[MANILA MASTERS] Recap: Evil Geniuses’ last hurdle to reach finals

MANILA, Philippines – The Western showdown between North American teams Evil Geniuses (EG) and Team NP delivered what was perhaps the greatest game of the day: a thrilling match that saw EG losing the first game before recovering to take the next two. 

EG is taking on Chinese team Team Newbee in the grand finals, where they square off for the grand prize of US $125,000. Watch the match here or read the recap of EG versus NP below first: 

Game 1:

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Opening game 1 with a classic Ember Spirit pick for Jacky “EternalEnvy” Mao, NP poised themselves for an early lead with offlaner Arif “MSS” Anwar’s Legion Commander securing the early kills.

Evil Geniuses found it hard to find their early-game footing. Looking to stay in the game, EG positioned their squad with Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan’s Death Prophet on the lead, with Saahil “Universe” Arora’s Earthshaker assisting. The team tried hard to create space for Artour “RTZ” Babaev’s struggling Weaver.

An extended teamfight erupted at the top lane with NP chasing EG on the latter’s territory, resulting in both RTZ and Andreas “Cr1t” Nielsen getting killed. Suma1L was a casualty for EG too as he got caught by MSS with the Duel. With more than a 20,000 net worth lead, NP forced the high ground push that had Evil Geniuses’ defense struggling the whole way through. NP eventually took out the base’s towers and forced a GG from EG in game 1.

Game 2: 

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EG’s revenge would come from a very long game 2, with their lineup utilizing the Legion Commander this time on Universe, Juggernaut on RTZ and the iconic Storm Spirit for Suma1L.

NP, on the other hand, drafted the Bristleback on EternalEnvy, a hero that they have been capitalizing on in the tournament. Rounding up the squad are FATA- on the Ember Spirit, and MSS on the Clockwerk.

EG, this time around, applied the early game pressure, but NP had a new tactic: they sacrificed the farm on EE to grant more space to both MSS and FATA-. It did the job for NP as they were able to retaliate heavily during the mid-game phase, constantly forcing EG to engage a now-farmed Bristleback. The Blinding Light ability from Johan “pieliedie” Astrom’s Keeper of the Light helped diminish EG’s damage output.

However, as NP’s lineup had a significant lack of pushing power; most of their heroes excel mostly in extended teamfights. EG used this to their advantage, and managed to drag the game out, securing more farm for RTZ, and getting what is perhaps the most important item of the game for Suma1L’s Storm Spirit, the Aghanim’s Scepter. The Scepter allows the Storm Spirit’s ability, the Electric Vortex, to disable multiple heroes.

A desperation move from NP came by way of their smoke towards the top lane – the only surviving lane for EG after NP’s siege attempts. This resulted in Suma1L disabling 3 heroes, allowing RTZ to maximize his damage output, and forcing NP to move out.

EG then moved towards the mid-lane, now forcing the high ground. NP once again got caught by Suma1L’s initiation and the 80-minute match resulted in a great comeback. Series tied, 1-1. 

Game 3:

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The final match was a pure display of dominance by EG. They drafted the Razor for RTZ, Puck for Suma1L, and the famed Faceless Void for Universe. NP drafted another Bristleback, this time on FATA-, with EE on the Luna and MSS on the Night Stalker.

Learning from the previous games, EG applied continuous pressure on NP’s lanes, with early rotations from nearly all of their heroes, securing towers and slowly driving NP out of the corner.

NP’s MSS and FATA- hoped to turn things around, but EE was still a little slow on the farm catch-up, contributing to a growing lead for EG. An engagement at the bottom lane resulted in EE getting caught as he tried to go around EG’s lineup but his team’s bottom lane still went down. 

NP went for a desperation smoke once again, this time with all 5 of their heroes going around EG’s heroes who were now pushing the mid-lane tier 3. 

EE, now with a BKB on his Luna, attempted to engage using the Ultimate. But he was a split-second too late on the entry, and EG masterfully dodged. Eclipse with RTZ’s Razor laid down more damage, finally forcing the last GG from NP, giving EG one more chance at the Manila Masters championship. – Rappler.com