Upsets kept on happening in all regions through the first half of the Wintour Tour regional leagues and Eastern Europe made no exception.
Eastern Europe Division I has only three spots to offer for the first Major of the 2021-22 Dota Pro Circuit and early leads are most likely going to make the difference when the line is drawn at the end of the league play.
EEU Division I
- 1st place team is qualified to the Major Playoffs
- 2nd place team is qualified to the Major Group Stage
- 3rd place team is qualified to the Major Wild Card
- Bottom two teams are relegated to Division II for the next tour
- Remaining teams stay in the current Division for the next tour
A new coach, a new midlaner and a new offlaner seem to make the difference for PuckChamp, who had to wave goodbye to Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov as he went to coach the new Natus Vincere lineup. In the post TI10 shuffle they welcomed aboard Stanislav "чикиряу" Yarosevichto to take the coach duties, while the mid lane was occupied by Nikita "young G" Bochko and the offlane by Abdimalik "Malik" Sailau.
PuckChamp’s run through DPC, beginning in the lower division of the previous season, promoting to the upper division and now topping the charts in Division I of the first tour of the new DPC year is picture perfect for what progress should look like. Perhaps no one was prepared to place them as favorites for a ticket to the first Major of 2022, yet they are now two series away from achieving just that.
From all eight competitors in the EEU Division I league, PuckChamp is the team with the most series played through the first three weeks. They sit in first place with an overall 4-1 series score after taking down the likes of NAVI, Virtus.pro, AS Monaco Gambit, and Team Empire, while their only defeat happened at the hands of TI10 champions, Team Spirit.
Tied for second place are Team Spirit and HellRaisers, both with 3-0 series scores, with NAVI trailing behind them with a 2-1 score.
EEU Division II
- Top two teams are qualified to Division I for the next tour
- Bottom two teams are eliminated
- Remaining teams stay in the current division for the next tour
While Division I has an unexpected leader at the end of the year, there are no big surprises in Division II.
CIS Rejects, a team filled with some of the most decorated CIS players, including Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev Pavel "9pasha" Khvastunov, Artsiom "fng" Barshakm, and Vladimir "RodjER" Nikogosian is at the top of the standings with a 3-1 series record. However, they are tied with two more squads for the first place.
HYDRA, reminiscent of MVP Revolution days with their full Kyrgyzstani lineup and with Evgenii "Blizzy" Ri and Bakyt "Zayac" Emilzhanov under the same banner, along with V-Gaming are also 3-1 in the league. Three teams are tied 2-2 at the middle of the rankings, while the ones in danger of elimination are Fantastic Five with 1-3 series score and B8, who are 0-4.
Eastern Europe Winter Tour games will resume on January 6, 2022 with both Division I and Division II playing the first matches of the new year.
