ESL One Los Angeles will be the first Major in Dota 2 history without a German player

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Germany has a rich history within the competitive Dota 2 scene, providing several of the best players to ever play the game. But an incredible run is finally coming to an end. 

The ESL One Los Angeles Major will be the first Major in Dota 2 history to not have at least one German player on a roster, ending a five-year streak that began with The Frankfurt Major 2015 when Majors were introduced to the scene. 

Over the years, there have been three very prominent German players that have basically been the entire region’s representation in Dota, though that pool has expanded to four players in the last two seasons. Those four players are Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier, Fata, KuroKy, and Max “qojqva” Bröcker.

Starting at The Frankfurt Major 2015, Black^ began the streak for German players, which was carried on by Kuro and Fata as Black^ faded out of tier one competition for a few seasons. Qojqva has been around just as long as some of those other players, but has really come into his own as a player over the last two years. 

However, everyone but Black^ plays in Europe, a region where the competition to make it into a Major is extremely tight. All three were eliminated prior to qualifying. Fata and the Alliance roster fell just short of reaching the event at the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season Three, but finished in second to Team Aster. 

Black^, who currently plays for the newly formed T1 roster, failed to reach the closed qualifiers for the Major in Southeast Asia. The only other players to make the list is former J.Storm midlaner Leon “Nine” Kirilin and CR4ZY’s Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann.

Now that the streak is broken, here is a list of each tournament and which players competed in them throughout the years, not including The International since players can qualify for that event without having played in a Major. 

• The Frankfurt Major 2015 – Black^ (Fnatic)
• The Shanghai Major 2016 – Kuro and Fata (Team Liquid)
• The Manila Major 2016 – Kuro and Fata (Liquid)
• The Boston Major 2016 – Black^ (Team Faceless)
• The Kiev Major 2017 – Kuro (Liquid,) Khezu (Team Secret,) Black^ (Team Faceless)
• ESL One Hamburg 2017 – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• Dreamleague Season 8 – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• ESL One Katowice 2018 – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• The Bucharest Major – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• EPICENTER XL – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (Team Secret)
• MDL Changsha Major – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (ninjas in Pyjamas)
• ESL One Birmingham 2018 – Kuro (Liquid)
• China Dota 2 Supermajor – Kuro (Liquid)
• The Kuala Lumpur Major – Fata (NiP) and qojqva (Alliance)
• The Chongqing Major – Kuro (Liquid) and qojqva (Alliance)
• DreamLeague Season 11 – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (NiP)
• MDL Disneyland Paris Major – Kuro (Liquid) and Fata (NiP)
• EPICENTER Major 2019 – Kuro (Liquid,) Fata (NiP,) Black^ (Infamous,) and qojqva (Alliance)
• MDL Chengdu Major – Fata (Alliance,) qojqva (Liquid,) and Nine (J.Storm)
• DreamLeague Season 13 – Fata (Alliance,) qojqva (Liquid,) and Kuro (Nigma)

This tournament is still subject to change as some teams, namely Aster, are still struggling to get their travel visas for the event and might need to play with stand-ins. Black^ would be a solid option since he has experience playing with Chinese players and can fill several roles. 

ESL One Los Angeles is set to begin on March 15, so any last-minute roster changes will have to be made very soon.