After the dust settled on the ESL One Stockholm 2022. It was time to check in with the Dota 2 Western Europe Tour 3 I and II Overview – Week 1.
Tour 3 of this year’s DPC is finally here. ESL One Stockholm 2022 was amazing to watch and OG defended Western Europe’s prestige as the best region in Dota 2. Now, the young squad will have shown its prowess once more because there are other Majors ahead of them.
Week 1 of Tour 3 in Western Europe was very, very interesting. We had a couple of epic matches that we were eager to watch, especially in Division I. Although we can’t cover all of them in this review, we will try to share more information about the most intriguing matches.
Division I
Secret vs OG
Unsurprisingly, the series between Team Secret and OG was definitely the highlight of this week’s action in Division II. Both teams are among the contenders for the Major slot, so the outcome of this match was critical.
Some people thought that Secret would win because the team made an important roster change. However, OG bounced back in both games and didn’t allow their opponents to snatch the victory.
The first game between these two were exciting because we saw Tommy “Taiga” Le’s Enigma in action. Secret took the lead early on and gained a pretty solid advantage. In fact, things started to look scary for Taiga and the rest, but this was when Secret made several mistakes.
After losing a few teamfights, OG was able to bounce back and gain the lead. ESL One Stockholm’s Major winners used their advantage and won the game after 42 minutes of play.
Game Two
Similar to game one, Team Secret decided to use their Doom, Pango, and Razor. However, Clement “Puppey” Ivanov’s and his teammates also picked Enigma.
This draft gave Secret a very good start and even gained a pretty solid advantage. Sadly, similar to what happened in the first game of the series, there was a very messy fight near the Radiant’s T1 tower. Everything went wrong for Secret, which gave OG a full 5-man wipe.
Needless to say, Bozhidar “bzm” Bogdanov and his Morphling took full advantage of the situation and ripped through their opponents.
Gaimin Gladiators vs Entity
To be honest, we didn’t expect the series between GG and Entity to be so interesting. If we look at the two teams, we can see that GG was the big favorite. In fact, this is one of the best teams in Western Europe and was among the favorites in the last Major.
Surprisingly, Entity won both games and delivered Gaimin Gladiators the first loss in the DPC. Interestingly, both games lasted precisely 41 minutes and looked similar.
GG used a draft focused on Enigma and Juggernaut in game one, whereas Entity picked Sniper and Puck. The early game for Void Spirit and Juggernaut was great, but the game became one-sided once Sniper got a few items.
The second game of the series was more exciting, but in the end, Entity was victorious. GG’s Ember and IO played well, but Entity’s team-fight potential and Doom were too strong to overcome. Daniel “Stormstormer” Schoetzau and the rest were the better team this day and deserved to win.
Alliance vs Team Secret
The last series of the day that we were eager to watch was between Alliance and Team Secret. Both teams lost their first series this week, so this match was very important for them. Another loss would put them in a bad position because they will have a hard time bouncing back.
We expected this series to be close, so we weren’t surprised by what happened in game one. Alliance relied on their explosive carry and picked TA and DK. These two heroes have proven themselves many times so far, but they had to go up against none other than Secret’s Invoker.
Although TA gave Alliance a good start, once Invoker and Razor started playing more actively, things quickly changed. Secret’s draft was better for team fights because they had the double Doom combo. Sadly, Alliance couldn’t win any essential fights and lost the game after 41 minutes.
Game 2
Alliance was eager to win the second game of the series, which is why they’ve picked KOTL and NS. This combo became pretty popular in the last couple of days because it gives tons of vision.
The laning stage and the mid-game were pretty even, but Team Secret had the advantage throughout most of the game. We saw a rather interesting Roshan kill just 26 minutes after the start. This made Bristleback even harder to kill.
Despite their good draft, Alliance had no way of killing Bristleback. The hero was too tanky, and everyone else on Secret’s team also did too much damage. In the end, the newcomers in Division I had no other option but to forfeit.
Division II
NGX vs IVY
Western Europe’s Division II is always captivating to watch, but this year, it is even more special. One of the reasons for this is the fact that Nigma will have to go up against all teams here and fight for its place in Division I.
As you know, the team made a significant roster change before the start of Tour 3. Instead of Igor “iLTW” Filatov, the team got Syed SumaiL “SumaiL” Hassan and placed him in the mid-lane. Needless to say, everyone was eager to see him in action.
As expected, NGX had no problems against IVY in their first match in Division II. The first game was easy for SumaiL and the rest because the team got a draft that focused on pushing. IVY decided to go for a Medusa draft so that they could concentrate on turtling. However, things didn’t go as planned because NGX ripped through them.
After losing game one, Jan “Qupe” Tinnemeie and the rest stepped up their game and picked a more interesting draft. Speaking of something fascinating, Nigma got Earthspirit, a hero we haven’t seen in a while.
Even though IVY had their chances of gaining the lead, TI 7 champions controlled the game since its beginning. The team didn’t allow their opponents to utilize their draft and win after 43 minutes of play.
