Chinese team NewBee were on fire during the final phase three qualifying matches. The team stomped to the top of the winners bracket of the main event with convincing wins over Titan eSport, Na’ Vi, and 2012 champions Invictus Gaming (iG). Despite losing some ground during the early stages of the phase two qualifiers, NewBee have finally settled and are now living up to their ‘dream team’ moniker.
With both Na’ Vi and iG technically already qualified for the main event, it was up to NewBee and Titan to decide between themselves which would be joining the lucrative main event. Unfortunately for the Malaysian team, NewBee proved to be taking no prisoners on that particular day and were crushed by a highly motivated opponent. This means that the Malaysian representation at TI4 has ended, although Titan still goes home with US$48,527 (RM155,157) in prize money.
NewBee continued their winning streak against both Na’ Vi and iG, although neither of their opponents appeared to be particularly concerned with winning the matches. It could be that both were planning to enter the losers bracket for strategic reasons, especially as Na’ Vi went out to try new tactics against the Chinese team. iG tried a little harder to win their matchup, but NewBee’s strategy of shutting down Ferrari_430 to prevent him from contributing to the game worked well to expose the weaknesses of the team.
TI4 will resume on 18 July, with ViCi facing NewBee in match A and Evil Geniuses meeting Team DK in match B.
