
Dota 2: DreamLeague Season 12 Group Stage Overview
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Zlosterr

The first big tournament after The International 2019 came to an end is finally live. Today was the first day of DreamLeague Season 12, and we got to see all series in both groups. Six of the best teams in the world were divided into two groups. Both of them were fairly equal but also very challenging because only the team that finishes first is going to advance to the Upper Bracket.
Let’s take a look at what happened in each of them.
Group A
WE ARE GOING TO THE SEMI FINALS OF THE @DreamHackDota Season 12! GGWP Demon Slayers.#GONINJAS #DOTA2 #DLS12 pic.twitter.com/SgI2wAkKfe
— Ninjas in Pyjamas (@NIP) October 18, 2019
Contrary to pre-tournament expectations, Team Liquid was not able to stomp their enemies. Instead, Ninjas in Pyjamas was the one that dominated the group. The first challenge ahead of Peter “ppd” Dager and Co. was Team Liquid. Needless to say, this was the perfect time for them to take revenge after they lost to the ex-Alliance roster just a couple of days ago in the qualifiers for MDL Chengdu. Luckily, this time ppd drafter very easy-to-play heroes and managed to secure the series.
The next challenge ahead of NiP was Demon Slayers. It seems like they were a bit underestimated by the EU team because game one was a crazy back-and-forth brawl. However, after a very crucial mistake 67 minutes in the game, NiP was able to deliver their knock-out punch and secured the lead in the series. Having the moral advantage on their side, they continued their domination in game two. However, they only needed 38 minutes here to seal the deal.
Before this, Demon Slayers also lost against Team Liquid. Unlike their first game, Max “qojqva” Bröcker and his team-mates did little to no mistakes and managed to secure the second spot in their group. This means that they will have to go toe to toe with FlyToMoon tomorrow and fight for their survival.
Group B
We end the group stage with a perfect score of 4-0!👀
Tomorrow we will take on @NiPGaming in the UB Finals to see who the first Grand Finalist will be!🔥#ALLfam #DHDL12 pic.twitter.com/UQRXw5qLHX— Alliance 🎇 (@theAllianceGG) October 18, 2019
The second group was definitely more interesting to watch. That said, one of the teams was just miles away from the competition.
As expected, Alliance completely ripped through their enemies like a knife through butter. The first one to fall was J.Storm, even though some people thought that it would be a drow. Nikolay “NikoBaby” Nikolov and his team gave the NA powerhouse absolutely no chances and won two 30 minutes games in a row. It seems like the absence of Roman “Resolut1ion” Fominok is still not fixed. Hopefully, J.Storm will be able to overcome this issue, but the time the first Major of this DPC begins.
In the last series of the day, Alliance also won against FlyToMoon. An interesting fact is that the CIS squad was a more significant threat in comparison to J.Storm. If they can play the same way as today, the situation for Team Liquid tomorrow will become very tricky.
Be sure to watch this fantastic tournament again. We have some great matches coming up, including a potential re-match between Liquid and Alliance.
Sadly, three of the teams will have to pack their stuff and head home, but that’s how life works.