Vici Gaming upsets crowd favorite Evil Geniuses at ONE Esport Dota 2 world tiff

SINGAPORE — Vici Gaming is taking home the first ONE Esport Dota 2 World Pro Invitational championship belt as well as $200,000 after sweeping the crowd favorite Evil Geniuses, 3-0, in a dominating best of five series.

The Chinese squad completed their Cinderella story after starting at the lower bracket and plowing their way through some of the competitions' favorites teams, including the Philippines-based TNC Predators.

In the second game, Vici Gaming came off a 7k gold deficit but was able to turn the tables commiting a five-man smoke to take the fight to Evil Geniuses, upsetting the US-based squad who at that time was holding an 83% chance of winning.

EG hit the ground running in the third game with an early 5-0 kill lead but was not able to sustain the lead until the late game when VG's carry Slark proved too big to control.

"We are not used to being in the lower bracket since we are always at the upper bracket, so this time we felt we have nothing to lose," said Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang, who plays as the mid player, in Chinese.

The Chinese gamers gave credit to their coach and said his strategies were on point.

Vici Gaming and Evil Geniuses will be going home with $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.