Due to the coronavirus, most of the major esports tournaments in 2023 have been canceled or held online. Nevertheless, some of them nevertheless took place in the traditional format – with a festive opening ceremony, teams entering the stage and jubilant fans in the stands. Cybersport.ru remembered the LAN championships, which became an outlet in the era of a pandemic.
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WePlay! arranged a Christmas fairy tale in Bukovel
WePlay! Bukovel Minor became the first tournament of 2023 and will surely be remembered by fans as one of the coziest Dota 2 events. In January, most participants and spectators did not yet know the word “coronavirus”, so they enjoyed the spectacular matches and the festive atmosphere of the Ukrainian ski resort without worries. Didn’t even interfere canceling opening ceremony.
The Minor in Bukovel gathered eight teams from six regions, among which were two teams from the CIS – Team Spirit and Gambit Esports… From North America flew Ninjas in Pajamas and Fighting PandaS, Europe was represented Nigma, a Royal never give up, Geek Fam and FURIA Esports spoke from China, Southeast Asia and South America, respectively.
The teams from the CIS did not perform well at the tournament. Only Gambit Esports was able to make it to the playoff stage, losing to Geek Fam and Nigma in the first two matches. The fate of the title and quotas for the Major was decided in the confrontation between Nigma and Royal Never Give Up. First Kuro’s lineup KuroKy Salehi Takhasomi lost to the Chinese and fell into the lower bracket of the playoffs, but then took rematch in the grand final… By the way, it was first LAN tournament for Nigma players after leaving Team Liquid and founding your own organization.
In addition to tournament matches, on WePlay! Bukovel Minor was still a lot of interesting things… Funny analyst Christmas sweaters come to mind right away, cool show match with casters and even romantic An offer of marriage live. These and many other factors have made the Minor one of the most unusual and memorable tournaments in Dota 2 history.
GH | Source: Nigma
The last Dota 2 Major was held in Leipzig
DreamLeague Leipzig Major was planned as the second major in the Dota Pro Circuit season, but unexpectedly for everyone it became the last major event from Valve in 2023. Immediately after Bukovel, 16 of the world’s strongest teams flew to Germany to compete for a million dollar prize pool and the coveted DPC rating points.
After The International 2019 some top teams decided to extend their vacation, so they missed the start of the season and the first major in Chengdu. Tournament in Leipzig was supposed to be the first serious test for the updated line-ups in 2023 Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere and Team Secret, but, as time has shown, Clement’s team prepared the best for the competition Puppey Ivanova.
Team Secret began to show confident play even in the group stage – in the opening match, they beat the formidable Vici Gaming, and in the second did not leave a chance beastcoast… After the first place in the quartet, Team Secret continued the victorious procession in the upper bracket of the playoffs. Ivanov’s team alternately knocked out Fnatic, Alliance and Vici Gaming again, and in the final in a tense best-of-5 series overpowered Evil Geniuses with a score of 3: 2.
Team Secret’s championship at DreamLeague Leipzig Major was first of all greeted as deferred compensation for Lasse MATUMBAMAN Urpalainen. Fans of the Finnish player worried about his career after an unexpected exclusions from Team Liquid shortly before The International 2019. Having raised the cup in Leipzig, the Finn thanked Puppey for given a second chance and noted with humor that, apparently, the problems of the past team were not because of him.
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