ESL One Malaysia lower bracket predictions

ESL One Malaysia 2022 is about to enter the second day of the playoffs. Team Liquid, BOOM Esports, Talon Esports, and Alliance were eliminated in the group stage. But now, the elimination of the lower bracket teams is about to start and every match is a battle for survival.

On day one of the playoffs, Team Aster encountered Fnatic and won with a score of 2-1. In the other match, Team Secret defeated OG with the same score, despite losing the first game.

What’s really interesting to note is how the meta has already changed dramatically after the release of Dota 2 patch 7.32. The teams picked heroes like Slark, Sven, Templar Assassin, Phantom Assassin, Centaur, and other rarities. And that made the matches a lot more interesting to watch.

Lower bracket predictions

Because of the group stage and upper bracket results, the lower bracket looks like this:

• Round 1: Entity vs. TSM (match 1)
• Round 1: Nigma Galaxy vs. Thunder Awaken (match 2)
• Round 2: Fnatic vs. winner of match 1
• Round 2: OG vs. winner of match 2

Entity against TSM will be the first time when these two teams encounter each other in professional tournaments. The format is best-of-three and either team could win. TSM are currently undefeated at the event. They finished the groups with five consecutive wins and proved to be a tough competitor to beat.

Entity did lose once, but they also drew against Secret and Aster, the two strongest teams in the tournament. The result will probably be 2–1 in favor of Entity.

In the second match of the day, Nigma should have no problems against Thunder Awaken, even though they’re missing their best player, Amer “Miracle-“ Al-Barkawi, who could not attend the event because of health issues.

Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi is too good of a captain and his leadership is more important than any individual contribution that could be offered by a player. Technique is rarely what makes the difference at this competitive level. Most often, superior strategy and tactics will triumph, even over a team of more talented players.

In the groups, Nigma only lost once, against OG. Unfortunately for KuroKy, OG will be the team they’ll need to fight against next if they win this match.

Thunder Awaken performed poorly in the groups, finishing with just four points out of 10. But they did win against Entity, which should make KuroKy tread carefully, especially in the drafting phase.

The final score here should be 2-1 in favor of Nigma.

Header: ESL