#1. With China’s tiebreaker ending and all the regions are complete the push for player changes is about to begin. Alliance will be the most interesting because they are not afraid of sharing their struggles and success. All fans are looking forward to their new roster.
#2. Monday, January 24, 2022, one of the biggest Dota 2 news to date, ESL who runs the majority of Dota 2 tournaments have been sold to Savvy Gaming Group and according to the Sports Business Journal, they are backed by the Saudi Arabian Government’s Public Interest Fund. This could be something potentially big or it could be another attempt to win over the crowd to cover the human rights issue in Saudi Arabia. You be the judge.
#3. Valve are treading a very fine line and I think they were legitimately scared about players and teams pulling out in the Spring Tour to protest for better management. The Regional Finals are a good start, but gaming finals need to be on LAN, it’s a different type of environment that can make or break some players.
#4. Who would have thought 4Zoomers would be able to snatch a spot in the Regional Finals? They are truly the underdogs in this fight against Quincy Crew, Undying, and Evil Geniuses. EG might be the “hottest” team coming into the double-elimination showdown, although they did lose the tiebreaker match to Undying, they are looking very scary beating Quincy 2-0 and Undying the week before.
#5. Team Liquid’s dominance this season was most certainly a surprise, but the absence of Nigma Galaxy and Team Secret is an even bigger surprise. Nigma Galax had the excuse of missing their star player for a few weeks, but Team Secret hasn’t put it all together yet. Hopefully, it’s a reverse and they pull a deep run come next October.
#6. China’s schedule was most ideal for players and fans, back-to-back weeks of intense Dota that focused solely on Division 1 where PSG.LGD was crown the best team and the new Royal Never Give Up has caused a stir in the standing. Team Aster and Ehome round out the top four, the odd one out might be Invictus Gaming, they dropped the hardest going 1-6 all season and will have to play through division 2. There were rumours IG was going to pick up OG’s Ana, but nothing materialized, what could have been, we will never know.
#7. Team Spirit doesn’t have the TI-hangover or maybe the party is still going on. They are perfect 7-0 all season and only dropped one game in a series. PuckChamp made another strong growth this season since getting promoted they have secured the second spot with Virtus.pro and Hellraisers claiming the other spot. Many teams need to check out PuckChamp and stick together and grow, this team will be amazing to watch on the international stage.
#8. Boom Esports takes the crown for now in the Southeast Asia region, but Team SMG edges themselves into the top four of the S.E.A. region, Similar to Alliance, TNC Predator’s rebuild failed they went 1-6 and will play in division 2. The S.E.A. region is unpredictable and the roster is relatively new, let’s see how they fare against the other teams in division 2.
#9. South America has a new king, Thunder Predator has overtaken Beastcoast on top with a perfect 7-0. Beastcoast has fallen to third in the region, but this is a great sign! Teams are getting better and better and overall play has improved, next stop will be international play, the next major can’t come soon enough.
#10. Aghanim’s Collector’s Cache is finally out and thankfully the Ogre Magi set is obtainable, but it’s still rare. I won’t be taking the risk, will you?
#11. Dota: Dragon’s Blood Season 2 is finally out and what did you think of it? There was a lot going on and many new characters are introduced. I felt the story had way too much going on while the main plot stepped aside. It’s not a bad thing to allow characters and their story to grow, but there were too many, too fast in only 8 episodes. Let’s see if Season 3 gets greenlit, it has to, right?
#12. Talon Esports releases Fly and Gabbi because they failed to get promoted. Talon looked like the most promising squad in Division 2 of the S.E.A region (tells you how much I know about it) yet they barely survived to stay in Division 2. The high level of play is expanding and it’s always good to have more competitive teams fighting for spots.
#13. With Alliance going to Division 2 this team if it’s still led by Nikobaby will dominate down there. (hope I’m right) He’s one of the best carries and it will truly be disappointing if they don’t get back for the final tour. I can even see the new squad going 7-0 with the hunger and drive that Loda is instilling in them.
#14. After going 1-6 in Eastern Europe, As Monaco Gambit’s entire roster goes inactive, it seems extreme but there will be two Gambit teams playing in Division 2 for the Spring Tour, which will be exciting.
#15. The International hasn’t had major changes since the inauguration of regional leagues, well The International 11 will feature 20 teams with 10 teams in two groups. Hopefully, this opens up for a better distribution of the prize pool, if not it is still cool to experience TI.
#16. The next patch won’t come till after the end of the Regional Finals, finally, we get a date. Everyone’s sick of the current meta, let’s throw out a few predictions on which hero will get buffed. Since Chen got skin in the collector’s cache, I will say he will get a massive buff. What do you think?
#17. TSM officially joins Dota 2, TSM’s founder and CEO Andy “Reginald” Dinh has been known around the League of Legends scene as abusive, let’s hope he has changed.
#18. Dragon’s Blood storyboards are on Twitter and I hope there’s more because these are fantastic!
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