North America has been a three-team region for Dota 2 for more than a year now, with Evil Geniuses, TSM, and Quincy Crew all having an equal claim to the region’s throne. That led to all three facing off in a tiebreaker to decide which two would represent NA at the Stockholm Major at the end of the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit’s Spring Tour.
All three of the top teams only lost one series throughout the entire regional league, with each of those coming against each other, meaning both of the region’s Major slots would be decided in best-of-one tiebreakers.
EG was the first to secure their spot at the Major, taking a dominant 32-minute win over Quincy Crew where they never trailed beyond the opening minutes. They would go on to beat TSM even faster, taking NA’s top seed for the first time since the opening season of the 2021 DPC behind some excellent play across the board, but specifically from Arteezy and Abed.
Facing elimination from Major contention, QC put up a much better fight against TSM, but Bryle’s Queen of Pain paired with Timado’s Chaos Knight proved too much to overcome. Both players dished out over 27,000 hero damage and were able to trade favorably in each interaction. By the time TSM pushed into the high ground, all of the energy seemed to be sucked out of the game as they took two key kills and QC called GGs.
This is TSM’s first appearance at any Dota Major, having qualified for the previous Winter Tour Major before it was canceled and replaced by a Regional Final, which the team went on to win. Previously, when playing together as Team Undying in the 2021 DPC, the team placed third in both seasons and just missed qualifying for either of last season’s Majors.
As for Quincy Crew, this is the first time the team has missed a Major since the regional league format was introduced in the 2021 DPC, although they still take home $27,000 and 160 DPC points on the season.
With this set of matches, the NA Division I Spring Tour comes to an end, with Team DogChamp and simply TOOBASED being relegated into Division II for the upcoming Summer Tour. There is still some action left in Division II to see who will move up for the next regional league, but 5RATFORCESTAFF has guaranteed their spot after a 7-1 season.
