OB x Neon Esports went down swinging in the ONE Esports Singapore Major, Saturday afternoon.
This, as the Filipino squad dropped a tightly-contested Game Three, surrendering the series to European powerhouse Team Secret via a 1-2 decision after a gallant stand in the third round of the lower bracket.
A crucial clash for the fifth Roshan of the game proved to be too costly for OB.Neon as Team Secret forced four buybacks from the Filipino squad while star midlaner Erin “Yopaj” Ferrer (Windrunner) was left without one.
With no one left to contest, Team Secret went on to secure the objective marched straight to the middle lane to end the game.
Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen’s Troll Warlord led the fight for Team Secret, finishing with 14 kills and 19 assists against eight deaths in the 46-25 Game Three victory. Midlaner Michał “Nisha” Jankowski, who was named MVP in the series-clincher, dropped 26 assists along with 11 kills and five deaths.
Meanwhile, Yopaj’s 11-4-14 stat line went down the drain as OB.Neon failed to close out Game Three. Gabriel “debil_0000” Ong finished with five kills and 12 assists against eight deaths playing his signature Death Prophet while stand-in offlaner Yang “Deth” Wu Heng finished with four kills, five deaths, and 13 assists playing Pugna.
MATUMBAMAN also played God-like with Bristleback in Game One, providing 16 kills and 12 assists against just two deaths to spearhead Team Secret’s 34-18 win in exactly 43 minutes and 57 seconds of game time.
But excellent initiations from Prieme “PlayHard” Banquil’s Tusk allowed Yopaj’s Batrider and debil_2000’s Gyrocopter to come back to the game despite falling early in their respective lanes.
OB.Neon evened out the series after taking the 20-13 Game Two victory riding Yopaj’s 6-1-9 kill-death-assist tally. Debil_2000 finished with four kills and four assists against one death.
The Filipino squad, who was forced to change personnel in the midst of the group stage, still exceeded expectations after defeating Southeast Asia rival Fnatic and Chinese squad Vici Gaming, respectively, to earn a spot in the top six.
OB.Neon ended the tournament at fifth-sixth place and will be taking home a total of $25,000 along with 300 Dota Pro Circuit points.
Despite the outcome, OB.Neon, who was a virtual unknown prior to the tournament, definitely turned heads with their performance in the first-ever Major of the year.
