All good things must come to an end, and that’s what’s currently happening at ESL One Genting 2018 with Mineski, Fnatic and TNC Pro Team bowing out early. It will be an unfortunate blow for both Mineski and Fnatic in particular as both teams are based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, making their the local fan favourites.
What makes things worse for all three teams is that they were all knocked out in the Lower Bracket Semifinals. However, both Fnatic and TNC did get a taste of the Upper Bracket lifestlye, registering wins against CompLexity and Mineski respectively.
After it’s win against CompLexity in Group A, Fnatic went up against tournament favourites, Team Secret. What followed was a clean two-nil sweep by Team Secret, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Fnatic rolled over without putting up a fight.
Fnatic then dropped into the Lower Bracket, where they went up against Vici Gaming (VG) from China. Unfortunately, that is where their run in ESL One Genting 2018 ends as Fnatic lost 2-1 to VG. While Fnatic did exit the tournament early, its new roster still needs some time to prove itself, especially seeing as many fans are still bitter with the way Fnatic handled replacing Khoo “Ohaiyo” Chong Xin with Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Arora.
Meanwhile in Group B, Mineski went up against TNC Pro Team, which TNC won convincingly. This dropped Mineski into the Lower Bracket to face LGD.ForeverYoung (LFY) while TNC went onwards to face Newbee.
Sadly, TNC were stopped short in their tracks after losing two-nil against Newbee.
Mineski on the other hand, managed to overcome LFY, also from China. This meant that TNC dropped down into the Lower Bracket, much like Mineski. With both teams being the only Southeast Asians teams left in the tournament, they were dealt a heavy blow as both TNC and Mineski were up against Evil Geniuses (EG) and Na’Vi respectively.
As EG is known to be a team who strives in the Lower Bracket, they made short work of TNC with a clean two-nil sweep.
Facing up against the resurgent former TI champions Na’Vi, Mineski had their work cut out for them. Even after drawing first blood and taking game one away from Na’Vi, the Ukrainian giants came back swinging with two straight wins over Mineski, both of which took less time than the first game.
Sadly, all three teams will not be able to further themselves in the Dota Pro Circuit and will lose out on precious points. Hopefully with many other tournaments in the horizon, Mineski, Fnatic and TNC Pro Team can pick themselves up again.
