MidOne is one step away from playing at TI again

Many years ago, back in 2016-2019, Yeik “MidOne” Zheng used to compete for Team Secret. And he had many results that he can be proud of: 5^th – 6^th place at The International 2018, 1^st place at DreamLeague Season 8, 4^th place at The International 2019, plus several Major trophies and Grand Finals.

Prior to joining Secret, he finished 4^th at The International 2016 with Fnatic. After leaving Secret, he joined OG and had a few notable results with them as well.

MidOne is easily one of the most accomplished Dota 2 players in Southeast Asia. But for the past two and a half years, he had a rough time. Team SMG tried and failed many times to get important results. Now, after another challenging season, MidOne has a real opportunity to qualify for something epic. And not just a Major but The International.

GRAND FINAAAAAAAAL!!!

GGs, @BLACKLISTINTL @rivalrySEA!#TeamSMG#StillMovingUnderGunfire pic.twitter.com/Ueuaez89oT

— Team SMG (@TeamSMGofficial) August 30, 2023

Team SMG’s run in the SEA Qualifier

Team SMG started this tournament as one of the favorites. Their first match was against Geek Fam, a very strong team that’s about to compete in the lower bracket Final and likely challenge MidOne for the second time.

SMG’s triumph over Geek Fam could not have been possible without his expert leadership. Rarely do we see the team’s carry fulfilling the captain role. Usually, this responsibility is left to a position 4 or 5 player, because those roles are less intensive. But he seems to be perfectly fine with it.

After losing game 1 against a terrifying Sven, SMG won games 2 and 3 using heroes like Invoker, Bloodseeker, and Drow Ranger.

In their next match, SMG encountered another strong SEA team: Execration. Once again, the score was 2-1. Quite surprisingly, MidOne’s team lost while having a Templar Assassin, which is one of his specialties, but won the other two games relatively easily.

Of great help was the fact that Volodymyr “No[o]ne” Minenko, who is now a member of the team, had a spectacular performance.

In the upper bracket Final, SMG defeated Blacklist International in two games that lasted 49 and 42 minutes respectively. Both times, the hero they relied on to cause massive problems for the enemy side was Invoker.

Thanks to these results, SMG will compete in the Grand Final of the tournament for a chance to go to The International. Based on everything we’ve seen so far, they are the clear favorite.

Header: Team SMG