The $10,000 GEST June which pits South East Asian teams against Chinese has reached its semi-finals after the first two rounds. No SEA teams remain amongst the last four names, which are the TI4 teams LGD, iG, DK and NewBee.
The GEST (Gigabyte ESports Tournament) Challenge continued on its single-elimination format today, with the conclusion of the second round seeing no SEA team making it into the last four out of the original 16. Out of the results, there has been one upset where DreamTime beat the TI4 Direct Invitees Titan in straight matches, eliminating the brightest of SEA's hopes in the first round.
In the second round, the LGD vs IG match was hotly contested, with the LGD bouncing back after a sordid first game. However, despite getting an early lead in game 3 they were unable to hold onto it, and eventually crashed out to their Chinese rivals.
In another quarter final, DreamTime nearly caused another upset when they took a 1-0 lead against NewBee, and pushed the third game to the wire on the back of a strong early game showing. However, NewBee managed to pull through and will face Team DK in the other semi-final. In the second round, Team DK eliminated the only SEA team to make it into the quarter finals, Arrow Gaming, in two straight matches that both finished before 20 minutes.
The semi-final matches will be kicked off on 20 June by LGD playing against iG in a Best of three series at 13:00 CEST, followed by DK vs NewBee at 16:00CEST. The champion of the GEST Challenge will get $7,000, while the runner-up and third placer will get $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
This is the first installment of the GEST Challenge this year. The format of last year's challenge was very different - it was only a four-team tournament featuring two invited Chinese teams and the top two finishers of GEST. The prize pool of that tournament was also significantly lower, as that only offered a $1,500 winner-takes-all prize scheme.
DK to meet NewBee in 3 best of threes today
Over the course of the three ongoing tournaments in the East, the schedules have coincided where Team DK will play against NewBee, arguably their arch-rivals in China, in three different best of three matches tomorrow, 20 June.
The clash of schedules has arrived in the participation of both teams in the GEST June Challenge, the WVW June Tournament, as well as the SUNT-CDEC New Star CupThe setup between these two teams are fierce since they are widely considered to be currently the two strongest teams in China. This comes on the back of their performance in matches against the other top teams in China such as LGD, IG and Vici Gaming. Despite NewBee and DK both losing out to IG at WPC-ACE, they have both continued to clock wins over IG in other tournaments and have seemed unstoppable as yet.
Look forward to the matches between these two teams following their history in the 6.81 patch. DK had not been able to defeat NewBee in any competitive match until the recently ended ECL Grand Finals, in which they beat NewBee 2-1 despite NewBee having a 1-0 Winner's Bracket advantage. Both games went to the wire, with the first showcasing a base race, and the other, a mid-game comeback from NewBee. The tension in those matches should prove to be a taste of what these 3 best of threes will serve to Chinese Dota fans.
To add to the flavour of their clashes, the two teams have had some issues in the past month, with accusations of a Chinese boycott against Team DK being issued from BurNing, Mushi and 71, the DK coach. However, it appeared that the allegations were false and DK had apologised to xiao8. However, given the circumstances of the teams in China now, they are sure to put their best foot forward in these matches to perfect their condition and playstyles in preparation for TI4.
Prize pool distribution
1st place – USD 7,0002nd place – USD 2,000
3rd place – USD 1,000
Sources: Gosugamers, Dotatalk
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