The first season of the revamped Dota 2 Champions League served as a test for several teams who are also competing in the Dota Pro Circuit, and Team Spirit’s lineup showed that roster consistency matters.
After defeating Team Unique and High Coast Esports, Spirit made quick work of Vikin.gg, taking the top spot and $10,000.
Just like in every series that Spirit dominates, Illya “yatoro” Mulyarchuk was at the core of the action. Vikin.gg failed to kill the carry player once, letting him absolutely crush his lanes and lead his team in both net worth and damage through both games.
In total, yatoro went 20/0/21 for more than 51,000 hero damage in two games on Wraith King and Phantom Lancer. He nearly doubled the damage of anyone on his team in both games, and in combination with Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek’s Storm Spirit, Vikin.gg didn’t really get a chance to do much.
Vikin.gg might have had a better chance at adapting if the series went another game, but D2CL ran all of its series as best-of-three and Spirit were able to take a 28-minute, 26-7 game two and seal the event.
Of the four teams that were given direct invites to the playoffs, three finished in the top four—with Spirit winning it all, Vikin.gg taking second, and High Coast finishing in a tie for third with Brame. Brame qualified through the group stage and managed to get a 2-0 upset on HellRaisers, before falling to Vikin.gg in the second round.
Spirit will next play on April 16 when they begin their CIS regional league run in the upper bracket for the DPC’s second season. They finished in fourth during season one and lost a tiebreaker with AS Monaco Gambit for a spot at the ONE Esports Singapore Major.
