Southeast Asia is a very interesting region. There is always one or two strong teams claiming serious accomplishments. However, they can rarely fulfill their potential. No team in Southeast Asia won The International. The last DPC season in this region was quite interesting. The bracket split exactly in half: four teams dominated while the other four lost. Among the strong teams were both veterans and very young teams. Next weekend in Southeast Asia, the regional league finals will be held, after which it will become clear who is the best team there. Read what teams are the main contenders to win and what they will get for the victory in the material of Cybersport.Metaratings.ru.
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The tournament format
The regional finals of the professional 2021/22 season in Europe will be held on February 11-13. Four teams that made it to the top 4 during the season will participate in it. There will be no group stage. As usual, the season will start with the playoff. It will be a Double Elimination competition, which means that each team will make a mistake (to lose) only once. In the first round, the first-place team in the league will play against the fourth-place team, and the second-place team will play against the third-place team. Thus, the teams that distinguished themselves will have a slight advantage during the season.
The tournament prize fund
Over the three days of the tournament, the teams will fight for 100,000 USD and 380 DPC points. With these prizes, Valve decided to compensate for the lack of the major for the teams that took first place at the end of the league's first season. All four participants will win the prize, but only the two strongest teams will get the DPC points. The distribution of prizes is as follows.
- 1st place — 50,000 USD + 250 qualifying points;
- 2nd place — 25,000 USD + 130 qualifying points;
- 3rd place — 15,000 USD;
- 4th place — 10,000 USD;
The tournament participants
The four strongest teams in Southeast Asia are BOOM Esports (6-1), Fnatic (5-2), T1 (5-2), and Team SMG (5-2). The last three teams couldn't decide which team would take until the very end, so there were long replays. All of these teams are not very different from each other. Judging by their win/loss ratio, Southeast Asia has no favourite, although one team still looks stronger than the others. Let's take a closer look at each team.
BOOM Esports
BOOM Esports is the main discovery of the last season in Southeast Asia. Their last roster has failed, so the team organized a new one. It includes both experienced players and young talents from the public (a trendy roster-building scheme). The BOOM Esports roster is as follows.
- Justine "Tino" Grimaldo (carry);
- Erin Jasper "Yopaj" Ferrer (mid);
- Saieful "Fbz" Ilham (offlane);
- Timothy "Tims" Randrup (four);
- Rolen Andrei "Skem" Gabriel Ong (support).
BOOM Esports won six games out of seven in the first DPC season. And all of them ended 2-0, which looks very impressive. BOOM Esports destroyed their opponents in every match, not giving them a chance to win. If not for the lost match, BOOM Esports would have been the obvious favorite of the regional finals.
But it lost one match against T1, which closed the series with a 2-0. BOOM played terribly and couldn't do anything about their serious rivals. And this match was called the most anticipated in the region. It's a pity there was no fight.
What is the conclusion? BOOM Esports is a favorite before the start of the regional finals, though a small one. If the team plays at its best or 80%, it will most likely win. Nevertheless, outplaying BOOM Esports is possible. It is not an undefeatable team. It has enough minuses that its opponents may take advantage of.
And on February 9, two days before the tournament began, BOOM Esports decided to worsen its situation. It made a substitution. Now Souliya "JaCkky" Khoomphetsavong will be a carry at the regional finals. And the former carry Justine "Tino" Grimaldo was temporarily demoted. The reason was not specified. It is not very pleasant, but JaCkky is a good player, and he could easily fit in the lineup (if he plays with the team for more than one week). Anyway, this maneuver shouldn't weaken BOOM Esports. The team is still very strong.
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Before the last DPC season began, a mid Armel "Armel" Paul Tabios, who left TNC Predator and support Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla joined Fnatic. The main stars, Raven, Jabz, and DJ, who helped the club keep the lights on for a long time, stayed in the team. At the moment, the roster is as follows.
- Marc "Raven" Fausto (carry);
- Armel "Armel" Paul Tabios (mid);
- Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong (offlane);
- Djardel Jicko "DJ" Mampusti (four);
- Jaunuel "Jaunuel" Arcilla (support).
Jaunuel fit into the team, and Armel became brighter after the long stagnation in TNC Predator. Fnatic lost only two matches in the first DPC season — against BOOM Esports (0-2) and Team SMG (0-2). But the other matches were quite easy for it, even though the opponents were weaker. Fnatic managed to win back in the replays for second place, defeating Team SMG (1-0) and T1 (1-0). This gave the team more DPC points, which is extremely important.
Objectively speaking, Fnatic looks weaker than BOOM Esports, but it will beat it with proper training. Fnatic's main advantage is the experienced players who went through fire and water together. Besides, Raven has the superpower of playing alone when needed. During the TI10 qualifiers, Raven didn't die in the last three maps of the grand finals (Fnatic was losing with a score of 0-2), ensuring his team's victory. Something similar may happen this time.
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It was an "OMG, ana has returned" hype before. But it happens for the third time, and each time, he is "rusty" and leaves in a week. This will happen a third time as well.
Logically, ana should replace the current carry — 23savage. However, there has been no official statement on the subject. At the same time, it became known that Gabbi would perform as a stand-in for T1 at the regional finals. He will replace 23savage. During the finals, the roster of T1 will be as follows.
- Kim Villafuerte (carry);
- Karl "Karl" Matthew Baldovino (mid);
- Carlo "Kuku" Palad (offlane);
- Kenny "Xepher" Deo (four);
- Matthew "Whitemon" Filemon (support).
It became known that the club gave 23savage on loan to another club from Southeast Asia — Motivate.Trust Gaming. He will play for this team at commercial tournaments. We don't understand what happens with T1. It's confusing/ Either 23savage decided to leave the team, or the team decided to take another player. Both decisions are silly, as T1 is a good team, and 23savage is top-notch. They don't need to part. And the move of 23savage to Motivate.Trust Gaming is ridiculous. How can one of the best carries in the world play in a tier-3 team?
Bet on DPC with 1xBetAmong the four teams, T1 is in the most difficult situation. Their game in the last season was fantastic, and they took 7th-8th place at The International. It was a cool result. Many would be happy to get it. But T1 was not satisfied with this for some reason.
The team played well in the first DPC season, had five wins, and after the replays, took third place. However, toward the end of the league, rumors began to circulate that Australian carry and two-time TI champion Anathan "ana" Pham was to join T1. He is training very hard and preparing to return to the professional arena. A week after the rumors appeared, ana played practice matches for T1. The club didn't comment on these statements.
One thing is clear: this confusion with three carries won't help T1 win at the regional finals. It looks like a serious problem, so T1 can be the weakest of the four teams claiming to win.
Team SMG
In the Dota 2 world, few people know about Team SMG, as it appeared recently — in 2020. Now MidOne is its leader. Yes, the same MidOne who was first kicked out of Team Secret and then out of OG. He promised he would become stronger and avenge his offenders. Perhaps, this day has come. The roster of Team SMG is as follows.
- Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng;
- Kam "Moon" Boon Seng;
- Ryan "Bimbo" Jay Qui;
- Tue "ah fu" Soon Chuan;
- Roger "Roddgeee" Tan Boon Thye.
Team SMG won five times in the first DPC season, which is quite a good result. But during the replays for second place, the team failed and took only fourth place. Sometimes Team SMG plays quite well, but not as well as the tops of Southeast Asia. It's hard to imagine that the team will win the regional finals. But it can easily get a second-third place.
Who is the main favorite?
All the four teams that reached the finals are approximately the same level. There is no gap between them, and they can beat each other. But there still are favorites. The main favorite is BOOM Esports. This team should take first or second place. Although it is less likely, Fnatic is also a contender for first or second place. Team SMG will fight for second or third place. And T1 will claim only third-fourth place. This is the situation in Southeast Asia before the regional finals.
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