For the past two weeks, the competitive Dota 2 community has enjoyed the proceedings of ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online across the multiple regions it took place in. In this article, we’ll be recapping the Europe & CIS event within its respective Dota 2 Pro Circuit which ran from the 4th-19th April. Read on to learn more!
With $200,000 on the line, the top 16 professional Dota 2 teams in Europe and CIS were invited (one qualified) to compete across the two weeks of competition. The following were the 16 teams, as they were split up from the Group Stage.
GROUP A
- Virtus.pro
- OG
- Team Nigma
- Vikin.gg
- HellRaisers
- Cyber Legacy
- Gambit Esports
- B8
GROUP B
- Team Secret
- Team Spirit
- Alliance
- Chicken Fighters (Qualifier)
- Team Unique
- Team Liquid
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Natus Vincere
Organized by ESL and Maincast, the two weeks were split up with a first week of Group Stage involving a round-robin. From here, the top two teams advanced to the Upper Bracket while 3rd and 4 the moved to the Lower Bracket – the bottom four teams were eliminated.
Moving into Playoffs, a double-elimination bracket would sort out the remainder of the competition, with all matches remaining BO3 except for the Grand Final.
Following the group stage, all eyes were on Virtus.pro and Team Secret, as both teams achieved flawless 7-0 records to claim the first seeds respectively.
Playoffs
While Virtus.pro would win both of their games in their Winners’ Bracket to reach the Grand Finals, Team Secret would immediately falter to OG to then be knocked out by Vikin.gg right after! In light of these shocking events, many have doubts as to whether online connection had anything to do with it but in the end, Team Secret flopped hard in the latter portion of this event.
An easy win for Virtus.pro? Hardly, as OG would rematch them tough in the grand finals, pushing it to the final map where after 50 minutes, Virtus.pro took it.
The surprise of the tournament was certainly Vikin.gg, who managed to maintain their momentum to reach third place beneath OG together with Chicken Fighters (the qualified team) who made it to fourth.
Moving on to the next event, we’ll have to confirm whether what we saw last week was a one-time fluke for Team Secret or an open wound.
