Russia’s Virtus.Pro (VP) has won the inaugural title of the Kuala Lumpur Major (The KL Major) e-sports competition after defeating Team Secret in the five-round grand final in Axiata Arena on Sunday (18/11).
Fighting in front of more than 10,000 spectators, the two teams featured stunning stages when the champion was only determined in the fifth round, witnessing the VP more fortunate to win the championship with a 3-2 win. Famous VP with a stable position 2th player, RAMZES666 assisted with creative support players, RodjER managed to beat MidOne and his side in five matches.
VP had to do it from the lower bracket before meeting Team Secret on the final stage to win the championship whereas previously Team Secret defeated Virtus.Pro in the first Major Upper Bracket final in 2019 season.
Team Secret was unable to repeat the success of the 9 consecutive wins in the tournament and had to end anti-climax by losing 3-2 against Virtus.Pro. Previously, Team Secret was more favored to win Kuala Lumpur Major after Team Liquid failed to advance to the main event and OG preferred to miss the Major in Malaysia.
In the grand final matches, Virtus.Pro surprised the DOTA 2 fans after winning the first game in just 35 minutes. Then Team Secret was able to bounce back to win the next two games and managed to take over the advantage. Unfortunately, Team Secret was unable to maintain the rhythm of their game and Virtus.Pro appeared crazy by winning the last two games and returning the score to 3-2.
Offlaner from Virtus.Pro is 9Pasha playing very well in the grand finals matches. In the fifth,, ultimate from Magnus managed to bring victory to his team. Besides that, in the fourth game 9pasha surprised the audience by using Shadow Shaman as offlaner, even though Shadow Shaman was commonly used in support positions.
As the winner, the five-manned VP, Roman Kushnaryov as Captain, Vladimir Minenko, Pavel Khvastunov, Alexey Berezin and Vladimir Nikogosyan took home $350,000 and 4,950 Dota Pro Circuit Point (DPC), thus increasingly chances to be in The International 2019 event in Shanghai, China. But Virtus.Pro should not be proud of itself because the second Major will soon be rolled out at the beginning of 2019 in China, the Chongqing Major.
While the runner-up, Team Secret, comprised of players from several countries and reinforced by Michal Jankowski, Yeik Nai Zheng, Ludwig Walhlberg, Yazied Jaradat and Clement Ivanov (team captain) received a cash prize of US $170,000 and 3,000 DPC.
United states-based third place, Evil Geniuses dropped 0-2 to VP in the semi-finals, and brought home $100,000 and 2,100 DPC.
The three-day tournament, starting November 16, offers a total of US $1 ,million price pools and attracts the world’s top 16 teams. Kuala Lumpur Major recorded its first history with the first time Malaysia’s election as a hosted location after Manila for Major tournaments.