Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 Week 2

The second week of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 is underway and so far, things have been going according to plan in most regions. The only exception is China, where Elephant is still struggling to find its first victory of the season.

The Situation in Europe

Europe is dominated by OG, Nigma, and Secret, just as we all expected. The first two of these teams have already accumulated two victories each. Team Secret is playing its 2^nd match on January 30^th, against Vikin.gg. OG will have its 3^rd match on the same day, against Alliance.

In the second week of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1, Liquid defeated High Coast Esports in two quick games, OG won a difficult battle against FATA’s squad, Tundra Esports, and Tundra beat HCE in the third match (so far) of this week.

The complete situation looks like this:

• 1^st place: OG: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Team Nigma: 2 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Team Liquid: 2 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: Team Secret: 1 W – 0 L
• 5^th place: Tundra Esports: 1 W – 2 L
• 6^th place: Alliance: 0 W – 1 L
• 7^th place: Vikin.gg: 0 W – 1 L
• 8^th place: High Coast Esports: 0 W – 3 L

What’s noteworthy here is that since the tournament began, two teams have been acquired by two organizations. Chicken Fighters were signed by High Coast Esports while mudgolems were signed by Tundra Esports.

The Situation in CIS

In CIS, the usual suspects are dominating the competition. More specifically, Natus Vincere won its first two matches, against Unique and NoTechies, while Virtus.pro defeated Empire in its first battle of the season. The only disappointment in this region is NoTechies. This is Solo’s squad and they already lost their first two matches quite brutally. My first impression is that they won’t survive the Upper Division of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 and will be relegated to the Lower Division.

Live to Win and Team Spirit are the other two teams that succeeded in winning their initial matches. The complete situation in this region is the following:

• 1^st place: Natus Vincere: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Live to Win: 1 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Team Spirit: 1 W – 0 L
• 4^th place: Virtus.pro: 1 W – 0 L
• 5^th place: EXTREMUM: 0 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: Team Empire: 0 W – 1 L
• 7^th place: Team Unique: 0 W – 1 L
• 8^th place: NoTechies: 0 W – 2 L

The Situation in North America

In North America, Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew are enjoying themselves, winning matches against their much weaker opponents. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, the competition is non-existent.

One thing we’ve yet to see in this region is how strong Sadboys, Undying, and 4 Zoomers are relative to each other. And if any of them proves to be strong enough to contest the two regional giants that seem unstoppable. Keep in mind, Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 North America only has two spots reserved for the Major.

The overall situation in the region looks like this:

• 1^st place: Evil Geniuses: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Quincy Crew: 1 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Undying: 1 W – 0 L
• 4^th place: Black N Yellow: 1 W – 0 L
• 5^th place: 4 Zoomers: 1 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: Sadboys: 0 W – 1 L
• 7^th place: 5ManMidas: 0 W – 2 L
• 8^th place: A-Team: 0 W – 2 L

On January 28^th and January 31^st, you’ll be able to enjoy 4 matches:

• Undying – 5ManMidas
• Evil Geniuses – Black N Yellow
• Quincy Crew – 4 Zoomers
• Sadboys – A-Team

My predictions for these matches are 1, 1, 1, 1.

The Situation in China

This region is the most surprising of the 6. Both Elephant and PSG.LGD, arguably the big favorites prior to the start of the tournament, are underperforming. Elephant already lost two matches while PSG.LGD has a record of 1 win – 1 loss. What’s even more shocking is that Elephant’s defeats came against two relatively weak opponents, Invictus Gaming and Team Aster. PSG.LGD also lost the direct match against Aster, which makes me wonder: has this team found a clever way to win in the current patch? Are they ahead of the meta?

Another team that did well in its first two matches is Vici Gaming. Although, to be fair, their results are not that impressive. Because the two teams they defeated are the weakest in the tournament: LBZS and MagMa.

On January 29^th and January 31^st, there will be 3 more matches:

• Elephant – LBZS
• EHOME – Invictus Gaming
• LGD – MagMa

The predictions for these matches are 1, 1, 1.

The Situation in South America

In South America, the situation is very clear: beastcoast, the team whose roster impressed everyone at The International 2019 (7^th – 8^th), is dominating the tournament. So far, Chris Luck and his crew had two matches and they comfortably won both of them. On January 29^th and 30^th there will be 3 more matches and beastcoast will be involved in one of them, against Latam Defenders.

The overall situation in the region looks like this:

• 1^st place: beastcoast: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Infamous: 1 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Latam Defenders: 1 W – 0 L
• 4^th place: SG e-sports: 1 W – 0 L
• 5^th place: Thunder Predator: 1 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: NoPing e-sports: 0 W – 1 L
• 7^th place: EgoBoys: 0 W – 2 L
• 8^th place: Team Unknown: 0 W – 2 L

The Situation in Southeast Asia

The 6^th region of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 is SEA. It’s a bit too early to draw definitive conclusions but Fnatic seems to have regained its former strength after Jabz’s return while Neon Esports might prove to be stronger than people expected. Both competitors are sitting at the top of the rankings table with 2 wins and 0 losses.

The remaining matches for week 2 are the following:

• 496 – BOOM (January 28^th)
• TNC – Neon (January 30^th)
• 496 – T1 (January 30^th)

The predictions for these matches are 2, 1, 2.

The overall situation in the region is the following:

• 1^st place: Fnatic: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Neon Esports: 2 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: 496 Gaming: 1 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: Execration: 1 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: TNC Predator: 1 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: BOOM Esports: 0 W – 1 L
• 7^th place: T1: 0 W – 1 L
• 8^th place: Vici Esports: 0 W – 2 L

 

Photo credit: Valve