The Group Stage of the Dota 2 tournament under the WESG 2018 is over and eight teams are ready to fight it out in the Quarterfinals.
The World Electronic Sports Games is an esports championship tournament organized by AliSports. What makes this tournament unique compared to other competitions is that it requires teams to have players that are of the same nationality. For WESG 2018, the competitive games include Dota 2, CS:GO, Heathstone, Starcraft II, VainGlory, and Pro Evolution Soccer. The tournament began March 7 and finish on March 17.
For the Dota 2 part of the tournament, the Group Stage began on March 7. The Grand Finals are expected to be played on March 10. The prize pool for the Dota 2 tournament is $890,000. This year's WESG tournament is held in Chongqing.
Serving as the English casters for the tournament are Dakota “KotLGuy” Cox, Kevin “Purge” Godec, Willaim “Blitz” Lee, David “GoDz” Parker, and Austin “Capitalist” Walsh. A total of 24 teams participated in the Group Stage which followed a best-of two round robin format. The top two teams advance to the playoffs with the rest in the group is eliminated.
White-off, Team Ukraine, Keen Gaming, and five more teams move on to #WESG #Dota2 Playoffs
— WESG (@WESGcom) March 8, 2019
Eight strongest teams across four different groups have prevailed over the other 16 squads and qualified to the Playoffs.
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The first match of the Quarterfinals saw EHOME playing against Keen Gaming. While EHOME won the Bucharest Minor early this year, the team didn't fare as well during the Chongqing Major and had a dismal showing in the MDL Macau 2019. The second match saw Team Ukraine versus South American team Gorillaz-Pride. G-Pride is a relatively new Dota 2 team and while they have yet to participate in any Valve-sponsored tournament, they are considered as a tier-2 team in South America.
The third match is between NoLifer5 and White-Off.
The fourth and final Quarterfinals match is between SEA favorite TNC Predators versus Team Canarinho. With the tournament being held in Chongqing, TNC is forced to play without their team captain, Carlo "kuKu" Palad. Palad is still banned in Chongqing. Playing instead is Marc Polo Luis "Raven" Fausto, who is on loan from Lotac. Also playing for TNC is Lotac player Nico "eyyou" Barcelon, who stands in for Michael "ninjaboogie" Ross Jr., who left the team early this year.
