PGL Arlington Major 2022 key storylines

PGL Arlington Major 2022 is right behind the door! Starting tomorrow, the second and final Major Dota 2 event of the year will take place offline in Texas, USA, with 18 Dota 2 teams from around the world competing for DPC Points and a share of the $500,000 prize pool.

Here are the event’s key storylines to know who to keep an eye on and not to miss any exciting combat.

Teams substitutions 

Before entering the storylines, it’s important to mention the substitutions among the teams, as many organizations faced difficulties in obtaining visas for their players. In the end, four teams will compete at least with one stand-in and those are Entity, Talon Esports, Thunder Awaken, and Fnatic. The last one experienced the worst situation, as half of Fnatic’s roster didn’t get the visas and they were allowed to perform with three stand-ins to not miss the competition. 

Another failure happened to team Xtreme Gaming from China. One of the players failed to obtain a visa multiple times and the organization decided to not attend the major. This was announced only a week before the event and no one will take Xtreme’s slot. 

Key storylines 

First off, the stakes are high for favorites of the event OG, as Sébastien “Ceb” Debs will again stand in for the team due to the fact that Mikhail “Misha” Agatov won’t be able to compete. In a recent interview with Afkgaming, Ceb expressed that OG still have the drive to win and that the players are in a good shape. 

Considering the fact that with Ceb, OG has claimed the ESL One Stockholm 2022 main prize, as well as the team’s overall mood, we can assume that they will finish in the later stages of the tournament. TSM haven’t managed to qualify for the major, even though they finished second in Stockholm and now occupy the third spot in DPC rankings. 

We’re also looking for the rematch of PSG.LGD and Team Spirit. The first team has won their way up on recent Riyadh Masters and left TS in the second spot. The Major in Arlington will show whether Team Spirit worked on their deficiencies and whether will they be able to overcome PSG.LGD this time. While the Chinese representatives occupy the second position in the DPC ladder, the TI10 winners Spirit sit on 11th place. 

Natus Vincere are one of the dark horses of the event as they will be performing with a new roster. It will be a major challenge for the team featuring players such as Georgii “swedenstrong” Zainalabidov and Vladislav “laise” Lais, since this will be the first Major in their esports careers. 

Another team to follow is Talon Esports. Despite the fact that the team is relatively new in Dota 2 scene, they reached second place in Southeast Asian Dota Pro Circuit and they can be considered another dark horse of the competition. 

The schedule

The group stage of PGL Arlington Major 2022 starts tomorrow, August 4, and will run till August 8.  Day 1 will be opened by matches of Quincy Crew vs. Team Liquid, Outsiders vs. RNG, OG vs. Fnatic and Talon vs. PSG.LGD.

The event will be broadcast in multiple languages on PGL’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Header credit: Fissure, BetBoom