Team Aster advanced to the Grand Finals of the StarLadder ImbaTV Kyiv Minor 2020 after sweeping Gambit Esports, 2-0, in the Upper Bracket Finals. The Chinese team’s overwhelming teamfight execution in game one set the tone for a dominant showing throughout the match.
Aster drafted a strong teamfight composition to open the series, with Song “Sccc” Chun on Slark, Kee Chyuan “ChYuan” Ng on Outworld Devourer, Lin “Xxs” Jing on Omniknight, Pan “Fade” Yi on a support Puck, and Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao on Snapfire.
Meanwhile, Gambit ran with a highly mobile lineup headed Kiyalbek “dream`” Tayirov on Razor and Danil “gpk” Skutin on Storm Spirit to try and outmaneuver their opponents.
Aster held a significant lead coming into the midgame, which prompted Gambit to sneakily attempt to take Roshan to deny their opponents that advantage. While gpk was able to get the Aegis of the Immortal, Aster’s teamfight prowess was beginning to show as ChYuan bagged a Triple Kill.
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Aster’s strong teamfight abilities won them the ensuing engagements and control over much of the map, but Gambit was able to get a huge pickoff on Sccc at the 39-minute mark to give themselves a way back into the game.
A huge pickoff on Sccc gave Gambit the confidence to go on the offensive, but their aggression led them to overextend and lose all three of their cores on a dive into Aster’s base at the 44-minute mark. With Gambit’s window of opportunity closed shut, Aster besieged their opponents’ base to force the GG call after 47 minutes.
ChYuan notched a game-high 12 kills to go along with nine assists while only having two deaths, with his Outworld Devourer anchoring his team’s dominating teamfight performances.
Aster closed out the series with a 36-minute victory in game two to book their ticket to the Grand Finals of the Kyiv Minor, where a chance to take the championship and the all-important final spot at the ESL One Los Angeles Major awaits them.
Meanwhile, Gambit will be looking to force a rematch with Aster in the Grand Finals by taking on Alliance in the Lower Bracket Finals.
