Dota 2: StarLadder ImbaTV Minor Season 3 Preview

Here is what we need to know about the upcoming Minor.

We are just days away from the start of the third Minor for this DPC. Similar to all the previous ones, the StarLadder ImbaTV Minor will feature eight of the best teams in the world. They will go head to head for a prize pool of $300K USD, as well as coveted DPC points. However, the reward that everyone is looking forward to is the slot for the Los Angeles Major.

This Minor will take place between from the fifth to the eighth of March in Kyiv, Ukraine. Let’s take a look and see what it will be like.

Format

🔥 It’s one week left before the #StarLadder ImbaTV #Dota2 Minor, and today we are ready to announce the group stage seedings.

A: business associates, @forzegg, @TeamAsterCN, @boomesportsid

B: @theAllianceGG, @NoPingEsports, @GambitEsports, Fighting PandaS#KyivMinor pic.twitter.com/sDQIch1cZv

— StarLadder Dota 2 (@StarLadderDota2) February 26, 2020

The eight participating teams will be divided into two GSL Groups consisting of four teams. Every single series in the group is Bo3 and those who finish in the first two spots will advance to the playoffs. On the other hand, the other two teams from the group will be eliminated.

In terms of the playoffs, we will have a classic double elimination bracket where every game is Bo3. Of course, this doesn’t apply to the Grand Final, where it will be Bo5.

Groups A

The first group of this Minor has the following teams:

• Boom Esports
• Business associates
• forZe
• Team Aster

At first glance, it seems like Team Aster is the one who will have the easiest time here. The Chinese squad has had a fairly decent season so far, even though they still don’t have many DPC points.

The second team that stands out here is Boom Esports. The Indonesian squad used to be one of the most prominent tier-two teams during the last DPC. They managed to deal some serious damage among tier-one teams but their fame only lasted so long. After a couple of unsuccessful events, Boom Esports slowly faded away.

Business associates are a very interesting team because on paper, they definitely have what it takes to win. However, we are yet to see if they are prepared for what is to come.

Group B

The Minor's second group consists of the following teams:

• Alliance
• Fighting PandaS
• Gambit Esports
• NoPing e-sports

By the looks of it, the second group of this Minor is definitely the more interesting out of the two. Alliance, Fighting PandaS, Gambit Esports, and NoPing e-sports will have to fight to determine which two of them are worthy of going forward.

Calling a clear winner in this group is very hard, especially when there are so many good teams. Perhaps the biggest favorite has to be Alliance, judging by their performance in this DPC so far. Even though they've played pretty well, the EU powerhouse was still unable to get that slot for the LA Major. However, they have another chance to go there if they win here.

The other interesting team in this group is Fighting PandaS. As you may know, EternalEnvy’s ex-team was involved in a big controversy lately after two of its founding members decided to leave. Although people expected FP to drop out of this Minor, they managed to find substitutes in the face of Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann and Oliver “Skiter” Lepko. However, we haven’t seen them in action with their new roster yet, so it will be very interesting to see what will happen.

Lastly, the other team which we believe has a chance of going to the playoffs is Gambit Esports. The CIS team had its own problems last week after Danil “gpk” Skutin decided not to play with his team in the boot camp. As a result, Gambit kicked him from their roster and played with a stand-in for the qualifiers. However, it seems like everything is OK again because gpk is back with his team.

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