DreamLeague Season 13, or The Leipzig Major, is less than a
day away from beginning its group stages as the 16 teams are now all locked in
and the groups have been announced. We take this time to look through each team
and discern who has the best shot at taking the spoils in Germany.
The final group that we will take a look at in the Major is
that of Group D.
Group D
- Evil Geniuses
- Natus Vincere
- paiN Gaming
- Team Liquid
This group features one team that is likely to take the top spot with ease followed by three which have not yet shown their prowess so far this season, but still could cause some problems if they have managed to adapt to Outlanders.
Evil Geniuses
Following the departure of both Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan and
Gustav ‘s4’ Magnusson from the roster, EG have returned with an extremely
formidable roster. Their performance at the MDL Chengdu Major was indicative of
this and was further proven at the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational –
even though they won neither event. Considering their opponents in Group D as
well as the way in which they managed to show some fantastic performances soon
after a roster change shows that EG are still a fearsome squad.
With Roman ‘RAMZES’ Kushnarev and Abed ‘Abed’ Yusop joining
the roster, EG look set for another great DPC season and from what we saw of
them in December, this group should be no real problem for them. But it is a
Major and we know that anything is possible.
Natus Vincere
Any time Na’Vi begin to look good, it becomes easy to say
that “Na’Vi are back” but it has not been the case in a long time. When last we
saw the CIS squad, they were knocked out quite early in Singapore and prior to
that were unable to even reach the previous Minor or Major. Now that they have
reached a Major, for the first time since March last year, it’s not easy to say
that they have made any headway.
Even with the likes of Pavel ‘9pasha’ Kuvastunov on the
squad, Na’Vi have not recently shown any signs of returning their organisations
name to the upper echelons and it’s likely that they will drop to the lower
bracket of playoffs in Germany. However, if something has changed since
Singapore, Na’Vi could be prolific in their group.
paiN Gaming
South American teams are extremely tough to judge as there
are very few that really ever show up in a big way anymore – except the likes
of Infamous at TI9. That said, paiN’s Brazilian roster have always seemed to be
at the pinnacle of the region, but so far this season, they have barely shown
this. Missing out on the first Major and finishing in last at the first Minor,
paiN have already been privy to the DPC but apart from a few local events, they
have not had many other showings.
While paiN have been known to cause some upsets in the past,
they have not looked as though they have got their footing in the new DPC
season yet and considering the group that they’re in, it does not seem as
though things will get any easier.
Team Liquid
After they left the Alliance organisation, this group of
players found their way into the Liquid organisation following TI9 but nothing
great has come of this. The roster’s best performance came at the MDL Chengdu
Major where they reached an admirable fifth/sixth place but since then, apart from
qualifiers, they have looked out of place again. That said, Liquid cannot be
counted out right off the bat, as they have been formidable in the past.
It is hard to say whether or not the team will perform well in Germany, considering their up and down performances so far this season, but if they do come out fighting, they should easily make their way into the upper bracket of playoffs. However, even though they will face what could be described as an “easy” opponent first with paiN Gaming, there’s no way to be certain which Liquid we are going to see until tomorrow.
Group D seems quite easy to pick apart, especially with EG
having looked in great form lately, but there are always chances for others to
excel. Any one of the other three teams could cause some major upsets at
DreamLeague Season 13 and with Outlanders being what it is, anything can and
probably will happen.
With less than 20 hours to go, at time of writing, until the
Major kicks off, we’re excited to see some amazing Dota 2 action as the Leipzig
Major gets underway.
Source: Read Full Article