Hong Kong e-sports fans go wild as Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau slay Team Europe

Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau reached the finals of the E-Sports and Music Festival at the Hong Kong Coliseum on Friday with a 2-1 victory over Team Europe in the semi-finals.

The victory means Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau will square off with either Team North America or Team China, who play on Sunday,in the final later on Sunday.

The atmosphere at the Coliseum, although only at about 50 per cent full, was wild. The crowd was almost all local or mainland Chinese and every push by Team Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau was met with roars of applause and cheering by local fans.

The Europe stars took the loss in their stride and laughed it off afterwards, saying it was just a pleasure to be able to get together with old friends again.

The match was billed as a competition between the season one and season two winners.

When asked if they viewed the E-Sports and Music Festival as a world-class event, xPeKe said: “It’s just really fun.”

Watch: Team China v Team North America

Many of the players didn’t have the chance to play against each other in the past when they were at the height of their careers.

“It’s just a one-off tournament, it’s not as important as games we’ve played in the past, so it’s more of a relaxed experience,” said yellowpete. 

Team China are expected to make short work of the Americans. Many on the Chinese team have been playing recently on the current meta and come into the match still sharp while their opponents on Team North America have not played professionally in a long time.

“I think [China] is gonna beat them easy. I think NA is worse than we are,” said xPeKe.

Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau met the media in high spirits, clearly enjoying the experience of playing a tournament on their home turf, something many of them have not actually had the chance to do before.

The Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macao team say the match was even more one-sided than it appeared, the team couldn’t get the hang of their Cantonese keyboards and missed ban picks twice, which they say was the deciding factor in their loss of game two.

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Stanley says they meant to ban Lulu, and the mistake forced them to pick Rammus. They then completely missed the ban pick in game three.

On a potential match-up against China, Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau say they think they have a 50-50 chance. A win for Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau would be feather in their cap. The three regions have long been the little brother to the more dominant mainland Chinese and Korean scenes.

Game one saw Team Europe opt for a somewhat nostalgic draft, while team Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau’s picks were definitely influenced by current meta. Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau’s choice paid off, and the home team took the first game.

Hong Kong player and crowd-favourite Toyz drew first blood when xPeKe was caught poorly positioned and without flashes or support. The Spaniard was just asking to get ganked.

Team Europe team did look on decent form at the start, but the game quickly shifted in Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau’s favour. Team Europe were ill-equipped for defensive fights, but found themselves on the back foot throughout the game.

GodJJ, the only Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau player not to win a World Championship, went on a 8-0 rampage, mercilessly punishing the European composition at every opportunity and played a pivotal role in an Ace which ultimately secured the game.

Game two was a 22-minute stomp. Europe’s stars roared back and seemed like they’d just needed a warm-up game to get back into the swing of things.

xPeKe slayed Toyz for first blood and Team Europe pushed on all lanes. By mid-game three of the team were way ahead of their counterparts in CS. Team Europe were making deft rotations but Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau couldn’t seem to get their counter-rotations going. With Team Europe pilling on pressure in multiple lanes Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau crumbled.

Team Europe dominated top and mid, leaving only bottom to Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau. Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau couldn’t contend with the huge gains Team Europe had already made and failed to win any team fights. Team Europe went on to take the Nexus quite handily, bringing the match to 1-1.

Going into draft for game three Team Europe were all smiles.

First blood went again to xPeKe on Toyz. Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau again focused bot lane and Team Europe pushed top and mid. The game looked to be mirroring game two. However, MiSTakE and GodJJ quickly began making huge gains in bot lane and a winning drive down the lane looked possible.

With advantage opening up on bot lane, Lillbalz began to make his way down to help put the pressure on Team Europe.

GodJJ found a kill on lamia, and Stanley started to tear into Kev1n’s lead. With Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau building momentum, they pushed top lane and started applying pressure once again.

Once again, Team Europe looked unfit for team fights. Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau took another ACE, turret and Elder Dragon in quick succession. Two Team Europe inhibitors followed in a massive team fight.

A last ditch triple kill by yellowpete held things off briefly, but Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau were back in no time and the resulting team fight saw them ace Team Europe again and take the game.

The lead Team Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau had built early in the game had just proved too much for Team Europe.