Pandamonium wins nailbiting SMITE Oceania esports Split One Final
April 18, 2016 – In a tight, back and forth battle, PandamoniumGG has won the first LAN final of the SMITE Oceania Pro League season. The victory over 2nd place Plantronics Tainted Minds was 3-2 in a hard fought best of five, played with a live audience at Cybergamer’s CGPL Autumn LAN at Sydney’s Australia Technology Park yesterday. Full of intense moments that had the crowd gasping, a final match objective steal turned the tide for Pandamonium, staving off their nearest defeat yet. While the titanic effort of Plantronics Tainted Minds fell just short, they showed it was possible to topple the champions.
The winners netted $6,000 to the second place $2,500, with the remainder of the Split One Prize pool of $10,000 as distributed down to between 3rd-6th in the Pro League.
The total 2016 prize pool of $100,000 AUD and a trip to SMITE World Championships are still to be awarded through two more upcoming splits. With such a close Split One, esports fans are in for an exciting season of SMITE with up and coming teams proven to be in contention.
Match Summary:
Pandamonium, previously undefeated in the Oceania 2015 season, showed how steely their nerves have become since attending SMITE World Championships, as PLT. Tainted Minds challenged at every turn. After Pandamonium coldly and convincingly took Tainted Minds apart in the first match of the set, the omens of a 3-0 wash that many predicted seemed correct.
Yet the challengers came back hard, playing with passion and smart set plays, proving Pandas could bleed, and the tussle went back and forth. Tainted Minds levelled the set 2-2. In the deciding match, the atmosphere was electric. The audience and Tainted Minds both became excitedly vocal as they took the first kill and early lead. Beginning to steamroll the champions and stage a thrilling upset, Tainted Minds zoned off the opposition and set themselves to take down the mid-map Fire Giant objective.
However in a stunning play, Pandamonium’s Mid Laner, Ochita, using Roman God of Portals, Janus, stole the objective with a long range ultimate, killing the Fire Giant from a distance and taking its powerful buff reward for Pandamonium. The champions steadied and turned the match.
Both teams were pushed to their limits in the clear best match of season so far.
Full Prize Pool of Split One: $10,000 (From total for year of $100,000)
1st Place – PandamoniumGG – $6,000
2nd Place – Plantronics Tainted Minds – $2,500
3rd Place – LG Dire Wolves – $750
4th Place – Avant Garde – $750
5th Place – Sin Gaming – $250
6th Place – Trident Esports – $250
What’s Next?
April 23-24, Split Two Relegation tournament
Bottom four Pro League teams (3-6) face top 4 Challengers Cup teams. The top four of this tournament join Pandamonium and PLT.Tainted Minds as the Split Two Pro League.
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