After a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) is making a comeback. With each region getting their own league, the DPC suddenly turned into a land of opportunities for new teams.
Though the organizers ran into a couple of troubles during the qualifiers, all regions are now ready to kick off, with Europe featuring one of the most stacked upper divisions. The region was one of the most active ones when DPC was on pause, meaning most teams were already in top shape when the new competitive structure was announced.
The prize pool and format
The upper-division teams will be competing for a $205,000 prize pool alongside two guaranteed spots in the upcoming major tournament. Third and fourth-seeded teams will need to go through the wild card stage against the runners-ups from other regions to take their place in the major. A total of 1,150 Dota Pro Circuit points will be up for grabs. Starting with fifth place, teams will earn DPC points, which will be essential as we get closer to the International.
The bottom three teams won’t be able to earn any DPC points, and the last two will be demoted to the lower division.
The lower division also features eight teams, four of them coming from the open qualifiers. Though there aren’t any DPC points to be earned in the lower division, teams will be competing for a $75,000 prize pool. The top two seeded teams will advance to the upper-division, and the bottom two squads will be eliminated. A set of new open qualifiers will be held after the league’s first season concludes to decide on the new two teams that’ll join the competition in season two.
There won’t be any playoffs, and both divisions will go through a single round-robin group stage. All matches will be best-of-threes.
Starting on Jan. 19, both divisions will conclude on Feb. 24.
Teams to watch out for
The European region is filled with both proven talents and newcomers looking to make a name for themselves. Though the names in the upper-division may look intimidating at first, the past months of online competition showcased that anything can happen. All eyes will surely be on Team Secret and OG since the two teams will look forward to proving a lot throughout the group stage.
Team Secret had one of the most dominating runs in Dota 2 throughout 2020, but all of its success was in tournaments organized by third parties. Now that the DPC is back, more teams will start showing teeth, upping the overall level of their gameplay.
Despite bringing the offlaner Ceb back, OG’s been falling one step short of glory. The team placed second in the most recent online tournaments, EPIC League and OGA Dota PIT Season four. The squad’s eyes will be on the prize, but their road to the top may not be that easy.
Advancing from the decider tournament, Vikin.GG, Alliance, and mudgolems have been showcasing promising gameplay throughout the last months. Though Team Nigma and Liquid have been relatively unstable in terms of their performance, both also showed that they could turn on the tryhard switch whenever they need to.
Taking a look at the lower division, it’s basically a decent mixture of veterans and new talents. With Ace and Misery in its ranks, Hellbear Smashers will look forward to getting into the upper-division as fast as possible, but the other squads may give them a run for their money.
The old remnants of Ad Finem are divided into two teams. Focus, SkyLark, and SsaSpartan will be competing under the Brame banner, while ThuG is in Spider Pigzs featuring Mitch and dnz.
Here are the standings for the 2021 DPC Europe Regional League.
Upper Division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | DPC Points | Seed | Prize |
| 1 | Team Secret | 7-0 | 14-3 | 500 | Major Playoffs | $30,000 |
| 2 | Alliance | 5-2 | 12-7 | 300 | Major Group Stage | $28,000 |
| 3 | Team Nigma | 4-3 | 10-8 | 200 | Major Wild Card | $27,000 |
| 4 | Team Liquid | 3-4 | 8-9 | 100 | Major Wild Card | $26,000 |
| 5 | OG | 3-4 | 9-11 | 50 | $25,000 | |
| 6 | Tundra Esports | 3-4 | 9-9 | – | $24,000 | |
| 7 | Vikin.gg | 2-5 | 6-12 | – | Demotion to lower division | $23,000 |
| 8 | High Coast Esports | 1-6 | 3-12 | – | Demotion to lower division | $22,000 |
Lower division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | Qualified | Prize |
| 1 | Brame | 6-1 | 9-3 | Upper division | $17,000 |
| 2 | Hellbear Smashers | 6-1 | 8-4 | Upper division | $16,000 |
| 3 | Creepwave | 6-1 | 9-4 | $15,000 | |
| 4 | No Bounty Hunter | 4-3 | 4-7 | $11,000 | |
| 5 | Spider Pigzs | 3-4 | 5-8 | $9,000 | |
| 6 | Hippomaniacs | 2-5 | 1-10 | $7,000 | |
| 7 | Meta4Pro | 0-7 | 0-14 | Elemination | – |
| 8 | burjui | 0-7 | 0-14 | Elemination | – |
Meta4Pro and burjui were disqualified from the lower division.
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.
