DPC regionals: Bzm stars in OG's 2-1 victory over rivals Tundra Esports

OG midlaner Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov stole the show as he led his team to a 2-1 victory over rivals Tundra Esports in a lower bracket elimination match at the 2021-2022 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Winter Tour Regional Finals for Western Europe on Saturday (12 February).

There was a lot at stake in this match, as the winner secured at least third place in the Regionals and would be one step closer to earning all-important DPC points. It was also a must-win grudge match for OG, as they have lost all three of their previous encounters against Tundra this season.

Bzm fuels OG's unorthodox draft in a dominant game one

The new-look OG has focused on giving Tommy "Taiga" Le offensive supports that can get kills and take over the map, such as Weaver and Snapfire.

Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf has also impressed with his Mars and Timbersaw but looked lackluster when forced on other offlaners.

This was why it was surprising to see OG take a third pick Shadow Shaman for Taiga and a last pick Viper for ATF. It was the first time either player used these two heroes in this patch and it took Tundra Esports by surprise to see OG’s explosive offlane combo play a more controlled style of Dota 2.

Meanwhile, OG gave bzm Storm Spirit and tasked him to be their primary playmaker. The Bulgarian prodigy was more than ready for the challenge, terrorizing Tundra with his daring and explosive plays.

Tundra almost scored a crucial early kill on bzm eight minutes in the game when Leon "Nine" Kirilin on Queen of Pain and Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu’s Weaver teamed up to chase the OG midlaner all over the map. But that ended in disaster as it was Sneyking who lost his life instead.

Bzm’s near-death at the eight-minute mark was the only time Tundra came close to bringing him down. He would go on to be the highest networth hero in the game after that, with Tundra lacking the firepower needed to control and take him down.

Supports are often the unsung heroes in a Dota 2 match but nobody could deny the massive impact Mikhail "Misha" Agatov had on Io. This was perfectly demonstrated at the 23-minute mark when Misha was able to use Relocate to save two allies from certain death.

OG were firing on all cylinders as they took a 47-minute victory in game one with a kill score of 39-16. Most of those kills came at the hands of bzm, who notched a clean 17 kills and 12 assists.

OG takes the fastest win in the Regional Finals

After an impressive comeback by Tundra in game two, the series was pushed to a deciding game three. OG surprised again by going for a sustain heavy draft and playing to take the win during the mid-game.

This defensive draft proved its worth at the 11-minute mark, when Neta "33" Shapira’s Beastmaster and Sneyking's Death Prophet wanted a quick kill on ATF's Sand King under his tower but ended up giving their lives away for nothing.

While OG prepared to push at the 20-minute mark, Tundra were seemingly relaxed about that threat and were even building Hand of Midas on two of their cores. While Hand of Midas can speed up a player’s farm, it takes around 10 minutes to pay for itself and provides no valuable stats on its own.

Oliver "skiter" Lepko’s choice of building Midas after Armlet on Choas Knight was particularly puzzling as he chose to avoid OG after buying a fighting item and focused on farming instead.

OG had a 2,000 gold advantage at the 18-minute mark but in reality, the team had itemized to end the game early. Tundra on the other hand had planned on farming and that difference in strategy meant OG were in a much stronger position and could easily take on Tundra, as bzm’s Templar Assassin proved when he secured four kills for himself after taking down Roshan.

OG closed the game out in 23 minutes, the fastest win so far in the Regional Finals across all regions. OG will next face off against Gladiators in the lower bracket finals to see who will challenge Team Liquid for the championship.

The Winter Tour Regional Finals will take place across the weekends of 11 to 13 February and 18 to 20 February, with three regions competing in each weekend. It will feature the Top 4 teams of the DPC's six regions competing for their cut of a US$100,000 prize pool and all-important DPC points.

For everything you need to know about the Winter Tour Regional Finals, check here.

OG roster:

1. Artem "Yuragi" Golubiev

2. Bozhidar "bzm" Bogdanov

3. Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf

4. Tommy "Taiga" Le

5. Mikhail "Misha" Agatov

Tundra Esports roster:

1. Oliver "skiter" Lepko

2. Leon "Nine" Kirilin

3. Neta "33" Shapira

4. Jingjun "Sneyking" Wu

5. Adrian "Fata" Trinks

Otomo is a long-time gaming enthusiast and caster. He has been playing games since he was 10 and is the biggest Dota 2 fan.

For more esports news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooEsportsSEA and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube.