Dota 2: DPC Western Europe Regional Finals Upper Bracket Round 1

Results from Round 1 of the Upper Bracket in Western Europe's DPC Regional Finals

The Western European Dota 2 scene is home to the best teams in the world. We had the chance to watch them in action in Division I for almost two months. During that time, there were numerous amazing series and interesting results. Interestingly, some of the teams that we expected to dominate failed to live up to the expectations. However, others ripped through their enemies and secured themselves a slot for the Regional Finals.

Now that the matches in Division I are over, the best four teams have to go head to head in these finals in order to decide which one deserves to win. After waiting for a couple of weeks, we will finally have the chance to watch the best clubs in action. The matches that we had the chance to witness had everything a Dota 2 fan can wish for. With that being said, let’s go through them and see what happened.

Team Liquid vs OG

The first series that everyone was eager to watch was between Team Liquid and OG. Both of these clubs were interesting to follow in Division 11 because they made loads of roster changes prior to the DPC. Liquid got two players from Team Secret (Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg and Lasse Aukusti “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen), which had a massive effect on their results. As for OG, the two times TI champions acquired five new players and by the looks of it, they lived up to most people’s expectations. 

Game One

The first game between the two seemed even during the laning stage. However, Team Liquid quickly showed why they finished first in the Division I. OG tried to focus on some of their strongest heroes, such as Razor, Wraith King, and Puck. Both heroes played a vital role for the team in Division I. 

Although the game started well for OG, things quickly went sideways. Several bad mistakes allowed Team Liquid to secure themselves 13 kills just 11 minutes after the game began. OG did several bad rotations, which allowed their enemies to ensure a solid lead.

Despite the fact that the two times TI champions tried to bounce back, they couldn’t do anything against Liquid’s hyper-aggressive lineup. In the end, Michael “miCKe” Vu and his teammates had more than 30 kills advantage and secured themselves the lead in the series.

Game Two

After securing an easy victory in game one, Team Liquid continued their domination in the second game of the series. The laning stage was intense because neither team was able to secure a solid advantage. With that being said, Liquid picked Templar Assassin, a hero that does really well Kunkka. 

Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov and his Kunkka tried to survive against TA, but this was earlier said than done. Thanks to Ogre and Spirit Breaker, Templar Assassin snowballed out of control and gave Liquid a massive advantage in the mid game. OG had no way to bring down the deadly assassin, which allowed Liquid to secure themselves a stable 7k net worth and an Aegis just 21 minutes in.

The two times TI winner’s only chance was for their carry player Artem “Yuragi” Golubiev’s Medusa to carry the game. Although he was able to keep up with Liquid’s cores, Medusa’s damage was not enough. Team Liquid started diving its opponents under their T3 towers, which was a clear sign that this game was going to end really soon.

Team Liquid secured another kill on Roshan, which gave TA a second Aegis. Needless to say, this was the last nail in OG’s coffin, who lost the second game and will have to survive in the Lower Bracket.

Gladiators vs Team Tundra

The second game of the day was between Gladiators (ex Team Tickles) and Team Tundra. Both teams performed really well in Division I and deserved their slot in the Reginal Qualifiers. People expected Team Tundra to shine, but no one thought that a team from Division II can be so strong.

Against all odds, Team Tickles (Gladiators) ripped through the rest and secured themselves a slot for this event. Interestingly, the squad even won against Tundra in the fifth week of Division I. This means that it was time to take revenge.

Game One

The first game of the series was amazing to watch because we had the chance to see loads of action. Besides the meta heroes, we saw things like Broodmother, which are always “fun”, especially if you have to play against it.

Team Tundra had a pretty good draft, but Gladiators completely ripped through them. Templar Assassin and Vengeful Spirit allowed Gladiators to one-shot their opponents. After having a fantastic laning stage, TA was able to secure an Aegis, which increased its team advantage.

After shutting down Timberspirit (which was the only way to deal with Brood), TT had no other choice but to surrender. Despite having WK in its roster, the hero didn’t stand a chance against the overly-farmed TA and Brood.

Game Two

After winning the first game of the series, Gladiators was one game away from going up against Team Liquid in the Upper Bracket Final. This game was prolonged because both teams tried to focus on not dying. With that being said, Gladiators had a great draft for the mid-game. This allowed them to secure themselves tons of pick-offs, thanks to heroes, such as Storm Spirit.

Despite having a lot of kills advantage, Team Tundra was not far behind in terms of net worth. With that being said, Gladiators managed to kill Roshan and give their Storm Spirit an Aegis. 

Gladiators slowly but steadily started gaining control of the game because they’ve pushed all of their opponents' T2 towers. There was a big team fight near the bottom T2 that favored Gladiators. Sadly,  Team Tundra was unable to recover after it lost all of its players. This allowed Anton “dyrachyo” Shkredov and the rest to secure two lanes of rax. Needless to say, this was enough to win the game.