The first season of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 for Europe has come to an end. It turned out to be interesting, but very predictable in terms of results. The strongest team inf the region is Team Liquid, who won all of their matches. Gaimin Gladiators also demonstrated a good game. They qualified for The Lima Major 2023 in second place, which is a success. The worst team in the region was Team Secret, who only won one match. Because of this, the team that came in second at the last The International dropped down to Division II. Read more about the first season of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 for Europe in the Telecom Asia Sport article.
Team Liquid (7-0)
Team Liquid had a great game at The International 2022, finishing third at the year's main tournament. After that, there were changes in the team. Lasse MATUMBAMAN Urpalainen left the Liquid. The legendary player finished his eSports career and joined the army. His place in Team Liquid was taken by another equally talented guy - Michał "Nisha" Jankowski. He became the new midlaner for the Liquids, while former midlaner Mike miCKe Wu moved to the carry position (where he played before). Meanwhile, offlaner Ludwig zai Wåhlberg took over the team's drafting. On paper, Team Liquid's renewed roster looked even stronger than the previous one, so the team was expected to succeed in Dota Pro Circuit 2023.
Being a drafter feels a little different. I have more responsibility now. Not that it puts pressure on me, but I have to take time for the drafts - it's not something I can just slack off on. That said, I don't think I have a problem with it yet. I use a lot of our previous drafts, and everyone helps me out. At the end of the day, there's nothing difficult about drafts - take the good guys and leave the bad ones out. That's it. It seems like I've always been involved in drafts, with the exception of my first three years on the pro scene. Of course, I wasn't a drafter, but I was involved in the process, trying to help. In that regard, my current role is a natural outcome. That being said, I'm not going to say I do everything by myself, we build drafts together. It's a democratic process, but someone has to push the button - this season it's me.
Team Liquid exceeded the expectations of its fans. The team finished the season undefeated with a 7-0 record. Team Liquid only lost to Gaimin Gladiators and OG on the map. They easily handled all the other teams. At the moment, Team Liquid is certainly the strongest team in Western Europe, at least online. The Liquids should also have no problems in LAN tournaments. We want to see Team Liquid and BetBoom Team go head-to-head at The Lima Major 2023.
Gaimin Gladiators (5-2)
Gaimin Gladiators also played well last year, but without much success. The team qualified for The International 2022 and finished 9-12 in the main event. This result is quite acceptable for a young team like Gaimin Gladiators. However, there have been some replacements during the off-season. Miroslav BOOM Bičan left Gaimin Gladiators, or more precisely, he was kicked out. American Quinn Quinn Callahan, who decided to move to the European region, became the new midfielder of the squad.
It seemed that Gaimin Gladiators would not be able to show a great game and would rather struggle for survival. However, as the season progressed, the exact opposite happened. Gaimin Gladiators were among the top teams all the time. During the DPC League, they only lost two games - against Team Liquid (0-2) and OG (1-2). The rest of the matches were not without difficulties, but still ended in favor of Gaimin Gladiators. The team finished the season with a 5-2 record and qualified for the major as the second seed. Quinn was able to fit in well with his new team and show what he can do. The new Gaimin Gladiators team is expected to do well at the Lima Major 2023. The team has no problem making it to the top 6 of the tournament.
To be honest, I had a lot of fun playing this DPC round. I was probably less stressed during the league, and that's awesome. A big thank you to my teammates for believing in me and bringing me into the team. And thanks to everyone for supporting me.
Tundra Esports (4-3)
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Heading into the first season of Dota Pro Circuit 2023, Tundra Esports was the odds-on favorite in the European region. After all, this team was the champion of The International 2022 and didn't make any changes to their roster after that. So the team should have had no problem making it to the first major of the season.
At the beginning of the season, Tundra Esports only partially met expectations. The team had a few wins, but they were lackluster. The champions of TI were consistently underpowered and gave their opponents too much of an advantage. As a result, every map was a challenge for them. Soon, Tundra Esports started losing games. In the DPC League, they lost to Team Liquid (0-2), Entity (1-2), and Gaimin Gladiators (0-2).
This left the team with a 4-3 record at the end of the season. That wasn't enough for a direct invitation to The Lima Major 2023. So Tundra Esports had to participate in a rematch with OG and Entity, who had similar game records. The teams played in a Bo-1 format. Three teams claimed two invitations to the major. Surprisingly, the teams had to play each other three times to determine the loser (there were two ties). In the end, Tundra Esports managed to beat both of their opponents, which guaranteed them third place in the league and an invitation to the Major in Lima. This is not the result we expected from the champions of The International 2022, but the team still has time to open up and prove their worth.
We follow Team Spirit - we've been playing against them all the time since we built our roster. But lately we've been watching the BetBoom team. This is a new Team Spirit for us. This team looks very strong. We play against them all the time in the CW. BetBoom Team has a very good, creative and strong roster. We also follow Team Liquid, but for obvious reasons we don't play practice matches against the European teams.
Entity (4-3)
Entity was one of last year's biggest revelations. The team without any star players managed to break into Division I, stay there, show good results in the major, qualify for TI11 and get a decent place in it. Unfortunately, Entity wasn't able to keep its previous roster. Ivan Pure Moskalenko left the team and his place was taken by Alimzhan Watson Islambekov.
After Pure's departure, the team became much weaker. With Watson, Entity lost three games during the season: against Team Liquid (0-2), OG (1-2), and Gaimin Gladiators (1-2). As a result, the team had to compete in the aforementioned playoffs. Tundra Esports qualified first, and Entity defeated OG in the final. This put them in fourth place in the league and earned them an invitation to the upcoming major in Lima.
OG (4-3)
OG did great last year, playing consistently in their home region, winning the major and qualifying for The International 2022. The team's performance in the year's main event was worse than expected. The main culprit was Ammar ATF Al-Assaf, who proved to be an extremely toxic player with a small pool of heroes (but it's worth mentioning that he sometimes won matches for OG solo).
Dmitry DM Dorokhin became the new offlaner of OG - something that could be called a reinforcement of the team. Unfortunately, the team didn't start playing better. OG still has unstable carry and support players. It's the midlaner who carries all the weight of the team. During the DPC season, the team lost to Liquids (1-2), Tundra Esports (0-2), and Nigma Galaxy (1-2). The last game was decisive. Because of this defeat, OG couldn't get a ticket to the major and ended up in the re-match zone. The team completely failed there and ended up in fifth place in the tournament. This result can be considered a failure for OG.
Nigma Galaxy (2-5)
Nigma Galaxy has been at the bottom of the league for several years: the team doesn't qualify for the majors, doesn't participate in The International, and can't even play consistently at the level of Division I of Europe. After Amer Miracle- Al-Barkawi left the team (he took a break from the professional scene) and Ammar ATF Al-Assaf joined the team, it seemed that nothing would change. And it really didn't.
Throughout the DPC season, the team only beat two teams: OG (2-1) and Team Secret (2-0). They lost to everyone else. This is a very mediocre result, but Nigma Galaxy still finished sixth and stayed in Division I. However, nothing good can be said about the team's performance. Nigma Galaxy is in bad shape, and the arrival of ATF hasn't changed anything. He has a very small pool of heroes, which makes it very difficult for the team to win. However, it is unlikely that Nigma Galaxy will change their lineup. Most likely, they will continue to play with the current roster.
I think when a newcomer comes into the team, the best thing to do is play to their strengths. If he's good at certain characters and roles, you have to use that. If you try to take him out of his comfort zone, it will be difficult for him, he won't be able to perform at such a high level. I think we're playing to ATF's strengths just like we do with the other guys on the team. ATF definitely has the right attitude, he's a very hard worker. I see him playing a lot and his hero pool is steadily growing. I'm happy with him, especially his work ethic - he really works hard and diligently.
Team Secret (1:6)
Team Secret had a terrible year: they were never selected for the major, changed their lineup several times, and failed the regional qualification for The International 2022. The only way for the team to qualify for the main event of the year was through the Last Chance Qualifier. Thanks to this, Team Secret was able to catch up and easily reach the TI11 Grand Final (where they lost 0-3 to Tundra Esports).
During the off-season, Team Secret lost Nisha, who practically dragged the team to second place at The International solo. It was completely unclear what to do next. As a result, BOOM became Team Secret's new midlaner, which obviously weakened the team. With this player, Team Secret was unable to reach their full potential and had a horrible season. The team only won one game - against the league's biggest underdog - Into The Breach (2-0). Team Secret finished the season with a 1-6 record and was relegated to Division II.
No doubt, this is a failure. But few could have expected a different result from the current Team Secret squad. At best, the team could claim 5th or 6th place, but in the end, they couldn't even get that far. According to Puppey, his team failed because of poor preparation and a lack of understanding of the current meta.
Of course, we love our draft picks because they have brought us so many wins. So we don't have any problems with that (laughs). To be honest, the meta changes very quickly. Today Lina is strong and tomorrow she's not. You have to be very careful how you handle different characters. I would say that this season we are very, very short on information in that regard. We're catching up now, but it's probably too late, and it's all our fault. Life is like that. I have nothing to say, the point of Dota 2 is to make the right decisions. If you don't know which characters are strong, which ideas are good and which things work against everything, even stats won't help you.
Into The Breach (1-6)
Into The Breach did well in the final season of last year (getting selected to Division I), and also played well in the regional qualifier for TI11. They played well, but it was clear to everyone that they would have a hard time competing in this league. Into The Breach had some good series, but ended the season with a 1-6 record, only beating Nigma Galaxy (2-0) and getting a map from Tundra Esports (1-2). Due to this record, Into The Breach was relegated to Division II, where they will continue to play next season.
