Review of ESL One Birmingham 2019

From 28 May till 2 July the Dota 2 championship ESL One Birmingham 2019 was taking place. Twelve teams were taking part in it. The champions of the event are the guys from Team Secret defeating the opponents by the score of 3:2 at the grand final. We will sum up and tell you about the teams that made either good or bad surprises for their fans.

Teams that managed to surprise

Gambit Esports, TNC Predator

The guys from Gambit Esports made it to the championship not holding the status of favorites but also it was difficult to call them outsiders, as they were stronger than the teams as Alliance and Forward Gaming. At the group stage Fng and the team looked rather weak and lost three matches out of five going to the lower bracket which resulted in a sensation for them when they defeated Team Liquid and Vici Gaming.

We can say the same about TNC Predator, however they are different from Gambit due to the fact that they showed themselves well at the group stage, however they lost both of the matches at the playoff. By the way, the group where the Philippines played was weaker as Top Four is represented by the players from the second six players.

Disappointing teams

OG, Team Liquid, NiP

In our opinion, the part “disappointment of the tournament” is represented by three teams as Team Liquid, OG, and NiP got to the Six Best at the previous major MDL Disneyland® Paris Major and the expectation from their games corresponded. As a result, NiP did not manage to overcome even the group stage whereas Team Liquid and OG left the tournament after the first round of the losers’ bracket and neither of the mentioned teams was not able to achieve their place at Six Best.

The teams that performed on their level

Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, Vici Gaming, Keen Gaming, Forward Gaming, Alliance.

This event was rather predictable as seven teams performed in the way it had been expected. Team Secret, Evil Geniuses and PSG.LGD made it to Three Best while Forward Gaming and Alliance were not able to leave the group stage. The representatives of China Vici Gaming and Keen Gaming showed themselves in the same way as it had been expected, however if we take into account that the tournament aren’t included in the rating system but their final may be considered as acceptable.