The results of DAC 2018

Dota 2 Asia Championships 2018 has finished today, the team Mineski has come its champion. The time has come to sum up.

The latest Dota 2 Major tournament has finished today, in which $1,000,000 and 1,500 DPC points had been up for grabs. Let’s remind all bright events that have happened at DAC 2018 and point out a few interesting facts about the series of DAC tournaments.

LGD Gaming held the second place

Without a doubt, LGD Gaming could overcome all viewers’ expectations. Many people thought that they would see Virtus.pro, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid or Team Secret in the final but not LGD Gaming. After LGD had held the second place at PGL Open Bucharest in October the previous year, the team had a series of failed performances that lasted 4 months. In February, they became the silver medalists at StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 4 one more time, after which held the 9th-12th place ESL One Katowice 2018. Obviously, the success in the qualifiers to EPICENTER XL and StarLadder ImbaTV Invitational Season 5 could not but cheer their fans, however, LGD’s results at the recent LAN tournament have made to think that the Chinese team will unlikely to reach the final.

However, LGD showed a great performance in the group stage and, having passed through a slaughter that was in Tiebreakers of Group A, LGD successfully finished their participation in the stage. Having held the second place, the stars of the Chinese Dota went to the first round of the playoff stage, having passed Breakout matches. There, they faced the strongest team of the American division Evil Geniuses. MiSeRy and his teammates were not able to beat the Chinese team. Having prevailed over EG with a score 2-0 without an effort, LGD Gaming moved to their next victim. In the semi-final of the upper bracket, they had to meet the reigning world champions. However, such a catchy title didn’t help Team Liquid to withstand the pressure of LGD Gaming and the last ones again beat their opponents with a score 2-1. It is worth to notice that all maps were comparatively fast and didn’t last longer than 29 minutes. Having gained enough confidence, LGD won the representative of Southeast Asia and send Mineski to play in the lower bracket. Unfortunately for LGD, the victory over Mineski was the last one for the Chinese team at DAC 2018.

Despite this, LGD Gaming received a lot of benefit from such performance at DAC 2018. Due to the second place, the Chinese team earned 450 DPC points, which allowed them to hold the 7th place on the Dota Pro Circuit rate. This means that LGD is now a contender for a direct invite to The International 2018. Let’s not forget that we will see 6 more tournaments, in which DPC points will be up for grabs and this means that LGD’s position may change a few times.

Virtus.pro’s mercilessness in the group stage

The Russian «bears» surprised fans of Virtus.pro and other viewers a lot of times with their performance in a good sense and a bad one in this championship. In the group stage, they got into Group B with such opponents as Mineski, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret, Invictus Gaming, VGJ.Thunder, Team Effect and paiN Gaming. None of these teams was able to resist the power of the Russian team. Virtus.pro showed the best result, having finished their participation in the group stage with a statistic 7-0. Due to this, VP advanced to the first round of the playoff stage. After the team got in the playoffs, Virtus.pro’s things went wrong. Having passed through the breakout match against VGJ.Thunder, Team Liquid was ready to face VP and send «the bears» to the lower bracket, after which Virtus.pro gained another momentum. Having entered the lower bracket, VP beat Evil Geniuses and Vici Gaming without an effort. They had to try hard to achieve their goal in the following match against Tnc Pro team, however, they advanced to the final of the lower bracket. Their participation in DAC 2018 was finished in the final match of the lower bracket, where they faced LGD Gaming.

Mineski are the champions

Initially, not many people were able to predict Mineski’s victory. Their triumph at the tournament became a real surprise for all Dota 2 Asia Championships followers. Mineski felt the victory for the last time in October last year, when they raised a cup of PGL Open Bucharest 2017 over their heads. Since then, the team has held the 3rd-4th place twice at such tournaments as Captains Draft 4.0 and StarLadder i-League Invitational Season 4. In February, Mineski held the 9th-12th place at ESL One Katowice 2018 and their result in the form of the 12th-14th place at The Bucharest Major 2018 forced all viewers not to think about the victory of the Southeast Asian representatives in the latest tournament.

Mineski started their way to the championship with a successful performance in the group stage. They were put in Group B with Virtus.pro, Evil Geniuses, Team Secret, Invictus Gaming, VGJ.Thunder, Team Effect and paiN Gaming at this stage. Like VP, they played very good there and finished their participation in the group stage with a statistic 6-1. Virtus.pro was the only team to beat them. Due to this, Mineski passed to the first round of the playoff stage, where they had to face OpTic Gaming. The representatives of Southeast Asia achieved victory over OpTic without an effort. The next match against Vici Gaming was not so easy for Mineski but Jabz and his team played with a score 2-1. In the final match of the upper bracket, Mineski faced against LGD Gaming, which sent their opponents in the lower bracket. After that, LGD Gaming analyzed their game, made a work on mistakes, beat one of the favorites of the tournament Virtus.pro and advanced to the final. In the grand final, Mineski had a hard battle against LGD Gaming, which wanted to win a rematch, however, the desire to become the first representative of Southeast Asia, that wins a Major tournament, and a good gaming shape helped the team to have an advantage against LGD. Having prevailed against the last opponent, Mineski became the champion of the tournament and earned the main prize in the sum of $370,000 and 750 DPC points. Due to the victory at DAC 2018, Mineski held the fourth place on the Dota Pro Circuit rate and will likely to receive a direct invitation to The International 2018.

Interesting facts

— Each tournament in Dota 2 Asia championships series was won by teams from different regions. The representative of the North American division Evil Geniuses prevailed at DAC 2015, Invictus Gaming that represents the Chinese region achieved victory in DAC 2017 and the players from Southeast Asia are the champions of this DAC.

— DAC 2015 was the first large tournament for the roster of Evil Geniuses that prevailed at The International 2015. They successfully held the first place there and earned the main money prize in the sum of $1,284,158.

— None of the tags was able to reach the top 4 in the DAC series.

— Four teams that had held the first two place in their groups became the top 4 participants of the tournament. Teams that had held the second places in their groups became the grand finalists.

— China showed the best performance among sixteen tournaments in Dota Pro Circuit series. The representatives of the Eastern country held the second places at Major and Minor tournaments nine times.

— Two representatives of Southeast Asia entered the top 4 of the tournament in the Dota Pro Circuit series for the first time (Mineski and TnC Pro Team).

— Mineski became the first team from Southeast Asia that had won the tournament in the Dota Pro Circuit series.

The general standings