Dota 2
Let’s see what happened after the end of Group Stage 2 at DreamLeague Season 19.
After what we’ve learned from our DreamLeague Season 19 Group Stage Roundup, it’s become clear the best Dota 2 teams in the world secured a spot for Group Stage 2. The latter consisted of 8 teams, but only 4 would advance to the playoffs. Needless to say, this made all series even more interesting to watch.
After 8 days of epic matches, in the end, we know the names of the 4 teams advancing to the next stage of the tournament. Those who finished in the top 2 will go to the Upper Bracket of the Playoffs, whereas the 3rd and 4th placed squads will advance to the Lower Bracket of the Playoffs. Some teams exceeded our expectations, but many failed, so let’s learn more about them.
Before we begin, here are the final Group Stage 2 standings (in no particular order)
- Gaimin Gladiators
- Team Liquid
- Shopify Rebellion
- Tundra Esports
- Beastcoast
- Evil Geniuses
- OG
- TSM
Team Liquid continues to be the best in the world
Before this Dota 2 tournament began, many people considered Team Liquid to be the best in the world. Michał "Nisha" Jankowski’s team was always on another level, and the only team they weren’t able to defeat was Gaimin Gladiators. Even though The Lima Major 2023 champions dealt with their colleagues again, there is no arguing Team Liquid is on another level.
After the dominant performance in Group Stage 1, the squad continued to rip through their opponents in the second group stage. After the end of all games, the team finished with just a single loss against GG. Team Liquid had no problems against any of their opponents, except for Tundra Esports, where we saw a 3-game thriller.
Unsurprisingly, Liquid will be one of the main contenders to win DreamLeague Season 19. However, the team will have to go up against their arch-nemesis GG, so we expect to see an amazing match.
Gaimin Gladiators is very, very dangerous
Although Team Liquid might be the fan-favorites and the team people are looking up to at DreamLeague Season 19, Gaimin Gladiators are as dangerous as them. In fact, some Dota 2 fans think the squad is on another level simply because GG is the only team capable of deafening Liquid, and they've proven it many times.
Similar to their big Western European rivals, Anton "dyrachyo" Shkredov and the rest had no problems after 7 days of action during Group Stage 2. Interestingly, the only series GG failed to win was against Shopify Rebellion. Despite the fact the team from WEU was the big favorite, they failed to defeat their North American counterparts. Thankfully, GG had no problems against the rest.
Since Gaimin Gladiators is the second team from Group Stage 2 of DreamLeague Season 19 who will advance to the Upper Bracket of the playoffs, they’ll have a match against Team Liquid. The last few clashes between the 2 went in favor of GG, but who knows? We might see a comeback from Liquid.
Shopify Rebellion is the best in North America
Despite the fact that Shopify Rebellion failed to defeat TSM during Tour 1 and Tour 2 of the 2023 DPC, the team is performing substantially better than their opponents. Following the last couple of weeks, it’s obviousArtour "Arteezy" Babaev’s team is the best in North America.
Shopify Rebellion didn’t have many problems during Group Stage 1, and the same can be said about Group Stage 2 of DreamLeague Season 19. Despite losing 2 series (versus OG and Team Liquid), SR defeated everyone else. This is also true against TSM because Abed "Abed" Yusop and co. defeated their North American counterparts on April 20.
Tundra Esports will try to win their first event following The International 11
Even though The International 11 champions have been pretty good recently, the team hasn’t been to win a big event since. The first group stage of DreamLeague Season 19 wasn’t too difficult for Nine and the rest, but the same can’t be said about the second one. That said, the squad made it to the Playoffs, so they still have a chance to win their first big tournament in 2023.
Tundra Esports won 4 matches and lost 3, which secured the last slot for the playoffs. The team wasn’t able to defeat Liquid, SR and GG, but in the end, they won their final match versus BC.
TSM needs to work on their results
Despite being the best team in North America, at least according to the results from Tour 1 and Tour 2 of the 2023 DPC, TSM needs to work on their results in the international scene. After barely making it to Group Stage 2, the NA squad crumbled and lost almost all of their matches.
Following the end of the games, TSM only defeated beastcoast on April 15. Although the team got close in some of the games, such as the one against OG, TSM couldn’t live up to their fans’ expectations. Some people might be surprised, but those who’ve followed TSM in the last few months know the team has a lot of problems on the international Dota 2 stage.
OG might go through roster changes
When talking about Dota 2 teams that fans expected more of, we need to mention OG. One of the top-tier teams in Western Europe has had a lot of problems lately. Despite the fact they qualified for The Berlin Major 2023 and survived at DreamLeague’s first group stage, things didn’t work out well in the second one.
After seducing 2 victories and 4 losses after the first 7 days, it became clear OG would be eliminated from the event. Considering their most recent results, we wouldn’t be surprised if the squad decides to make some changes.
EG & BC performed well, but it wasn’t enough
Finally, we have to share a few words about the two South American powerhouses. Evil Geniuses and beastcoast were pretty good during DreamLeague Season 19’s first group stage. However, both teams made too many mistakes in the second one, which is what prevented them from securing a top 4 finish.