ESL One Mumbai kicked off to a lot of excited fans lining up to see India’s Team Signify take to an international stage for competing in the Dota 2 Championship. This is the first ESL One DotA 2 championship to be hosted in India, and the first one of this scale. Seven of the best teams have come down to India to participate in this event, along with India’s own Team Signify. Along with the championship matches, there is also a massive experience zone that’s been set up by Intel. In case you missed out on being at the first day of ESL One, here’s everything that you need to know.
Team Signify loses
Despite all the love and support from the home crowd, Team Signify lost to Team TNC Predator from the Philippines. In a best of three, Signify were just not able to hold their ground against the team from Philippines, losing two matches straight and being eliminated from ESL One Mumbai altogether. We caught up with team Signify and managed to get a few questions in.
Team Signify during their opening match
On being asked what the best moment of the entire tournament was, the team unanimously said “when we walked into the stadium.” Elaborating further, they said that “it was an incredible feeling, walking into the stadium for such a major international tournament, with the crowd cheering us, that too in our own town. It felt really nice…now we know what cricketers must feel like when they walk into the stadium.” Addressing their loss, the team said that “this was still a great opportunity for us. We realise that there is a lot of scope for improvement and we’ll keep practicing and do better next time.”
KuKu of Team TNC Predator discussing the team's victory over Signify
The Intel Pavillion
The game stage isn’t the only place where the action was taking place. Intel, as a sponsor for ESL One, had also set up an experience pavilion where gamers could come and get their hands on some of the best gaming hardware there is. On display were gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus, Dell G7, the HP Omen and even a pair of Alienware Area 51m. However, he booth also showcased just how versatile these machines can be, with some of them being used to run VR games, some being used for Tekken competitions (with the game running on massive 65-inch televisions). There were also numerous CS: GO and PUBG competitions where the winners were awarded gaming keyboards and mice. The most unique gaming experience, however, was the Acer Predator Thronos, the dream machine for any gamer. Everyone who visited the Intel booth got a chance to experience the Thronos. The one thing that clearly stood out from our time spent at the booth was that Intel’s processor not only power some of the best gaming machines, but also enable some of the most unique gaming experiences. We’ll be spending more time at the Intel booth over the next two days to bring you more detailed look at some of the special machines here.
The Acer Predator Thronos comes to India
Powering the Thronos is an Intel Core i7-8700K based machine with dual GTX 1080Ti
Got to try out the new Zephyrus S GX701 running on the Intel Core i7-8750H and RTX 2080
Audica is a VR game, seen here running on the ROG Zephyrus
The gorgeous NZXT H700 here houses the Intel Core i7-9700K, 32GB RAM and an Aorus RTZ 2070
Played a few rounds on the Intel Core i7-9700K powered Alienware Area 51m
Wrap-Up
Day 1 of ESL One Mumbai wrapped up in a rather sober fashion, with the elimination of Team Signify and team CompLexity being eliminated on the first day. Day 2 will the remainder of the teams go at each other for a spot in the grand final on Sunday. WE will also be going through the ROG booth to bring you a first-hand look at the company’s latest machines that are on display.
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Swapnil Mathur
Swapnil was Digit's resident camera nerd, (un)official product photographer and the Reviews Editor. Swapnil has moved-on to newer challenges. For any communication related to his stories, please mail us using the email id given here. View Full Profile
