There’s anything the Dota 2 fans love more than the game is an intense eSports matchup. The lower bracket of the Omega League‘s Europe Immortal Division between Nigma and Alliance delivered precisely just that. Though playing with a handicap, Team Nigma battles through the odds with the without their captain, KuroKy.
During game one, Nigma looked defeated, but clutch plays came through, and the team’s Ancient survived with a measly 45 health after the Alliance aggression. With a little bit of luck and skill, Nigma followed through with a full-team buyback alongside pushing Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov continuously; Nigma, the underdog of the series, upset Alliance 2-0.
The games are highly competitive right from the get-go. Alliance, however, held advantages in all the game’s aspects through most of game one. With the Swedish team’s comfort picks like Nature Prophet, Morphling, and Storm Spirit, the s4-led team looked unstoppable.
Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi clutched holding off Alliance’s full force with his timely two Magnetic Fields to preserve their Ancient on going down. The move has opened up ways for Nigma to move on their aggression, and the opponent carry’s support.
After Nikobaby’s death, Nigma risked doing a team-wide buyback. The Alliance carry, with s4’s support, came back swinging to try and one-hit their opponent’s Ancient. Nigma smelled the back-cap attempt and shutdown Morphling. With Artiom “fng” Barshack the last Alliance standing, Nigma prioritized killing Nikobaby again as soon as he spawns back.
In the aftermath of the series, Nikobaby’s enthusiasm to back cap the Ancient may have fired back. After killing the said Alliance carry again, Nigma snowballed their advantage to win the game.
After game one’s confidence busting ending, Alliance could not find the answer to Nigma’s carry. Miracle’s Medusa ended game two with a stat line of 12/2/8. Nikobaby, on the other hand, picked Anti-Mage in an attempt to carry his team.
With momentum carrying over from game one, Team Nigma was able to secure an early advantage and kills over the Swedish team to sweep the series 2-0.
The underdog’s win over the veteran Alliance is a classic, but the team has some polishing to do during their downtime. Most notably, from analysts, the team’s team fight engagement and positioning can be better.
In the upper bracket of this year’s EU OMEGA League, Team Secret will face OG. The winner will claim the first grand finals spot, while the loser will battle Team Nigma for the move on to the last championship seat.
