Old G fail to qualify for WEU Division II

What an absolutely shocking result! The trio that won The International twice was unable to win or even finish second in a Closed Qualifier for Western Europe’s Division II.

This tournament was a clear demonstration that Dota is all about hard work these days. It doesn’t matter how good you used to be. If you don’t understand the current meta as well as the other teams, you will fail even against opponents that aren’t even in the top 50 globally.

Closed Qualifier results

The Closed Qualifier had two big favorites: Old G and Monaspa. The first team seemed unbeatable. Players like Sebastien “Ceb” Debs and Johan “N0tail” Sundstein are so experienced in every possible way that the odds of Old G failing to secure a spot in Division II seemed almost 0.

As for Monaspa, the team was led by a former Dota 2 Major finalist, Giorgos “SsaSpartan” Giannakopoulos. So it was easy to be optimistic about their chances.

Other teams didn’t look that strong. Who would have imagined that Ooredoo Thunders would do so well? This team won the tournament despite having a relatively modest roster. The only recognizable player name is Aybek “TA2000” Tokayev. But despite the appearance, they simply smashed Old G without losing a single game.

Game one lasted 42 minutes and was lost by Old G mainly because they tried to play a draft that works well only in the first 30 minutes. After that point, it is nearly impossible to win with it against a Morphling, a Tusk, and a Puck.

Not to mention the fact that Death Prophet is also a terrifying hero in the late game. You simply cannot fight into her ultimate.

Game two was even worse for Old G, who now tried to change gears and play a different strategy, using Ursa, Mirana, and Silencer. But Ooredoo Thunders read them perfectly and picked a hero composition that makes a melee carry’s life absolutely miserable.

They picked a Naga Sire, a Doom, and a Phoenix. You simply cannot fight into that combination when Global Silence is on cooldown. Thunders knew this and they forced a lot of favorable fights around key objectives. This resulted in a relatively easy win for them. The match was over after just 34 minutes.

Old G’s second chance

Everyone assumed that Ceb had had a bad day and that he would easily win the match against Monaspa. But once again, things went terribly wrong for his team. Monaspa won the match with ease and completely ruined Ceb’s dreams of coming back to Dota 2 as a pro player.

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