This past weekend the long-awaited Digital Gaming League Dota 2 Masters tournament concluded at the Ster Kinekor head office in Johannesburg, South Africa. The action-packed weekend saw eight of South Africa’s top Dota 2 battle it out for R100 000, further increasing the already high stakes in local eSports. 2016 has been the year of the prize pools, and with several competitions boasting prize pools of over R100 000, this is just is the beginning.
Later this year the Digital Gaming League Masters Series will culminate with the large R1 million prize, making it the largest in the history of South African eSports, but it seems one team is reaping all the rewards – Bravado Gaming
The boys in blue
The Bravado Gaming Dota 2 teams have long been a powerhouse in South African Dota 2. A team comprised of South Africa’s best Dota 2 players have met their match from time to time, but always seem to know exactly how to win in any circumstance. The weekend prior to the DGL Masters, Bravado Gaming faced a tough Grand Final up against White Rabbit Gaming, a team who have long pushed Bravado to their limits. These past weekend, however, Bravado asserted dominance taking a clean sweep at the competition, not dropping a single game.
Despite Travis “Castaway” Waters receiving his signature Invoker in game one, Bravado Gaming seemed to maintain control for the most part. Besides being down on the score board, both Waseem “SeeM” Lorgat and Leon “Flarez” Wong, on Templar Assassin and Drow respectively, retained the top positions in net worth with dominant performances. Bravado soon closed out the score line with both players soaring ahead as Bravado took the lead on score asserting their position in game one.
A slow poke at the bottom lane saw Bravado break into the base as Donio “Doni” Texeira opened up the final team fight by jumping in on his Batrider and grabbing Ryan “Chidowi” Lancaster’s Slardar initiating what would be the beginning of the end of game one. Bravado completed game one 21-16.
Game two saw an interesting draft unfold as Drow, a popular pick throughout the tournament, was banned out by WRG leaving room for the Flarez Lifestealer and Wesley “oDu” Rose on his famed Bounty Hunter. That did not stop WRG from grabbing up a few signature heroes as well with Travis “Castaway” Water on his Alchemist.
Bravado seemed adamant on the late game as SeeM grabbed up the Medusa. Rightfully so Castaway’s Alchemist topped the net worth tab, but Bravado held an overall lead on both experience and net worth. The issue, unfortunately for WRG, was that Bravado’s three core heroes retained a strong lead on net worth, making the transition from mid game slightly favourable for the boys in blue.
Bravado took a late fight in the middle lane dropping three members from WRG and immediately moved straight down the middle lane to attack the base. With their Alchemist still down Bravado moved through the Sentinel base taking both middle and bottom raxes. WRG gave one last attempt at shutting down the push but were caught by a huge Berserker’s Call by Doni which inevitably sent three to the grave yard. Soon after WRG called the “GG” and Bravado Gaming were crowned the DGL Master’s Champions with a 2-0 sweep.
Bravado Gaming now retain their undefeated LAN presence, and with the final installation of the DGL Masters looming, the Bravado Dota 2 are well on the road to winning one of the largest competitions in our local eSports history.
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Last Updated: July 25, 2016
Admiral Chief - Check
July 25, 2016 at 12:03
Congrats guys!
@SargonDotA2
July 25, 2016 at 17:28
Awesome article. 😉
CongoKyle
July 26, 2016 at 11:57
🙂