Ascension Gaming is making its first appearance at a major international tournament here. They have been the best team in Thailand since their foundation, but they have been unable to win the GPL. Now that they have made it, they will be looking to follow in the footsteps of the GIGABYTE Marines.
Odds to win MSI Group A (Courtesy of BetDSI)
Rainbow7 -160
Gambit eSports +250
Kaos Latin Gamers +650
Ascension Gaming +1250
Backstory
Ascension Gaming won its third straight domestic title back in March. They have been relatively untested by the other teams in Thailand, but they had yet to break through the GPL until last month.
Unlike other regions, Southeast Asia encompasses five separate leagues for international tournaments. The winners of domestic leagues in five different countries go on to compete in the GPL, with the winner of that tournament representing the region at either the Mid-Season Invitational or the World Championships.
Since its inception, Vietnamese teams dominated the GPL. GIGABYTE Marines and Young Generation represented the region last year and performed well on the international stage. Their stranglehold over the GPL led to Riot giving the Vietnamese champion their own place in international tournaments, freeing up a spot for Ascension this year.
Ascension routed Singapore’s champion Sovereign and Malaysia’s champion Kuala Lumpur Hunters to win the GPL this year.
What to watch for
Not much is known about Ascension Gaming coming into MSI. This team has performed well at GPL the three times they were able to make it there though. They were just beaten out by Young Generation with a trip to Worlds on the line last year, and most of that team is back this year.
InTreso, G4, and Lloyd are all very experienced. This trio made up the nucleus of the Bangkok Titans’ teams that won almost every domestic title from 2014 to 2016. Unfortunately, they did not have much success in the two major international tournaments they went to. They failed to win a game at either the 2015 World Championship or IEM 9 Taipei.
With that being said, opponents must not underestimate this team. InTreso is a cheeky jungler that will use off-meta picks in order to frustrate teams’ strategies. He is one of a handful of players to play all five positions at the competitive level, and that gives him knowledge that other junglers don’t have.
Mid laner G4 is the other player that teams must respect. G4 more than held his own at Worlds three years ago even though his team went winless. He is not going to be bullied in the early game, and he isn’t going to shrink away from the moment and play passive.
Prediction
Perhaps the best thing that Ascension has going for it is that no one seems to know much about this team. We’ve seen other relative unknown surprise on the international stage, and opponents won’t be able to scout out potential weaknesses. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ascension place better than the oddsmakers think, but they won’t win the group.
