With Mineski and Fnatic both bowing out of the Nanyang Dota 2 Championships in the first stages, it is very tempting to say that they had an underwhelming performance if one looks at the score cards and results alone.
However, looking deeper into the tournament, one can see that there was a completely different portrait.
Group A: Mineski’s Learning Gauntlet
Anyone who watched all of Mineski’s games could safely say that they did not do the proverbial throw or choke that has plagued the earlier reiterations of the team. As a matter of fact, they played their hearts out to the point that all of their maps have been relatively close affairs, with inexperience and some sub-optimal decisions actually contributing to their five defeats.
Of course, their sole map win against one of China’s juggernauts in the form of CDEC rocked the gaming world, with them showing excellent displays of teamwork and individual skill.
Then again, this was Mineski’s first appearance at a highly stacked international tournament in a very long time, so there is still more to see from them – especially at the upcoming Dota 2 Major in Frankfurt!
Surely, they can use this time to scrim against opponents from other regions, while at the same time improve their decision-making capabilities. If they can hone their skills, then we may see more interesting matches from the Filipino side at the first upcoming Valve-sponsored Dota 2 Major!
Here is what Mineski has to say about their run in the tournament:
“We may have lost the tournament but we feel that we’ve gained a lot.” – October 27, 2015, after their defeat to Vici Gaming
Group B: Fnatic’s Proving Ground
Meanwhile, Fnatic arguably had better chances coming into Group B of the Nanyang Dota 2 Championships (at least on paper), despite the fact that it also contained heavyweight teams from all over the world.
It is never easy to get a map off the world’s finest, but the fact that they were able to do it twice should have almost given them a place in the lower bracket of the playoffs.
With the Malaysian side taking games off Team Secret, who is considered to be one of the favorites coming into the tournament, and LGD, who is seen as one of the most consistent teams in the Chinese scene, they had a very good fighting chance against Digital Chaos, who was the sole North American representative at the event.
Unfortunately for them, Chris “USH” Usher, who stood in for NA star Yawar “YawaR” Hassan, showed up at the tournament and dominated with his performances on the Shadow Fiend and on the Queen of Pain – shutting down Fnatic’s last chance to secure a slot at the playoffs.
As with Mineski, the Malaysian side should take this as a learning experience: After all, they still have the Frankfurt Dota 2 Major for this year!
Here is what Mushi has to say:
“Firstly I would like to congratulate to Secret and VG for getting into the Grand Final of Nanyang Championships. Fnatic has lost in the early stage of this tournament. I feel very sad for disappointing people who keep supporting us and our sponsor. But there’s one thing in this mess that makes me feel happy about it, in every tournament we had lost, we lose as a team, we improve together as a team. We can all learn from our losses and grow through them. Currently SEA dota (sic) seems to be far from the international level. But we (sic) Fnatic can make a promise that we will try very hard in every single tournament that we join and we will make a come back (sic)!”
Conclusion
Despite the fact that both teams finished dead last in the largest Southeast Asian Dota 2 tournament to date, thus being unable to get to the playoffs and get into the money, the SEA representatives have shown good potential in their games against their opponents.
Certainly, they can use the experiences gained in this tournament in order to come back stronger at Frankfurt, where they will face the cream of the crop of the Dota 2 world this time around!
Statements taken from Mineski’s and Mushi’s official Facebook pages.
