TSM pulled off a comeback, three-map victory Saturday to claim the first berth in the Grand Final at ESL One Stockholm in Sweden.
In moving one win away from earning the event’s $200,000 grand prize, TSM dropped the opening map but rallied in a 2-1 decision over Tundra Esports to take the upper-bracket final.
In lower-bracket play, OG twice fought off elimination in a pair of 2-0 sweeps — first defeating Thunder Awaken 2-0 in a quarterfinal match, then dispatching Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 in the semifinals.
OG advances to Sunday’s lower-bracket final against Tundra, with the winner to face off against TSM in Sunday’s Grand Final.
Tundra grabbed the early lead in the upper final by taking the first map in 45 minutes on red, as Leon “Nine” Kirilin of Germany topped Tundra with 10 kills. But TSM battled back to win the next two maps on green in 45 and 31 minutes, respectively.
Czech Jonas “SabeRLight-” Volek averaged a 9.0-7.7-17.0 kills-deaths-assists ratio for TSM in the match, including 18 kills in the pivotal second map.
OG first ousted Thunder Awaken by winning in 28 minutes on green, then 33 minutes on red. Ukraine’s Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev led a balanced OG attack with an average of 9.5-0.5-11.5 in kills-deaths-assists.
In the lower final, OG again swept by beating the Gladiators, winning in 33 minutes on red and 36 minutes on green. OG has only lost one map in reeling off four straight lower-bracket victories.
Ammar “AMMAR-THE-F” Al-Assaf of Jordan dominated for OG. In the opening map, ATF posted 12 kills and 10 assists without a death. In the clincher, he recorded a whopping 21 kills with 11 assists, dying just once.
All playoff matches are best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five Grand Final determines the winner of the Dota Pro Circuit season’s first major. The winners will earn a $200,000 grand prize.
Fourteen teams from around the world entered the season’s first major, beginning in two groups of seven in a round-robin Group Stage. All Group Stage matches were best-of-two. The top four teams in each group qualified for the upper bracket of the playoffs and the fifth- and sixth-place teams were slotted in the lower bracket.
Dota Pro Circuit removed Mind Games from the competition early in the Group Stage due to ongoing travel visa issues for multiple team members.
ESL One Stockholm prize pool, Dota Pro Circuit points:
1. TBD — $200,000, 680 points
2. TBD — $100,000, 610 points
3. TBD — $75,000, 530 points
4. Gaimin Gladiators — $50,000, 460 points
5-6. beastcoast, Thunder Awaken — $25,000, 385 points
7-8. BetBoom Team, Fnatic — $12,500, 240 points
9-12. Team Spirit, Team Liquid, BOOM Esports, T1 — no prize, no points
13. Evil Geniuses — no prize, no points
DQ. Mind Games — no prize, no points
–Field Level Media