BOOM’s captain, skem was unable to play in one of the biggest series in SEA DPC. But Mushi filled in his shoes and helped destroy T1 2-0, moving closer to the Arlington Major.
As per the classic storyline, BOOM Esports faced another inconvenience as they head into one of the most important matchups in SEA DPC. Just a couple of hours before the game between BOOM Esports and T1 started, BOOM announced that its team captain, Rolen Andrei Gabriel "skem" Ong could not attend the matchup due to medical reasons. Renowned player and the current coach for BOOM, Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung filled in his shoes as a stand-in.
While this could be seen as a disadvantage, BOOM completely demolished the ignition squad in T1 and Mushi himself delivered a brilliant performance as the position 5. And from Yopaj's words himself, "It's really fun to play with Mushi. It looks like we're just playing with skem so yeah, they're the same."
Here's a quick recap of the absolute bloodbath.
BOOM crushes T1 in an effortless sweep
BOOM came into the matchup knowing exactly what they needed to do. During the laning stage, BOOM sticked together and barged through the midlane, forcing fights under T1's towers. T1 couldn't quite maneuver through BOOM's early aggression and dropped a couple of heroes during the fight.
Throughout game one, BOOM asserted dominance like there was no tomorrow. On the other hand, T1 couldn't find their team fight angle with an offlane Razor and a midlane Zeus. There was just no proper setup that T1 can rely on to either initiate or counterattack. As they race against time and BOOM's rapidly growing net worth lead, T1 decided to sneak into the Roshan pit. But as soon as they started hitting Roshan, BOOM sensed their intentions and scanned the pit to completely ruin T1's plans.
With a heavily farmed JaCcky Terrorblade, BOOM took down T1's high ground with ease. At 31 minutes, BOOM led the kill score 35 - 5, and inevitably, T1 waved the white flag.
The next game sees a better laning phase for T1. They went for a last-pick Kuku Venomancer that was able to dominate his lane. But as the game progressed, BOOM took control, and T1 slowly curled into a more passive stance once again.
There were moments when BOOM messed up, but they were quick to disengage and retreat without giving T1 the opportunity to catch a single kill. And Gabbi's Lifestealer is constantly in this position where BOOM was able to initiate, chain stun, and burst the poor ghoul.
One of the most epic moments of the game was when everyone unleashed their ultimates. We saw the Venomancer Poison Nova, Warlock Golem, Wyvern's Winter Curse, Mars Arena - there was a lot to comprehend. But Tims on his Rubick, added the cherry on top by dropping the stolen Golems.
With no answer to BOOM's insane performance, T1 bowed out from the series.
BOOM is one step away from the Arlington Major
With the 2-0 win against T1, BOOM Esports secure a 5-1 score line in the Division I SEA DPC ranking. They are currently tied for first place with Talon Esports - which is the only team they have lost to so far. There is 1 series remaining that will be the decider of BOOM's fate, and it will be the toughest one so far. The team will face the SEA kings, Fnatic on July 9.
T1, on the other hand, might not make it to the next Dota 2 Major. Their performance has been shaky throughout the season and their chances to achieve the top 3 are now slimmer than ever. But again, knowing how insanely competitive the region is, we might happen to see a top 3 tiebreakers set in place.
Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Dota 2 news and updates!