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2021 DPC Season 1 Week 3 recap: League leaders emerge

(Photo: Valve)
(Photo: Valve)

The first half of the first season of this year’s Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) has concluded, with the leading teams already emerging from the six regional leagues.

Most of them are who we expected to top their leagues, like Team Secret in Europe and Evil Geniuses in North America. However, surprise teams have also dominated in other regions, like Neon Esports in Southeast Asia as well as Team Aster and Invictus Gaming in China.

In addition, it has also been announced that Singapore will be hosting the first Major of the 2021 DPC, the ONE Esports Singapore Major, from 27 March to 4 April.

It will feature the 18 best teams from the DPC’s six regional leagues competing for their cut of a US$500,000 prize pool and all-important DPC points to go towards securing a direct invite to The International 10 (TI10) in August.

If you’re still not that familiar with everything that is new in this year’s DPC, you can find out everything you need to know here.

You can also check out our recaps from the past weeks of DPC competition, here’s week one and week two.

Play of the Week

Tims’ Earthshaker stunlocks T1 for an eternity to secure a huge game-winning teamwipe for TNC Predator

TNC Predator’s Timothy “Tims” Randrup showcased just how strong Earthshaker’s Aghanim’s Shard upgrade was in his team’s game one win over T1. With T1’s Phantom Assassin carrying both Divine Rapier and Aegis of Immortal, this play started out as an almost impossible defence for TNC.

However, with Tims made good use of his hero’s Aghanim’s Shard, Octarine Core, and Timeless Relic to keep multiple T1 heroes stunned long enough for his teammates to take them down and secure the game-winning teamwipe.

Take note of Tims’ Fissure placements throughout the fight, as they not only hit multiple T1 heroes but also separated them from each other, to allow his teammates to pick them off one by one. With Aghanim’s Shard, Tims is doing all this while staying away from the thick of the action, only coming in to land Echo Slam and Enchant Totem hits once the fight has fully swung the way of TNC.

If there’s one thing to take away from this play, it’s that — as analyst Dominik "Lacoste" Stipić said — Earthshaker’s Aghanim’s Shard upgrade “is the most broken thing in Dota right now.” Or maybe Tims is making it look like it is during that play.

Game(s) of the Week

TNC Predator vs T1 Games 1 & 3

The series between TNC Predator and T1 was so crazy that it produced two worthy candidates for game of the week, which is why we’re giving both the spotlight. The first game of the series was a bonkers, back-and-forth slugfest, with TNC emerging victorious after 61 minutes of action largely thanks to some excellent Earthshaker plays from star support player Tims. One of those plays was even good enough to earn play of the week honours (check it about above if you haven’t already).

Meanwhile, game two saw TNC pull off a huge 75-minute comeback thanks to Kim “Gabbi” Villafuerte’s Terrorblade. Gabbi had a very rough start to this game, feeding three kills before the 10-minute mark, and TNC looked to be on the verge of tapping out early. However, they were able to hold and pull off the comeback with some sick plays in crazy late game clashes. Tims had a great game on Pangolier, too, to close out the series after his excellent showing in game one.

(Note: VOD linked above is for game three, PGL erroneously titled it as game two)

Honorable mention(s): Team Secret vs Team Liquid Game 1, Team Aster vs EHOME Game 2

Recap

Europe

Week 3 match results

Alliance 2-0 High Coast Esports

Tundra Esports 2-0 Team Liquid

Team Secret 2-0 Team Nigma

Vikin.gg 2-1 Team Nigma

Team Secret 2-0 Team Liquid

With two big wins over Team Nigma and Team Liquid in Week 3, Team Secret cement themselves as the best team in Europe and are all but guaranteed a spot in the upcoming Singapore Major. With Nigma and Liquid also suffering two losses this week, the race for the three remaining Major spots in the region just got even tighter. Expect a lot of high-stakes matches between the middle-of-the-pack teams in the closing half of the season.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Team Secret

4-0

8-1

(2.) Alliance

2-1

5-2

(3.) OG

2-1

4-4

(4.) Tundra Esports

2-2

6-4

(5.) Team Nigma

2-2

5-6

(6.) Team Liquid

2-3

5-6

(7.) Vikin.gg

1-2

2-5

(8.) High Coast Esports

0-4

1-8

China

Week 3 match results

Team Aster 2-0 EHOME

Invictus Gaming 2-0 Vici Gaming

Vici Gaming 2-0 EHOME

Team MagMa 2-0 LBZS

Elephant 2-1 PSG.LGD

Team Aster and Invictus Gaming prove their big showings in the first two weeks of competition were no fluke, as they now stand atop the Chinese regional league with big wins over EHOME and Vici Gaming, respectively, this week. While Vici Gaming are looking like locks for the Major, the fourth and final spot will be heavily contested between PSG.LGD and Elephant.

We will have to wait longer to see how things shake out in the Chinese regional league however, as it will be going on a break next week to accommodate the Chinese New Year. As a result of this, competition in the Chinese regional league will resume on 23 February and will end later compared to other regions in March.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Team Aster

3-0

6-1

(2.) Invictus Gaming

3-0

6-2

(3.) Vici Gaming

3-1

6-2

(4.) PSG.LGD

2-2

6-2

(5.) Elephant

2-2

5-5

(6.) EHOME

1-3

3-6

(7.) Team MagMa

1-3

2-6

(8.) LBZS

0-4

0-8

Southeast Asia

Week 3 match results

BOOM Esports 2-1 Fnatic

Vice Esports 2-1 Execration

T1 2-1 BOOM Esports

Neon Esports 2-1 Execration

TNC Predator 2-1 T1

Things have gotten really interesting over in the Southeast Asian regional league after Week 3 produced some chaotic results. Neon Esports still sit comfortably atop the league, but the race for the two remaining Major spots is getting wild. Fnatic still have a good grasp on second place even after a surprise loss to BOOM Esports, but then BOOM losing to T1 who then lost to TNC Predator has resulted in a three-way tie for third place in the league. Must-win matches for TNC, BOOM, and T1 await in the coming weeks.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Neon Esports

4-0

8-3

(2.) Fnatic

2-1

5-2

(3.) TNC Predator

2-2

5-5

(4.) T1

2-2

5-6

(5.) BOOM Esports

2-2

5-6

(6.) Vice Esports

1-2

2-5

(7.) 496 Gaming

1-3

5-6

(8.) Execration

1-3

4-6

CIS

Week 3 match results

Virtus.pro 2-0 Team Unique

Live to Win 2-1 Team Empire

Virtus.pro 2-0 EXTREMUM

Natus Vincere 2-0 Team Empire

Team Spirit 2-1 Live to Win

CIS is probably the only regional league that has gone how most people expected it would, with Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere sitting comfortably at the top. Those two squads are basically guaranteed spots in the Major and will just be battling to see who will be directly seeded to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the third and final spot is being contested between Team Spirit and Live to Win, with NoTechies also looking a long shot to sneak into the Major through the wildcard stage.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Virtus.pro

4-0

8-0

(2.) Natus Vincere

4-0

8-1

(3.) Team Spirit

2-2

6-5

(4.) Live to Win

2-2

5-5

(5.) NoTechies

1-2

4-4

(6.) EXTREMUM

1-3

3-7

(7.) Team Empire

1-3

3-7

(8.) Team Unique

0-3

1-6

North America

Week 3 match results

Undying 2-0 Black N Yellow

SADBOYS 2-0 5ManMidas

Quincy Crew 2-0 A-Team

4 Zoomers 2-0 Black N Yellow

Evil Geniuses 2-0 Undying

With a big win over Undying to cap off the week, Evil Geniuses solidify their position as the top dogs of the North American league. Quincy Crew sit in second place by virtue of playing fewer matches thus far, which means the match between the region’s two top teams will basically decide who gets a direct seed to the Major playoffs. Meanwhile, the second and last Major spot for North America looks to be contested between Undying, SADBOYS, and 4 Zoomers.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Evil Geniuses

4-0

8-2

(2.) Quincy Crew

3-0

6-0

(3.) Undying

3-1

6-2

(4.) SADBOYS

2-1

5-2

(5.) 4 Zoomers

2-2

5-4

(6.) Black N Yellow

1-3

2-7

(7.) 5ManMidas

0-4

1-8

(8.) A-Team

0-4

0-8

South America

Week 3 match results

SG Esports 2-0 Infamous

NoPing Esports 2-1 Latam Defenders

Beastcoast 2-0 Thunder Predator

Team Unknown 2-0 EgoBoys

SG Esports 2-0 Latam Defenders

With a huge win over Thunder Predator, Beastcoast solidify themselves as the top team of the South American regional league and all but guarantee themselves a spot in the Major playoffs. They are now also one of only two teams (alongside Virtus.pro from the CIS) to go undefeated this far into the DPC. SG Esports are holding onto the second and last Major spot for South America, though it seems to still be a tight race between them, Team Unknown, and Thunder Predator.

Standings

(Placement) Team

Match score

Game score

(1.) Beastcoast

4-0

8-0

(2.) SG Esports

3-1

6-3

(3.) Team Unknown

2-2

5-4

(4.) Thunder Predator

2-2

4-5

(5.) NoPing Esports

1-2

4-5

(6.) Infamous

1-2

2-4

(7.) Latam Defenders

1-3

3-7

(8.) EgoBoys

1-3

3-7

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page.

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