All four teams from the Western Europe regional league heading to Bali Major have been decided, but the battle for survival in Division I will bring another rollercoaster of emotions for the Dota 2 fans.
Aside from Tundra Esports, who closed the Summer Tour at the top of the league standings with a spotless 7-0 series record, all other teams had their ups and downs, and for some of the biggest names in the scene, the Summer Tour ends with a bitter taste.
Team Secret have already been relegated back to Division II with an abysmal 1-6 series performance. Their final match in the Summer Tour WEU league was against Tundra. It was Secret’s most important series, as a victory would have given them the chance to force tiebreakers and continue fighting for staying in Division I. The survival battle started well for Secret, who took game one off Tundra, however, moving forward, Secret’s drafts became creative. They swapped the game one mid lane Magnus to support 4 position and it didn’t work. In the final game of the series, they tried an offlane Pangolier, which backfired hard and sent the TI11 runners-up to Division II.
This marks Secret’s second relegation this DPC year and will force Puppey and co to regional qualifiers for The International once again. Last year, Secret made a historical run from the last change qualifiers to TI grand finals. This year, however, Valve hasn’t announced any plans on bringing back the LCQ, which means that Secret’s only chance at making it to the most important tournament of the year will be regional qualifiers, where there is only one spot up for grabs.
TI12 regional qualifiers in the WEU are most likely to once again be extremely stacked. OG will be fighting there too after a subpar Summer Tour performance.
Who else is going to Division II in WEU?
OG have one more series on the Summer Tour regional league, but instead of fighting for a Major ticket, they will be fighting for survival in Division I. They played the first three series in the Tour with stand-ins and have quickly lost the chance at contesting one of the top 4 placements in the league. Ahead of their final series, they sit on a 2-4 series score and are in desperate need to win the final battle.
They will play against D1 Hustlers on Sunday, June 4th at 9 pm CEST. A victory from OG will save them from relegation and will send D2 Hustlers and Entity to a tiebreaker with relegation on the line. However, a loss for OG again D2H, will put them against Entity in the tiebreaker.
While OG are still fighting for their faith in the WEU DPC regional league, their former offlane player, Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf, is getting ready for Bali Major. ATF joined Quest Esports ahead of the Summer Tour and has snatched a place in the top 4 in WEU, joining Tundra, Team Liquid and Gaimin Gladiators to the Bali Major.
Western Europe teams qualified for Bali Major
Tundra Esports
Gaimin Gladiators
Team Liquid
Quest Esports
Bali Major is set to unfold between June 29 - July 9 with $500,000 total prize pool and 3,500 DPC points up for grabs. Only the top 8 teams will get a share of the prize pool and the DPC points, which will make the Bali Major the most important one of the year.
