The action has officially kicked off in Raleigh, North Carolina at ESL One Raleigh. If you were going to just glance at the groups after today, you could be forgiven for doing some kind of cartoonish double take. As things currently stand, Nigma Galaxy are standing tall 2-0-0 (4-0) in group A. But as with all things Dota, it’s not as simple as all that.
Nigma tops the group
After being seeded into a group alongside the likes of Team Liquid, Team Spirit and ESL One Bangkok winners PARIVISION, Nigma have something of an uphill battle on their hands but after facing Talon Esports and Shopify Rebellion on day 1, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they’ve had a confidence boost.
Not only did they take both series 2-0 but they did it convincingly. Tiny is the most contested hero of the tournament so far and it’s easy to see why after Nigma picked it up in every game. Seeing Sumail on Outworld Destroyer in game 2 against Shopify Rebellion was perhaps a little out of left field but nonetheless, he made it work. It just goes to show that meta or not, Nigma are here to compete.
The start of something great?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has wanted big things from Nigma since way back when but they’ve never even come close to a dominant run such as the likes of Gaimin Gladiators and Team Falcons. But there is hope. They made playoffs at ESL One Bangkok in December, the placed 3rd-4th at BLAST Slam 2 and are consistently winning qualifiers. The cope is strong in me but things are starting to move in the right direction.
I can only hope this is the start of something great for Nigma but the fact remains that they’ve got some big opponents to come, the reigning TI champions Liquid won’t be a walk in the park even if they are playing without Nisha.
Spirit struggles on day 1
Ok, this I didn’t see coming. It’s not 2021 anymore and Team Spirit aren’t in their dominance era anymore but they’re almost always at the top of the tree. Today, they seemed scattered and needed to rely more on Larl than a classic Raddan carry. They fought a valiant fight against Team Liquid and game 2 was close despite a pretty abysmal laning stage. But it all came down to a simple catch on both Rue and Miposhka as they made their way back to the dire base that forced them to use buy backs and eventually, finish the series on 1-1.
The good news for Spirit fans is that they got the teams at the top of the ESL One Raleigh power rankings out the way early on. I would be absolutely flawed if they didn’t make the playoffs and realistically, they could still make the top 2 of the group.
