Tundra Esports is off to a great start in the 2023 Western Europe (WEU) Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season. The champions of The International 2022 (TI11) nabbed a win against back-to-back Dota 2 TI Champions OG.
Now that the off-season has ended and the competitive run has started, everyone in the community is excited to see what each Dota 2 team has to offer. And so far, Tundra Esports and OG have shown some really great potential, though the latter succumbed to the former.
Match Recap and Highlights - Tundra Esports vs. OG
The first game was a balance between the two. OG went all-in aggressively as they tried to dominate the lanes, while Tundra Esports resorted to focusing more on obtaining their mid-game timings. While OG seemed to have full control, Tundra’s never-say-die attitude allowed them to let Oliver "skiter" Lepko’s Spectre shine and dominate the mid-game. Game One ended after over 44 minutes, with Tundra getting the first blood of the series.
Game Two saw OG trying to step up and still going for yet another aggressive hero draft. The team picked the trio of Ember Spirit, Timbersaw, and Drow Ranger. Tundra, on the other hand, chose their signature drafting, with Leon “Nine” Kirikin picking his go-to hero Tusk midlane and Neta “33” Shapira’s Broodmother offlane.
OG was successful, so far, in dominating two out of three of their lanes with their aggressive gameplay. This eventually helped Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev’s Drow Ranger and Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdano’s Ember Spirit to build upon the team’s early advantage. Unfortunately, mid-game came and the tide of battle started to turn for Tundra, especially after OG went careless and senselessly gave away kills for free.
The mistakes OG committed gave Tundra the chance to catapult their heroes to victory. And while the former tried delaying the game, looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, the TI11 Champions just wanted to end the series once and for all. OG tapped out after 47 minutes, giving Tundra its first 2-0 win of the 2023 DPC season.
Tundra Esports moved to the top of the Dota 2 WEU regional league table in Division I. Meanwhile, OG needs to improve quickly if they want to qualify for the upcoming Lima Major in Peru, slated to start by the end of the first tour.
