Quincy Crew vs Team Undying: The battle for the North American crown

North America's first DPC league of the 2021/22 season continues on Sunday, January 09. Quincy Crew and Team Undying will meet in the second matchday of the elite division.

DPC NA 2021/22 Tour 1: Division I is an online Dota 2 tournament from November 30, 2021, to January 22, 2022. The eight strongest teams in the North American region will compete for $205,000. In addition to the cash prizes, the teams compete for two tickets to the majors and the important DPC points needed to qualify for T11.

The undefeated Quincy Crew go head-to-head against the likes of Undying, and this battle is a close one for the top 1 in this region, considering EG are now down by two and even a playoff berth in the majors is silly. Beat QC today, and you can pack your bags for the majors, but where and when it will be is still unknown. Who have these guys beaten this season? There have been four victories with TOOBASED, 4 Zoomers, Arkosh Gaming and Wildcard Gaming. All the opponents were far from being major contenders. Only 4 Zoomers could get away with one map from the favorite, but all the rest got away with 0:2, and for now, only Undying guys can challenge Quincy Crew, though they still have an EG rink ahead, which is leaving a bad impression so far.

The Quincy Crew was formed in August 2018 by former members of the VGJ.Storm collective after The International 2018. Four of the five team members and manager KBBQ and Aui_2000 stayed together for the new DPC season. Only UNiVeRsE was a new player on the team, replacing Sneyking. A few weeks later, the team was picked up by Forward Gaming, a new North American organization. The following July, Forward Gaming discontinued the team despite successfully qualifying for The International 2019. The team was ready to play again under the Quincy Crew tag, but the Chinese organization Newbee picked them up for the duration of TI.

After TI 2019, three of the five members of the Newbee lineup teamed up to reform the Quincy Crew. The former SVG captain was also dropped, and Brazilian offlaner Lelis was added to the lineup. In November of the same year, the team was acquired by Chaos Esports Club. However, this partnership was relatively short-lived, as the team left the organization again in March 2020. Since then, they have not joined any cybersport organizations, preferring to remain independent.

QC secured a place at The International 2021 by successfully competing in two North American leagues during the DPC 2021 season. At the TI10 tournament itself, unfortunately, the boys showed a weak start to the group stage, from which the team was unable to recover. Although the Americans did make the playoffs, the loser boys could not go far. Their poor play led to a disappointingly early exit from the tournament - in the second round of losers from the OG squad.

The new season was formed around the first and second playing positions, Quinn and YawaR, who were joined by their TI coach KheZu, who would take over as captain. Finally, MiLAN and ponlo rounded out the team, taking up the fourth and fifth positions. Before the new season, this squad didn't play in any tournaments, but they had no one to fear but EG and Undying.

Team Undying is a simple mix of five guys who have decided to get together in January 2021 before the start of the new DPC season and, since the competition in North America is minimal, conquer the region. In the DPC leagues themselves, last season, the guys were third all the time, which did not allow them to try their hand in the international arena.

In addition to DPC leagues, the boys had silver in BTS Pro Series Season 5: Americas (March 2021) and gold in BTS Pro Series Season 6: Americas (June 2021), but most importantly, winning qualification for TI10, which will give the boys the opportunity to earn a lot of money.

Just about the earnings, the squad was not all that smooth. The team did not have a title sponsor. After securing a trip to TI, the boys decided, via their social media, to announce that they were looking for investors and even threw out a fundraising call for this very European bootcamp. The team arrived in Europe thanks to their victory at the BTS Pro Series Season 7: Americas in August and several donations from team fans.

In terms of personalities, the Czech offlaner SabeRLight, who most recently played for the now-defunct Ninjas in Pyjamas, is a standout. He is no stranger to North America, having been on loan from the Quincy Crew in 2019, so he knows the region well.

Most of the pack is from the disbanded CR4ZY team: mid Bryle, MoonMeander and DuBu, noting that the latter still has experience as a coach. The Korean player played at The International 2015 as MVP and finished 7th-8th at the tournament.

An interesting carry player in the Undying squad is Peruvian Timado, who has left EgoBoys, and his former team's play has deteriorated sharply. Let's see how the southerner performs in Europe and a major tournament.

At TI10, there was not much faith in the boys, and they managed to surprise, taking away points from any team. Virtus.pro and T1 managed to beat the Americans, but OG and Invictus Gaming could not overpower the feisty immortal guys. Immortals even managed to beat their principled opponents from EG but lost in the first playoffs to the losers. After TI10, the team didn't change their lineup, rested and already started the new DPC cycle with victories over Wildcard Gaming (2-0) and simply TOOBASED (2-0). Next, Black N Yellow (2-0) and 4 Zoomers (2-0) were defeated, and so far, the Immortals have not lost a map. This team is one step away from their first-ever major, as they were third in NA all-time in 2021 with two trips to the majors, and now they are a step away from the top 1 of their region.

This is a difficult matchup to analyze, as the teams that meet are worth each other, and it makes no sense to compare their level against any average player in the North American region. They will even play at half strength and tear apart those opponents who have already brought them points in December 2021. Total Over 2.5 maps seems like a safe stable bet for 2.00.

The first map should please us with many kills, which means a big and risky top Total Over 50.5 kills for 1.98.

Bookmakers favor Team Undying, and I agree with them because I like the stability of the Immortals here, so we can take a risk and bet on the correct score of 2-1 in their favor for 3.00.