Manila Masters: Evil Geniuses lifts the trophy defeating Newbee 3-1

Evil Geniuses defeated Chinese powerhouse Newbee 3-1 in a Best of Five series in the grand finals of the Manila Masters taking home $125,000. EG took Game 1 in spectacular fashion as Sumail punished a sorry Newbee. The rest of the games were a little balanced with no game closing under the 50-minute mark.

Game 1

Draft

Game 1 saw Evil Geniuses opt for a cheese strategy as they opted to draft around a Drow Ranger. With an OD in their team, EG looked to capitalize on Newbee’s mistakes in the early game. A nice cogs play by Zai on the Clockwerk led to EG drawing first blood on Kpii’s Tidehunter.

Newbee tried to smoke and gank Sumail, but his map awareness and a presence of mind led to Newbee failing to get their intended target.

A team fight in the 24th minute seemed to be the nail in the coffin for Newbee as Universe landed a 2 man Dream Coil and Sumail got a triple kill. EG managed to pawn 4 Newbee heroes as they geared up for their high ground push.

Sumail got another triple kill in the 28th minute as he stole a massive 44 intelligence from Newbee forcing them to call GG.

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Game 2

Draft

Newbee started game 2 aggressively as Kpii’s SandKing drew first blood pawning Zai’s Windranger. A failed attempt to kill off Arteezy saw the Sand King’s demise. A fight near the Dire’s safe lane saw the Universe produce some spectacular plays on Nature’s Prophet as he landed perfect sprouts thus securing a Triple Kill in the process.

Universe once again proved worthy on Nature’s Prophet as he prevented the entire Newbee line up from helping Moogy while he was being kited near the Dire safe lane. EG ended up killing 4 Newbee heroes and also burnt Newbee’s Aegis.

Newbee found some really good pickoffs and took a good lead which led to the last team fight of the game in the 52nd minute where Sccc led the frontlines dishing out damage onto the EG lineup as they killed 4 heroes. With that final blow, EG called GG and gave Newbee a much-needed victory.

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Game 3

Draft

A successful rune siege by Newbee saw them drawing first blood by pawning Zai’s Enchantress with Moogy claiming the kill.

Evil Geniuses executed a proper team fight as they claimed 3 Newbee heroes while Arteezy obtained a double kill on Razor. Newbee looked helpless as the rest of the team retreated to their base.

After EG destroyed the mid tier 2 tower, Newbee wanted to take down Arteezy and Zai. But, a perfect Golem drop combined with Fatal Bonds and the Ember remnants proved fatal to Newbee as they lost three heroes with Moogy barely escaping, thanks to the Lifestealer’s armlet toggle.

Newbee slowly recovered from then, winning multiple team fights and even took a 10k gold advantage by the 48th minute. But, a team fight during the barracks siege went awry leading to a team wipe for Newbee.

Sumail once again came to EG’s rescue as he and Universe helped the team overturn the deficit as they humiliated Newbee inside their own base. After a gruelling 68 minutes, Newbee finally called GG.

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Game 4

Draft

The final game saw Newbee take the lead once again as they claimed Crit’s Crystal Maiden for the first blood. The 13th minute showed us why Newbee failed as Zai single-handedly held off OD and Tidehunter near their shrine until support arrived.

Newbee and EG traded blows evenly until the 48th minute when Sccc got a triple kill and eliminated four of EG’s five heroes and also forced a buy back from Arteezy’s Bristleback.

EG recognized that they cannot win against Newbee in the conventional manner. Therefore, they directly went for the tier four towers without destroying the barracks.

Moogy’s Ursa couldn’t hold on as none of Newbee’s heroes had buyback and called GG after a grueling 50 minutes.

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