Summarizing Day 1 of Manila Major

So the first day of Manila Major started with a bang. With a little delay in opening ceremony the rest of the day went really smooth. Also we got to see a good level of production from PGL which made Shanghai Major look like a major blunder. Although some might say otherwise. Day one brought in some great Dota action with surprising results. Starting off with Upper Bracket the first series of the day was between Liquid and MVP. Liquid who was considered to be one of the favorites to win the tournament was defeated by the Korean powerhouse MVP who took the series 2:0. The next series was between OG and one of the fan favorites in the arena Na’vi. OG also took the series 2:0 with amazing performance from both Miracle and Cr1t. This was all for the Upper Bracket for today.

The fans also saw some major upsets in the lower bracket of the Manila Major as well. With Complexity taking off the bo1 against Wings everyone was left a little surprised. Wings were supposed to be strong contender for the title due to their recent success so it was a little weird to see them go out of the tournament this early. Next match was between Alliance and home team Mineski. This was one the most entertaining match I saw today. The fans in the arena were loud to the point that Alliance just couldn’t smoke or Rosh in peace. Even until the end nobody knew which team was going to get to the throne first. With early aggression coming out from Mineski, Alliance seemed to handle it pretty well, dragging the game out until their Bristleback became unkillable. The next two series were probably a glimpse of how the future of competitive will shape up. With both Evil Geniuses and Secret losing their matches and getting eliminated this early in the tournament, some say it is the end of the era of the Western powerhouses. It is worth noting the both teams had a solid track record up until the Winter shuffle. Although both Team Secret and EG looked weak after the shuffle, people said that it was supposed to happen and that the teams would be in fighting shape for the Major. This was not the case and both the teams had their probably the worst showing in a Valve sponsored tournament. This was all for day one and I hope we all will see some good Dota as the Manila Major progresses.