Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Qualified Teams: Europe, China, and SEA

The Regional Qualifiers for Dota Pro Circuit 2021 are about to end. In several regions, they already ended and the results were, for the most part, the ones everyone had predicted. Let’s have a look.

Europe

In Europe, the 8 teams that took part in the decider tournament were the following:

• Alliance
• gg
• mudgolems
• Chicken Fighters
• Spider Pigzs
• Brame
• Hellbear Smashers
• Hippomaniacs

The first 3 of these teams were clear favorites and all of them delivered. Vikin.gg defeated Hippomaniacs and the Chicken Fighters. Alliance defeated Hellbear and then mudgolems. So both of them qualified from the Upper Bracket.

In the Lower Bracket, mudgolems had to win just one match, against Hippomaniacs, while Chicken Fighters had to win one match against Hellbear. Both of them won their battle and moved on.

In the end, Alliance, Vikin.gg, mudgolems, and Chicken Fighters, the 4 teams that were predicted to qualify, managed to do so. They will join the other 4 Upper Division teams in the first season of DPC 2021. The complete list of participants is the following:

• Team Liquid
• OG
• Team Secret
• Team Nigma
• gg
• Alliance
• mudgolems
• Chicken Fighters

The matches are scheduled to start on January 18^th. Based on the first few rounds, we will know who the favorites are. Right now it’s difficult to make an assessment, simply because the latest patch changed everything again and the meta is evolving at a rapid pace.

Each competitor is testing new heroes, new strategies, new items builds, new timings, and so on. In principle, the most experienced captains should be favored by this state of chaos, because they’re the ones who are best equipped to figure out the optimal ways to play the game. In my view, the top 3 list includes Puppey from Team Secret, KuroKy from Team Nigma, and N0tail from OG. All of them have more than 10 years of experience, so they are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the situation.

China

In the Chinese region, the qualifier had 6 teams that could have made it. Only 4 of them did. The participants were the following:

• Team MagMa
• LBZS
• Team Aster
• Invictus Gaming
• Royal Never Give Up
• Sparking Arrow Gaming
• Dalanjing Gaming
• Phoenix Gaming

The teams that ultimately qualified are MagMa, Aster, LBZS, and Invictus Gaming. Of these 4 teams, only Aster has real chances against the regional giants that are already waiting in the Upper Division. The complete list of participants for this division is this:

• LGD
• EHOME
• Vici Gaming
• Elephant
• Team Aster
• Team MagMa
• LBZS
• Invictus Gaming

The big favorites here are PSG.LGD, Vici Gaming, and Elephant. EHOME is also a very strong competitor, and it’s possible that they will thrive in the new meta. A lot depends on how fast they can find what works best and what they are able to master faster than everyone else.

Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asia, the battle took place between 8 lesser known teams. Some of them do have famous players in their roster, but for the most part, it was hard to predict the results. One thing that everyone hoped for was that Mushi’s team, SMG, would qualify. But they actually finished last. The competitors were the following:

• 496 Gaming
• Team SMG
• Execration
• Omega Esports
• Vice Esports
• Galaxy Racer
• Cignal Ultra
• Neon Esports

The teams that qualified are Neon Esports, 496 Gaming, Execration, and Vice Esports. Apart from Neon Esports, all of them are relatively unknown and stand little chance against the competitors that got direct invitations to the Upper Division. The complete lists of participants for this division is as follows:

• TNC Predator
• Fnatic
• T1
• BOOM Esports
• Neon Esports
• 496 Gaming
• Execration
• Vice Esports

The teams to follow in this league are TNC Predator and Fnatic. T1 is also one of the big favorites and it will be interesting to see if the famous League of Legends organization can finally succeed in Dota 2 as well. But I think it will be hard for them to do that. The only top player they have is Kuku.

 

Photo credit: Valve