Azure Ray and Virtus.pro first to qualify for BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024

Southeast Asia is left with just one team to fight for the glory in Dubai next month at BetBoom Dacha, while China locks in three teams to compete at the $1,000,000 LAN tournament.

Two regional qualifiers for BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 are done and dusted. The tournament organizer merged Southeast Asia and China into a single qualifier bracket with four teams representing each region. A plethora of upsets left China with just one team fighting for the one ticket to Dubai and event Azure Ray were put to a test by Geek Fam in the best-of-five grand finals.

Azure RayvsGeek Fam

What started with a quick 22 minute game from Azure Ray, followed by another convincing victory in game two, turned into a breathtaking 3:2 grand finals, as Geek Fam fought tooth and nail and pushed the Chinese team to their limits.

The SEA representatives were able to stop AR’s domination from the first two games with a Broodmother, Keeper of the Light, Beastmaster draft that was supposed to match the Chinese team’s tempo. But, despite being a fast tempo line-up, the game went past the 50 minute mark where split pushing shenanigans gave Geek Fam their first win in the series.

Heading into the next game, Geek Fam pushed Azure Ray to an over 80 minute battle once again and gave the viewers a breathtaking battle, with both teams having their throne exposed. It all came down to who was superior in base defence and buybacks management. Geek Fam did the impossible and outlasted the recently crowned ESL One Kuala Lumpur champions to push the grand finals to a decisive Game 5.

However, when it mattered the most, the much more experienced Azure Ray brought out Ember Spirit, the flavour of the month hero that nowadays outshines Anti-Mage when it comes down to magical damage mitigation. Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang went 9/0/6 in what was a 35 minute bloodbath coming from Azure Ray, who are now set for their second LAN appearance in the new competitive season.

Read also: The new Anti-Mage: A look at Ember Spirit's magic damage mitigation build

In the Eastern European closed qualifiers, Virtus.pro have dominated the bracket and secured a clean 3-0 sweep in the grand finals over L1ga Team to join the fray in Dubai. Team Spirit and BetBoom Team received a direct invite to the LAN portion of BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 and Virtus.pro claimed their spot via qualifiers battle, which means that the EEU region will also fight for the trophy with three teams.

BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024 regional closed qualifiers continue with the North and South America bracket, which is in full swing, and with Western Europe and MENA regions set to begin on Thursday, January 11.