Dota 2 Dreamleague is a tournament with a $1.000.000 prize pool and 16 teams competing for the trophy and valuable EPT points. We bring you a short analysis of Group Stage 1 and predictions for Group Stage 2.
Dota 2 Dreamleague: Group Stage 1 Recap
The top 3 favorites still live. Going into this Dota 2 tournament, Team Spirit, Gaimin Gladiators and Team Falcons were marked as the top favorites. On top of the list, there was Azure Ray too, a team that won ESL One Kuala Lumpur in December last year.
Group A brought us a first surprise. Azure Ray, one of the favorites, dropped down. Their 0-2 losses vs BetBoom Team and Heroic were crucial ones. A loss vs BetBoom didn’t come as a surprise, but losing vs Heroic was a shock for the Chinese. Heroic, one of the worst-performing teams in the tournament, managed to shock ESL One winners. Otherwise, everything went as expected as BetBoom, Falcons, OG and Gaimin Gladiators took the round 2 spots. Another disappointment came from another Chinese team, G2.IG. Teams with players like Monet, NothingToSay, BoBoKa and xNova didn’t manage to show anything. 3 straight losses and 4 draws knocked them down to last place in the group.
Group B brought more shocking results. Tundra Esports, Team Secret and Team Liquid didn’t manage to qualify for the 2nd group stage. Once European Dota 2 powerhouses, now are in shambles. Tundra and Liquid, The International champions and Secret, The International runner-up didn’t make it. Against all odds, one of those group stage 2 spots was taken by Aurora, a SEA team, featuring Jabz and 23. Team Spirit, as Dreamleague favorites, played good games, but far away from their top performance. 0-2 vs Xtreme Gaming, another Chinese team and with just 2 wins vs Liquid and 1win, didn’t convince me. Shopify Rebellion, Xtreme Gaming, Team Spirit and Aurora moved on to the next stage.
Dota 2 Dreamleague: Group Stage 2 Predictions
Truth be told, the competition in group stage 1 was crazy. 2nd stage will bring us the best of 3 matches in one single round-robin group where the top 2 teams are advancing on to the upper bracket of the playoffs, while 3rd/4th teams advance to the lower bracket of the playoffs.
Team Spirit lost a top contender position as outright odds show. BetBoom is a new top favorite for the trophy. With their amazing play, BetBoom is leading the charge at this stage. As they are playing their first series vs OG mix, I believe they will put another victory under their belt.
Team Falcons are facing Gaimin Gladiators, and if they win that series they will be in a big advantage to grab those top 4 positions. But truth to be told, I do think the Gaimin Gladiators are next level now for the Falcons. No matter what, the Falcons remain as the top 3 favorites outright.
The biggest underdog of stage 2 could be OG definitely. OG, a young mix of players that is led by Ceb and Notail from the shadows, is doing pretty good. OG has something that can bring even the weirdest mix of players together in a pretty interesting way. OG is facing new favorites BetBoom in a best-of-3 series in round 1, so it will be interesting to see if they can at least take a map, but I doubt it. BetBoom just looks pretty strong and solid, ready for playoffs.
Teams that I see in the playoffs are: Team Spirit, BetBoom Team, Xtreme Gaming and Gaimin Gladiators.
Group stage 2 matches will be live from March 1st to March 7th, when we will find out 4 teams that will advance to the playoffs.
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