It’s the end of the first Regional DPC season and there’s a lot to look back on. Well, it’s almost over, with the exception of China that’s competing because they had two weeks of for the Lunar New Year, but for the rest of the regions it’s all about regrouping and preparing for the major or prepare for the next season.
Match-fixing in the Lower Division
As of today, there are three teams disqualified, and one of them (Jiang Hu got DQ for forfeiting too many times), another Burjui got caught trying to forge a fake COVID-19 positivity test. Then there’s 0-900 where one of the players, Diego “Jericho” Rivera showed a bet on his stream where he “claims” it belongs to his friend and he was just showing it on stream to his fans that 0-900 isn’t trying to throw but to win because his friends bet on them to win.
0-900 did have a hot start to the DPC season, they were 4-1 before they were disqualified by OGA. One of the big reasons was and probably is a communication issue, during a podcast with Andrew “Zyori” Campbell, Jericho did not even know they cannot bet on their own team, let alone showing bets on stream. Regardless if that bet belong him, Jericho continues to say it was his friends.
Another story that popped up was also from another Lower division team, and this time it’s from the CIS region, team Xactjlepbl had removed their mid-laner Idan “MagicaL” Vardanian for potentially match-fixing.
So, what’s the solution? Many players and fans suggest simply pay the players more money, so the incentive is not to match-fix but to strive for promotion into the Upper Division.
Valve definitely need to restructure to all teams playing in the two division to be paid, as it stands finishing seventh and eighth in the Lower Division earns you zero, yep you make nothing if you end up bottoming out and get relegated, too. However, I do not believe Valve should be paying people X amount so they can skip out on school or work.
The Lower Division top team earns $17,000 USD and the second team makes $16,000 USD and they get promoted. It actually makes no sense to not pay the bottom two team when they are playing on work or school timeframes.
There is no perfect solution to stop match-fixing, but paying everyone would be a start.
Remember, there is no one solution to fix all the issues.
Teams aren’t playing enough
Teams are not playing enough, and this will not change until the next DPC season. The introduction to the 2021 DPC season is a good start, but they need to change games to best-of-two and instead of best-of-three format. Going BO2 allows for more games to be played and it also allows teams to play more games outside of scrims. Having a standing base of wins and losses creates a competitive environment where anyone can sneak up if they’re having a strong week.
Let’s have a look at Europe’s standings, if it was based it off wins and loss (we will use the current BO3 format) OG and Tundra would be the two teams playing for the final spot and not Team Liquid, not that OG and Tundra didn’t have a chance this season.
Remember the Boston Major back in 2016 where they had a single-elimination tournament instead of double elimination? It allowed Ad Finem to make an improbable run to the Grand Finals.
By changing the format, it can create a different environment for teams to take each game more seriously. Sometimes having a BO3 teams can slack off or goof off one game.
Road to The International
This time getting into The International is different, there will not be an Open Qualifier. Anyone who participates in the Season 2 Regional League will participate in the Regional Qualifiers as long as they don’t replace more than two players.
The top 12 teams with the most DPC points will advance into The International.
It’s about to get exciting, there’s a lot of superstars that need a team and anyone can make it into the Regional League.
Also, here’s the latest Dota 2 Weekly News. Subscribe for more!
Connected 