Premier level Dota 2 is back and teams are getting caught off guard left right and center. The ESL One Los Angeles Online edition brought massive turmoil in the global power rankings.
Starting with March 28th, all professional teams returned to their tournament life. Once, ESL One announced their online edition of Los Angeles 2020 major all hands were on deck among the top Dota 2 squads. Despite the competition being regional in nature, the games were surprisingly intense.
One of the most disregarded region in DOTA2, North America is home to one of the best teams globally, Evil Geniuses. Honestly, that’s all this region really has in terms of relevant teams over the seasons. However, with the absence of EG’s main carry players, Abed and RAMZES666, the playing field evened out a a bit for other teams. There’s still no doubt EG is the favorites coming into the tournament, but we can see the shell cracking.
First up, the boys at Quincy Crew gave them a huge upset to start their first day. CCnC from Quincy Crew, showed off his strength, despite being one of the most underrated mid players in NA. From consistent performance to insane plays, CCnC delivered “bigly” against the likes of a top-tier team like EG.
On the final day of group stage, EG finishes off with an unexpected base race versus team Business Associates (BA). When they realized BA were not keeping an eye on their base, they took the opportunity and stormed the enemy Ancient. BA tried to teleport back to defend but it was already too late. Arteezy’s Terrorblade attacks were just too strong. The game that would’ve went in favor of BA, turned south as EG had no intention of taking a fair fistfight. Thus, EG clutches their way to the playoffs along with Quincy Crew and CR4ZY.
Journeying to the east, SE Asia is greeted by a new competitor from Philippines. As it stands, Team Adroit might be the strongest SEA team right now. Just recently, Team Adroit won first place at the WeSave! Charity Play, where they defeated familiar teams like TNC Predator and Geek Fam. With their unbroken winning streak, Team Adroit continues to ravage upon the competitors in ESL One LA.
Fnatic who find themselves at the brim of elimination managed to defeat BOOM ID in the groups with a one-sided teamfight. After the fight, BOOM ID immediately went on a mass-buyback spree, but the difference in strength was too much for BOOM ID to climb back out.
In the playoffs, Fnatic shut down entirely with no gap for comeback. It was a commanding 3-0 victory in the best-of-5 series. Once again, a seasoned team of veterans in Fnatic, were able to overwhelm the rising stars, Team Adroit. With that, Fnatic are the SEA regional champions of the ESL One LA 2020.
Over at China, PSG.LGD has been cripplingly underperforming since the last TI. Once hailed China’s Strongest Team for being TI8 and TI9 runner-ups, PSG.LGD’s performance has been very lackluster in recent months. But things have gotten worse recently after they replaced their star carry player, Ame. PSG.LGD took an embarrassing last place, and were eliminated from the tournament.
Invictus Gaming, a team that climbed out of the trenches to win their first minor this DPC season, were also eliminated. After suffering an 8 losing streak, IG might want to rethink how they approach the upcoming tournaments and the International 2020. The other teams who made it to the playoffs are team Royal Never Give Up holding top seed, followed closely by EHOME, Newbee and Vici Gaming.
Lastly, at the South American scene, the Brazilian team, NoPing e-sports, had an extremely good run, with a clean 6-win streak. The highlight of this group is the game against beastcoast. Beastcoast consists of the former team Infamous roster who won 7th place at TI9, marking them the first SA team to achieve it. Yet, NoPing made it look easy against them, with their strong teamfight potential. NoPing’s carry, Costabile played Riki with a 16/0/15 KDA, making it impossible for beastcoast to turn the game around despite showing signs of comeback.
While most regions have their playoffs scheduled in the upcoming days, the main show is set to begin on 4th April. It’s the EU and CIS regionals, a whopping 16 teams will be participating for a prize pool of 200,000 USD. With the presence of tier-1 teams such as team OG, Team Secret and Nigma to name a few, we can expect incredible back-to-back action. Mark your dates and catch the world’s best teams play!
Check back with our Dota 2 esports news regularly as we follow all the action at ESL One Los Angeles.
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