9 Pandas Advance At The Cost Of Aster

The young 9 Pandas squad has exceeded expectations and continues their deep run in the Riyadh Masters. It wasn’t an easy series for them against Team Aster, but an impeccable Tinker performance from kiyotaka in Game 3 helped the CIS squad push through to secure at least a Top 6 finish.

The 18-year-old played some very flashy heroes in this series, picking Invoker, Meepo, and Tinker, some very generic mid-lane heroes. In the post-game interview, kiyotaka was asked about these picks and answered with the following:

“I just want to make a show for the viewers, so I want to pick some heroes that provide team fight like Invoker and Tinker. I press some buttons for the viewers.”

The interview continued with asking kiyotaka about the intensity and competitiveness of the Riyadh Masters so far. His answer was:

“We just enjoy Dota. We came to Saudi for the Riyadh Masters, and it’s the perfect tournament for us because it’s been good games, good teams, and only the best teams in this tournament. We’re just trying to enjoy Dota and show our best gameplay for the viewers.”

The Mid Laner mentioned that it would be epic to face the BetBoom Team in the Grand Final of the tournament. However, this is impossible as both teams are already in the Lower Bracket.

In the match, the first two games were both stomps for either team. 9 Pandas quickly took the first game, and Aster denied any success from kiyotaka’s Meepo pick in the second game and won it without trouble.

The deciding game was incredibly passive, as kiyotaka’s Tinker was shut down early on while RAMZES666 was silently farming up a storm. Due to the lack of plays by 9 Pandas, Team Aster had taken control of the game thanks to a star performance from SumaiL on his Ember Spirit.

Despite taking the Aegis two times, Team Aster couldn’t transition the advantage into anything meaningful. This slow play bought kiyotaka and RAMZES666 to farm their core items. Once team fights began to emerge, kiyotaka performed his usual Tinker things and even killed two Aster heroes while they were in the fountain.

A massive team fight broke out at the Radiant Bottom Lane, where MieRo landed a three-man Black Hole to help 9 Pandas win the fight and force Aster to tap out.

Team Aster finish the tournament in 7-8th place, a respectable performance considering they had just replaced a player in their team. 9 Pandas will be tasked to play against Talon Esports in an elimination match tomorrow. Whether they win or not, the young CIS squad has secured at least $800,000.