The second stage of WePlay Season 2 group play will kick off tomorrow, October 15th, with the first round of the GSL style groups being played at 17:00 and 20:00 CEST respectively, as Team Empire and RoX.KIS as well as Speed Gaming and Alliance duke it out in the opening round of Group A.
Group A
While Alliance may be showing some weakness after The International, largely due to a lack of practice with the new patch, a circumstance the team themselves have alluded to, their defeat at StarLadder is likely to make them stronger in terms of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the current metagame. With this in mind it's not exactly a stretch to proclaim them the favourites to take the group, and as such the most important question becomes that of who will be the second team looking to advance from Group A.
While Speed Gaming certainly have their fans, they also have their detractors, and both for good reason. This is a bombastic team, flauting convention and looking to optimize item builds and laning whenever possible, and it's brought them great results and a lot of attention. At the same time, they've had the benefit of not being the focus of attention or playing a lot of teams which haven't been in their prime, and when in recent weeks their fans have looked to them to perform in StarLadder and otherwise, they've come up short. Speed Gaming may be contenders for advancing through the group, but for now, they look to be in the shadow of a team which is only gradually getting the attention they deserve.
A year ago Team Empire was all the rage in Europe, widely considered the second best team on the scene. As we all know, however, the lineup was broken up and they couldn't recapture their success with new players. Now they are back and although the names on the roster may not scream pedigree, the results are showing just why some of these up and coming CIS players are considered the stars of the future. Empire have a gameplan, and although they could do with adding a bit of variance to their lineups down the line, for now they seem to be producing good results with their reliance on winning lane match-up's and creating space for Roman 'Scandal' Sadotenkov and Airat 'Silent' Gaziev. Also, watch Ivan 'VANSKOR' Skorkhod. Because he is the future of CIS supports.
While RoX.KIS has shown some decent play, there is little reason to doubt that they will come up last in the group, especially as the rebuilding Virtus.Pro may well be looking to poach the team's captain Stanislav 'BzzIsPerfect' Glushan. As such, don't hold high hopes for them in this group.
Group B
Na`Vi wins the group. This does not need any justification right now. They are the kings of the way the game is played right now.
Team Liquid are probably the favourites to finish second in this group. The team has a good buzz about them and a very strong lineup of players which should lend itself to retaining their place as the best North American team around, and although they are still new to playing together and there may be some kinks to work out, so is their competition in this group. For now, they're showing the most promise.
Evil Geniuses is another North American roster which has its fair share of star power mixed in with new talent, but they've had a far rougher start to their time together. Losses to Jimmy 'DeMoN' Ho's Take Five haven't exactly instilled great confidence in the current form of Evil Geniuses, and although there is a fair reason to expect them to improve over time, a sudden jump in terms of level of play is unlikely.
The Final entry on this list is a bit of a dark horse. dd.Dota, Flip.sid3, Quantic, call them what you want, but they have certainly been a refreshing presence during the post-TI3 shuffle. Emphasis lies on "have", as with a player sidelined their performances have been all over the place, sometimes bombing and coming in last place at TechLabs Cup, sometimes taking unexpected wins over a team like Speed Gaming. Still, the odds are not in their favour, even if Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks makes it back in time. A month from now, we can expect a lot more from this team again, but for now they'll likely come up short.
Schedule for WePlay second groupstage
| DATE/TIME (CEST) | TEAM | TEAM | GOSUBET |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 oct, 17:00 | Team Empire | RoX.KIS | Place bet! |
| 15 oct, 20:00 | Speed Gaming | Alliance | Place bet! |
| 16 oct, 17:00 | Empire/RoX.KIS winner | Speed/Alliance winner | |
| 16 oct, 20:00 | Empire/RoX.KIS loser | Speed/Alliance loser | |
| 17 oct, 17:00 | Losers match winner | Winners match loser | |
| 18 oct, 18:00 | Evil Geniuses | Na`Vi | Place bet! |
| 19 oct, 18:00 | dd.Dota |
Team Liquid | Place bet! |
| 19 oct, 21:00 | EG/Na`Vi winner | dd/Liquid winner | |
| 20 oct, 17:00 | EG/Na`Vi loser | EG/Na`Vi loser | |
| 20 oct, 20:00 | Losers match winner | Winners match loser |
GosuGamers is also working with Datbet for the coverage of the WePlay Dota 2 tournament. Be sure to actively bet away next month for a chance to win up to 150 Euros in betting funds. More information here.
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