Dota 2 Tournament Preview – Pinnacle Cup

Pinnacle Cup is an upcoming Dota 2 tournament that’s scheduled to take place between May 5^th – 30^th. The event brings together a lot of lower-tier-1 teams along with some world-class competitors and offers a total of $100,000 in prizes.

Pinnacle Cup Details

Pinnacle Cup features 12 teams. Ten of these teams are already known. The other two are yet to be revealed.

• gg
• Hellbear Smashers
• Team Spirit
• Brame
• PuckChamp
• HellRaisers
• EXTREMUM
• Level Up
• Chicken Fighters

At least 5 of these 10 teams are very strong for this competitive level. These are the following:

• Team Spirit
• Brame
• Hellbear Smashers
• gg
• Chicken Fighters

Prizes

The $100,000 prize pool will be shared between the top 4 teams in the following way:

• 1^st place: $50,000
• 2^nd place: $30,000
• 3^rd place: $15,000
• 4^th place: $5,000

Favorite Teams

Here’s a brief analysis of the 5 favorite teams of Pinnacle Cup.

Team Spirit

Team Spirit is currently dominating the Upper Division in Eastern Europe. They finished Season 1 in 4^th place and then went on to play in two Grand Finals of regional events, finishing 2^nd at EPIC League Season 3 Division 1 and 1^st at Dota 2 Champions League 2021 Season 1.

Going into Pinnacle Cup, Team Spirit is definitely one of the top contenders. Of course, we still need to find out who are the last two teams that received direct invitations to the tournament. But out of the 10 that are already known, Spirit is for sure one of the best.

In their last 10 matches, Team Spirit had a record of 9 wins and 1 loss. This goes to show you just how strong they are at the moment.

Brame

In DPC 2021 Season 2, Brame has a record of 1 win – 2 losses in the Upper Division of Western Europe. The team is used to competing against some of the world’s best teams and is very strong even at that level. It’s true that they lose more than they win, but even in defeat they don’t go down without causing damage.

At Pinnacle Cup, where the level of competition is much lower, Brame is expected to finish in the top 4.

Hellbear Smashers

Like Brame, Hellbear Smashers is currently competing in the Upper Division of Western Europe. Given their record of 0 wins – 3 losses, it’s quite obvious that they won’t last for more than a season in that league. However, the fact that they were able to win games against Tundra (1 – 2), OG (1 – 2), and even Team Secret (1 – 2) is a good indicator that they’re a strong team. Maybe not as strong as the best rosters in the world, but in a tournament like Pinnacle Cup, Hellbear has an excellent chance of getting a good result.

Vikin.gg

Vikin.gg was the winner of the recent EPIC League Season 3 Division 1. They’re also the strongest competitor in the Lower Division of the Western European league in DPC 2021 Season 2. And if we look at what they accomplished in 2020, it’s quite obvious that this is one of the strongest teams in the race.

Chicken Fighters

Chicken Fighters are not as strong as the other 4 teams on this list, but they’re strong enough to have a decent chance to get a good result. In Season 1 of the current Dota Pro Circuit, this Swedish team competed in the Upper Division of Western Europe. They couldn’t last more than a season there, but at least they gained a lot of experience by competing against the likes of Secret and OG. Going into Pinnacle Cup, I expect Chicken Fighters to finish in the top 6.

Honorable Mentions

Apart from the competitors mentioned above, I would also include here HellRaisers. This team is currently competing in the Lower Division of Eastern Europe, where they are sitting at the top of the standings table with 3 wins and 0 defeats. What’s even more impressive is the fact that they haven’t lost a single game so far.

HellRaisers has a formidable roster made up of legendary players such as Resolut1ion, Lil, and Cooman. With these players, there’s a good chance that they’ll produce some upsets at Pinnacle Cup and finish ahead of some of the other key competitors.

 

Photo credit: Valve