Filipino star midlaner Abed "Abed" Yusop and Evil Geniuses took a swift 2-0 sweep of Fnatic at the start of the ONE Esports Singapore Major playoffs on Wednesday, March 31.
EG showed its superior synergy in Game 1 before surviving Fnatic's cheese strategy revolving around Techies in Game 2 as the North American king cruised to the upper bracket semifinals.
The TI5-winning organization will face the winner between Chinese giants Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming in the next winners' bracket round on Friday, April 2.
Fnatic, which has Filipino pros Djardel "Dj" Mampusti and Polo "Raven" Fausto will fight it out against fellow SEA representative OB.Neon in a win-or-go home series in the lower bracket first round on Thursday, April 1.
A lot of history was involved in the series as Abed and veteran offlaner Daryl "iceiceice" Koh Pei Xiang are former players of the Southeast Asian powerhouse.
Iceiceice also played his first series against Fnatic since his departure in November last year.
Abed's Storm Spirit and iceiceice's Beastmaster joined forces with renowned carry Artour "Arteezy" Babaev's Juggernaut to power EG's lopsided victory in Game 1.
The American team dominated all the important skirmishes en route to forcing the GG call from the SEA squad with a 19-9 kill score and two sets of barracks destroyed in just 26 minutes.
Not even a cheese Techies pick at the hands of Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong in Game 2 saved Fnatic from losing in 50 long minutes and eventually crashing down to the losers' bracket.
EG held the advantage early on but Fnatic was able to drag it to the late game with Jabz's Techies blowing up Arteezy's Naga Siren and Abed's Void Spirit at some points while Raven's Wraith King slowly secured his core items.
The American squad, however, proved to be more solid in team fights, with veteran Tal "Fly" Aizik's Winter Wyverns cancelling the Black Hole setups of Nathhatphon "Masaros" Ouanphakdee's Enigma.
Andreas "Crit-" Nielsen's Mirana and iceiceice's Pangolier also provided disables while Arteezy and Abed did the clean up as EG coasted to a 37-20 victory.
