Arguably the most awaited dota tournament for 2009, Sendi Mutiara Multimedia (SMM) Grand National Dota Tournament (SGNDT) 2009 finally conclude its second day, with most of the games played leaving only 6 teams to battle for the honors and massive prizes.
More on SMM/SGNDT 2009:
Grand Final Prizes
The bracket so far:
Click me to view
*courtesy of myMYM.com*
coverage, pictures and replays:
myMYM: Day2 live coverage & videos
myMYM: Day2 pictures
myMYM: live full brackets
gosugamers: SMM replays
alternate replay pack, consisting of available groupstage and playoff matches (If I'm not mistaken there are some replays which are not uploaded to gosugamer/ replay.net but was there streamed on garenatv, so I included them in the pack).
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comment: phew, what a hectic day. All this year this is the tournament many dota fans throughout the world have waited for. The tournament was held on A'Famosa Resort, Melaka, Malaysia from 27th-29th November. From the pictures and videos posted on myMYM, the atmosphere looks very lively with a lot of fans coming to give support especially tot he local teams, which is why I wanted to go back to Malaysia so badly to watch this live, unfortunately I still have stuff to do here in Australia and hence can only follow the scene from afar.
The group placing and qualifier matches were held yesterday, and today's schedule includes all groupstage playoff matches up until Winner and loser bracket semi final matches. As an armchair spectator, I still faithfully follow what happened on the scene from the beginning of the groupstage to the playoff late at night, and so far I am quite satisfied with what have been served. Although I have to admit that my head kinda hurts a little from watching too many replays and garena streams.
Some focal points of the tournament:
Probably the biggest surprise - MYM crashing out as early as the group phase.
The debate over Europe vs Asia dota skill never end since KS/Zenith took ESWC 2008 by storm, leaving the Asian the right to brag about Asian dota superiority. SMM 2009 is a chance to prove that the claim is not justified. Being arguably one of the best European team at the moment, MYM however simply failed to show what they are capable of by winning only 2 out of their 4 group matches. They lost their first match against a fairly known malaysian team, Inc.xLo, then almost lost the 2nd game against SINO but for the reload which enable them to regain their composure and win. Their 3rd game is against an all-girl team PMS.asterisk, an obvious win. However in their decisive game against a rather unknown Malaysian team Ftz, they failed very hard. I just don't understand why would Kuroky went for heroes which I think does not suit their style and went for some unorthodox, outpicked lineup as shown in thier first and 4th game. Where is Angel's Storm Spirit? Where is Mania's Sand King? They rape European team with these heroes, so why not just stick with these and go with what they are more comfortable with? Instead they go for a failpick of Kunkka+Obsidian Destroyer when the likes of SK and Storm is still available. I wonder whay Kuroky really think when he made the picks. Given the right lineup, I believe OD can carry MYM as his orb can easily take care of Warlock's Infernal and farmed spectre, but I don't see the point of picking Kunkka here, I hardly believe he is a competitive match-worthy anymore. A total outpick against Ftz and even then they couldn't back it by outplaying the opponent, as apparent in the teamfight where despite so much farm, Kunkka contribute minimally to the fight. With this, the sole European representative went out of SMM in a very disappointing way, and surely disappoint many of the fans who have high hopes for them in this tournament. And on the other side of the coin, this will only provide more opportunity for the Asian fans to brag about Asian dota superiority, and rightly so given the way MYM had performed. The other western hope, the Canadian team PokerIdol manage to go up until WB quarter final before crashing out to AEON, congratulation to them for the great performance and for producing some of the best replays of the tournament.
The fateful recap of ESWC 2008 final: KS vs Zenith (AEON)
Unfortunately this does not happened in this year's grand final as both team lost in the winner bracket (against sGty and cD respectively). Zenith was victorious in their previous encounter in ESWC 2008 Grand Final in San Jose. A few players remains from that age, namely Hyhy and Tofu for Zenith, and Yamateh, Papaxiong, Ice and Sakura for Kingsurf. Both team merged at the end of 2008 under Kingsurf but then split again into KS and Razor.sg (now AEON.sg) after constant disagreement on many things. This game hold great importance for both teams in term of pride and honors, as currently they are probably the only team left capable on stopping China domination in the tournament. Nonetheless, the game itself was very good with a lot of dagger actions from midgame onward. Some people mentioned about KS being outpicked, although I personally didn't see it that way. KS basically just just outplayed AEON by focusing down on specific heroes in teamfights, from ES to Storm to Necro. Sad thing for AEON that even a farmed Spectre cannot carry them to victory. Watch this game for the amazing Viper play by Yamateh. Guinsoo+Orchid on viper is just sexy :D
[Replay (6.64, 1.24b)]
Yet another all-Chinese winner bracket final: CD vs EHOME
4 Chinese teams (CityHunter/CH; CommeDieu/cD; sGty FTD and EHOME) attend this year's SMM, and ALL FOUR of them still remain in the competition at this stage. That does tell something about the strength of Chinese dota teams. EHOME looks set to retain their SMM throphy which they won in SMM 2008, and this time they're accompanied by 3 other teams from their country. At this point, the only team capable of stopping their dominance are Malaysian teams Kingsurf who will face sGty, and xLo who face CH, both loser bracket semi final matches to be played tomorrow.
All the best for Malaysian team KS and Inc.xLo tomorrow (I mean, today according to my watch) in theyr remaining matches, hopefully they will be able to bring home the SMM throphy which was taken away for a year :)
great replays from today's matches to watch:
Click me to view
PokerIdol vs Avava, groupstage A - probably the match of the day, the game was very tight from start to finish. The kill score of 30-60 in favor of PI actually cannot describe what was actually happening in the game, as Avava constantly give pressure to PI with their pushing power of Rhasta and farmed Phantom Lancer.
PokerIdol vs EHOME, WB last16 - I love the early game of this match: PI went for an obvious lvl1 roshan strat, tricking EHOME to rush to Roshan then strikes them from behind, resulting in early 3 kills for PI. They went on to lead 11-0 kills advantage by 10 minutes, however EHOME's teamwork is too much for them to handle as they failed to capitalize their advantage.
others:
AEON vs KS, LB quarter final
EHOME vs sGtyFTD, WB semi final one word: Techies
AEON vs Cybertime, LB first round
EHOME vs Mcity, WB last 16
KS vs Xtc.Nyx average rape game, just showing Yamateh with 3 Divine Rapiers in 35 minutes
More on SMM/SGNDT 2009:
The Sendi Mutiara Multimedia Grand National DotA Tournament 2009 (SGNDT 09’), pretentiously the most prestigious DotA competition in the world is here on its fourth successive year bringing with it an even more impressive army of Dotarians into the fray. The qualifying-round for SGNDT ’09 kicks-off this 30th May 2009 and will consecutively run through 10 states in Malaysia in search for the best DotA teams to represent their country. Only those that earned a place in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th from each state-qualifier can proceed to the Grand Final hosted in the capital city of Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur, where a lucrative total cash prize of RM135, 000 and international contenders await the worthy champions.SMM GNDT 2009 Information on UCPro
* The BIGGEST DotA competition in the world just got a whole lot BETTER.
* The EPITOME for DotA competitions worldwide just got a whole lot GRANDEUR.
* The FINEST-HOUR for DotA competitions worldwide has finally arrived. And you’re invited!
It’s at this time of the year where the temperature for SGNDT 09’ escalates to an all new high – much hotter than before! The monumental march for Fame & Glory starts right here at Sendi Mutiara Multimedia Grand National DotA Tournament 09’ (SGNDT 09’). SGNDT has proven the test of time to be the best. Can you prove your worth? The Gate of the Ancients erupts once more as SGNDT 09’marches to town seeking to crown the next DotA World Champion!
Grand Final Prizes
- Champion: RM42,000 Cash + Trophy + Sponsors Product
- 1st Runner-up: RM20,000 Cash + Trophy + Sponsors Product
- 2nd Runner-up: RM13,000 Cash + Trophy + Sponsors Product
- 3rd Runner-up: RM8,000 Cash + Sponsors Product
- 5th Place: RM2,000 Cash + Sponsors Product
- 6th Place: RM1,500 Cash + Sponsors Product
- 7th Place: RM1,300 Cash + Sponsors Product
- 8th Place: RM1,100 Cash + Sponsors Product
The bracket so far:
Click me to view
*courtesy of myMYM.com*
coverage, pictures and replays:
myMYM: Day2 live coverage & videos
myMYM: Day2 pictures
myMYM: live full brackets
gosugamers: SMM replays
alternate replay pack, consisting of available groupstage and playoff matches (If I'm not mistaken there are some replays which are not uploaded to gosugamer/ replay.net but was there streamed on garenatv, so I included them in the pack).
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
comment: phew, what a hectic day. All this year this is the tournament many dota fans throughout the world have waited for. The tournament was held on A'Famosa Resort, Melaka, Malaysia from 27th-29th November. From the pictures and videos posted on myMYM, the atmosphere looks very lively with a lot of fans coming to give support especially tot he local teams, which is why I wanted to go back to Malaysia so badly to watch this live, unfortunately I still have stuff to do here in Australia and hence can only follow the scene from afar.
The group placing and qualifier matches were held yesterday, and today's schedule includes all groupstage playoff matches up until Winner and loser bracket semi final matches. As an armchair spectator, I still faithfully follow what happened on the scene from the beginning of the groupstage to the playoff late at night, and so far I am quite satisfied with what have been served. Although I have to admit that my head kinda hurts a little from watching too many replays and garena streams.
Some focal points of the tournament:
Probably the biggest surprise - MYM crashing out as early as the group phase.
The debate over Europe vs Asia dota skill never end since KS/Zenith took ESWC 2008 by storm, leaving the Asian the right to brag about Asian dota superiority. SMM 2009 is a chance to prove that the claim is not justified. Being arguably one of the best European team at the moment, MYM however simply failed to show what they are capable of by winning only 2 out of their 4 group matches. They lost their first match against a fairly known malaysian team, Inc.xLo, then almost lost the 2nd game against SINO but for the reload which enable them to regain their composure and win. Their 3rd game is against an all-girl team PMS.asterisk, an obvious win. However in their decisive game against a rather unknown Malaysian team Ftz, they failed very hard. I just don't understand why would Kuroky went for heroes which I think does not suit their style and went for some unorthodox, outpicked lineup as shown in thier first and 4th game. Where is Angel's Storm Spirit? Where is Mania's Sand King? They rape European team with these heroes, so why not just stick with these and go with what they are more comfortable with? Instead they go for a failpick of Kunkka+Obsidian Destroyer when the likes of SK and Storm is still available. I wonder whay Kuroky really think when he made the picks. Given the right lineup, I believe OD can carry MYM as his orb can easily take care of Warlock's Infernal and farmed spectre, but I don't see the point of picking Kunkka here, I hardly believe he is a competitive match-worthy anymore. A total outpick against Ftz and even then they couldn't back it by outplaying the opponent, as apparent in the teamfight where despite so much farm, Kunkka contribute minimally to the fight. With this, the sole European representative went out of SMM in a very disappointing way, and surely disappoint many of the fans who have high hopes for them in this tournament. And on the other side of the coin, this will only provide more opportunity for the Asian fans to brag about Asian dota superiority, and rightly so given the way MYM had performed. The other western hope, the Canadian team PokerIdol manage to go up until WB quarter final before crashing out to AEON, congratulation to them for the great performance and for producing some of the best replays of the tournament.
The fateful recap of ESWC 2008 final: KS vs Zenith (AEON)
Unfortunately this does not happened in this year's grand final as both team lost in the winner bracket (against sGty and cD respectively). Zenith was victorious in their previous encounter in ESWC 2008 Grand Final in San Jose. A few players remains from that age, namely Hyhy and Tofu for Zenith, and Yamateh, Papaxiong, Ice and Sakura for Kingsurf. Both team merged at the end of 2008 under Kingsurf but then split again into KS and Razor.sg (now AEON.sg) after constant disagreement on many things. This game hold great importance for both teams in term of pride and honors, as currently they are probably the only team left capable on stopping China domination in the tournament. Nonetheless, the game itself was very good with a lot of dagger actions from midgame onward. Some people mentioned about KS being outpicked, although I personally didn't see it that way. KS basically just just outplayed AEON by focusing down on specific heroes in teamfights, from ES to Storm to Necro. Sad thing for AEON that even a farmed Spectre cannot carry them to victory. Watch this game for the amazing Viper play by Yamateh. Guinsoo+Orchid on viper is just sexy :D
[Replay (6.64, 1.24b)]
Yet another all-Chinese winner bracket final: CD vs EHOME
4 Chinese teams (CityHunter/CH; CommeDieu/cD; sGty FTD and EHOME) attend this year's SMM, and ALL FOUR of them still remain in the competition at this stage. That does tell something about the strength of Chinese dota teams. EHOME looks set to retain their SMM throphy which they won in SMM 2008, and this time they're accompanied by 3 other teams from their country. At this point, the only team capable of stopping their dominance are Malaysian teams Kingsurf who will face sGty, and xLo who face CH, both loser bracket semi final matches to be played tomorrow.
All the best for Malaysian team KS and Inc.xLo tomorrow (I mean, today according to my watch) in theyr remaining matches, hopefully they will be able to bring home the SMM throphy which was taken away for a year :)
great replays from today's matches to watch:
Click me to view
PokerIdol vs Avava, groupstage A - probably the match of the day, the game was very tight from start to finish. The kill score of 30-60 in favor of PI actually cannot describe what was actually happening in the game, as Avava constantly give pressure to PI with their pushing power of Rhasta and farmed Phantom Lancer.
PokerIdol vs EHOME, WB last16 - I love the early game of this match: PI went for an obvious lvl1 roshan strat, tricking EHOME to rush to Roshan then strikes them from behind, resulting in early 3 kills for PI. They went on to lead 11-0 kills advantage by 10 minutes, however EHOME's teamwork is too much for them to handle as they failed to capitalize their advantage.
others:
AEON vs KS, LB quarter final
EHOME vs sGtyFTD, WB semi final one word: Techies
AEON vs Cybertime, LB first round
EHOME vs Mcity, WB last 16
KS vs Xtc.Nyx average rape game, just showing Yamateh with 3 Divine Rapiers in 35 minutes
Tales of Grace F
Warrior Orochi 3
FFXIII-2
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