The Kuala Lumpur Major day 7 preview

The Kuala Lumpur Major is about to enter its 7th day and only 6 of the initial 16 teams are left in the tournament. In this article I will make a quick analysis of these teams and what can be expected from them going forward.

Team analysis

The 6 teams that have remained in the run for The Kuala Lumpur Major title are pretty much the best of the 16 that started the competition. The only exception is probably TNC Predator, which is likely weaker than Forward Gaming but had a different path in the Lower Bracket, managing to beat paiN Gaming, Alliance and Vici Gaming so far. On the other side, Forward Gaming had the misfortune of meeting Evil Geniuses in the second round.

Here’s what the 6 remaining teams have done so far:

Team Secret

Team Secret dominated Group A, defeating J.Storm (2 – 0) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2 – 0) in its first two matches. Puppey and his teammates advanced to the Upper Bracket of the Main Event, where they won again in their first match, this time against Vici Gaming.

While this run may seem convincing, the main problem is what comes next.

PSG.LGD

PSG.LGD entered The Kuala Lumpur Major as the team most likely to win it. Many believe that LGD should have been the TI 8 champion and that OG’s triumph was nothing short of a miracle. I tend to agree with this assessment and regard PSG.LGD as being the strongest team in the world for the time being.

In the Group Stage of this tournament, the Chinese squad won Group C by defeating both Tigers (2 – 0) and Fnatic (2 – 0). In their first Upper Bracket match, PSG.LGD easily crushed Alliance (2 – 0).

In its next match against Team Secret, I expect PSG.LGD to win once again, probably without dropping a single game. Their system of play is way too strong for Secret to have a chance.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

NiP has played much better than I expected at this event, finishing 2nd in Group A but then beating Evil Geniuses in their first Upper Bracket match. That victory was likely due to ppd’s knowledge of his former team, with which he won The International 5.

The real test for NiP will be its next match against Virtus.pro. Personally, I expect NiP to lose 0 – 2, simply because VP has already defeated ppd too many times before. They know exactly what he wants to do and how he likes to play.

Evil Geniuses

EG should probably still be in the Upper Bracket, but an unfortunate defeat against NiP meant that it now has to take the long road through the mines of Moria, also known as the Lower Bracket.

So far, EG managed to defeat Forward Gaming and Fnatic on this perilous journey. We’ve yet to see what the next match holds.

Virtus.pro

VP is probably the second strongest team at The Kuala Lumpur Major and should have no problem defeating NiP in its next match. Solo and his squad are currently 3 W – 0 L in this tournament. They defeated Alliance (2 – 1), Forward Gaming (2 – 1) and Fnatic (2 – 0).

TNC Predator

TNC Predator is performing much better than expected in the Main Event and after a disastrous 0 W – 2 L in the Group Stage, the Southeast Asian team is now fighting for a chance to get a top 4 placement at a Major.

TNC lost against Vici Gaming (0 – 2) and Team Aster (1 – 2) but then defeated paiN Gaming (1 – 0), Alliance (2 – 0) and Vici Gaming in the Lower Bracket rematch (2 – 1).