Team Secret wins MDL Disneyland Paris Major

MDL Disneyland Paris Major is finally over and the winner of the event was Team Secret. Right when the tournament started, there were a few other serious contenders for the title, such as Virtus.pro and Evil Geniuses, but as soon as the Playoffs began, it was obvious for everybody that Team Secret was at least one level above everyone else.

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MDL Disneyland Paris Major review

MDL Disneyland Paris Major started with almost no surprises at all. Apart from Fnatic, every one of the favourites excelled during the Group Stage and secured a spot in the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs. Then, in the second stage of the tournament, surprises started to come and reveal a different pecking order than the one that was expected based on the statistics available at the time.

First of all, nobody would have predicted that OG would beat Virtus.pro in their first Upper Bracket match of the Main Event. Also, NiP’s victory over Vici Gaming was a huge surprise, given that Vici Gaming had won the previous Major.

The rest of the Upper Bracket went entirely according to what was predicted: Team Secret and Evil Geniuses advanced to Upper Bracket Finals and Secret won in the end (2 – 1). In the Lower Bracket, both Virtus.pro and Vici Gaming, the two finalists from the 3^rd Major, got eliminated sooner than they should have been, finishing in both cases 7^th – 8^th.

The overall results were the following:

• 1^st place: Team Secret
• 2^nd place: Team Liquid
• 3^rd place: Evil Geniuses
• 4^th place: PSG.LGD
• 5^th – 6^th place: OG, NiP
• 7^th – 8^th place: VG, VP
• 9^th – 12^th place: Complexity Gaming, Mineski, paiN Gaming, Keen Gaming
• 13^th – 16^th place: beastcoast, Team Empire, Chaos Esports Club, Fnatic

As these results show, Fnatic messed up even worse than Virtus.pro and Vici Gaming. After finishing 3^rd at the 3^rd Major of the season, they finished last at the 4^th. Of course, they’re already qualified for The International 2019, but still. You never want to mess up so badly so close to TI.

Qualified Teams for TI 9

As a result of what happened at MDL Disneyland Paris Major, the following teams are already qualified for The International 2019:

• Team Secret
• Virtus.pro
• Evil Geniuses
• Vici Gaming
• PSG.LGD
• Fnatic
• Team Liquid
• Ninjas in Pyjamas

Overall, three European teams have already secured a ticket for TI 9 and OG will likely be the fourth. This means that The International 2019 will have five European teams in total, which is a lot. I can’t remember a time in the last five years when five teams from Europe alone (so apart from the CIS region) took part in this tournament.