The results of the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022 group stage

The group stage of the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022 is now over. The first part of the tournament was not only fascinating but also unpredictable. Many teams that had been considered favorites showed terrible results. But not-so-strong teams managed to excel. We should note that both teams were representing the CIS at the major qualified for the playoff upper bracket. And the third team from the region didn't manage to arrive at the tournament on time and was disqualified. Read what the group stage of ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022 was like in the material of Cybersport.Metaratings.ru.

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Group A was considered more competent before the tournament, as it included top teams from Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America. Because of that, the successful performance of the BetBoom Team looks even cooler.

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Tundra Esports is currently the strongest team in the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022, at least in the group stage. The team earned 11 points at this stage, which is four points more than its nearest rival. No team in group B managed to achieve such a result. Tundra Esports beat T1, BOOM Esports, OG, Beastcoast, and Evil Geniuses and tied with BetBoom Team. It was a decent, though not surprising result, as Tundra Esports was considered the main contender to win before the major started.

Before the tournament started, OG announced it would have several replacements. Captain Mikhail "Misha" Agatov and coach Evgenii "Chuvash" Makarov didn't get a visa for the Swedish tournament. They were replaced by Sébastien "Ceb" Debs and Johan "N0tail" Sundstein respectively. These changes have obviously weakened the team. However, it was likely to demonstrate good results.

That's a pity Misha and Chuvash didn't get to the major. This is a serious blow to a team that looked so great in the second season of the DPC 2021/2022. I will try to do my best, though it will be hard. The last time when I was a standin at a large LAN tournament, it was not so bad.

Sébastien "Ceb" Debs

First, OG's performance at the major was quite mediocre. After defeating Beastcoast, the team tied with BOOM and lost to T1 and Tundra Esports. However, due to victories over Evil Geniuses and BetBoom Team, the team could still reach the top of the playoff from second place.

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BetBoom Team surprised everyone when it beat Team Spirit at the qualifiers for the Stockholm Major and made it to the tournament from the first place. However, many thought that BetBoom Team players would give in at the major and not show such a cool result. But nothing could be further from the truth. BetBoom Team demonstrated a cool performance: it defeated T1 and Evil Geniuses and tied with the other teams. Only OG beat BetBoom Team in the last match of the group stage, but this game didn't decide anything for the CIS, as by that time, they had secured their place in the upper bracket.

Of course, Nikita "Daxak" Kuzmin is still the strongest player on BetBoom Team. The team builds its draft around Daxak's signature heroes: Visage, Nature's Prophet, and Necrophos. If an opponent gives up these heroes, BetBoom Team takes them. And if they are banned, the team makes a good draft and wins. With that kind of play, BetBoom Team can go pretty far in the playoff.

T1's performance during the spring DPC season in Southeast Asia was unimpressive and barely qualified for the Stockholm Major. But in Sweden, the team began to show an excellent game. The team easily defeated OG and Evil Geniuses and tied with BOOM Esports and Beastcoast. The start was marvelous, but then T1 lost to Tundra Esports and BetBoom Team and its place in the table became not so confident. But it still had enough points to get to the upper bracket.

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BOOM Esports is also a team from Southeast Asia, but unlike T1, it played wonderfully in its region and earned the title of the strongest Southeast Asian team in the last DPC seasons. Therefore, we believed that it would play well at the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022, but things didn't go as planned. BOOM Esports tied with the other teams and lost to Tundra Esports. The lack of victories prevented BOOM Esports from earning a place in the upper bracket, so she will continue playing in the majors as a loser.

Beastcoast has been playing pretty poorly lately. It had scarcely gotten to the major and had been considered one of the main underdogs of the tournament. However, Beastcoast played not as badly as we might expect. It tied with BetBoom Team, BOOM Esports, T1, and Evil Geniuses. It was enough to get the last but one place in the group and make it to the lower bracket.

Evil Geniuses can be called the main disappointment of the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022. Before the start of the tournament, the team had been one of the main contenders to win, as it had shown a cool game in its region. Besides, the team's players had always distinguished themselves at the majors and taken high places, but this time, everything was different. Evil Geniuses lost to almost everyone: BB Team, OG, T1, and Tundra Esports. In some matches, EG had no chance, while in others, it led the game and had a solid advantage, but could not use it and still lost. All the players played badly. There were also huge problems with drafts and macrogame. Now Evil Geniuses are in terrible shape, so these unsatisfactory results are quite natural.

Because of the huge number of losses before the last game day, Evil Geniuses put themselves in a very difficult situation. Evil Geniuses were to play against Beastcoast. EG should have won both maps to get to the replays and if it had won there, the team could have taken sixth place in the group and made it to the lower bracket. It was the only chance for Evil Geniuses.

For us, this tournament is part of the road to TI. We had problems not connected to the gameplay before the DPC started. Moving to another country was hard with the international roster, and different political things influence it. I think what upsets me the most this season is that some players were not able to rest and go to their home countries when they had the opportunity. We were in a boot camp for seven weeks. It breaks my heart that we are facing such problems. Of course, we expected better results and are not satisfied with it, but we gave it our all.

Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka

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Before the tournament started, group B was considered less competitive, as it included weaker teams. And when Mind Games was disqualified, there was much less intrigue in the group, as only one team leaves the major at this stage, and it was determined on the second day. But all the other teams went stride for stride till the last day of the group stage. As a result, four teams had to participate in the replays to play in the upper bracket.

Gladiators earned 8 points and became the strongest team in group B. It was the only team that earned the place in the upper bracket without replays. Gladiators defeated Team Spirit and Fnatic and tied with TSM FTX and Thunder Awaken All the players now look very cool, and their picks are simple but efficient. With such a game, Gladiators have a big chance to take a high place at the major. It needs only to keep performing at the same level.

Thunder Awaken is the strongest team in South America which became a champion during the spring DPC season. However, it was considered one of the main outsiders in the Stockholm Major. Nevertheless, Thunder Awaken showed a decent game. The team beat Team Liquid and tied with Fnatic, Gladiators, and TSM FTX. Because of that, Thunder Awaken got to the playoff for a slot in the upper bracket. During these replays, it did its best. In the first two matches, Thunder Awaken beat Liquid and TSM FTX, securing a place among the winners. But even after that Thunder Awaken didn't relax and defeated Team Spirit. Thanks to these victories, the team got second place in group B.

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Team Spirit's performance at the group stage was rather lackluster. The team defeated only Fnatic and Thunder Awaken and tied with TSM FTX. It is quite a modest result for the winners of The International 10. This was clearly not the performance we expected from the Dragons during the group stage. But even like this, they managed to get to the replays. Team Spirit's play in the replays wasn't the best, but it was still among the winners. We hope that it will show all its strength later.

I wouldn't say that we always have the feeling that we're stronger than our opponent. Sometimes we understand that our draft is better, we got convenient matchups, and so on, but the team is not so confident. We know that we can concede, so we just focus on the game.

Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov

TSM FTX started the ESL One Stockholm Dota Major 2022 with an incomplete roster. SabeRLighT got infected with coronavirus just before the major. He wasn't allowed to Sweden, and the team had to find a replacement. Quinn "Quinn" Callahan became the TSM's standin. He plays for another North American team, Quincy Crew The team had three matches with him: it lost to Fnatic and tied with Gladiators and Team Spirit. After SabeRLighT returned to TSM FTX, it defeated Team Liquid and tied with Thunder Awaken. It didn't help the team get a place in the playoff, but it made it to the playoff. There, it had an important victory and secured its place among the winners.

Team Liquid is one of the most unstable teams in the group stage. It plays some matches very well but performs poorly at the other ones. The same is true about its drafts. Team Liquid defeated two strong teams: Team Spirit and Gladiators, but lost to the pretty weak teams: TSM FTX and Thunder Awaken. And the draw in the match against Fnatic allowed Team Liquid to get to the replays. There, Team Liquid relaxed too much and lost all three matches, that's why it moved to the lower bracket.

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Fnatic is quite a strong team from Southeast Asia, which always gets high places in its region. However, the team's results got worsened at this major. The players started to make big mistakes, and the drafts turned out to be ineffective. As a result, Fnatic beat only TSM FTX. The team also tied with Team Liquid and Thunder Awaken. Obviously, it wasn't enough to get to the upper bracket. Now Fnatic will play among the losers.

Before the tournament started, Mind Games was considered the main underdog in group B. The team was highly likely to take the last place, but it didn't participate in the tournament. The players didn't get Swedish visas on time. The organizers disqualified Mind Games while their opponents had a technical victory. Sadly, only two teams represented the CIS, but the presence of Mind Games in the majors would hardly change anything.

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