After going undefeated at ESL One Malaysia group stage, OG finally drops a series to BOOM Esports. Sadly, it was not enough for BOOM to remain at the tournament.

BOOM Esports struggled quite heavily throughout ESL One Malaysia. Whether it was due to the new patch, or BOOM having to go through three LAN tournaments back-to-back without rest, the team underwhelmed expectations. However, BOOM pulled off a miracle during the last day of the group stage by toppling the undefeated leader of Group B, OG.

A come back by BOOM in game one

OG started strong in game one. They had the win probability much to their favor for the first 20 minutes of the game. However, in a typical SEA relentlessness, BOOM managed to find openings to make a come back. The Erin "Yopaj" Ferrer Batrider exerted so much control against the Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev Faceless Void. After acquiring a Refresher Orb on the Batrider, the Void was almost always permanently lassoed. That said, OG also made some sloppy plays throughout the game such as committing a buyback on the Void for absolutely no reason.

Game one win probability swinging from OG to BOOM's favor (Image by Esports.gg via Dota client)
Game one win probability swinging from OG to BOOM's favor (Image by Esports.gg via Dota client)

Mars marks bzm's worst performance in the tournament

BOOM found their stride from game one and applied that to game two, beating OG senseless. OG did pick a questionable hero, Mars, for Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov. Mars was nearly never picked as a mid hero for quite some time now, let alone being played by bzm. As a result, bzm had his worst performance by far in the tournament with a whopping 0-12 kill-death score. On the other hand, BOOM picked their comfort heroes for their mid and offlane such as the Yopaj Kunkka and Saieful "Fbz" Ilham Pangolier. They ended the game with a final score of 11-0 and 8-0 respectively. A huge contrast to OG's performance. With that, OG ended the group stage with a saddening 24-minute game with a final score of 5-33.

So close yet so far

Despite winning 2-0 against OG, BOOM needed either Nigma Galaxy or Team Liquid to 2-0 against their final opponents Fnatic and TSM FTX. Unfortunately, both series ended in a draw which resulted in BOOM's elimination from the tournament. Meanwhile, OG will head to the playoffs at the upper bracket with Team Secret as their first opponent.

BOOM Esports final standing at ESL One Malaysia Group B (Image via <a href="https://liquipedia.net/dota2/ESL_One/Malaysia/2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Liquipedia</a>)
BOOM Esports final standing at ESL One Malaysia Group B (Image via Liquipedia)

ESL One Malaysia group stage is drawing to a close and the remaining teams will head to the first set of playoffs. The upper bracket matches will commence immediately, which include OG versus Team Secret and Team Aster versus Fnatic. Fnatic recently secured the upper bracket slot by winning a 1V1 tiebreaker with Armel "Armel" Tabios against Nigma's Syed "SumaiL" Hassan. Be sure to check out esports.gg for LIVE updates on the tournament.