North America’s top dogs, Evil Geniuses (EG), absolutely outclassed South American squad Thunder Predator in their group stage matchup at the Dota Summit 12 in a 2-0 sweep, with both games ending in under 22 minutes.
In game two of the series, EG deftly counter-picked Thunder Predator’s late-game strategy headed by Alonso “Mnz” León’s Antimage with a signature Meepo pick for midlaner Abed Azel “Abed” Yusop.
Knowing that their success rested on making as much space as possible for Mnz, Thunder Predator midlaner Leonardo “LeoStyle-” Sifuentes on Kunkka tried to pressure EG as much as he could to try and delay their inevitable midgame push.
- Groups for the Los Angeles Major have been announced
- OG.Seed prevail over Liquid in an insane 86-kill bloodbath
Despite Leostyle’s best efforts to make plays for his team, the EG snowball started rolling after the 10-minute mark and looked nigh-unstoppable once Abed picked up his Ethereal Blade at 14 minutes.
Even though Mnz was able to build his Battle Fury at the 18-minute mark, by then Abed was already leading his team in applying pressure on their opponents’ base from all sides.
A well-placed Earthbind on three Thunder Predator defenders that made them sitting ducks to EG captain Tal “Fly” Aizik’s Snapfire ultimate was enough to end the game at exactly 21 minutes and 46 seconds.
Abed’s Meepo occupied much of Thunder Predator’s attention throughout the game while setting them up to be taken down by Artour “Arteezy” Babaev’s Slardar and Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev’s Timbersaw, who combined for 15 of EG’s 21 total kills.
EG finished Day 1 of the Dota Summit 12 Group Stage with a 3-1 record and poised to take one of the four spots in the playoffs. EG will have three more matches on Day 2 against Team Liquid, Cloud9, and Fnatic.
Meanwhile, Thunder Predator ended the day with a respectable 3-3 record. They will have two more matches against Fnatic and Liquid to see if they can snatch a spot in the playoffs.
READ MORE: Dota Summit 12: Everything you need to know
