BOOM Esports defeat T1 3-1 to win DPC SEA Regional Finals
BOOM Esports have claimed the championship of the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Winter Tour Regional Finals for Southeast Asia after they routed rivals T1, 3-1, in the grand finals on Sunday (13 February).
BOOM's victory at the Regional Finals caps off a whirlwind of a Winter Tour. The team was originally set to play in Division II to start the 2021-2022 season after they were relegated at the end of the previous one.
However, they were promoted to Division I prior to the start of this season after Omega Esports was disqualified from the DPC due to its players being involved in "match-fixing activities" last November.
BOOM Esports took full advantage of this stroke of fortune and proceeded to dominate the Southeast Asian regional league, topping the standings with a 6-1 record. Their only loss notably came at the hands of T1, who finished in third place.
BOOM then retooled for the Regional Finals, as Tino was benched to make way for Lao carry Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong to stand-in for the tournament.
BOOM had a strong start to the Regional Finals with a resounding 2-0 sweep over Team SMG, but they were defeated by T1 in the upper bracket finals and were dropped to the lower bracket finals. BOOM then defeated Team SMG once more to force a rematch with T1 in the grand finals.
It was a roller coaster of a series that had it all; featuring the shortest game of the Regional Finals so far, a player getting six kills in one fight, and one team having to get a stand-in halfway through the series. Here's a breakdown of the grand finals:
Yopaj delivers a standout performance in game one
Game one featured an interesting draft from both teams. T1 went for a lot of stuns with Karl "Karl" Baldovino on Lina, Kenny "Xepher" Deo on Nyx Assassin, and Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon on Lion. T1 hoped to dominate lanes early and eventually snowball to victory.
BOOM had an entirely different strategy. Since T1 picked Lion and Lina during the first phase, they countered that by taking Legion Commander for Saieful "Fbz" Ilham and Vengeful Spirit for Timothy John "Tims" Randrup — two heroes with strong saves that can negate the nonstop stuns.
BOOM Esports switched the lanes around, putting Fbz in the bottom lane, as they figured JaCkky on Faceless Void wouldn’t be able to handle laning against T1’s Carlo "Kuku" Palad's Viper. This simple decision allowed Fbz to farm the lane with Overwhelming Odds and mitigate the laning advantage T1 hoped to achieve.
It was a bleak situation for T1 as they lost a laning stage that their draft needed to win and couldn’t find pickoffs after that. The game was essentially over at the 18-minute mark when BOOM Esports managed to get six kills across the map thanks to their team fight-heavy lineup.
Special mention goes to Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer on the Kunkka. He was able to create space for his team while staying at the top of the networth. His Kunkka was perfect for the game, as he rushed a 13 minute Black King Bar on the already tanky Kunkka to withstand all the magic damage from T1. Yopaj ended the game with a clean 16 kills and nine assists.
BOOM take the fastest game of the Regional Finals in game two
We previously saw OG take the fastest win of the Regional Finals in just 23 minutes. BOOM saw that and took it as a personal challenge as they speed-ran game two of the series.
It was a similar story to game one in almost every regard. BOOM won the laning stage but this time T1 had a defensive draft with Xepher on the Treant Protector and Whitemon on the Crystal Maiden. The two defensive supports meant T1 had to win the laning stage and snowball as they couldn’t rely on pickoffs to come back.
BOOM Esports had a 3,000 gold advantage at the 10-minute mark. T1 continued to avoid fighting as much as possible but BOOM Esports was able to take down buildings thanks to Fbz on the Beastmaster.
The pivotal fight happened at the 19-minute mark, with BOOM seemingly having a script they wanted to follow and then perfectly executing it every step of the way. A quick kill on Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte's Morphling allowed BOOM to win a fight right next to T1’s base, forcing the GG call not long after.
Yopaj takes on the highest-ranked player in Southeast Asia
After an amazing comeback in game three that featured Gabbi on Phantom Assassin getting six kills in one fight, T1 looked set to begin the reverse sweep.
Unfortunately for them their midlaner Karl had internet issues and Mc Nicholson "Mac" Villanueva had to be brought in at the last second to play mid.
Dota 2 is a team game and while Mac (also known as Lelouch-) is the top-ranked player in Southeast Asia, he didn’t have the same chemistry with the team as Karl does.
Another issue that hurt T1 was they drafted before Mac was brought in, running a very team-based draft with a support Io. For Io to work well the team has to be on the same page, a difficult feat with a stand-in.
Even so, both teams were on equal ground at the end of the laning stage. After taking a great fight at the Radiant top lane, T1 stuck around too long and this gave BOOM the opening they needed to get three kills, starting with Whitemon on the support Lion.
At this point — and it seems almost redundant to say this — Yopaj had another spectacular performance on the mid Lina. Of course, he was facing a stand-in but the mid lane is notorious for being mostly a duel between two players and Yopaj had to play against the highest MMR player in Southeast Asia.
Yopaj took it all in stride, winning the laning stage and proceeding to terrorize T1 throughout the game. BOOM Esports’ victory was pretty much secured at the 18-minute mark when their midlaner got another four in the series.
BOOM Esports proceeded to take over the map and slowly force T1 out from the lanes, denying them the gold and experience they needed to stay in the game. After a few skirmishes, BOOM Esports took the series 3-1 and were crowned the winners of the Southeast Asia Winter Tour.
With their victory, BOOM claimed the grand prize of US$50,000 and 250 DPC points while T1 settled for second place with US$25,000 and 130 DPC points in consolation.
However, both teams received deductions to the DPC points they earned due to their use of stand-ins, with BOOM getting a 100 point deduction and T1 getting docked 83.2 points.
BOOM now lead Southeast Asia in DPC points with 450, 300 from topping the regional league and 250 from the Regional Finals. They are more than halfway to punching their ticket to The International 11. BOOM are now also the only team in history to start a season in Division II and end it as the Division I champions.
The Winter Tour Regional Finals will take place across the weekends of 11 to 13 February and 18 to 20 February, with three regions competing in each weekend.
It will feature the Top 4 teams of the DPC's six regions competing for their cut of a US$100,000 prize pool and all-important DPC points.
For everything you need to know about the Winter Tour Regional Finals, check here.
T1 roster:
Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte
Karl "Karl" Baldovino
Carlo "Kuku" Palad
Kenny "Xepher" Deo
Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon
BOOM Esports roster:
Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong
Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer
Saieful "Fbz" Ilham
Timothy John "Tims" Randrup
Andrei "skem" Ong
Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.
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