As the third Major of the 2018-19 Dota Pro Circuit season nears its conclusion, two relatively-shocking teams will be competing for the upper bracket spot in the grand finals.
DreamLeague Season 11 saw 16 of the top teams in the world travel to Stockholm, Sweden to try and cement their positioning for The International 2019.
Three teams are already locked in for the biggest stage in the Dota 2 world. Team Secret and Virtus Pro solidified their positions before the event even started, having split the first and second-place finishes at both prior Majors this season.
The third team is Evil Geniuses, who guaranteed a top six finish and therefore will claim enough points following the event to qualify. But none of those teams were able to stick in the upper bracket and only Secret and VP are still holding on.
Meanwhile, Vici Gaming, the biggest surprise of the tournament, have continued to show their stuff. After playing into the tournament through the StarLadder ImbaTV Minor, they have only dropped one series against EG in the group stage.
After making it into the upper bracket, they proceeded to beat the top team in the world, Secret, before matching up with LGD Gaming.
LGD played a very unorthodox strategy in game one, running through mid and cleaning out any resistance that met them there. From there, they pinched in and took a 1-0 lead before the timer reached the 40-minute mark.
It really looked like LGD might have the series locked down, but Vici managed to turn things around midway through game two and carried that momentum into the deciding match. They ended up taking the whole thing 2-1 to secure the first spot in the upper bracket finals.
Fnatic weren’t nearly as surprising a contender as VP, considering they’ve been the top team from the Southeast Asia region for the majority of the season. But they finally took a big step toward actually breaking into the top tier of teams when they bested not only VP, but also the streaking Keen Gaming.
Unlike Vici, Fnatic had no trouble with their opponent. Keen might have shown flashes in their win over EG, but that same flare didn’t make an appearance in their opening game against Fnatic.
Fnatic essentially piled in behind Pyo “MP” No-a’s Juggernaut and just bulldozed the competition. It was a brutal sight and the SEA team took a quick 1-0 advantage.
Game two was much more competitive, but Keen somehow let MP draft a second Juggernaut in a row and, along with Daryl “iceiceice” Pei Xiangthe on Timbersaw, the story eventually repeated itself. The seal over Fnatic’s potential seemed to finally loosen and a 2-0 victory heading into the upper bracket finals could give them the boost they need.
Both Fnatic and Vici would be first-time winners of a Major this season. But whoever wins the upper bracket finals will still need to watch out as Keen, Secret, LGD, and VP are all still vying for the crown.
