Lima Major 2023 Group B Preview

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Dota 2: The Lima Major 2023 Group A Preview


Taking a look at the second group of teams at the Lima Major, biggest Dota event of the year so far.

Although the Winter Tour of the Dota Pro Circuit provided plenty of entertainment, every Dota 2 fan worth their salt has been waiting for the exciting prospect that is the Lima Major. The first Dota 2 Major to be held in South America, the tournament will feature 18 of the best teams out there, which promises scintillating action and thrilling games for the duration of the tournament’s 2-week-long run. The event begins with the Group Stage, and as we have already previewed the teams from Group A, here’s our take on the squads in Group B. 

For those who haven’t had the chance to check out the groups yet, Group B contains the following teams: 

  • beastcoast
  • BetBoom Team
  • Entity
  • Geek Slate
  • HellRaisers
  • Knights
  • Shopify Rebellion
  • Team Aster
  • Team Liquid

beastcoast

The South American giants seem to have consolidated their position in the region following their split/merger with the former Thunder Awaken roster. While they were a brilliant team before, they had more competition in the region but are now virtually undisputed. Known for their off-beat playstyle and aggressive moves, beastcoast are able to surprise teams from other regions increasingly often with their almost unique brand of Dota.

The Peruvian giants had a flawless run in their DPC Winter Tour, and will be one of the teams to watch at the tournament. They will also be facing foreign teams on home soil for the first time in their history, and if they can make it out of the groups, you can bet that there will be a ridiculous amount of support for them at Lima’s Arena 1.

BetBoom Team

At the start of the Winter Tour, Eastern Europe looked to be one of the toughest, most closely-contested regions. Most people were putting their money on Team Spirit, Darkside or Virtus.Pro to take the top spot. However, it was BetBoom who rose above the rest to the summit. The CIS side were flawless, and only dropped two games during their run.

It looks as though the Russian side’s heavy investment into the team — which included the recruitment of an entirely new squad with talents from the likes of Spirit, VP, Evil Geniuses and Entity — has paid off. The shadows of their Group Stage exit from last year’s The International 11 seems to be lifting, and a Major trophy might not be far from being lifted either.

Entity

Entity had a pretty solid 2022, but their performance at TI11 left a lot to be desired. They have only undergone one change since their previous campaign. While that doesn’t seem to have affected the team much, this is neither good nor bad in the grand scheme of things. They are still fond of playing some interesting drafts, and can take down the very best of them on a good day.

The Indian organization manned by Europeans had a field day during their qualification. After winning just four of their seven matches, Entity managed to edge out OG after what was a dramatic series of events in the three-way tiebreaker between themselves, OG, and reigning TI champs Tundra. 

Geek Slate 

There are not one, but two South-East Asian teams at this Major who managed to qualify despite only having joined the top guns this year. Group A’s Execration is one such team, and the other is Geek Slate. After going through several different iterations, the organization formerly known as Geek Fam returned as Geek Slate, and they have quickly shown that they mean business. 

As one of the relatively unknown quantities at the Major, Geek Slate might surprise some teams at the event. That being said, nobody really expects them to make it too far in. Unless they up their game considerably from their DPC days, they will most likely be eliminated early.

HellRaisers 

The last team to qualify from Eastern Europe, HellRaisers didn’t have many people rooting for them, but managed to pull off some solid performances to book their ticket to Peru. After only having made it into the top division this year, HellRaisers have raised the bar for themselves with this result, and although they’re underdogs in the context of the Major, teams would be wise not to underestimate them.

Despite having been around since 2014, the team has always skirted that thin line between Tiers 1 and 2. They did make it to The International once — in 2017 — but couldn’t get out of the Group Stage or win even a single series. However, this will be their first ever appearance at a Dota 2 Major as an organization. In terms of players, though, they will have a couple of Major winners on their team in the form of two-time Major winning support Alexey “Solo” Berezin and stand-in Carry Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev.

Knights 

Despite a heavy cloud of accusations of using vision hacks having hung over the newly-formed Chinese team for most of their DPC Tour, Knights are definitely playing at the Major. They have a balanced lineup consisting of some players familiar to anyone who follows the Chinese scene, and surprised many by beating the titans over at PSG.LGD during their first tour.

Knights dota 2 logo

That win in particular caused many to suspect them of foul play, with community members pointing out certain moments from their games in the first week as being questionable. However, the squad seems to have passed Valve’s probe into the matter, although there are many who are itching to see how they perform in a LAN environment.

Shopify Rebellion 

Pretty much all of North America’s hopes rested on the backs of Shopify Rebellion players while they were the old EG roster. Now that they’re under a new organization, they’re still strong, but had little or no competition in their DPC until they faced TSM, and they lost that series. Now SR faces an uphill climb in a fading region with a dying scene, and they’ll have to pull off something special to get far at this tournament. The fact that they recently won BTS Pro Series Season 14: Americas should at least give them some confidence.

While the team is brimming with talent, the main issue seems to be a lack of nerve control and stale drafts and tactics. Rebellion have had the same coach for a very long time, and he doesn’t seem to have evolved his strategies to fit more recent metas. Moreover, their aging captain Tal “Fly” Aizik seems to be heading the way of Kuro “KuroKy” Takhasomi with his own outdated ideas tinged with burnout. 

Team Aster 

Aster had been on the rise throughout last year, which culminated in an excellent 4th place finish at TI11 following a triumph against their regional big brothers PSG.LGD. The team still hasn’t won any serious silverware, but seems to be in a position where they can finally gun for lofty prizes. This tournament will determine whether they continue to be overshadowed by PSG.LGD or supersede the giants at least on the international stage.

Team Aster dota 2 logo

The Aster lineup has undergone a couple of changes, but with a 3-man core continuing for the team, their playstyle has remained mostly unchanged. They were excellent in the DPC, and it was only by losing to PSG.LGD in a tiebreaker that they missed out on the top spot.

Team Liquid

It’s never easy to go the entire length of a DPC tour without losing a series, and doing so in the most talent-laden region of them all is an even bigger achievement. Liquid may have only managed 3rd place at last year’s TI, but they seem to have become even stronger with the acquisition of Michał “Nisha” Jankowski, and managed to all but breeze through the start of the year. 

One of the most proactive, aggressive teams out there, Liquid excel at using vision to its advantage and tend to take control of the map as early as possible. They also have arguably the single most skilled Mid player in the business at the moment, and they rarely, if ever, allow a team to come back once they’ve taken a decent lead. If any team is going to beat Liquid, they simply cannot give them the slightest of chances.

We’ll have plenty of Dota 2 content for you in the coming weeks, including regular recaps of the Major, so stay tuned.





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