Day 1 of The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018

The biggest esports event in Malaysia, brings 16 teams worldwide to battle it out for a $1.000.000 prize pool and to prepare the winning team for “The International 2019” by awarding 15,000 DPC points.

The Kuala Lumpur Major 2018 is part of the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season which received support from Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's youth and sports minister. The major is taken place at the Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil. Two teams were qualified from Southeast Asia, South America, and CIS aswell as three teams each from China, North America, and Europe. The event is a collaborated effort of ImbaTV and eGG Network.

The event started off with a bang with a match between fan favorites, Team Secret and TI8 runner-ups, PSG.LGD. The match was as intense as the roaring of the crowds and the enthusiastic comments by the panel of analysts and casters with Team Secret ultimately declared the victor after a 2 match win in a best of 3 matchup.

The second match pits Ninjas In Pyjamas (NiP) against Russian giants, Virtus Pro with VP picking up the victory with a 2-0 win over NiP dropping them to the lower brackets and cementing VP’s position in the upper bracket finals against Team Secret. The 3rd and final game of the day sees NiP going against a South East Asia team, TNC Predator in the lower brackets divisions where the two teams square off in an intense battle with NiP emerging victorious advancing themselves to the lower bracket finals.

Aside from just Dota 2 matches, the event also features a cosplay of Dota 2 heroes with fans who came into the Arena dressed up as their favorite Dota 2 heroes and compete in a cosplaying competition. In breaks they would reserve time for team's meet and greet where fans can get the opportunity to meet up with their favorite teams and get a picture and an autograph from every member of the team. However teams were limited to Evil Geniuses, Tobiwan, Slacks, Malystryx, Pinda Panda, and Pain.

Throughout The KL Major, numerous gaming brands known for their gaming peripherals were invited to the event, setting up stalls around stadium arena. Corporations such as Alienware, Intel, HyperX, and many more showcasing their newest of tech. They also do sell merchandises and gaming gear like keyboards, headphones, shirts, mouse, and mouse pads to people. They also do host competitions throughout the whole event as U-Mobile hosted one-on-one tournaments with winners receiving gaming gear. Both winners and losers were awarded with KL Major T-Shirts.

A press conference was also held with prominent enthusiasts in Malaysia's esports community, in which the Chief of Sports Of Astro, Lee Choong Khay, PGL esports CEO, Silviu Stroie, CEO of Imba TV, Weirong Shen and Malaysia's Youth and Sports Minister, YB Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman. During the event, YB Syed Saddiq discusses on the future of esports in Malaysia as well as The KL Major being a stepping stone towards redefining the gaming industry in Malaysia. Malaysia is one of the 6 biggest esports nations in South East Asia and has the potential to be the region's hub for esports. The KL Major will cement Malaysia's position on the international circuit and will definitely open up more doors of opportunities with esports organisations to further improve the rapid growth of Malaysia's esports industry.