Nouns' Bedazzling Debut At The Bali Major
The first day of the Bali Major was thrilling and cut-throat, as expected. As the underdogs stand their ground against the Titans, one underdog, Nouns, stands out above the rest. Teams from China, South America and Eastern Europe stepped up to challenge the dominant region in LANs as the Western European teams showed their cracks. However, North American teams could not until recently.
Nouns’ Journey To Bali Major
Only Shopify Rebellion and TSM dominated the DPC North American region. The two teams always secured the slot for LANs representing their region but failed to make a deep run in the tournament.
However, in the Summer Tour, Nouns triumphed over TSM, taking over their slot for The Bali Major to represent the NA region. The team received an invite to DreamLeague Season 19 earlier this season, but they were the first team to get eliminated after the end of the group stages.
Although Nouns often secured top seed finishes in their region, many consider North America DPC the weakest in the entire DPC. Nouns came into The Bali Major with not much on their shoulders. However, at the end of the first day, Nouns dropped a bombshell that caught everyone by surprise.
The Games
On their first day, Nouns stood their ground against PSGLGD, China’s best team. In game 1, despite losing the laning stage against PSG.LGD, Nouns were somewhat successful in stalling out the game for their safelane Terrorblade to come online. However, PSGLGD, with their last pick, Anti-Mage, felt comfortable playing the long game, where they eventually came out on top.
Knowing PSGLGD was comfortable in the late game, Nouns switched to a draft that allowed them to play aggressively from the start in game 2. Nouns eventually took that game and tied the series. In their series against EG, despite EG playing with their signature Morphling draft in game 1, Nouns overcame them. In game 2, Nouns went with a cheese Lone Druid midlane draft and took the series.
The Results
At the end of Day 1 of The Bali Major, with a score of one win and one draw, Nouns are in third place in Group B. They have the same score as Gaimin Gladiators and Azure Ray. Their upcoming match is against BetBoom Team, one of the powerhouses in Eastern Europe. BetBoom Team secured a second-place finish at their previous tournament.