Week 3 of Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 has ended. Along with it, the first half of the league is over. All teams are on New Year's break, and the next DPC games won't take place until early January. The players will rest and train until then, and the first DPC season will not end until the end of January. It is already possible to guess who will be the winner in each region. Surprisingly, the first place is now occupied by teams consisting of young players. Some teams have guaranteed their place in the majors, while others are very likely to fall into the second division. Which organizations have distinguished themselves and are now the leaders in the first season of the new DPC cycle, you will find out in an article from Cybersport.Metaratings.ru.
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In the CIS, there are clear favorites and outsiders
Looking at the intermediate results of the first season of Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 in the CIS, it is clear that there are three clear groups in the region: favorites, middleweights, and outsiders.
The favorites are Team Spirit (3-0), HellRaisers (3-0), and PuckChamp (4-1). Their stats within the league are much better than those of the other teams. The leader is Team Spirit that won TI10 and finished second in OGA DOTA PIT. The team looks much stronger than all other teams, at least in the CIS. It's unlikely that anyone will be able to compete with them. Also, the team HellRaisers started to play very awesomely. Between seasons the team completely renewed its squad. There are five young players there, and they play very confidently. These two teams will likely claim to take first and second place in the league and qualify for the majors.
Among the "mid-level teams" there are Natus Vincere (2:1), Virtus.pro (2:2). Before the season, both teams were considered among the top favorites in the league and contended for the majors. In this case, the teams turned out to be not ready for the tough confrontation of the other teams, which were considered not very strong last season. Both Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro are still searching for their game style. Because of that, both teams risk missing the first major of the season. They will likely miss it, so they will have to try a lot harder in the future to earn the cherished DPC points. But neither team has any claim to falling to the second division because there are even weaker and more unstable teams.
In the old Virtus.pro roster, Save- and Nightfall did all the job. After Nightfall and Save- left that lineup, it's obvious that this roster is not better than the HellRaisers and similar teams, maybe even worse. The strength of the current Virtus.pro is in gpK~. Will gpK~ win a solo game or not? From my point of view, they cannot achieve old results anymore.
Outsiders groups include AS Monaco Gambit (1:3), Mind Games (0:4), and Team Empire (0:4). The statistics of these teams speak for themselves. It looks like which of them will fall to the lower division. It will be decided in the face-to-face confrontation between these squads. Anyway, there's no belief that they can win the remaining games and somehow compete for at least a wild card re-match.
In the CIS second division, there are three favorites for two places
There is also a serious struggle to qualify for the first division next season in the CIS second division. There are three strong teams in the league that qualify for that. We're talking about Hydra (3-1), V-Gaming (3-1), and CIS Rejects (3-1). All of them play very well and can play at the level of first division outsiders and much better on the level of the "middle-level" teams. So every team wants to get to the top division as soon as possible. Judging by the game level, we can say that it is likely that V-Gaming and CIS Rejects will be there.
V-Gaming plays well. They feel the power of their heroes. They feel the power up to the tenth minute. They feel good in the midgame. Any moves against them should be made with full concentration. You need to understand how many heroes you need and do everything fast, as they are quick to "react". Hydra has their ideas. They understand the game well. We'll probably have to impose something of our own because it gets tough to play if they play their game. I mean, it's hard right now. Everyone more or less plays at the International level. Let's say as far as they know how to cosplay it. At least they're trying to.
Everything is much more interesting in Europe
The European region, unlike the CIS, is not limited to the three favorites. The majority of the teams there has a claim to the majors. In a certain set of circumstances, any of them can achieve this goal, as the situation with the formal favorites is extremely fragile. Team Liquid (5-0), Team Tickles (3-1), OG (3-1), Team Secret (2-3), and Tundra Esports (2-2) are contenders for first and second place in the season (third and fourth go to the wild card). Slots to the majors will be contested between these teams. Team Liquid has already guaranteed at least a spot for the wild card for the majors.
Alliance (1-3), Nigma Galaxy (1-3), and COOLGUYS 3 (0-4) will fight for survival and the right to stay in the top division. The latter team has a little chance of "surviving". The guys just came up from the second division this season. They play pretty weakly for the top of Europe. Funny, but the same goes for Alliance, which completely failed the first half of the season. The team made bad replacements, so the roster of this organization is likely to change in a month.
Nigma Galaxy played awful all three weeks, but this year's last series against Team Secret, they unexpectedly defeated the favorites 2-0. In that match, the team played with maximum confidence and coordination. This was the Nygma that all fans love so much. So this team has a slightly better chance to stay in the first division, but the team already has terrible statistics, so Nigma Galaxy will have to work hard. This team is not likely to qualify for the majors.
China has not yet entered the fight
Division 1 teams have not yet begun their Dota Pro Circuit 2021/2022 games in China. They will begin only in early January. But in the Chinese second division, all the matches have already finished. According to the results of these games, two teams that passed to the first division were identified. They are Xtreme Gaming and Team MagMa, but they will compete only in the second DPC season that begins after the Majors. In any case, congratulations to the winners are already in order.
Everything is already settled in North America
There are three strong teams in North America, claiming the two slots that allow a team to go to the majors. It's always a struggle between them, with Evil Geniuses being the favorite. This time, however, everything has changed. There has been a change in the Evil Geniuses lineup, with JerAx and Nightfall joining them for fifth and third position, respectively.
The team was supposed to shine with new colors but instead lost to Black N Yellow (1-2) and Wildcard Gaming (0-2). Because of that, Evil Geniuses has a 2-2 statistics, which will likely keep Evil Geniuses out of the majors. To do that, they will have to beat Quincy Crew (4-0) and Team Undying (3-0) and then beat that team once again in replay games. Considering Evil Geniuses' current shape, it is hard to believe that. So, it looks like the team will miss the first major in 2022.
Bet on Dota Pro CircuitWe knew that it was going to be difficult. I mean, I joined the team after a long break from playing Dota 2. I need time to get back in shape. Then Nightfall came into the team. I would say that he brought the Dota 2 style of play to the team from the CIS. So we still have a lot of factors to consider. We're trying to show a decent result, and we understand the situation. But right now, all that we need is time. I guess we got the impression from the matches over the past two weeks that we have a lot of conflicting ideas. We need to do one thing because we are a team. I think bringing all of our styles together is the hardest part.
There are also contenders for the majors in SEA and SA
BOOM Esports (4-0) and T1 (2-0) should go to the majors in South-East Asia. The teams play better than their regional rivals. But who will be in third place at the end of the league and participate in the wild card is still unclear. All teams have an equal chance there.
In South America, only two teams will make it to the majors. Most likely, these teams are Thunder Predator (4-0) and beastcoast (3-0), which currently dominate in their region. What they will show in the majors, however, is another question.
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