The actual MVP of Day 1 of the Dota 2 The International 2022 Playoffs was xNova. The grind of a Bo1 Elimination match that concluded the first day of the playoffs yesterday saw Royal Never Give Up (RNG) challenge Entity Gaming to the longest Main Stage Dota 2 game ever recorded at 107 minutes. Amidst all of that, there was a man playing with stand-in teddy bears that had fake headphones and face masks on them to help him feel less alone while playing. In the face of all that, xNova held the fort for his team as they competed in what may have been the grindiest professional Dota 2 match ever.
In the first round of the lower bracket of the Dota 2 The International 2022 playoffs, RNG and Entity Gaming faced off. The first round, an elimination match played in a single-game series, is the most lethal. You’re competing in a game that can increase your prize winnings from $250,000 to $340,000, so one mistake may be quite costly. Therefore, making a mistake would cost money. As expected, both teams played very defensively and took very few chances given the seriousness of their circumstances. If you lose this game, you’ll need to grind out another year’s worth of games to get back to where you are now.
There are still level 20 heroes in the game after 90 minutes thanks to that grindy mentality. Eight times Roshan was killed during the 107-minute match, and a few Divine Rapiers were exchanged back and forth. Entity Gaming won in the end. Following the game, the two teams meet in the centre of the main stage to shake hands, although in this instance, only xNova was shaking hands with the Entity Gaming team as a whole. His colleagues had to stay in their hotel rooms and play their games there because they had had COVID since the group stages.
I can’t even begin to fathom the feelings xNova was experiencing at that time. Even though losing a game on The International was horrible enough, you can imagine how terrifying it must have been to experience it alone, without your teammates there to encourage you. Thankfully, there was a large crowd in the Suntec Convention Center to support xNova and show their admiration for her bravery in taking on a strong field of professionals on the Grandest Stage of them all.
In a tweet, xNova states:
“It definitely felt difficult to play alone on the stage today but hearing the crowd shout my name for the first time made me emotional to another level and it s a feeling I ll never forget Thank you everyone for your kind words, your support I m grateful beyond words.”
It’s undoubtedly a different experience to play in front of a crowd, and this is an illustration of how spectators may benefit professional players in some of the greatest Dota 2 matches ever.
Only twelve of the twenty teams in Singapore are still competing in the Dota 2 The International 2022 Playoffs today after the first day of the playoffs was completed. OG will face Tundra Esports in the top bracket’s opening round, while Team Liquid will compete against Team Aster. Today’s knockout matches pit PSG.LGD against BOOM Esports against Evil Geniuses against Beastcoast.
As Royal Never Gave Up faced Entity Gaming and appeared first on ClutchPoints, the postxNova plays bravely alone.
