ESL One Manila: Facts About Wings
UNDERDOGS
ESL One Manila saw Chinese side Wings Gaming walk away with first place, despite going into the tournament as underdogs. The squad consists of Shadow, bLink, bian, Innocence and iceice in a roster which was put together in August 2015.
CHINESE QUALIFICATION BRACKET
(Courtesy of Gosugamer)
Wings qualified for ESL One through the Chinese Qualification bracket, beating CDEC Avenger, Vici Gaming, iG Vitality and VG.Reborn to earn their place in Manila. They lost just one game en-route to qualification, in their opening match against CDEC Avenger.
WINGS VS LIQUID
The Grand Final in Manila saw Wings Gaming face off against Team Liquid in a rematch of a Group A encounter. In the group stages of the tournament, Team Liquid had taken a clean victory over Wings, defeating them 2-0. This enabled Liquid to finish ahead of Wings at the top of the group. However, Wings got their revenge in the best-of-five final as they swept through with a 3-0 victory.
13 HEROES
In the final, Wings used 13 different heroes across the three games, demonstrating strong champion pools and adaptability in their team compositions. Only Bounty Hunter and Batrider were picked more than once by Wings in the series. In the final match, Wings’s bLink played Alchemist and ended the match with 15 kills, 5 deaths and 19 assists at level 25, earning himself roughly 1047 GPM.
UNDER THE RADAR
Wings’ off-meta picks in the final earned them plaudits for creativity as they used heroes such as Venomancer and Keeper of the Light to surprise their opponents and dominate proceedings. Their use of heroes such as Invoker, Keeper and Bounty Hunter constantly put their opposition on the back foot, with new styles and strategies developed by the team to support their impressive focus on aggression. Part of their success no doubt came from having a lower profile than other teams in the tournament, allowing them to fly under the radar in terms of strategy and picks that went against the meta.
$100,000 WINNERS
From a total prize pool of $250,000 USD, Wings Gaming take home $100,000, while Team Liquid earned $50,000. Wings Gaming’s largest winnings previously had been at the World Cyber Arena 2015, where they took home $46,275 after placing 4th in the tournament. They lost there to Team Liquid.
MANILA MAJOR
Wings’ success in ESL One could see them invited to the next Major, also due to be held in Manila. It will take place in June and will have a $3,000,000 prize pool. The last Major, held in Shanghai, saw a collapse from the home region as only LGD managed to make it into the Upper Bracket after the group stage. No Chinese team made it past Round 1 in the Upper Bracket or round 2 in the Lower Bracket.
PREVIOUS FAILURES
Prior to ESL One, Wings Gaming’s last appearance was in the weekly Chinese H-Cup Season 5 Event, where they finished 4th in their group with a 2-2 record, failing to make the play-off bracket. Their last international event was the Star Ladder Star Series Season 13 & i-League Season 4, where their 2-3 record in Group B also saw them fail to make the play-offs.
THE STATS
While fully deserved winners, Wings Gaming managed to secure victory without being the best in any game aspect. Here are some key stats:
2nd best tournament win rate – 64.3% (9 wins and 5 losses) (behind Team Liquid 66.7% – 6 wins and 3 losses)
2nd best overall KDA ratio – 3.88 (behind Fnatic – 4.20)
2nd best GPM – 2258 (behind Team Liquid – 2286 GPM)
2nd best XPM – 2136 (behind Team Liquid – 2346 XPM)
