Polaris Esports and OB Esports x Neon stood firm after the first round of the lower bracket while Boom Esports led by Filipino Dota 2 star Timothy “Tims” Randrup already secured its spot in the upper bracket finals of the Dota 2 BTS Pro-series Season 9.
OB.Neon came out victorious in its showdown against fellow Filipino squad Execration, 2-1, while Polaris made quick work of Indonesia’s Army Geniuses to advance to the second round of the lower bracket.
OB.Neon, which dropped its all-Filipino lineup for a mix of up-and-coming Southeast Asian talents, drew first blood in the series, 45-21, with the Filipino duo of Michael Roi "Enryu" Ladines and Jinn “Palos” Lamatao leading the charge.
Execration, returned the favor in the second game, dismantling OB.Neon 47-10 to tie the series. OB however came out firing in the series clincher to beat Exe, 42-20, led by Palos who finished with an impressive 17-1-7 KDA on his Terrorblade.
It was also the Filipinos who took the spotlight on the other side of the bracket as Polaris thumped Army Geniuses, 2-0. Polaris both won the game on a lopsided fashion, annihilating the Indonesians 41-24 in Game 1 and 34-23 in Game 2.
In the upper bracket, Boom Esports proved that the team was on a league of its own as it dropped Nigma Galaxy SEA to the lower bracket via a dominant 2-0 sweep. Filipino players Tims, Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer and Andrei Gabriel "skem" Ong provided the lift for Indonesia-based organization as they dominated Nigma Galaxy, 31-14, in Game 1, and 28-15 in Game 2.
Nigma Galaxy will now face OB.Neon in the second round of the lower bracket. On the other hand, Polaris will take on Yangon Galacticos which lost to Motivate.Trust Gaming, 2-1, in their upper bracket match.
The BTS Pro-series matches are streamed through KuyaNic's Facebook page and YouTube channel.