With the first tour of the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season coming to an end, Fnatic, BOOM Esports, and Dendi’s B8 had reality checks.
Despite kicking off the season with stacked rosters, all three teams were relegated after disastrous performances.
BOOM and Fnatic were not only present at The International 2022, but the two organizations also made clutch transfers for the 2023 season. But both teams failed to win a series until the final days of the first tour, putting themselves in a situation which significantly reduced their chances of getting invited to TI12.
Unless Fnatic and BOOM come back to the first division for the third tour to win it, and also win the respective Major, they’ll need to go through the regional qualifiers for a TI seat.
The same applies to Dendi’s B8. The team decided to move its Dota 2 operations to North America for the 2023 DPC, hoping to snatch a Major slot, but they were handed a division two spot instead.
B8 introduced some Eastern European talents to the NA region while also picking up experienced players within the league, and the roster looked promising on paper. In practice, however, B8 fell apart as soon as the season started as the team failed to win a single series.
The end of the first DPC tour saw the demise of more than a few top-tier teams. In addition to Fnatic, BOOM, and B8, Team Secret were also relegated. Considering Puppey’s iconic franchise were the runner-ups at TI11 just a few months ago, it goes to show how fast the Dota 2 world moves these days.
