Of all the regions involved in the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit, South America looks to be the one that has grown the most over the last year. Instead of looking at the lineup and wondering who can stand up to beastcoast, we are now wondering if beastcoast will even make it to the first Major.
That isn’t a knock to beastcoast either. Teams like Thunder Predator, SG e-sports, and others have all shown some serious promise over the last several months. There could be some serious competition coming out SA this year.
Prize pool and format
The eight upper division teams will be competing for a $205,000 prize pool and 1,150 Dota Pro Circuit points.
At the end of the season, which runs from Jan. 18 to Feb. 26, the top two teams will earn a spot at the March Major, while the bottom two teams will be relegated two the lower division for season two. The bottom three teams won’t gain any of the DPC points either.
The lower division is also made up of eight teams, but there are no DPC points up for grabs this time. Instead, the teams will be playing for their share of $75,000 and a chance at being promoted to the upper division for season two.
The two top finishers at the end of the first season will replace the lowest placing teams from the upper division, while the bottom two teams will be completely eliminated and replaced by new teams through an open qualifier.
The groups will follow a single round-robin format with all matches being best-of-threes. There won’t be any playoffs because of the enhanced focus on the Major.
Teams to watch
Despite showing growth, SA still looks like it will have a pretty top-heavy class of teams playing in the upper division.
Thunder Predator and beastcoast are the clear favorites to earn the Major spots, since both have competed against NA teams over the last several months and done well, even when faced with high latency. TP even won the last BTS Pro Series Season of 2020 over 4 Zoomers in December.
SG e-sports is a big name in Dota, but the team that was previously known as Team Brasil has a lot to prove on the big stage. The same goes for Infamous and No-Ping e-sports, who are either fielding new rosters or haven’t done much outside of SA over the last year.
As for the lower division, things are wide open for any team to take a big lead. Both Infinity Esports and Incubus Club have some experience competing together after playing in the closed qualifier already, however. And 0-900 looks like it might be the most promising squad out of the open qualifier group, fielding veterans like Christian “Madara” Kimura and Diego “Jericho” Rivera.
Standings
Upper division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | DPC Points | Seed | Prize |
| 1 | beastcoast | 6-1 | 12-2 | 500 | Major Playoffs | $30,000 |
| 2 | Thunder Predator | 5-2 | 10-6 | 300 | Major Group Stage | $28,000 |
| 3 | SG e-sports | 4-3 | 8-8 | 200 | Major Wild Card | $27,000 |
| 4 | NoPing e-sports | 4-3 | 11-8 | 100 | Major Wild Card | $26,000 |
| 5 | Team Unknown | 3-4 | 8-8 | 50 | $25,000 | |
| 6 | Infamous | 3-4 | 7-8 | – | $24,000 | |
| 7 | EgoBoys | 2-5 | 5-11 | – | Demotion to lower division | $23,000 |
| 8 | Latam Defenders | 1-6 | 3-13 | – | Demotion to lower division | $22,000 |
Lower division
| Rank | Team name | Series | Games | Qualified | Prize |
| 1 | Infinity Esports | 6-1 | 13-4 | Upper division | $17,000 |
| 2 | Hokori | 6-1 | 13-4 | Upper division | $16,000 |
| 3 | Incubus Club | 6-1 | 13-3 | $15,000 | |
| 4 | Gorillaz-Pride | 4-3 | 10-6 | $11,000 | |
| 5 | Crewmates | 3-4 | 6-8 | $9,000 | |
| 6 | Inverse | 2-5 | 4-10 | $7,000 | |
| 7 | Mad Kings | 1-6 | 2-12 | Elimination | – |
| 8 | 0-900 | 0-7 | DQ | Elimination | – |
