Regional Finals preview: The Western Europe clash

Dota 2 fans are getting ready for a weekend full of high quality games.

Dota Pro Circuit Regional Finals are set to begin this coming Friday with the Western Europe, Southeast Asia and South America brackets.

Created to replace the canceled Spring Major, the Regional Finals give a shot to the top four teams from each of the six Regional Leagues to earn additional DPC points and a share of the $100,000 prize pool per region.

Regional Finals format

Top 4 teams of the Regional Leagues
Double-elimination bracket
BO3 series, BO5 Grand Final

Regional Finals prize pool distribution

1st place: $50,000 & 250 DPC Points
2nd place: $25,000 & 130 DPC Points
3rd place: $15,000
4th place: $10, 000

Western Europe competitors

Unlike other regions that have only two or three slots up for grabs for the Majors, Western Europe has four spots and if the Spring Major wouldn’t have been canceled, the top four teams from WEU would now have been on the Major stage. For some, that would have been their first LAN as well, but unfortunately, they will have to be content with what can be done under the coronavirus restrictions and fight for a top two placement in the online Regional Finals to ensure their lead in DPC points.

Team Liquid are by far the most experienced competitors in these Regional Finals. They finished first in the seasonal league, with a 6-1 series record. Their only loss in the six-week league came at the hands of Nigma Galaxy, who haven’t actually qualified for the finals.

Liquid’s surge comes on the back of a significant overhaul of their roster post TI10. Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen and Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg came from Team Secret, while Samuel "Boxi" Svahn made a role change, from offlane to position 4 support. Having three of the old Liquid members mixing now with Secret’s powerful side lanners gave Team Liquid the edge at the start of the DPC.

They grabbed 300 DPC Points with their first place in the seasonal league and by winning the Regional Finals they can take a considerable lead with 550 points in total.

Through the league season, Team Liquid played 19 games and the most heroes from all four teams qualified for the Regional Finals, 51. The only team getting relatively close to that number is OG, with 41. While this can be attributed to an early search for their new identity, it should also be seen as a great display of their flexibility in the drafts.

At the opposite pole is Team Tickles with just 29 unique heroes, but at the same time, they also have the fewest games played through the six-week league, just 16.

Tickles placed second in the DPC Western Europe regional league, and although the name is new to the professional scene, the players on the roster have been grinding their way to the top tiers for a long time now. For those who follow the competitive scene closely, Team Tickles' success is not a shock. Two of the current members are from the now defunct Vikin.gg, who delivered quite the upsets in the previous year. They kept working with their coach Daniel "ImmortalFaith" Moza and added three new players to the mix for a fresh start in the 2021-22 Dota Pro Circuit.

Danish carry Marcus "Ace" Hoelgaard joined the team ahead of the DPC, but he made a role swap for this year. He is now playing from the offlane and he is flawless in his new position. A lot of the games won by Tickles this season are on the back of his mean Night Stalker, Lycan, Sand King or Tide Hunter. On the latter, he holds a 100 % win rate, playing it in a rather aggressive, fast paced Dota set-up.

From all the four teams in the WEU Regional Finals, Tickles are the only ones who rely almost exclusively on their coach to draft. If Liquid, OG, and Tundra embrace the “western” style, where the team discusses the picks and bans as they happen, Tickles are fully embracing the Chinese style, where the coach takes full control for the drafting phase. This takes away the responsibility from the team captain and oftentimes helps the team to stay in good spirits after a loss and to analyze a game with a clear mind. ImmortalFaith applied the same tactic during the Vikin.gg days and so far it seems that his vision on the game works perfect for his teams.

It’s a pity that he and his teammates still can’t benefit from a LAN experience, but the Regional Finals are just a step towards The International. Tickles is perhaps the team most determined and most used to the online competitions. The two players originating from the Vikin.gg played over 25 online tournaments in 2020-21 and impressed in almost every single one. So, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them in the grand finals this coming weekend.

Another team that hoped that the Spring Tour would give them the chance to expose the players to their first LAN experience is OG.

In the TI 10 aftermath the entire OG line-up split ways. The new OG is looking to give all the support needed to the young generation of players. Their league-play was absolutely mesmerizing to watch and gave the fans plenty of reasons to continue to support the brand.

Without a doubt, the one who stood in the lime-light through all six weeks was Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, who at only 16 years old has reinvented the aggressive offlane playstyle. More often than not he becomes the carry, the front liner, the support, everything that a team might need in a team fight. He likes to play on beefy heroes that can provide survivability, dish out plenty of damage and bring heavy team fight control.

His Mars, Centaur Warrunner, Tidehunter, Underlord, Faceless Void and Timbersaw, to name a few, are giving a headache to anyone playing against OG. He's been the rock star of the season so far, and Regional Finals are the place where he might up his game even more to ensure a successful end of the season for the young OG.

Another player who manages to constantly stay in the spotlight is Tundra Esports’ mid laner Leon "Nine" Kirilin. While he is an excellent player on traditional mid lane heroes, he likes to toy with his opponents by bringing a Keeper of the Light, Earth Spirit, or Spirit Breaker to the mid lane. Given his extremely wide hero pool, Tundra are one of the few teams that can really mess up with their opponents in the draft phase and force everyone to play mind games.

A fist pick Razor, Gyrocopter, Hoodwink, Nightstalker from them forces the enemy team to think twice about what they are planning to do as they can play the heroes in almost any position. Only this Winter Tour, Adrian "Fata" Trinks played Razor, Gyrocopter, Death Prophet, Weaver and Hoodwink from position 5. Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu also has heroes in his repertoire that can be played in multiple roles and oftentimes he can take a Monkey King, Io, Clockwerk, or Spirit Breaker in position 4.

Courtesy of the wide hero pool of most of their players, Tundra is able to flex their drafts whenever they want and trick even the most experienced opponents.

It remains to be seen if they will bring a more traditional drafting style to the Regional Finals, which will be the last big event held on the 7.30 or if they will push their ideas even further to end the patch on a high note.

Western Europe Regional Finals will unfold over the course of this coming weekend, February 11 to 13, and while the exact schedule hasn’t been released yet, the opening matches are Team LiquidvsOG and Gaimin GladiatorsvsTundra Esports. So, stay tuned for an epic weekend filled with Dota 2!