Review Of The First Week Of The DPC Season: CIS And Europe Started With A Sensation

The new season for DPC started on 29 November. All the teams managed to play at least 1-2 series during the first week. During this time, both the favourites of the regional leagues and the underdogs were defined. Besides that, in CIS and Europe, a real sensation happened: the newcomers managed to beat very strong teams, which had a chance to win before the season started. Of course, it's too early to say that some play well and some play poorly, but we can already see a definite trend. For example, the strategy of signing young players, which many eSports organizations adopted after Team Spirit's victory at The International 10, is working. Young blood has started to open up this DPC season, so the big-name oldies no longer look as cool as they used to.

Perhaps, the main sensation is that Virtus.pro lost to HellRaisers in their first match of the new DPC season. It would seem that the Bears won the last two leagues 7-0, losing only a few maps, and no one even knew about the Hellraisers players last year. So, such a result can be called very surprising.

Virtus.pro finished in the top 6 at The International 10, after which there was a conflict in the team. The guys couldn't find common ground, so Nightfall quit (joining Evil Geniuses), leaving Save "on the bench". According to rumours, Vitali was supposed to join Team Liquid, but negotiations between the clubs were not successful. Instead of Nightfall and Save, Pure and yamich joined the team. In their debut match, they did not show themselves in the best way. Neither did the entire Virtus.pro squad. It was as if the players couldn't find a common language and rearrange the game. This is a complete failure for the Virtus.pro organization. One of the best teams in the CIS has turned into a very mediocre team. It's still too early to conclude, but VP will never regain its former strength. No matter how you look at it, two of the strongest players who were the team's foundation are gone.

HellRaisers, on the contrary, played very well. On each of the three maps, the team looked more active and proactive. The players tried to look for frags and crush the opponent, who at that moment was lost on the map. HellRaisers is not the strongest team in the CIS right now, but these guys have absolutely everything to fight for the majors this season. The main thing is their youth and desire to play. At the same time, the players are very humble and carefully approach each opponent.

Unfortunately, we didn't practice playing against Kunkka in screams, but as soon as we found out that Virtus.pro rates this hero, we started to actively prepare for him. We took this series very seriously and did not underestimate our opponents. We watched all of their Kunkka games. We understood how he would play and how we could counter him. In the game, we did not act too aggressively, but tried not to make mistakes and not to feed.

Georgiy Gilgir Svistunov

Natus Vincere lost their first match in the new DPC season too. However, this team got together before everyone else did. The guys started practising even before the start of The International 10. All this time, the players were on bootcamp and practised their strategies. Natus Vincere had to be ready for the first match, especially since the players there are worthy, but something went wrong. The Born to Win team looked very dim on both maps and, as a result, lost 0:2, and the strongest opponents are still ahead. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether Natus Vincere will be able to qualify for the first major of the season. The guys need to pull themselves together, there is still time, but they can't lose any more.

It was hard to know how serious Team Spirit would be in its first DPC season for a long time. To be precise, after winning The International 10. It turned out that the Dragons were ready for a fight on a maximum level. In the season's opening game, the team easily defeated Team Unique 2-0. With a game like that, Team Spirit should qualify for the majors in the first place.

The funny thing is that right before the start of the season, Team Unique's eSports organization sold their Dota 2 roster. All members of the roster of Team Unique on Dota 2 on the right of transfer were bought by rapper Dmitry IAMMIND Ivanov. Under the new tag, the team will continue to play in the first division of the Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 for Eastern Europe. As noted by representatives of Team Unique, the organization "paused" the activities of the main roster but will continue to compete in the discipline by academy squads. It is not clear what will happen to the former squad of Team Unique from now on.

The CIS Rejects mix was formed in mid-November 2021 to play in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 open qualifiers for Eastern Europe. The team successfully qualified for Division II of the regional league and now battles other Division II teams. In the first match of the season, CIS Rejects met with Nemiga and won 2-0. After that, CIS Rejects beat B8 with a 2-0. The team looks very strong, so no problem to go to the first division. There the real fun will start. The main thing is to get there. If the players of CIS Rejects continue to progress, they'll have a good chance to become one of the strongest teams in the region.

After The International 10, OG disbanded the Dota 2 roster and started building it up again. The new roster was built around young players who had never played anywhere before. It wasn't easy to imagine that this OG squad could achieve much success, but the young guys were able to surprise everyone.

In the opening game of Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022, OG defeated Team Secret 2-0. Surprisingly, OG looked much stronger than their opponent. The team played very active and was constantly pressured, not giving Team Secret a break. As a result, both maps, almost without a chance, went into the OG's collection. Thanks to this, the newcomers were able to earn the cherished three points and make a real sensation because not everyone can beat Clement and company. Team Secret experimented with draft picks, and these experiments were very unsuccessful.

In the match against OG, we were scared, and we were caught by surprise. But things can change, and that goes for both teams. I can't get ahead of myself because I don't know what's going to happen. But I can tell you that they were scary in that game: their moves, their understanding of the draft, it was all terrifying. On our side, it just sucked: we kicked Pudge, ran around, did nothing, took Winter Wyvern to the offlane. We could not find our rhythm, we did not know what to do to win. However, we believe that we are on the right track.

Clement Puppey Ivanov

After that defeat, Clement and the company rehabilitated themselves. Team Secret defeated Alliance in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 First Division match for Europe. The confrontation ended with a score of 2:0.

By the way, on December 1 it was announced that the Russian cyber athlete Evgeny Chuvash Makarov was appointed as a coach OG Dota 2. As a result, two players from the CIS play in the European team, as well as a coach from that region.

Also, the coach understands how to move in the beginning, plan mid-game attacks, choose a position late in the game, and use space on the map. He teaches us all this stuff all the time, and we listen to him. He sees Dota 2 in a very beautiful but simple way, so it's a pleasure to work with him. I don't want everyone to think we got him because he's our friend. So please be sure that he plays a key role on our team.

Mikhail Misha Agatov

Nigma Galaxy lost to Team Tickles in the Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 First Division match for Europe 2-0. It was a complete failure. One of the top favorites in the league lost to a team that should theoretically fall to the second division at the end of the league. Nigma was completely out of shape, but there is one excusing element here. The team played without its biggest star, Amer Miracle-al-Barqawi. He was absent due to personal circumstances. In any case, Nigma Galaxy needs to play back, as the loss against Team Tickles is a terrible result.

If you go beyond the CIS and Europe, you can pay attention to the team Evil Geniuses, which won the first match. Though they won it with problems, the opponent was a pack of English-speaking analysts from Arkosh Gaming. Nevertheless, victory is victory, especially with a 2-0 score. Also, it should be noted that Nightfall fit in perfectly with the new team. He won the second map all by himself. Let's hope that Egor will continue to do well. It seems like he's perfect for Evil Geniuses.

We weren't sure about Nightfall, because he didn't originally play offlane. We talked to him about changing positions for a while because we thought he would be a good fit for the role. Of course, he had to think about it on his own, as it's a tough decision. Especially, when you were one of the best carry players at TI. In the end, we decided that his skills fit the style of the play we wanted. He's a good fit as an offlaner, we're glad he agreed to change positions for us.

Andreas Frank Cr1t- Nielsen

At the same time, there are questions about the team's new assistant, JerAx. At the moment, he is far from his best shape. So, Esse has to train a lot. Now he plays on the smurf account of his teammate Arthur Arteezy Babaev. Out of fourteen games he managed to win only one. So JerAx has room to grow.