A look back at The International Eastern European qualifiers that took place as we prepare for the next International.
Eastern Europe is one of the best and most interesting ones to watch in the entire DPC. The team here is unpredictable and can explode at any minute. That’s why it is always fun to keep an eye on it, no matter the event.
After the end of the DPC and the PGL Arlington Major, the Dota 2 community learned which teams received a direct invitation. Unsurprisingly, Team Spirit was the only squad from Eastern Europe that secured enough DPC points. This happened after winning the second Major.
The current TI champion will have the chance to defend its trophy, but Eastern Europe will have one more representative at the event. Unsurprisingly, there are a couple of squads that stood out, so these qualifiers were extremely fun to watch.
Upper Bracket
As mentioned, there were a couple of teams in the qualifiers that stood out. The first one is Outsiders, the team that actually won the event and became the second squad, aside from Team Spirit, that will take part in the event.
Besides Virtus.Pro’s squad, the Eastern European qualifiers gave us access to Natus Vincere, BetBoom Team, PuckChamp, and HellRaisers. All of them had the chance to fight in the Upper Bracket, which meant that every game was fun to watch.
Starting with R1, Natus Vincere and HellRaisers were probably the most interesting match to keep an eye on. The Ukrainian powerhouse was one of the leading contenders for the last sport, so people weren’t surprised that it started with a victory. However, the match wasn’t easy because Volodymyr “Noone” Minenko and the rest lost the first map and had to bounce back.
The second match that people were eager to watch was in R2 of the Upper Bracket. This time, Natus Vincere had to go up against another big name – BetBoom Team. This was one of the most anticipated series because the winner between the two would secure a slot for the UP Final against Virtus.Pro.
We expected a three-game thriller, and we were not disappointed. The series started well for BetBoom after winning game 1, but things went downhill after that. Navi Bounced Back in game two and ripped through their opponents in the third game of the match. The latter was completely one-sided as Na’Vi sent their opponents to the Lower Bracket.
Eastern European Qualifiers – Lower Bracket
The Lower Bracket in Eastern Europe was strange, at least in the first round. Two teams failed to secure slots for the qualifiers, which allowed teams like Nemiga Gaming and Projector Armor to secure free victories.
Things became way more interesting in R2 because we had the chance to watch a few big series. The one that stood out was between Pari Parni and Nemiga Gaming. We expected Gleb “depressed kid” Zyryanov and his team to win, but Nemiga showed its prowess and defeated its opponents. This loss was the last nail in the coffin for Parni’s draft and eliminated the team from TI. Puck Champ, HellRaisers, and One Move also eliminated their opponents and headed to Round 3, where we had two epic series.
Nemiga continued to impress by defeating another big name in the region. Despite being the underdogs against PuckChamp, Ilya “Kiritych” Ulyanov and the rest played two excellent games and eliminated their opponents. As for HellRasiers, the legendary CIS squad failed to live up to the expectations and lost the match against One Move.
The Quarter Finals of the Lower Bracket were also fun, but sadly, they ended Nemiga’s journey. The team had the back luck of going up against BetBoom, one of the big favorites in the qualifiers. Despite winning game 2, Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and the rest were stronger and eliminated their opponents.
Mind Games also lost against One Move, which meant that BetBoom had to go up against the latter in a direct clash in the semi-finals. As expected, SoNNeikO and the rest were the better team and secured two clean victories. This allowed them to play against Na’Vi for the second time in the LB Final.
Eastern European Qualifiers – LB Final
The final in the Lower Bracket gave BetBoom the chance to take revenge after losing in the UB Semifinals. The team had to go up against Natus Vincere because the latter failed to defeat Outsiders.
Even though we expected a very back-and-forth series, BetBoom looked more motivated and secured a clean 2-0 victory. Both matches were heavily one-sided as SoNNeikO’s team had full control since the start.
Game 1 allowed us to watch a Venge and QoP strat, whereas the second one included Visage. The latter plays a key role in BetBoom’s success, so it wasn’t surprising that the team ripped through their opponents. This allowed them to secure a slot for the Grand Final versus Outsiders.
Eastern European Qualifiers – Grand Final
After rising from the ashes, BetBoom Team had the chance to fight for a TI slot against Outsiders. The latter had no problems in the Upper Bracket after defeating Pari Parni, Mind Games, and Natus Vincere. However, they had to go up against a powerful and motivated team that was eager to win.
Despite picking some of the best meta heroes, BetBoom’s Enigma made sure that game one was in their favor. Outsiders had a few glimmers of hope, but the team relied on their Phantom Assassin to carry them. Sadly, things didn’t go as planned because BetBoom started pushing early and prevented the enemy team from farming.
Game 2
After winning the first game with Enigma, BetBoom decided to pick the same hero for the second game. VP used their signature Terrorblade with BM, but even this combo was not powerful enough to bring down their opponents.
Despite the fact that the game was almost one hour long, the Sniper pick allowed BetBoom to deal with the late-game monster. As a result, the team won the second map and were just one game away from securing a slot for TI 11.
Game 3
Despite losing the previous two games with Undying in its roster, Outsiders decided to pick the hero, as well as PA, for the third time. Sadly, this was not their lucky game because BetBoom looked more motivated than ever to win.
SoNNeikO and the rest dominated in game three and won after just 25 minutes of play. Following the defeat, VP’s roster will have to play in the so-called “Last Chance Stage”.
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