OG defeats Team Aster 3-0 to claim ESL One Dota 2 Malaysia 2022 title
Team OG was officially crowned ESL One Malaysia 2022 champions after a 3-0 victory over Team Aster in the grand final.
The European team earned $175,000 and a trophy, while the Chinese squad brought home $85,000 as the runner-up.
The grand final was a rematch between the two teams. Previously, at the PGL Arlington Major, Aster defeated OG 2-1 in the lower bracket semifinal.
The grand final was a tense battle, with each game lasting up to 40 minutes. Aster entered the series as the favorite with an undefeated record. However, OG’s four players were far too dominant.
Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov had a game-high 12 kills against three deaths to lead OG to a 3-0 finals sweep. Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev and Taiga each added nine kills.
Match recap
The first game was a slow grind. OG crushed Aster in the farm game, but Aster managed to stay in the game thanks to Lin “Xxs” Jing’s double Black Holes.
OG won battles by forcing Aster out of the base. The team excelled at prioritizing the targets needed to win the team fight, securing the game’s first victory in 46 minutes.
In Game 2, Aster cores had difficulty matching up, allowing the OG team’s three cores to race ahead. OG’s two supports, Tommy “Taiga” Le and Evgenii “Chu” Makarov on Nyx Assassin and Techies, troubled Ori’s Puck and Du “Monet” Peng’s Phantom Assassin with a barrage of stuns and silences.
OG led the entire game, but Monet was able to steal an Aegis from the opponents, allowing him to keep the deficit manageable. When it became clear that Aster would be making a comeback, OG managed to rebalance the game.
The second game ended with an incredible team fight, in which Monet was unable to turn the game around despite his last-minute heroic Rampage. OG then won in 50 minutes.
Aster got off to a better start in game 3, with its heroes displaying a higher level of performance during the laning stage. The two teams were evenly matched in the middle of the game. Monet’s Bloodseeker was on fire, supplying a double Rupture combo with Grimstroke.
OG used Underlord’s Dark Rift to run the age-old strategy of “just TP out.” The Shadow Demon continued to dismiss Bloodseeker, obliterating Aster’s only chance of returning.
Chu received three charges on Demonic Purge thanks to the upgrade to Aghanim’s Scepter.
At the end of Game 3, the European team became even more dominant in team fights. OG won the game in 40 minutes.
Previously, Aster swept Team Secret in the upper bracket finals after defeating Fnatic in the first round. The Stockholm Major champions fell to the lower bracket after their first playoff match against Team Secret.
OG defeated Thunder Awaken and Fnatic in consecutive 2-1 slugfests to earn a rematch with Secret in the lower bracket finals. In a 2-0 thrashing, OG exacted their vengeance, securing the right to face Aster in the grand finals.
Team Secret, Entity, Nigma Galaxy, Team Liquid, and Alliance will compete in the Western European qualifiers in September.
The International 11 regional qualifiers begin in October. ESL One Malaysia is one of the final tournaments before TI11 in Singapore.
