's Invictus Gaming, Singapore's Team Faceless, and Europe's OG.

Day 3 focused on the remaining combatants: USA’s Evil Geniuses and Canada's Team NP, who clashed in Losers Bracket Round 4; and China’s Newbee, the proverbial final boss to beat in the explosive Manila Masters Finals.


May 28 (Day 3) – Losers Bracket Round 4

The Best of 3 format was chosen for the Losers Bracket Round 4 matches.

The results of these matches are as follows:

Evil Geniuses (2) vs. Team NP (1)
Winner: Evil Geniuses

Unfortunately for Team NP, its road to the championship came to an end with this defeat.

Evil Geniuses, on the other hand, moved forward to face Newbee in the Finals.




May 28 (Day 3) – Finals

Evil Geniuses previously lost to Newbee in the May 26 Upper Bracket Round 3, which was why the former wound up in Losers Bracket Round 4.

The Finals was therefore a white-knuckle rematch between the two rivals.

The Best of 5 format was used for the Finals. The results of these matches are as follows:

Newbee (1) vs. Evil Geniuses (3)
Winner: Evil Geniuses




At first place, Evil Geniuses took home the $125,000 grand prize and the honor of being the first Manila Masters champion.

2nd placer Newbee was awarded $50,000, while in 3rd place, Team NP earned $25,000. At 4th place, Team Faceless won $20,000. Invictus Gaming and OG went away with $10,000 each. Team Secret and Clutch Gamers gained $5,000 each.

 

The critical success factor

Evil Geniuses and Newbee haven’t been rivals long, but they’ve been in several memorable clashes since 2016, with the former coming out on top each time. The Manila Masters proved particularly exciting; for a while, it seemed Newbee was going to score its first major victory over the North American team. Of course, at the end of the tournament, Evil Geniuses reminded the eSports world once again why it’s considered among the best professional Dota 2 teams today.

But success doesn’t come easy. Aside from hundreds of hours of practice, Evil Geniuses has seen a number of roster changes. One of the most notable is the appointment of Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen as the team captain in September 2016.

Previously from OG, Cr1t- took over Peter “ppd” Dager’s position as support and captain of Evil Geniuses. Thankfully, nobody in the team had too much trouble with the transition.

“I think everybody knew pretty fast that we’re going to have a different approach for this team,” explained Cr1t-. “So I think it wasn’t really for me to convince (my teammates), it was more like they had to realize what their new role was on this team. I don’t think it took that long. I think after we went to the first tournament, it was pretty straightforward because we won, so we knew that it was going to work for us.”

 

Cr1t- believes his team’s professionalism contributes to its high success rate.

“I think we’re probably the most professional team there is, at least among the Western teams,” he said. “I can’t speak for the Chinese, they’re probably very professional but, I don’t think there are teams in the West that are more professional than us.”

He added: “The professionalism in Evil Geniuses is very different from OG. It’s not that OG is not professional, it’s just a different atmosphere. They’re very friendly towards each other, it’s all about being a bunch of friends… in Evil Geniuses it’s also that, but we have a side, a professional aspect that we didn’t really have in OG.”

The team also owes much to Clinton “Fear” Loomis, a celebrated American eSports star currently serving as Evil Geniuses’ coach and co-owner.

“I always think of Fear as the DNA of the team,” said Evil Geniuses manager Phillip Aram. “He was sort of the first real Western player to do this professionally in a big way, and he’s got a real work ethic that he brought to the players in the team… People take their jobs seriously, they go to work every day and want to be the best.”

“Well I think Fear especially is like the background of the team,” echoed Cr1t-. “The five players, us, make the main decisions, but Fear is like the one we can come back to if there’s anything we’re not sure about. We can ask Fear what he thinks, and everybody trusts Fear. So if we have like some doubts, we go back to him and he will provide us some guidelines. But in general we try to make sure all the players are heard and that they are all satisfied about the decisions we reach strategically, and Fear can try to make it all work together.”

Cr1t- spoke further of the challenges he’s faced as team captain:

“I think the biggest change from not being a captain to being a captain is that there has to be a voice at all points. Pretty much there has to be some discussion when you lose, and when you win. Just in general, you need to have a discussion in your team to evolve… Fear helps me a lot with it, but if it’s not Fear, then I have to be the one to talk, I have to make sure everybody gets heard.”

Cr1t- admitted feeling good about their win:

“It’s been quite some time since we won a big tournament like this. And we had a couple of third places here and there. So getting first place again feels good.”

Despite their professionalism, the team members still have fun playing Dota 2.

“It’s fun when we play,” said Evil Geniuses. “There’s always a bit of cheerfulness going on as well.”

The visibly exhausted players confessed they didn’t have enough energy to be in a celebratory mood:

“After the second game against Team NP, we were pretty hyped. And also after the third game in this series, we were pretty hyped. (But) it’s pretty late here and all of us are jetlagged, so there’s a limit.”

They thought the Filipino crowd at the SM Mall of Asia Arena was intense.

“(They were) really loud… When a huge fight breaks out, we actually can’t hear each other, so we assume what’s happening around us. They have a lot of energy.”

Cr1t- had the following advice for those who wish to take their Dota 2 skills to the next level:

“I think you have to be very good socially to work in a team. (If) you want to be the best in the world, you have to realize that even if you think you’re right sometimes, you have to make compromises for the team work and function. You have to reach the goal that you’re working as a unit. And that means that you have to sacrifice your own opinion and compromise.” — Photo by KC Cruz/TJD, GMA News