Title image courtesy of DreamHack
Two more teams bid farewell at DreamLeague Season 13: Leipzig Major. Both Nigma and Team Aster were overpowered 2:1 in the lower brackets, ending their run.
The second day of the DreamLeague Season 13: Leipzig Major saw two more teams eliminated as the battle for the most DPC points continues to wage. All teams competing in the day were put to the test in three full matches per series with some outstanding and surprising results.
Upper Brackets
Team Secret locked horns with Fnatic to get things started. For the uninitiated, the matchup featured Team Secret's former coach now at the helm for Fnatic, making an interesting dynamic between the two. The first match took a full hour with Secret having had a slight advantage and lead for the first 50 minutes of the game thanks to an overpowered Morphling. However, Fnatic stood their ground and staged their comeback taking the first game right out from under them. The second match was equally long and full of back and forth swings with Team Secret seeming to throw away substantial leads more than once. Thankfully for them and their fans, they were able to save it all this time, in the end, to tie things up and force the third game. The last match saw Team Secret overpower Fnatic with a flawless game by Yazied "YapzOr" Jaradat and a beast of a performance by Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen. Their victory ushered them further along the upper brackets and closer to the grand finals.
The iconic El Clasico matchup between Na'vi and Alliance was next. The first game was a stomp with Alliance allowing Na'Vi to take only three kills against their 30. A phenomenal performance by Linus "Limmp" Blomdin on Silencer and perfect gameplay by Nikolay "Nikobaby" Nikolov on Slark gave the TI3 championship organization the upper hand of the series. Na'Vi hit back in the second match. Their start was a bit late and was mostly shut down in the laning phase, but that didn't stop Na'Vi from finding the plays and their footing to tie up the series. The last game started out more or less the same for Na'Vi has the one prior, and they even started to chip away at a slight lead in the early game, however, Nikobaby's Lifestealer had become much too powerful for them to deal with and rolled over them to victory. Alliance will now have to face Team Secret in a battle of European dominance.
Lower Brackets
The event moved along into the elimination series of the lower brackets next. Nigma esports was first up, ready to take on the South American sweethearts, beastcoast. Despite the strong showing and reputation, the SA team has built up for themselves, they were still considered the underdogs in the matchup. By the end of the series, no one will be able to question beastcoast's place in the international scene. Taking the first game off Nigma after surprising them with a Broodmother midlane, they gave Nigma quite a hard time in the second match as well for the first 25 minutes. However, Nigma had one of their best heroes on the board, Phantom Lancer, and it came through, in the end, to give them their victory and tie up the series. Things went back and forth, back and forth and bit by bit beastcoast really pushed the limits and outplayed Nigma. In the end, they closed the game out in their favor and eliminated Nigma from the Major. Their victory ensures yet another top 8 place finish in a DPC event for the South Americans.
Another all Chinese affair was set to close out the already long day at the Major. Invictus Gaming and Team Aster engaged in possibly the least exciting series of the day for western fans. Most had pegged iG as the favorites, but as just seen in the series before - anything could happen. The first match started out in favor of Team Aster, but Zhou "Emo" Yi's performance on Arc Warden was fantastic and brought them victory in the end. The second match lasted just over one hour and started out with iG's slight advantage. However, Aster's Phantom Lancer started to pick up speed. In order to turn the tides, Emo went for a Divine Rapier but ended up dropping the item - right into the hands of the nicely farmed PL, giving Aster the win and forcing the deciding game. The last game was a surprising mild game to end out the day, lasting only 27 minutes and iG having taken and maintained control from the start. With a relatively easy win, iG were able to survive another day and secure a top 8 placement.
The action resumes on Thursday, January 23rd at 10:30 CET with two Lower Bracket Elimination Series, followed by two Upper Bracket Series
DreamLeague Season 13: Leipzig Major Teams
Reality Rift
beastcoast
Nigma esports
DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major playoffs format
- Participants:
- Fifteen Teams from Regional Qualifiers
- At least two teams from each region
- One team as the champion of WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020
- Playoffs: - January 21st-26th
- Double elimination bracket
- Final three days will be in front of a live crowd.
- First round of the Lower Bracket is Bo1
- All other games are Bo3
- Bo5 Grand Finals
DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major Prize Pool and DPC Points
The prize pool for the tournament is $1,000,000 USD and 15000 Pro Circuit Points.
| Place | $ USD | DPC Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | $300,000 | 4,850 |
| 2nd | $160,000 | 3,000 |
| 3rd | $110,000 | 2,100 |
| 4th | $80,000 | 1,350 |
| 5th-6th | $60,000 | 900 |
| 7th-8th | $40,000 | 450 |
| 9th-12th Nigma esports/Team Aster | $25,000 | 150 |
| 13th-16th paiN Gaming/Chaos Esports/Reality Rift/Virtus.pro | $12,500 | 100 |
DreamLeague Season 13: Leipzig Major
Between January 18-26th, 16 teams —15 determined via qualifiers and the champions from We!Play Bukovel Minor 2020 will battle it out at Leipziger Messe, Germany for the lion's share of the $1,000,000 prize pool and 15,000 DPC points.
