The European qualifiers for the Dota 2 Asia Championships have begun and Power Rangers have stormed into the winner bracket final while Natus Vincere, Team Tinker and Virtus Pro will need to start picking up wins the lower bracket following their first round losses.
The European qualifiers for the Dota 2 Asia Championships began today and saw Power Rangers force Natus Vincere and Alliance into the loser's bracket while the Belarusian team are guaranteed to finish in the top three positions of the qualifier. This means they will be traveling to compete in China, either in the main event or in the matches for the wildcard spots. They await their opponent in the winners final and will face either Hellraisers, Virtus Pro Polar or Team Empire. However in the loser bracket, Team Tinker and Natus Vincere will have to stay undefeated to remain in the qualifier after first round losses for both teams.
The first match of the day saw Alliance take on Team Tinker with both teams featuring new lineups for the tournament, though Pelle 'Pajkatt' Olsson Lille was missing for the first two matches. The opening game eventually went the way of Team Tinker after an hour-long battle left Alliance unable to fend off their opponent's pressure. However the Swedish team quickly got revenge in the second game, shutting down WehSing 'SingSing' Yuen's Meepo repeatedly and being able to close the game out before the 28th minute. The third and deciding game lasted longer, but the late arrival of Pelle 'Pajkatt' Olson was clearly appreciated, with the player picking up 16 kills and only a single death as he dominated his former team to force them into the loser bracket.
Power Rangers then took on Natus Vincere in the second match of the top half of the bracket. Featuring an unusual lineup featuring Keeper of the Light, Witch Doctor and Broodmother, it was the Belrusian team that won the opening game with Natus Vincere unable to endure the pressure from Power Rangers. A comfortable victory for the Ukrainians set up another deciding game in the qualifier and Power Rangers had enough team fight to secure their position in the second round and pushed Natus Vincere into the loser bracket to compete against Team Tinker.
Elsewhere in the qualifier Hellraisers were comfortable in securing their place in the next round at Virtus Pro's expense, managing to force their Russian rivals into the loser bracket in two straight games. Both teams will be waiting to discover who their opponents will be from the match between Virtus Pro Polar and Team Empire scheduled for later today.
The last match of the day saw Alliance and Power Rangers compete for that important place in the winner bracket final for a flight to the Chinese tournament at the end of this month. While the opening two games were closely fought with both teams taking a game each, the final game was a dominant performance from Power Rangers. Dmitrii 'Ditya-Ra' Minenkov had a stunning run with Tiny, he secured 16 kills without dying through the duration of the game. Alliance had no answer for the Tiny-Io combination and will enter the lower bracket and await their opponents.
The European qualifiers continue until January 11th as the teams compete to join Cloud 9 as the second team to qualify for the tournament. For more information, click here
Headline image from ESFXtv.com
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