Overview of DPC Western European Division One Matches for May 29

We’ve had a drought of Western Europe Dota for the past two days, and it’s finally back on May 29 with three matches on the schedule. The day started with the hottest match, Team Liquid against Tundra, followed by Gaimin Gladiators facing off OG, and closed with Quest versus Team Secret.

Team Liquid 1-2 Tundra Esports

Tundra are yet to beat Team Liquid in a series for over a year, and this matchup determines the first WEU team to qualify for the Bali Major.

Game 1

The first game of the series started passive, but Tundra were favored in a quiet game like this one, as they had skiter on Medusa and 33 on Doom to print gold. Eventually, when both teams started taking fights, Tundra had a clear net worth advantage to win most of the fights convincingly. Nisha’s last pick Outworld Destroyer didn’t work out, and Liquid had to call GG 36 minutes in.

Game 2

In Game 2, Tundra took the lead in the early game with a 5,000 net worth lead at the 11-minute mark. Despite this early advantage, zai’s Offlane Medusa was silently farming up a storm to help Liquid win a big team fight at 35 minutes against Tundra’s Aegis to bring the game back to even. Eventually, zai’s Medusa got too many items and carried Team Liquid, dealing 40,000 hero damage in the 39-minute game.

Game 3 - Game To Watch

Game 3 was vital for both teams, as the winner of this game would be locked in to go to Bali for the Major. This time, Liquid came out on top of the laning stage, with Nisha’s Queen of Pain diving into Tier 3 towers when the clock was still at 9 minutes. Liquid continued to lead the game but got cocky and dived too deep at the 20-minute mark, losing four heroes to Tundra.

The game had multiple back-and-forth team fights, but Tundra could out-scale Team Liquid’s heroes. M1Cke on Bloodseeker went for an Aura build to support zai’s Medusa, while four of Tundra’s heroes invested in scaling items. The late game was challenging for Liquid with the net worth deficit they were playing under, and Tundra won the last team fight at 56 minutes.

Gaimin Gladiators 2-0 OG

Despite having a respectable 5-6th place at the Berlin Major, OG are at the bottom of the board, risking relegation. Their opponents on May 29 weren’t easy as well.

Game 1

Gaimin Gladiators focused heavily on robust lanes, and their approach paid off and earned them a 2,000 net worth lead in the first 10 minutes. OG tried to play aggressively once bzm’s Tiny and Yuragi’s Slark hit their mid-game timings, but the Gladiators responded nicely and repelled OG’s moves. Gaimin continued to build up their lead, forcing OG to acknowledge defeat in the 25th minute.

Game 2

The story for the second game wasn’t too different, but this time GG doubled their net worth lead in the 10th minute from their previous game. Quinn performed exceptionally well on his Void Spirit, but credit has to be given to Seleri, who had a commendable showing on a niche Position 5 Batrider pick, ending the 26-minute game 6/1/20.

Quest 2-1 Team Secret

Both Secret and Quest desperately need wins, as both teams’ positions are still up in the air. The loser of this series may risk getting demoted to Division II.

Game 1 - Game To Watch

In Game 1, Secret had total control over the first 25 minutes with a 10,000 gold lead. However, Quest won a massive team fight at the top Roshan area to claim the second Aegis and return the game back to even. 

Fast forward, both teams knew that the game-deciding fight would occur for the third Roshan, where the winner of the fight will likely win the game. Both teams had a stalemate outside the top Roshan pit, where a huge team fight broke out. 

Quest took out Armel’s Storm Spirit very early into the fight, but he bought back and made a long zip into the fight, ultimately turning it around. Secret won the fight and took absolute control of the game and were able to claim Mega Creeps shortly after. It was too much for Quest and they had to concede the game at the 70-minute mark.

Game 2

Quest had a heavy mid-game approach in Game 2, picking Beastmaster for ATF and Templar Assassin for TA2000. It immensely helped Quest that No!ob was having an excellent early game on his Void Spirit, and at the 15-minute mark, all three cores came together to snowball the mid-game, and Secret had nothing to respond. The opposite of Game 1, as Secret called GG only 23 minutes in.

Game 3

For the final game, Secret went with a first phase Medusa pick, which was countered by ATF’s Anti-Mage pick. Secret lost both side lanes hard, and the game quickly went out of their control. Quest already had a 4,000 net worth lead in 12 minutes, and the lead grew bigger and bigger. Quest only had one death between their three cores and the game ended with a score of 35-10 in Quest’s favor.