Dota2: DPC Europe – Week 2

The second week of the European DPC season is played and both Secret and Nigma are still undefeated. OG, meanwhile, missed the jump to first place.

After Nigma had secured their place at the top of the league with two wins last week, the team around captain Kuro Salehi „KuroKy“ Takhasomi could only watch from the sidelines in week two. This gave OG the chance to move past them. However, even without having played a game of their own this week, Nigma retained first place. While Nigma continues to sit at the top of the table, the air in the basement threatens to get thin quickly for another team.

DPC Europe: Liquid wins, HCE weakens

Team Liquid opened the first week with a clear 2:0 against Vikin.gg, now High Coast Esports (HCE) was on the menu. HCE tried to surprise Liquid in both games with an IO carry on Charlie „Charlie“ Arat, but Liquid was not impressed by that in the slightest. Instead, the hunger for victory was as great as ever after the loss to Nigma. In neither of the two maps could HCE grow into a serious threat. Additionally, the meager two kills on map two represented a negative record that the team should hardly be proud of.

This was not to be the only one-sided encounter of the second week of play, however.

Team Secret, which surprisingly gave up a map to Tundra on the first day of play, seemed almost untouchable in the second week. The Romanian organization Vikin.gg was unable to pose any serious threat to Team Secret in a quick two mapper and even lost the second map in a record-breaking 20:57 minutes. After two matchdays without winning a map, Vikin.gg needs to get into shape as soon as possible in order not to be in serious danger of relegation.

OG misses out on top spot in week two

OG, as the third chaser in the pack, tried to take advantage of the leader's absence and had the chance to pass him with a double matchday against Tundra and Alliance.

We gave them the memes, the fountain farm, the 5 core lineup.

We promised a VIP OG treatment, here it is.

Welcome to Dota 2 @TundraEsports_. GGWP! #DreamOG pic.twitter.com/Niq5plrrab

— OG (@OGesports) January 26, 2021

Against Tundra, OG performed with old familiar confidence. After taking the lead with a near-perfect juggernaut performance from Yeik Nai „MidOne“ Zheng in the first round, OG leaned too far on Map Two. OG opted for a draft consisting of five core heroes and supplemented it with a rather unusual Midlane Sniper on Topias „Topson“ Taavitsainen. But Tundra showed that OG should not take the match lightly.

After 30 minutes of back and forth, it was Oliver „skiter“ Lepko who dominated the game on Ursa and scored the equalizer for Tundra. Remarkable was his KDA of 15/0/8. On the third and decisive map Tundra relied on a draft that already brought down Team Secret: Skiter on Wraith King and Leon „Nine“ Kirilin on Grimstroke in the middle. However, much like against Team Secret, Tundra lacked the power to keep up against OG on all three maps. Tundra never managed to gain an advantage on the third map, which is why the team lost 2-1, just like the previous week.

OMG, @NikoDOTA with the @Fnggshka jersey!😭

This team!💚#LongLiveAlliance #Dreamleague pic.twitter.com/OmoyJi6kyl

— Alliance 🏡😷 (@theAllianceGG) January 30, 2021

So for OG, with an intermediate score of 2-0 against Alliance, it was all about the top of the table, but the Swedish organization had other things in mind. Alliance swept OG after just 27 minutes and with only 7 kills from the first map. The second map was one of the most exciting matches of the week. Neither side was able to gain a clear gold advantage for nearly 50 minutes. In the end, it was Alliance who worked OG with their well-known split push until not only the throne fell, but also the chance to lead the table was destroyed.

Tundra with win, HCE last

After the pursuers had caught up with Nigma, the question arose which team would have to fear for class preservation already in the second week. Tundra, HCE and Vikin.gg were in the meantime 0:2 in the table. This made the match Tundra vs. HCE a deciding match in the bottom of the table.

Both teams had started the week with a defeat, but in the direct encounter it was Tundra that did not let it upset them. For Tundra it was mostly skiter who stood out in the matches, but this time it was the German middle talent Nine who played big and set the tone in both matches on Void Spirit.

The team around Captain Adrian „Fata“ Trinks clearly showed in two quick wins that their ambition is to stay in the class. High Coast Esports was clearly outclassed in both maps and looked almost aimless.

After this defeat, HCE now marks the bottom of the table at 0-3 and needs to not only go back to the drawing board after a disappointing week, but also find a solution to their leaderless style of play. The team still seems to lack an experienced captain, so coach Niklas „okcya“ Koskinen will have to do his best here to steer the team back on track.