The WePlay! Pushka League was announced in late March as an online CIS and EU Dota2 tournament featuring 14 teams divided into two regional groups of seven. WePlay! decided to run the $250,000 event so Dota2 teams could compete during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to cancellation or postponement of numerous esports tournaments worldwide.
Official Dota2 league
WePlay! Pushka League?will start on April, 23rd! Online format, two regional groups, fourteen teams, $250,000 at stake
Read more: https://t.co/Ippou3qTB1@dota2 #dota2 #WePlayDota2 #Dota2Pushka pic.twitter.com/nIRUcgkkmb
— WePlay! Esports | #Dota2Pushka (@WePlayEsport) March 26, 2020
Some of the biggest names in Dota2 are slated to compete in the WePlay! Pushka League, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday, April 23. OG, Team Nigma, Team Secret, Team Liquid, Alliance, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro, HellRaisers, B8, Gambit Esports and Team Spirit have all accepted invites, while the remaining two spots are reserved for the champions of EU and CIS qualifiers, which are set to conclude next week.
Billed as the biggest EU and CIS Dota2 esports event of the month besides ESL One Los Angeles, which is approaching the final stages, the WePlay! Pushka League is now set to expand its reach to lower-tier teams with the addition of a second division.
WePlay! Pushka League Division 2 will feature only eight teams – four from CIS and four from EU – who will battle it out for the largest slice of a $5,000 prize pool and one of two tickets to the first division for WePlay! Pushka League Season 2. The second division will run alongside the main event and will feature six teams that failed to make it through the closed qualifiers for the top tier. The other two teams will come through EU and CIS Open Qualifiers, slated to begin Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19 respectively.
WePlay! Pushka League Division 2 will begin with the round-robin stage, where CIS and EU teams will be divided into two separate groups for best-of-three (Bo3) matches. The top team from each group will go directly to the semi-finals, while the second- and third-placed teams will advance into the quarter-finals. The two teams that place last in their respective groups will be eliminated.
The playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket, with all matches played as Bo3. The tournament seeding will also ensure that each region will have one representative in the finals to support the idea of keeping the same number of EU and CIS teams in attendance at WePlay! Pushka League for the second season.
WePlay! Pushka League Division 2 prize pool distribution
First place: $2,000
Second place: $1,500
Third-fourth place: $750
BUSINESS ASSOCIATES VS FORZE DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
BUSINESS ASSOCIATES VS FORZE STARLADDER IMBATV DOTA 2 MINOR SEASON 3 BETTING PREVIEW
StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 is set to kick off on Thursday, March 5 at Kiev Cybersport Arena, where eight teams will duke it out for the largest slice of US $300,000, 660 Dota Pro Circuit points and a ticket to the ESL One Los Angeles Major. The event will begin with Group A fixtures, where we will see the former J.Storm squad, business associates, take on newcomers forZe in a best-of-three (Bo3) match.
Following the unexpected departure from J.Storm, David “Moo” Hull, Leon “Nine” Kirlin, Braxton “Brax” Paulson, Joel Mori “MoOz” Ozambela and captain Clinton “Fear” Loomis assembled a stack named business associates that will represent the North American region at the tournament.
The last event Fear and company participated in under J.Storm’s banner was ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore back in December 2019, where they finished in 11th-12th place following three crushing defeats against Alliance, Team Secret and Virtus.pro and two stalemates against TNC Predator and Team Aster.
Since the turn of the year, the ex-J.Storm squad have participated at the Los Angeles Major North American qualifiers. They got off to a strong start by topping their group, but they fell flat against Chaos EC twice – once in the semi-finals (1-2) and later in the lower bracket finals (0-2) – and wound up in third place.
Despite the LA Major qualifier woes, business associates dusted themselves off and secured entry to the Dota2 Kyiv Minor with a perfect run through the StarLadder qualifiers, beating the likes of Zoomies and Fighting PandaS.
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ForZe head to Ukraine with a fresh squad acquired from Gentlemen on January 15, marking their first entry into the Dota 2 esports scene. Representing the Russian outfit are Alexander “Gibkiy” Tkachenko, Egor “19teen” Lexutin, Evgeniy “Chu” Makarov, Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorohod and team captain Stanislav “633” Glushan.
Since assembling their first-ever Dota 2 team, forZe have produced a mixed bag of results. They won OMG.BET Cup 2 in mid-January, where they defeated jfshfh178 (2-0), Empire Hope (2-1) and Vikin.gg (3-1), but failed to go the distance at the Hainan Master Spring Invitational – CIS Qualifier, running third after losses to HellRaisers (1-2) and Cyber Legacy (1-2).
Shortly after, forZe took a swing at the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 CIS Closed Qualifier, where they put up two stalemates against Team Spirit and EXTREMUM and won against HellRaisers to set themselves up for a playoff spot. Their plans fell through, however, as forZe lost to HellRaisers in the group tiebreaker match and came away empty handed.
ForZe found their stride at the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 CIS Qualifier, where they avenged their defeat against HellRaisers and edged past Cyber Legacy in the lower bracket finals to book a spot in Kyiv.
BUSINESS ASSOCIATES VS FORZE STARLADDER IMBATV DOTA 2 MINOR SEASON 3 BETTING PREDICTIONS
This fixture marks the first meeting between these two rosters, as Gentlemen never played against J.Storm and business associates have yet to clash with forZe in their short history in the Dota 2 scene.
Even so, esports bookmakers seem to agree that business associates are the favourites to claim the spoils. That seems fair, considering J.Storm were a solid team with several accolades under their belt, but the ex-Gentlemen are no pushovers.
ForZe have picked up the pace in recent times, which is enough for us to believe they can keep business associates on their toes and push the series into three maps.
Over 2.5 maps
NINJAS IN PYJAMAS VS NIGMA DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
NINJAS IN PYJAMAS VS NIGMA DOTA 2 WEPLAY! TUG OF WAR: MAD MOON BETTING PREVIEW
Two Dota 2 esports juggernauts will clash when Ninjas in Pyjamas and Nigma meet this Wednesday in the opening fixture of Group B at WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon.
Ninjas in Pyjamas will enter the tournament with high ambitions as they look to secure their first LAN title since June 2019, when they won StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 2. Peter “ppd” Dager and company had a rather slow start to the season, however, and have failed to achieve any notable results since pocketing the bronze medal at DreamLeague Season 12 back in October.
At ESL One Hamburg, Ninjas in Pyjamas finished seventh-eighth, to which they added a fifth-sixth result at DOTA Summit 11 and an unsuccessful run in the DreamLeague Season 13 North America Closed Qualifier. In the Leipzig qualifiers, the Swedish esports organisation finished fourth, thus narrowly missing out on the main event.
In January, Ninjas in Pyjamas bombed out of WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 at the group stage after two humiliating defeats against Geek Fam and Team Spirit. That poor performance ushered in major roster changes, which saw Nico “Gunnar” Lopez and Malthe “Biver” Winther kicked from the team in favour of Nikita “Daxak” Kuzmin in the first position and Rodrigo “Lelis” Santos in the third.
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With a new roster, Ninjas in Pyjamas appeared at the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Europe Closed Qualifier and secured a spot in their first Dota Pro Circuit Major since the EPICENTER Major in June 2019 thanks to a commanding 2-0 win over Aggressive Mode in the third-place match. NiP still have a lot more to prove, however, and the upcoming tournament will be a perfect opportunity for them to do so.
Nigma have been all over the place in recent months. Shortly after signing the ex-Team Liquid roster back in November 2019, Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi and his squad took a swing at the DreamLeague Season 13 Europe Closed Qualifier but fell flat against Alliance in the third-place match. Nonetheless, Nigma rallied and pocketed a ticket for the Leipzig Major by winning the WePlay! Bukovel Minor in January.
With high expectations on their shoulders, the European mix got off to a flying start at the second Major of the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, topping their group and earning a spot in the playoffs. There, however, Nigma hit a brick wall, as they failed to overcome Evil Genuises (1-2) and beastcoast (1-2), thus finishing the event in ninth-12th place.
Earlier this month, Nigma also crashed out of the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Europe Closed Qualifier with a 1-1-2 record in the group stage. They were gifted another chance at the Los Angeles Major via the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 Europe Qualifier, where they made it to the finals but lost against Alliance (2-3).
NINJAS IN PYJAMAS VS NIGMA WEPLAY! TUG OF WAR: MAD MOON BETTING PREDICTIONS
This will be the first meeting between these two rosters and it is hard not to be excited with what this fixture will bring, given that both sides field some of the best players in the Dota 2 scene.
Nigma come out ahead on paper because this squad finished The International 2019 as runners-up under the Team Liquid banner. However, their recent results fail to inspire much optimism.
At the ESL One LA Major qualifiers, Nigma lost to Aggressive Mode and produced a disappointing stalemate against Viking.gg. Although they did defeat OG Seed in the qualifiers and saw some success against stronger teams back in January, their performances overall are volatile. That is not to say Ninjas in Pyjamas are in a much better position in terms of their achievements this season, but they at least offer a semblance of consistency.
NiP seem like a safer pick here, as we can’t know for sure what version of Nigma we will see. That said, neither side has shown enough to convince us they are capable of a clean sweep, which is why we will predict the series to end in three maps.
Over 2.5 maps
The Bukovel Minor came to a close on Sunday, January 12, when we saw Nigma produce a remarkable performance in the grand finals to beat Royal Never Give Up and claim a US $72,000 pay check, 140 DPC points and a ticket leading to the DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major, which is currently being played in Germany.
While the Bukovel Minor will be remembered for Nigma’s incredible resurgence in form, the Ukrainian Dota 2 esports tournament has also earned a spot in the hall of fame as the most-watched Minor in the history of the DPC. According to esportscharts.com, the Bukovel Minor averaged 93,526 viewers, with 5,494,648 watched hours and 233,124 peak viewers tuning in to watch the grand final series between RNG and Nigma.
The previous viewership record was held by DreamLeague Season 10, which took place in November 2018 and saw 77,629 average viewers and 228,707 peak viewers with a grand total of 5,466,332 watched hours. The Bukovel Minor also came close to reaching the viewership numbers of the MDL Chengdu Major, which saw 106,129 average viewers but with almost the double air time (97h) compared to Bukovel (59h).
The immense success of the Bukovel Minor is easy to understand, considering it featured some great teams and a spectacular grand final bout between RNG and the ex-Liquid roster.
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“One of the keys to the success of WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 was the stellar performance of the teams,” said Oleh Humeniuk, the WePlay! General Manager.
“We used new technologies and had no creative limits. Everyone who worked on the event loves esports, and judging by the results and feedback the viewers felt it.”
Vitaliy “Nexius” Bozhko, the WePlay! Esports Dota 2 Lead, added: “WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 brought together the strongest player lineup in the history of DPC Minors. We are grateful to the participants for the unforgettable matches and the professionalism displayed during the tournament,”
Perhaps the biggest reason why the WePlay! Bukovel Minor was so successful in terms of viewership numbers was the excellent work from the broadcasters and the overall quality of the tournament stream, which concluded in magnificent fireworks.
The casters Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden, Austin “Capitalist” Walsh and Toby “TobiWan” Dawson made sure to keep the commentary professional yet highly entertaining, which kept the tournament enjoyable to watch even when there was no action on the battlefield.
The Minor tournament was greeted with a massive amount of positive feedback from the community, who were taken aback at the standard of the broadcast for a Minor event. Some even claimed the quality and enjoyment factor was greater than some Major events.
The next WePlay! event in line for 2020 is WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon, which will take place on February 19, 2020 with eight teams competing for the lion’s share of $300,000 at Concert Hall VDNG in Kiev. Team Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Royal Never Give Up, Infamous and Natus Vincere are confirmed to compete, leaving only three more spots for directly invited teams.
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