Dota Pro Circuit 2023: Tour 3 has ended in all six regions. The top teams in each region were selected to receive invitations to the Bali Major 2023. PSG.LGD, Invictus Gaming, Team Aster, and Azure Ray qualified from China, while Bleed Esports, Blacklist International, and Execration qualified from Southeast Asia. And South and North America will be represented at the major by Evil Geniuses, beastcoast, Shopify Rebellion, and nouns. Read more about how the third tour of Dota Pro Circuit 2023 went and which teams are currently the best in China, Southeast Asia, SA, and South America on Telecomasia.net.
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PSG.LGD became the strongest team in China in the third tour of Dota Pro Circuit 2023. New offlaner Li niu Kongbo joined the team during the offseason. The team started out as the favorite of the league and lived up to that status. PSG.LGD easily defeated Invictus Gaming (2-0), Team Aster (2-0), Aster.Aries (2-0), Azure Ray (2-1), Piggy Killer (2-1), and Team Bright (2-0). And they only lost one match - against Xtreme Gaming (1-2). It's funny that even this win didn't help the Xtremes to get the invitations for The Bali Major 2023.
What makes PSG.LGD different from other Chinese clubs? PSG.LGD's management is stricter and more academic, and the coach has more say here. What are Xiao8's strengths? It's all about communication. He demands quite a lot from his players, but it is easy to communicate with him.
PSG.LGD play at a very high level. In China, they have no competition, but on the international level, the team is not doing well. At the moment, the team has 884 DPC points (11th place in the overall ranking). This should theoretically be enough for PSG.LGD to qualify for The International 12. But to be on the safe side, they should at least finish 7th-8th in The Bali Major 2023 (as long as the other teams don't get extra points).
According to all the predictions, Team Aster should have taken second place in the Chinese region. But at the end of the DPC League, Invictus Gaming surprised everyone. They managed to beat their main rivals: first Team Aster (2-1) and then Xtreme Gaming (2-1). Thanks to the previous victories, IG's final statistic was 5-2. The team played for the second-third place with Team Aster and managed to win again (2-1). Thanks to such good results in the last week of the DPC league, Invictus Gaming took second place and secured a spot in the upcoming major. Team Aster finished third in the region, which is also a good result.
Xtreme Gaming and Azure Ray battled it out for fourth place in the region. They both finished the season with a 4-3 record and participated in the playoffs. Azure Ray won this match (2-1). Azure Ray won't be able to qualify directly for The International 12, so The Bali Major 2023 will just be a training ground for Azure Ray before the regional qualifiers for TI 12.
Bad season for Talon Esports
Since the start of the Dota Pro Circuit 2023: Tour 3, Talon Esports has been considered the strongest team in Southeast Asia. The team did well in Tour 1, then finished third at The Lima Major 2023, before winning Tour 2 and finishing 7th-8th at the ESL One Berlin Major 2023. It was a fantastic result. So Talon Esports was once again the favorite for their third DPC Tour. But this time they failed. The team lost to Execration (1-2), Bleed Esports (0-2), BOOM Esports (1-2) and lost the right to represent SEA at the Bali Major 2023. However, Talon Esports still managed to earn 1,120 DPC points, which is definitely enough for a direct invitation to The International 12. Thus, the team has already achieved its goal for this DPC cycle.
I try to go on vacation to Bali every year in June and July. My Dota 2 lineup doesn't want me to go to Bali for work. Thank you guys, you are very considerate. I apologize to the fans who were looking forward to seeing the team in Bali. We don't deserve you.
Surprisingly, Bleed Esports became the strongest team in Southeast Asia. Last season, they were on the brink of relegation to Division II, but now they are the DPC League champions without changing their roster. The team beat Talon Esports (2-0), Execration (2-1), Team SMG (2-1), Army Geniuses (2-0), BOOM Esports (2-0), and XERXIA (2-0), losing only to Blacklist International (1-2) to finish the season with a 6-1 record.
It's a turn no one saw coming. If Bleed Esports finishes first or second at The Bali Major 2023, they can qualify directly for The International 12. Of course, the chances of that happening are incredibly small. Still, it is worth noting the good play of Bleed Esports and the potential of the team.
I think we focused on the game instead of picking on each other and overreacting to mistakes. The first week we played like we were in lobbies, but things are much better now. Everyone on the team has a voice. We listen to each other and decide on the best course of action. In some teams, one or two players make most of the decisions, but that's not the case with us.
Blacklist International and Execration finished second and third in Southeast Asia. They finished the DPC League with a 5-2 record, but the former won the rematch. The teams are playing well, but are unlikely to qualify for The Bali Major 2023. However, Execration needs to play well in the tournament, as they have 740 DPC points (13th place in the overall standings). If they can finish in the top 7-8 in the major without their rivals - BetBoom Team (12th place with 790 points) and PSG.LGD (11th place with 884 points) - then Execration will qualify for the main event. However, the team will have to perform really well in the upcoming major.
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North America has always had two favorites, Shopify Rebellion and TSM, who played under different names. This season, for the first and only time, the balance of power shifted. Shopify Rebellion was once again the top team in the region with a 7-0 record, but the other team was nouns, who defeated TSM 2-1 in a head-to-head matchup and swept all other competitors except Shopify Rebellion. TSM, on the other hand, lost to both Shopify Rebellion and nouns, and thus lost their invitations to the Bali Major 2023.
Currently, Shopify Rebellion has 1170 DPC points (4th place overall). That's enough for a direct invitation to The International 12. As for TSM, things are not so rosy. The team has 900 DPC points (tenth place in the overall ranking). So if TSM's rivals play well at the Bali Major 2023 and finish in the top 7-8, then the team from North America might lose their right to go to the main tournament of the year.
South America is predictable
In South America, as in North America, there are only two strong teams. We're talking about Evil Geniuses (6-1) and beastcoast (6-1). They met in the rematch for first and second place in the region, and Evil Geniuses came out stronger. The only interesting thing was that beastcoast carry Héctor K1 Rodriguez took a break from Dota 2 in the middle of the season to improve his health. His temporary replacement was David Parker Flores, who had no noticeable impact on the team's results.
It is currently unknown if K1 will participate in the Bali Major 2023 or if beastcoast will go to this tournament with Parker. It should be noted that both Evil Geniuses (1470) and beastcoast (1000) now have enough DPC points for a direct invitation to The International 12. However, the latter would be better off finishing in the top 7-8 of the major to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
