Dota 2’s competitive scene may have resumed slower than other household titles in the esports scene, but it’s continuing to go full speed to make up for all the quality Dota 2 action that the fans have missed throughout a decent portion of 2020.
After wrapping up the DPC Regional Leagues’ first season, eligible teams were headed to the ONE Esports Singapore Major. Though Europe was considered as one of the strongest regions alongside China due to the number of top-level teams participating, Europe was just one step short of a top-three finish.
While a fourth place is nothing short of impressive considering the global pool of talented teams, the rest of the European region struggle to keep up with Team Secret’s fourth-place finish. Team Liquid was able to secure itself a top 12 finish while Alliance and Team Nigma placed 13th and 16th, respectively, earning no DPC points and prize money.
It’s the beginning of a new journey in Dota 2’s competitive scene, however, and teams will be starting over as the second season of DPC Regional Leagues kick-off.
What’s at stake?
Similar to the last season, teams in the upper and lower divisions will go head-to-head in a best-of-three, round-robin format.
The top two teams in the upper-division will secure their spots in the major. The winner of the season will be rewarded with 500 DPC points and a playoff seed, while the runner-up team will settle with 300 DPC points and a group stage slot in the next major.
In the meantime, the third and fourth seeds will need to go through the wild card stage and 200/100 DPC points, respectively. A total prize pool of $205,000 will also be distributed amongst all teams based on their ranking, raising the stakes.
The lower division teams will be competing for a spot in the upper division alongside a prize pool of $75,000.
Teams that fail to qualify for The International 10 will also enter a last-chance qualifier as the second DPC Regional League season concludes. The winner of the last-chance tournament will qualify for TI10.
Teams to watch out for
Europe potentially has one of the more stable upper divisions around the world. There are a few powerhouse names like Team Secret, Nigma, OG, and Alliance. While these names’ reign were also challenged last season, the competition wasn’t high enough to send them back to the lower division.
Coming in hot from the lower division, former TI runner-up MISERY’s team will be one of the first teams that fans will want to watch out for. Hellbear Smashers are coming off a rather hot run from the lower division since they had a somewhat promising start to the division.
The second lower division Brame will also have a lot to prove since the team is filled with names that fans may remember from the golden age Ad Finem. SkyLark, SsaSpartan, and Focus have been playing together for quite a while now, and the squad has shown promise in mid-tier tournaments. This looks like it’ll be their first real test vs. Europe’s most elite, making fans wonder how they’ll stack up versus the competition.
Upper Division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | DPC Points | Seed | Prize |
| 1 | Alliance | 6-1 | 13-7 | 500 | Major Playoffs | $30,000 |
| 2 | Team Liquid | 5-2 | 12-7 | 300 | Major Group Stage | $28,000 |
| 3 | Team Nigma | 4-3 | 11-7 | 200 | Major Wild Card | $27,000 |
| 4 | Team Secret | 4-3 | 9-9 | 100 | Major Wild Card | $26,000 |
| 5 | Tundra Esports | 3-3 | 9-11 | 50 | $25,000 | |
| 6 | OG | 3-4 | 8-9 | – | $24,000 | |
| 7 | Brame | 3-4 | 8-10 | – | Demotion to lower division | $23,000 |
| 8 | Hellbear Smashers | 0-7 | 4-14 | – | Demotion to lower division | $22,000 |
Lower division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | Qualified | Prize |
| 1 | Vikin.gg | 7-0 | 14-4 | Upper division | $17,000 |
| 2 | Level UP | 5-2 | 11-5 | Upper division | $16,000 |
| 3 | Ghost frogs | 4-3 | 10-7 | $15,000 | |
| 4 | Team Bald Reborn | 4-3 | 8-7 | $11,000 | |
| 5 | Into The Breach | 3-4 | 8-9 | $9,000 | |
| 6 | No Bounty Hunter | 3-4 | 8-10 | $7,000 | |
| 7 | Chicken Fighters | 2-5 | 6-10 | Elemination | – |
| 8 | Hippomaniacs | 0-7 | 1-14 | Elemination | – |
You can catch all the games live on DreamLeague’s Twitch channel. Past games will also be available on the channel, under the videos/past broadcasts section. You can also checkout DreamLeague’s YouTube for more content.
