ESTC Day 1 - Local teams surprise, Orange and Ritter remain confident
An eventful first day of ESTC 2011 has just passed by, seeing favourites and local teams winning games alike. While Orange and Ritter-ART especially switched to domination-mode in their groups, the top slots in divisions C and D fell victim to newcomers.
ESTC Groups A & B
TeamWLPointsTeamWLPoints
Orange309 Ritter-ART309
MitH-Trust216 Mixer216
Hitler Style123 InV-ReD123
Here JIK030 HBK030
Orange.eSports got off to a dream start in group A, showing a decisive performance against the biggest Thai hope, MitH-Trust. Team leader Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai especially took countless opportunities to show off his current form as hard carry, with the support of utility player Zhan Leong "XtincT" Chan, who took over the drafting responsibilties some time ago. Further delivering their part to the successful tournament start have been classic support player Clanton "Clanton" Thoo Chin Fung and the solos Aik Huang "Nicxh" Ng and Litt-Binn "WinteR" Chan.
MitH-Trust were able to take the follow-up position after showing class against the local teams and will follow Orange.eSports as the lower seed into the bracket. Until their latest two victories at ESTC, the best Thai team suffered a streak of four consecutive losses, spanning over the course of the Hold Cup. Ritter-ART are the little brother and successor in spirit of Markas Wonosobo, who made successful appearances in various tournaments last year. Named after the legendary cyber café - which is also their training facility - the team celebrated its foundation in 2010 and since then they have placed highly in various local tournaments and achieved a third place finish at the official ESWC Indonesia tournament. Today, Ritter-ART defeated all opponents and advance as top seed into the play-offs.
Surprisingly the team to follow the Indonesians was not InV-Red as commonly expected, but local rookie team Mixer who defeated the Malaysians in a direct encounter and forced their luck with a second win against HBK
ESTC Groups C & D
TeamWLPointsTeamWLPoints
MG.Asus216 Fate309
Exterminator216 MI.PColor216
G7216 Eiffete123
Mov. FO030 GOG030
Group C developed into tricky final standings, as G7, Mineski Grounds and Exterminator each managed to lose to and win against each other once, besides claiming a victory versus Mov.Fo, that they all share. Similar to groups B and D, another until now unknown local team managed to outgrow the common image of a sparring partner and make the star teams fight fiercely for points.
The roster of the most renowned team of the group MG.Asus will make readers raise one or both eyebrows. Mineski CEO and retired long-time DotA team captain Ronald 'Rhom' Robins swung himself into the player's chair again and lead a slightly diverted MG roster through the group stage.
MG and Exterminator advance to the better time-ratingThe biggest upset delivered was in group D, where Fate managed to beat the highly favoured Mineski Infinity and triumphed as the overall division winner. The injury-hit Philippine powerhouse had to leave core player Julius 'Julz' De Leon at home, in regards to the disappearance of his passport and entered the tournament with Hidenori 'IronHide' Yanagida as a substitute. Winning the remaining games seemed to be less difficult as the replay versus Eiffete proves. Alongside Fate, Mineski proceed to play in the knock-out stage, though whether the crossed fingers of their huge fan base carries the team to their second consecutive LAN-title after the TGX regional finals, remains to be seen.
Links
GosuGamers - ESTC Replays, Day 1
ESTC Groups A & B
TeamWLPointsTeamWLPoints
Orange309 Ritter-ART309
MitH-Trust216 Mixer216
Hitler Style123 InV-ReD123
Here JIK030 HBK030
Orange.eSports got off to a dream start in group A, showing a decisive performance against the biggest Thai hope, MitH-Trust. Team leader Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai especially took countless opportunities to show off his current form as hard carry, with the support of utility player Zhan Leong "XtincT" Chan, who took over the drafting responsibilties some time ago. Further delivering their part to the successful tournament start have been classic support player Clanton "Clanton" Thoo Chin Fung and the solos Aik Huang "Nicxh" Ng and Litt-Binn "WinteR" Chan.
MitH-Trust were able to take the follow-up position after showing class against the local teams and will follow Orange.eSports as the lower seed into the bracket. Until their latest two victories at ESTC, the best Thai team suffered a streak of four consecutive losses, spanning over the course of the Hold Cup. Ritter-ART are the little brother and successor in spirit of Markas Wonosobo, who made successful appearances in various tournaments last year. Named after the legendary cyber café - which is also their training facility - the team celebrated its foundation in 2010 and since then they have placed highly in various local tournaments and achieved a third place finish at the official ESWC Indonesia tournament. Today, Ritter-ART defeated all opponents and advance as top seed into the play-offs.
Surprisingly the team to follow the Indonesians was not InV-Red as commonly expected, but local rookie team Mixer who defeated the Malaysians in a direct encounter and forced their luck with a second win against HBK
ESTC Groups C & D
TeamWLPointsTeamWLPoints
MG.Asus216 Fate309
Exterminator216 MI.PColor216
G7216 Eiffete123
Mov. FO030 GOG030
Group C developed into tricky final standings, as G7, Mineski Grounds and Exterminator each managed to lose to and win against each other once, besides claiming a victory versus Mov.Fo, that they all share. Similar to groups B and D, another until now unknown local team managed to outgrow the common image of a sparring partner and make the star teams fight fiercely for points.
The roster of the most renowned team of the group MG.Asus will make readers raise one or both eyebrows. Mineski CEO and retired long-time DotA team captain Ronald 'Rhom' Robins swung himself into the player's chair again and lead a slightly diverted MG roster through the group stage.
MG and Exterminator advance to the better time-ratingThe biggest upset delivered was in group D, where Fate managed to beat the highly favoured Mineski Infinity and triumphed as the overall division winner. The injury-hit Philippine powerhouse had to leave core player Julius 'Julz' De Leon at home, in regards to the disappearance of his passport and entered the tournament with Hidenori 'IronHide' Yanagida as a substitute. Winning the remaining games seemed to be less difficult as the replay versus Eiffete proves. Alongside Fate, Mineski proceed to play in the knock-out stage, though whether the crossed fingers of their huge fan base carries the team to their second consecutive LAN-title after the TGX regional finals, remains to be seen.
Links
GosuGamers - ESTC Replays, Day 1
