Southeast Asia set the tempo for Valve’s 2022 Dota Pro Circuit Winter Tour Regional Finals, and hardly a more attention-grabbing end than in an explosive rematch between BOOM Esports and T1.
Even with T1 sending BOOM to the lower bracket, the newly formed core combo of JaCkky and Erin Jasper “Yopaj” Ferrer was just too much to handle. BOOM closed out the Winter Tour with a 3-1 win over their regional rival.
T1 couldn’t even get a foothold in game one, with BOOM leading the entire time and Yopaj’s Kunkka going essentially untouched with 16 kills, a game-leading 20.1k net worth, and over 23,000 hero damage. Tims’ Vengeful Spirit also wasn’t killed a single time, which let him impact the game more than any of T1’s backline, with the total game being a 30-5 advantage for BOOM.
This scenario repeated itself in game two, with Yopaj’s second game on Kunkka and JaCkky’s Troll Warlord helping BOOM roll T1 in just over 20 minutes to put them on match point.
Related: 2022 Dota Pro Circuit Winter Tour Regional Finals: Scores, standings, and results
With their backs against the wall, T1 did fight all the way to a win from a bad position in game three where BOOM was in the lead up until the very last minute. Ensuring Yopaj couldn’t do much in the final fight helped give T1 enough fuel to power through thanks to Gabbi’s Templar Assassin and the strong performance from the rest of the team.
That flash of brilliance would end up being a one-time occurrence in this series, though. BOOM bounced back with a stellar performance, locking down T1 across the board, limiting their options, and setting up Yopaj to burn the competition away with his Lina. Both he and JaCkky had more net worth and damage than anyone on T1.
BOOM now has solid evidence that the move to bring JaCkky in right before the event was worth the DPC point deduction it faced for the stand-in, and potential permanent swap. BOOM remain atop the SEA region and bring home $50,000 and 250 DPC points.
T1 also saw a slight improvement in their performance with Gabbi taking the place of 23savage during the competition, so fans may see two of the top teams making some big moves heading into the DPC’s Spring Tour. The team was playing with Mc Nicholson “Lelouch-” Villanueva from Polaris Esports as a stand-in partially during the grand finals, so the series could have gone differently if Karl participated fully.
However, T1’s CEO Joe Marsh did confirm after the series that the entire T1 roster, in whatever form it retains for the Spring Tour, will be moving to the Phillipines full-time to avoid further internet issues.
