Tundra Esports will use Standin' at The Bali Major

Tundra Esports went through many controversies regarding their journey to the Bali Major. Despite being the undefeated team in their region for the Summer Tour and securing the ticket to the Bali Major, Tundra was uncertain whether they could use their full roster or they would need a standin for the tournament. Fortunately, their offlane player received the Visa to go to Bali, and the team played with their full roster for two days.

However, tragedy struck Tundra on their third day as their support player Martin "Saksa" Sazdov, fell under the weather. As their last-minute replacement, Tundra’s coach, Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling, will standin for Tundra Esports for the rest of their journey at The Bali Major.

Promising Results

Aui last professionally played as a player in 2021. Since then, he had hanged up his mouse and keyboard and joined Tundra Esports as a coach. However, recently, when Tundra needed him, Aui returned to the playing field and proved despite his age, he still got what it takes to be a player. In his first series as a standin for Tundra Esports, Tundra dismantled Blacklist Rivalry and took the clean sweep against them. Tundra adjusted their roles going into the series.

Aui played Skywrath Mage support in game 1. The team’s support player, Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun, played soft support, Snapfire. The support duo played aggressively, pressuring Blacklist Rivalry’s cores during the laning stage and enabling the Tundra’s game plan. After the end of the laning stage, Aui played marvellously. Being in the right place at the right time, Aui punishes the snowball attempts coming from Blacklist Rivalry by erasing their crucial heroes from the map. Although Blacklist Rivalry tried to make it a close game, Tundra was methodical, forcing Blacklist to over-commit and heavily punishing them for attempting to take objectives. Eventually, at 49 minutes, Tundra took game 1.

Blacklist tried to play a fast-paced game with a Leshrac mid in game 2, as Tundra draft is oriented more around the late game. Knowing their draft, Tundra played methodically and did not contest for objectives till they had an advantage. Nine on Queen of Pain also played fabulously, halting the pressuring from Blacklist. As the game progressed, Tundra, with their late game draft, became online as Blacklist grew desperate and took unfavourable fights, further giving the advantage to Tundra. At 37 minutes, accepting their defeat, Blacklist tapped out from game 2.

Still Strong

Even though Tundra will be playing with a standin for the remainder of the tournament, they have proved they still have the firepower. With a score of two wins and three draws, Tundra is currently in third place in Group A. Their upcoming match is against Excretion.