Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 Week 3 Results and Predictions

Week 3 of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 has begun and we can now know with a high degree of certainty that some teams are doomed while others are much stronger than everyone expected. Let’s have a look.

Europe

In Europe, the situation looks dire for High Coast Esports. The Swedish squad has lost its first 4 matches and recovery is practically impossible at this point. Vikin.gg is in a similar situation, but their score is only 0 W – 2 L. So a lot more chances remain to regroup and come up with something better. The big issue is that their next match will be against Nigma, on February 6^th, and KuroKy’s team has looked strong so far.

Compared to other regions, Europe’s Upper Division is extremely competitive. With the exception of HCE and perhaps Vikin.gg, everyone got two victories so far. It’s true that some teams played 2 matches, others played 3 and some even 4. But the fact that everyone is winning a decent amount of battles clearly proves that the competitors are close to each other in terms of their strength.

So far, the complete situation in this region looks like this:

• 1^st place: Team Secret: 2 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Team Nigma: 2 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Alliance: 2 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: OG: 2 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: Tundra Esports: 2 W – 2 L
• 6^th place: Team Liquid: 2 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: Vikin.gg: 0 W – 2 L
• 8^th place: High Coast Esports: 0 W – 4 L

The next 3 matches are scheduled to take place on February 3^rd and February 6^th.

• Team Secret – Team Nigma
• Team Nigma – Vikin.gg
• Team Liquid – Team Secret

The predictions for these matches are the following: 1, 1, 2.

CIS

As you might expect, the CIS region is heavily dominated by Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro. The two teams haven’t encountered each other yet, so they both have a perfect score. Na’Vi won 3 matches while VP won 2. This is likely to continue until the big duel happens, simply because they have no real rival.

During the 3^rd week of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1, there will be 5 matches in CIS Dota:

• pro – Unique
• Live to Win – Empire
• pro – EXTREMUM
• Natus Vincere – Empire
• Team Spirit – Live to Win

My predictions for these matches are the following: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2.

The complete situation in the region is this:

• 1^st place: Natus Vincere: 3 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Virtus.pro: 2 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Live to Win: 1 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: Team Empire: 1 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: Team Spirit: 1 W – 2 L
• 6^th place: EXTREMUM: 1 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: NoTechies: 1 W – 2 L
• 8^th place: Team Unique: 0 W – 2 L

China

The situation in China is very confusing, mainly because everyone saw Elephant and PSG.LGD as the big favorites. Instead, we now have Team Aster and Invictus Gaming at the top of the rankings table with 3 wins and 0 losses, while Elephant is struggling (1 W – 2 L) and PSG.LGD has lost a match out of its first 3. The only thing that went according to plan in this region were the losses of LBZS and MagMa. Both teams had 0 chances going into the tournament and their first three matches clearly confirmed that: 0 W – 3 L.

On February 5^th, EHOME will play against Vici Gaming. The result of that match determines a lot in the grand scheme of things and the favorite is clearly EHOME. Then we’ll have MagMa compete against LBZS. Since both teams are doomed, the match is not worth watching. In the last match of the third week of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1, Elephant will encounter PSG.LGD in China’s derby. I say derby because I’m still convinced that these are the two strongest teams in the region, regardless of the current form.

The complete situation looks like this:

• 1^st place: Team Aster: 3 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Invictus Gaming: 3 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: PSG.LGD: 2 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: Vici Gaming: 2 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: EHOME: 1 W – 2 L
• 6^th place: Elephant: 1 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: LBZS: 0 W – 3 L
• 8^th place: Team MagMa: 0 W – 3 L

North America

Initially, everyone assumed that the North American tournament was completely predetermined because the skill difference between Evil Geniuses, Quincy Crew and everyone else was huge. But now it’s no longer that clear who the two winners will be. We know that 2 teams will get the right to take part in the first Major of the season. But the number of candidates is 4 instead of 2.

Here’s how the situation looks so far:

• 1^st place: Undying: 3 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Evil Geniuses: 3 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Quincy Crew: 2 W – 0 L
• 4^th place: Sadboys: 1 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: 4 Zoomers: 1 W – 2 L
• 6^th place: Black N Yellow: 1 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: 5ManMidas: 0 W – 3 L
• 8^th place: A-Team: 0 W – 3 L

Obviously, Undying is doing much better than everyone anticipated. But let’s be patient, because they haven’t encountered the big teams yet. The real tests will be EG, QC, and Sadboys.

During the 3^rd week of Dota Pro Circuit 2021 Season 1 NA, there are 5 matches in total. One of them was already played. The other 4 are the following:

• Sadboys – 5MM
• Quincy Crew – A-Team
• 4 Zoomers – BNY
• Evil Geniuses – Undying

My predictions for these matches are: 1, 1, 1, 1.

South America

In South America, beastcoast has no rival. The battle for the 2^nd place is open. Thunder Predator seems to be the big favorite, but others may steal their prize if they don’t deliver. The situation looks like this:

• 1^st place: beastcoast: 3 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Thunder Predator: 2 W – 1 L
• 3^rd place: Infamous: 1 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: Latam Defenders: 1 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: SG e-sports: 1 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: Team Unknown: 1 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: EgoBoys: 1 W – 2 L
• 8^th place: NoPing e-sports: 0 W – 2 L

Week 3 features 5 matches:

• Infamous – SG
• Latam Defenders – NoPing
• beastcoast – Thunder Predator
• EgoBoys – Team Unknown
• Latam Defenders – SG

My predictions for these matches are the following: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is going to have two obvious winners. But it’s far from clear who will be the 3^rd. Neon Esports is impressive to say the least, while Fnatic is also in great shape. The overall situation looks like this:

• 1^st place: Neon Esports: 3 W – 0 L
• 2^nd place: Fnatic: 2 W – 0 L
• 3^rd place: Execration: 1 W – 1 L
• 4^th place: BOOM Esports: 1 W – 1 L
• 5^th place: T1: 1 W – 1 L
• 6^th place: TNC Predator: 1 W – 2 L
• 7^th place: 496 Gaming: 1 W – 3 L
• 8^th place: Vice Esports: 0 W – 2 L

The biggest disappointment here is TNC. To be fair, they lost one match to Neon, which isn’t a big surprise given how strong Neon is at the moment. But it’s still strange to see Tims and his crew struggle, when they should be fighting for the first spot.

The remaining matches for this week are the following:

• BOOM – T1
• Neon – Execration
• T1 – TNC

My predictions for these matches are: 1, 1, 2.

 

Photo credit: Valve