Smart Omega proved steadier as it downed Lilgun, 2-1, to score a victorious debut in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Season 2-Southeast Asia Upper Division on Wednesday, April 14.
Emerging midlaner Mc Nicholson "Mac" Villanueva on his unorthodox Beastmaster spearheaded Omega's relentless assault in Game 1 while it was carry Justin "Tino" Grimaldo on his Alchemist who took charge in the deciding Game 3.
Both Omega and Lilgun were promoted to the Upper Division and replaced Vice Esports (now South Built Esports) and 496 Gaming after topping the Lower Division in Season 1.
The Filipino squad avenged its 2-0 loss to the Mongolian side back in their duel in the previous season.
Veteran offlaner Sam "Sam_H" Hidalgo, a member of the fabled TNC team that eliminated OG in the TI6, and position-4 support Mark "Shanks" Redira also enjoyed a winning debut in the DPC.
Sam_H and Shanks filled the void left by Jun "Bok" Kanehara and Marvin "Boomy" Rushton who moved to TNC Predator.
The removal of Necronomicon in the new 7.29 patch was not a problem for the 11K MMR Mac as he secured a 13-minute Aghanim's Scepter on his BM to post a perfect record of 12 kills and 15 assists, and power the 29-7 romp in just nearly 28 minutes in the series opener.
Tino on his Io also went ham with nine kills and 10 assists without a death while Sam_H on his Centuar Warrunner chipped in 19 assists
Lilgun, however, forced a rubber match with a 34-minute 36-15 win in Game 2 behind Altanginj "x123" Bilguun's Huskar (14-4-8 kill-death-assist).
But Omega kept its composure in the closing game as Mac's Puck (15-1-19) led the PH side in the early goings before Tino's Alchemist (10-2-9) took over in the endgame.
Earlier, Cignal Ultra suffered a 2-0 beating to the reformed Motivate.Trust Gaming headed by 12K MMR carry Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong and ex-Fnatic offlaner Natthaphon "Masaros" Ouanphakdee in the Lower Division.