Vici Rising from the depths
Since the beginning of the season, the minors were perceived more as consoling tournaments, rather than a second chance of making it to the Majors. The later has been proven by statistics: first, Tigers won the DreamLeague Season 10 and managed a 13-16 place in The Kuala Lumpur Major. Then EHOME showed an incredible fight and managed a 5-6 place finish in Chongqing.
However, the impressive performance of Vici Gaming exhibited the real purpose of the minors. We can all agree on the fact that the window between the qualifiers and the LAN finals of the Dota Pro Circuit tournaments is so great that that roster can include several changes.
🔥 MAJOR FREAKING CHAMPIONS! 🔥
THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!TOO LONG A HUNT, WELL WORTH THE PRIZE!
VG 3:2 VP#VGFighting #VGWin
— VICI Gaming (@VICI) March 24, 2019
In extremely competitive regions like China, this window is costly and can shift the power between teams. As they can make all the changes they want when they fail to qualify for Major and get the best squad for the minor. After winning the minor the team doesn’t need any warmup as it will compete in the Major after a couple of days. Owing to this fact, the mid-tier teams are beginning to gain momentum. After replacing EHOME and PSG.LGD, another team came forth, which could not only fight the strongest teams in the world but can win one of the biggest tournaments of the year, Vici Gaming.
From the last two tournaments, Vici Gaming has tasted defeat in only one series. The weak preparation of opponents can be the main cause of the dominance of the Chinese. Vici overcame all the top three opponents – Virtus.pro, Fnatic and Team Secret. The victory is absolutely deserved and will surely be a force to reckoned with in the upcoming DPC competitions. The team can surely keep up the momentum and will be amongst the top contenders for the upcoming International.
This battle gave China its first Major Championship in this season and punched our ticket to #TI9.
This will only inspire us to perform better and better in the future!
Thanks to everyone involved, our proud sponsors, the event organizers, surely all of our amazing fans! pic.twitter.com/guMQIw3zZi— VICI Gaming (@VICI) March 25, 2019
VP the kings of CIS
The 2018-2019 season is about to reach its climax, one thing we can all agree on is the fact that that only Virtus.pro can defend the honor of the CIS. In Sweden, the team reached the final and strengthened its leadership in the ranking of Dota Pro Circuit. Moreover, VP played in the fifth final of the major in a row since last season as they won the ESL One Birmingham 2018 and lost to Team Liquid in the final of the China Dota 2 Supermajor. Despite the defeat in the final, Virtus.pro again showed character and adequately represented the region in Sweden.
We're finishing #DreamLeagueMajor in 2nd place. Thank you to our fans and congratulations @VICI! pic.twitter.com/withyTDo4w
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) March 24, 2019
Other results
As for the other representatives of the CIS, only teams change but the last place remains constant. Natus Vincere repeated the results of The Pango and Gambit Esports on past majors and finished dead last in DreamLeague. After the encouraging start of the group stage, NaVi gave Evil Geniuses a strong fight, winning one map, and then defeating Chaos. However then the team decline in form, at first they lost to Vici Gaming in a duel to the top bracket. After the defeat, Natus Vincere dropped to the lower bracket where J.Storm eliminated them from the competition.
