Da Kun Gaming proved to be too much for Team Secret as the Chinese team routed the Filipinos, 3-1, in the Horizon Cup semifinals at the Suntec Convention Centre in Singapore on Saturday, Nov 20.
DKG showed why it came out of the group stage unblemished as it doused the red-hot Team Secret which was coming off a series of four straight sweeps in the group stage and in the quarterfinals.
With the win, DKG punched the first ticket to the Grand Finals and will face the winner between KT Rolster and fellow Chinese squad ThunderTalk Gaming.
The Chinese champions ended Team Secret’s nine game winning run with a dominant 20-3 victory in the series opener which set the tone for the impressive showing in the semis.
DKG stunned the Filipinos with a strong early game rotations which allowed the Chinese to score the wire-to-wire Game 1 win. Zhenyu “Wind” Qi led the attack as he got his free reigns on his farms using his Ziggs.
Coming off a solid Game 1 performance, DKG looked poise for a repeat in the second game.
Heri “Tatsurii” Garcia, however, spoiled DKG’s party as he came alive and carried the Filipinos to a 26-12 fight back to tie the series.
Tatsurii made DKG pay for every over extension, helping Secret win the crucial team fights – the biggest in a clash for the Baron where he secured the major objective on top of a double kill to seal the Game 2 win for the Filipinos.
The Filipino mid laner was impressive on his signature Zed finishing 11-4-9 KDA to help the Filipinos tie the series.
That, however, proved to be the last strong stand for the Filipinos.
DKG came back to its senses and dominated Secret in the next two games to bag the series win.
The Chinese showed no mercy in Game 3 as it made quick work of TS in Game 3 with a one-sided 9-1 affair in just 15 minutes.
Trailing all game-long, the SEA representatives gambled for a sneaky Baron take but got spotted out by DKG players.
The Spark Invitational champions initiated a fight where it successfully picked off Robert “Trebor” Mansilungan’s Graves. That pick-off triggered the downfall for Secret as Da Kun completed an ace to move to series match point.
Battling for its tournament lives, TS took the early game lead for the first time in the series led by Tatsurii’s three early kills on his Fizz in Game 4.
A huge mid-lane clash that went to DKG’s favor however spelled doom for the Filipinos as they were aced by DKG to close to barge into the Finals with a 16-10 Game 4 close out