PGL is wasting no time this year as the Romanian tournament organizer kicks off PGL Wallachia Season 2 just over two weeks after the International 2024 (TI13) concludes.
The event, set Oct. 4-13 has a million-dollar prize pool up for grabs. As a result the competition is going to be intense.
PGL Wallachia S2 (Image credit: PGL)
PGL Wallachia S2 matches will be available live on PGL’s official Twitch channel.
What makes the PGL Wallachia series unique to other tournaments is their group stage format. Featuring one modified swiss-system of 16 teams, the teams will play best-of-three matches.
Top eight teams advances to the Playoffs, while the rest are eliminated. In the playoffs, we get the standard double-elimination bracket with best-of-three matches, except the best-of-five grand finals.
Participating Teams at PGL Wallachia Season 2 (Image credit: PGL)
The PGL Wallachia Season 2 has several notable Dota 2 teams and rosters due to the post-TI13 roster shuffle occurring at the same time. Unlike the commonly-invited powerhouses, such as Team Liquid, Gaimin Gladiators and Team Spirit, we have some unique yet familiar names, such as:
Whereas the remaining five teams qualify via their respective regional qualifier:
Alliance, Natus Vincere and Nigma Galaxy are Esports names that we didn’t expect to see in 2024. Yet, they made their Esports debut at PGL Wallachia S2 with interesting talents in them.
For instance, NAVI recruited ex-player, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov as their hard support player, marking his decade-old reunion since he left them in 2014. This is as good as it gets for Navi and Puppey fans, who have longed to see him in the iconic black-and-yellow jersey.
Nigma Galaxy has quite a few notable players in their line-up, such as Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi and Sumail “SumaiL” Hassan. Moreover, it’s nice to see Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi taking a step back in the roster, to serve as coach instead. While fans have high expectations for Nigma to deliver at PGL Wallachia, their recent performance at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 qualifiers is still a far cry from fan expectations.
Finally, arguably the most shocking return to pro scene move is made by Alliance, featuring a complete overhaul of their Dota 2 roster. The players on paper aren’t anything to be excited about, except for two Greek players, Kharis “SkyLark” Zafeiriou and Athanasios “dEsire” Kartsabas. As a result, Alliance has a lot to prove with their debut at PGL Wallachia S2.
Even without the likes of Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators at PGL Wallachia S2, there are two teams that stand above the rest. Team Falcons need no introduction as one of the strongest Dota 2 teams. Additionally, they did not have any roster shuffle despite fumbling badly at TI13, so fans can expect them to be in tip-top condition.
Tundra Esports was a phenomenal team at TI13, but now features a different roster. Thus, we won’t be too confident about their strengths going into PGL Wallachia S2. Nevertheless, it’s good to mention that their new replacement players are Indji “Shad” Lub and Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng as the duo-carry roles.
The South American powerhouse, HEROIC, deserves an honorable mention as a favorite too, since they were a TI13 participant with a ninth-place finish.
Speaking of SA talents, PGL Wallachia S2 has no shortage of them, including beastcoast, Infinity and Team Waska. The SA Dota 2 scene has always had that underdog energy in them when they compete in tournaments, so fans will be rooting for them.
Expect more surprises at PGL Wallachia S2, especially with the abundance of unknown teams that emerged from qualifiers. One particular candidate is AVULUS, which recently rose to fame for nonchalantly qualifying for DreamLeague S24. This is the same region that many TI champions historically competed in, so having yet another WEU powerhouse emerge is always a treat.
Despite the absence of household Dota 2 teams, PGL Wallachia Season 2 is looking great, as far as the participants go. We can expect some thrilling games at the very least, but if things go well, it should be in Team Falcons’ bag to win.
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