Fnatic, TSM, Tundra become top three teams in Stockholm Major
Fnatic, TSM.FTX, and Tundra Esports have locked themselves as in the top three teams of the ESL One Dota 2 Stockholm Major.
In the lower bracket, Fnatic subjugated T1 in a tight game. After defeating South America’s Thunder Awaken, Tundra Esports became the clear favorite to win the Major. They will be facing off against TSM.FTX in the upper bracket finals. TSM.FTX, on the other hand, is a rising North American that defeated the Gaimin Gladiators in two matches.
Fnatic earns hard-fought victory over T1
The seventh day of the Stockholm Major started with the last match of the lower bracket between Fnatic and T1.
The series started with a stereotypical Southeast Asian Dota matchup. The first two games were very competitive, with both going to the 44-minute mark. Fnatic won Game 1 with a 33-15 kill lead thanks to the efforts of Marc Polo Fausto’s Chaos Knight. He ended up with 18 kills.
T1 retaliated in Game 2. They were led by Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte, who had an 11-kill performance. T1 took the lead after picking off Armel Tabios’ Death Prophet. They were also close to defeating Raven’s Luna in Game 3. However, Jaunuel of Fnatic made a clutch play against Death Prophet to save his carry. He then used Nightmare and Amulet to help Raven win the series.
Tundra faces underdog Thunder Awaken
In the first game, Thunder could catch up to Tundra several times. Thanks to Darkmago’s Kunkka and Puente’s Rubick, Tundra had a clutch play to push the match past the 60-minute mark.
The neutral drops made a massive difference for Tundra as their core players, Mars and Wraith King went unkillable on Ex Machina and Giant’s Ring. This allowed them to close the match.
In the second match, Thunder made some clutch plays, such as the ones made by their players on a Sand King and Magnus. Unfortunately, these team fights did not break the focus of Tundra to send Thunder to the lower bracket with a 2-0 sweep.
TSM.FTX faces unyielding Gaimin Gladiators
Another strange game series was played in the upper bracket as Gaimin Gladiators faced off against TSM.FTX. The Gladiators outplayed the NA team, but they made crucial mistakes that cost them the series.
At the beginning of the match, TSM led the game 15 to 3 kills. However, the gold advantage was in the hands of the Gladiators throughout the entire game. The main reason for this was the incredible farm that Ace created on Timbersaw. He also kept the Gladiators in front by blocking against Nature’s Prophet and giving Monkey King plenty of room to maneuver.
Despite having the gold advantage, the Gladiators lost the game to a team fight at the 43 minutes mark.
In Game 2, a few uncharacteristic mistakes were made by both teams. For instance, in the beginning, GG had a dominant start using a small zoo strategy, which involved using offlane Beastmaster and Enchantress.
Despite making several mistakes, TSM.FTX was still able to defeat the Gaimin Gladiators and advance to the main event. One of the reasons this happened was an Aegis gifted during a team fight.
