Filipino star midlaner Abed "Abed" Yusop's monstrous Templar Assassin set the tone for Evil Geniuses' 2-0 sweep over TNC Predator to start the WePlay AniMajor group stage on Friday night, June 4.
Abed on TA went ham as he dealt a massive 34K hero damage and 9.9k damage to structures to power EG's lopsided 29-8 victory in Game 1.
With the 20-year-old Filipino pride at the forefront, the North American kings annihilated the Southeast Asian squad inside its Dire base to force out the GG call in just 30 minutes.
Abed, who was already geared with Dragon Lance and Desolator just 14 minutes into the game, racked up 12 kills and 10 assists against zero deaths.
TNC put up a valiant effort in Game 2 and even looked poised to pull off a 1-1 series until a clutch Sunder play by ace carry Artour "Arteezy" Babaev with Terrorblade turned things around for EG in the 43rd minute.
Abed on Dragon Knight was agonizingly close to going down against Kim "Gabbi" Villafuerte's Spectre and the rest of TNC but a Arteezy's Sunder saved Abed and the two went on to take down the Filipinos one by one with only Armel "Armel" Tabios' Puck surviving.
Can @abedyusop and @Arteezy really withstand this brawl that TNC is bringing? Yes. Yes they can. #AniMajor #WePlayAnimajor pic.twitter.com/Xx5oGz2l13
— Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) June 4, 2021
It was all EG from there as Arteezy capped off the 49-minute 38-31 win with a rampage.
Arteezy came through with 22 kills and 10 assists against only two deaths while Abed chipped in 24 assists and nine kills against three deaths.
Abed and EG seized the early lead in the eight-team standings while grabbing momentum going to their second series against Team Spirit at posting time.
TNC will look to bounce back versus Chinese team Vici Gaming later at around 2 a.m., Saturday.
The top six teams in the group stage will move on to the playoffs while the bottom two will be eliminated.