Geek Fam, BOOM open strong at ESL One Birmingham - SA

Geek Fam and BOOM Esports each opened with a sweep on Thursday as the ESL One Birmingham 2020 - Online: Southeast Asia event got underway. Geek Fam handled Reality, and BOOM dispatched TNC Predator, both by a 2-0 margin in the best-of-three, group-play format. Team Adroit rallied past Fnatic 2-1 in the day's other match.

The Dota 2 event had been scheduled for 36 teams to play May 26-31 in Birmingham, England, before plans were changed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, there are four separate online regional competitions: Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States, North America/South America, China and Southeast Asia. Europe/CIS play begins Sunday, the Americas starts Monday and China will open play on Tuesday. The Southeast Asia bracket features six teams competing for a total of $40,000. After a single round-robin of best-of-three matches, the top two teams will make the upper bracket of the double-elimination playoffs, and the third- and fourth-place teams will be slotted into the playoffs' lower bracket.

Playoff matches will be best-of-three before a best-of-five final on May 31. On Thursday, Geek Fam took the first game from Reality in 42 minutes, then wrapped up victory with a 31-minute win. Marc Polo Luis "Raven" Fausto led the way with a 9.5/2.5/12.5 kills/deaths/assists ratio.

BOOM made even quicker work of TNC Predator, winning maps in 28 minutes and 22 minutes. Rafli Fathur "Mikoto" Rahman posted a 10/0.5/8 KDA ratio, including 14/0/8 in Game 1. Fnatic got the early jump on Adroit with a 42-minute victory, but Adroit fought back to take the second game in 45 minutes and the third in 36.

Play continues Friday with three matches: TNC Predator vs. Team Adroit

Geek Fam vs. BOOM Esports Fnatic vs. Reality

--Field Level Media