The qualifiers for the Dota 2 ESL One Birmingham 2020 Online are finally over and the main matches are ready to begin. Like many esports competitions nowadays, this one changed to a purely online version as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. While there’s no specific date yet, matches are going to be played from May to June.
That’s not all that’s been changed. Instead of a big tournament, ESL One Birmingham has instead been divided into four regional tournaments. Initial matches follow a round-robin format with each match as a best-of three, except the finals which is a best-of five. With the matches divided into four different regions, the total prize pool has been split as well. From a total $335,000 prize pool, it’s now divided into:
- Europe & CIS: $200,000
- China: $55,000
- North & South America: $40,000
- Southeast Asia: $40,000
Here are the different regions and the teams participating:
- Europe & CIS
- Direct Invite:
- Team Secret
- OG
- Team Liquid
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- FlyToMoon
- Alliance
- Natus Vincere
- VP.Prodigy
- Gambit Esports
- Team Spirit
- HellRaisers
- Vikin.gg
- Cyber Legacy
- TBD
- Qualifier:
- Aggressive Mode
- Team Unique
- Direct Invite:
- North & South America
- Direct Invite:
- Evil Geniuses
- business associates
- CR4ZY
- Quincy Crew
- beastcoast
- Qualifier:
- Thunder Predator
- Direct Invite:
- China
- Direct Invite:
- PSG.LGD
- Team Aster
- EHOME
- Royal Never Give Up
- Invictus Gaming
- Sparking Arrow Gaming
- Quallifier:
- CDEC Gaming
- Longinus
- Direct Invite:
- Southeast Asia
- Direct Invite:
- Fnatic
- TNC Predator
- Geek Fam
- Team Adroit
- Qualifier:
- Reality Rift
- ESL SEA Champion 2020:
- BOOM Esports
- Direct Invite:
Predictions
With the recent updates to Dota 2, it will be interesting to see how the players adapt to the new meta. Update 7.26c in particular has made changes to the Talents of the heroes.
It’s also difficult to see how teams will fare since groupings have yet to be released. Still, for Europe & CIS we’re looking at Team Secret and Alliance to make it to the high spots. Secret has been consistent so far while Alliance is really turning heads lately. We’re not sure about OG since it looks like they’re still looking for some new members.
For North & South America its Evil Geniuses hands down. That said, CR4ZY could have a chance to take them down, or even possibly Quincy Crew.
China is a bit difficult as there are a lot of good teams. We’re going with Invictus Gaming on this one along with Royal Never Give Up. Team Aster, however, could bring out a surprise considering the roster.
For Southeast Asia, it has to be Fnatic. TNC may be the top ranked Dota 2 team before everything was cancelled, but they’ve been having some problems. Adroit may also give everyone a run for their money.
Flashback Friday
As a bit of trivia, if you’ve been following the matches so far, the SEA open qualifiers was a sort of a treat. Why you ask? One of the teams was Flower Gaming, with two members being Yi Liong “ddz” Kok and Hsien Wan “Lance" Fua.
These two made the news back in 2014 for two reasons. The first was that they won the top spot in the SEA qualifiers and thus earned their chance to be part of The International 2014.
After TI4 they made news again, this time for the wrong reason. The two were implicated in a match fixing allegation and received bans from Valve-sponsored events. While they didn’t make it to the main tournament of this year's ESL One Birmingham, it seems these two are planning to have comebacks.
What about you? Who are you rooting for in this tournament? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
