Hook Them

After the concluded BTS Pro Series SEA, Adroit acquires Ninjaboogie as a stand-in position five player for the team. Certainly, it would allow them to capitalize from the experience of the veteran former captain of Mineski. According to the team, Cml will be taking a break from the competitive action indefinitely but still remains as a part of the team.

Experience and communication wise, there is no one other than Ninjaboogie that is fit to lead one of the top teams in SEA. This underdog team has had many successes in the region, beating major winning teams like Fnatic and Tnc Predator in some minor tournaments.

For now, the players have returned safely in their respective homes and will be playing from there due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Surely, lots of online tournaments await in the SEA region filled with excitement and a time to show their potential as a team.

Geek Fam managed to claim the championship title in a fashionable series win. Fans were expecting them to at least land top 6 in the tournament. They were not the favorites to win the event especially since notable teams like Fnatic, TNC Predator, Boom Esports were present. In fact, they barely got into the upper bracket by finishing top 4 in the group stage seed.

When the playoffs started, they had the momentum and consistency where they did not lose a single game in the finals against Boom Esports. During the first round, they managed to defeat the favorites, Fnatic 2-1, through successful ganks and accurate decisions by their captain Kuku. After the first round, their confidence soared which led them to finish the whole series in a fashionable manner.

Geek Fam has had many player shuffles after ti9 while trying to find a rhythm for a solid five man team. After the addition of Karl Santino and Matthew “Whitemon” Filemon, they were able to find their pulse where the team finally clicked, with the guidance and help of Kuku, a former TNC player and a veteran captain.

After a long wait, Valve released The International 10 Battle Pass today. They added numerous features like guilds, battle gauntlet, and bounty killing bonuses. The most notable rewards awaiting you would be the Pudge and Anti-Mage Personas, and the three Arcana items for Wraith King, Queen of Pain, and Windranger. However, these rewards are not easy to acquire, especially when you are starting from a level one battle pass. Even after playing 3-5 games every day for three months, you would likely be able to reach at most 200 levels. To acquire the first arcana item, you would need to make it to level 375. It may be a marketing strategy for Valve to entice their customers to buy more levels. Yet, there is nothing to lose if you don’t want to experience some new cosmetics, animations, and effects since Valve offers Dota 2 as free to play.

Despite the competition being delayed next year, it is indefinite as to when the battle pass ends. With sheer determination, you may be able to reach breakeven if you capitalize on the features that offer battle points.

For me, the Guild system is the most exciting feature in the new battle pass update. It lets you earn rewards for yourself by completing contracts or with your guild members by finishing guild challenges collectively. What I like most about Guilds is the tag name being shown during in-game matches that distinguishes itself from others. It also offers rewards by leveling up your guild through queuing matches that earn Guild points.

Last year, TNC Predator came out on top in the first Dota Pro Circuit Major of the season, the MDL Chengdu Major. They surprisingly took down Vici Gaming 3-1, the team that defeated them in the upper bracket finals. Their relentless pressure and map control throughout the series earned them their first major win. Also, they were already on a hot streak by winning the $300,000 ESL One Hamburg tournament.

Filipino fans like me were fascinated by the performance of their new roster. They brought another glory and recognition to the region as a representative of Southeast Asia. After the debut of the event, different opinions arose, where some critics would say that they won because of tier-one teams like OG, PSG LGD, and Secret withdrew from the tournament. However, there were some notable teams like Vici Gaming, Fnatic, and Evil Geniuses that were expected by their fans to win.

Today, TNC Predator was eliminated from the ongoing ESL One Birmingham SEA after losing eight times in a row in the group stages. They managed to win a series to Reality Rift 3-1 with a close fight in game three. To this day, they are still struggling to keep up with the meta after the Outlanders update. Some fans were disappointed by their inconsistent results even after acquiring Febby, one of the best Southeast Asian position four players, as a coach to their team.

It seems that this significant downhill is just a major setback to their actual goal, the International 10. Some fans are already demanding them to change their roster because they have not been showing any consistency lately. For me, I hope that there won’t be any changes to their line up not because they virtually confirmed a spot in TI 10 but because I still believe in their form. From Armel’s versatility, Kpii’s ability to give space, Gabbi’s aggressiveness, Tims’ clutch plays, and March’s draft, I still think that a little tweak and positivity would bring the formidable TNC once again.

The new update from Valve focuses on the matchmaking system, as the last one did not met the satisfaction from the Dota community. This time, the system focuses on queuing players based on roles and performance in their last 100 games.

Since the badge levels got a reset, yours will be determined from each role you have played depending on the last 100 games before the update. For the progress of your performance, you can check it through the Role Queue menu.

For me, this is a wise change from valve and is expected to have a better feedback compared to the last matchmaking system. It drastically changed the system from overall MMR ranking to the dependence of performance of players based on their roles.

With the update, there is no longer a separation between Core and Support since it features the new rank badge system which also adds a handicap system for those new to the roles since the basis of your performance is your role dominance.

Esl Dota just recently announced the third invite for the ESL One Birmingham 2020, none other than Evil Geniuses. This May, they will head to Birmingham with the two time TI winners OG and the first major winner of the DPC, TNC predator.

The tournament will take place in the last week of May that will feature 12 strongest teams in the world. There are still five teams that will receive direct invites with four teams that will fight for the slot through the regional qualifiers. The dates for the regional qualifiers have yet to be confirmed, but it will probably start next week ahead of ESL One Los Angeles Major.

The top teams will sure bring a heck of a fight with an intense prize pool of $300,000 on the line. For more information, the ESL one website keeps you up to date regarding new events and ticket purchases.

Just like the old days where OG dominated their way at the International 2019, Team Nigma also scooped the title as Champions after their series against Team Secret during WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon finals.

After the first and second game losses, which deemed their strategy as ineffective against Team Secret, they held strong to end their run in the finals as champions. It was a tidal wave and a complete reverse sweep from 2-0 to 2-3.

Although, the tournament was not a DPC event, it was surely a big relief to the team to keep their momentum in the upcoming tournaments. Ever since the end of the International, they were always under performing which caused disappointment at their fan base. Their first run at Major was not what people would expect them to place. They secured upper bracket but lost to Vici Gaming and then they lost again to Team Liquid in the lower bracket and then got eliminated in the tournament.

The point of the series was not just about how reminiscent it is to the run of OG in the International. However, it was their maximum effort to play a consistent game with a mix of good drafts which secured them their unexpected sweep against one of the most strongest team in the current Dota Pro Circuit.

According to David “MoonMeander” Tan, Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao and Jingjun “Sneyking” Wu are no longer part of the Fighting Pandas roster. This was also confirmed by their captain Kurtis “Aui_2000” Ling. 

The team was born in the beginning of The International 2019. It portrayed the first International that EE-Sama missed since his last TI. The player was looking for team, then there was a stint with beastcoast about Nico “Gunnar “Lopez, who was treated unfairly after the kick by his captain.

While the team had lots of adjustments, they gradually became one of the performing teams in the North American region with their roster of experienced players. They managed to qualify in the last major that was won by TNC Predator.

Since their debut appearance at the Major, they were never on top against Evil Geniuses and Chaos Esports. Nevertheless, this was also a team with a potential of a dark horse that can upset many stronger teams in the long run.

According to Valve, they confirmed the changes for the Dota Pro Circuit, which introduces the regional league system that will make the system more enhanced and consistent. This would also boost the support for the third-tier teams that are having a hard time qualifying in the major.

Now, we can say goodbye to the minor tournaments which will be replaced by the regional leagues and will occur in three different seasons over the course of the year. Every season consists of a Major, where the best teams will compete for points to qualify in the upcoming International.

Each league will have a price pool of $280,000 per season, which will be split among the places, respectively.

All rosters will be locked for the whole season (start of a season to the end of a Major,) without having any roster shuffles or changes. After the Major ends and the beginning of the next season, roster changes will be allowed, but this would incur a penalty of 15% decrease in DPC points.

Yao “QQQ” Yi left PSG.LGD as the head coach after the 6 months hiatus since the International 2019, ending his long run in the team that achieved lots of awards ever since he joined.

He will now be joining with his former captain, Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei (Invictus Gaming), last 2012 that bested lots of strong teams. He will be coaching the new roster of Team Aster, the team that always qualify in majors but fails to show dominance during group stages.

Team Aster announced the news on their Weibo Account, the widely used chinese social media. They also confirmed the departure of their coach Tong “Mikasa” Junjie. QQQ will be joining the team as a full-time coach with his former captain helping him.

This will be an interesting team to watch during tournaments since these two teammates were a beast during their run in 2012. Also, with them, Pan “Fade” Yi, as one of the strongest position 4 in the DPC 2019-2020.