With January over and February starting, Division 2 leagues will now begin for DPC SEA. The Division 2 League will occur while qualified Division 1 teams prepare for the upcoming Winter Major in Lima, Peru.
Competition in the Division 2 league will end a day before the Winter Major begins. While the competition is tight across all regions, the Southeast Asian league is where we will focus.
Two relegated teams from Division 1 compose Division 2. It includes the middle-pack teams from the last tour and two teams from the closed qualifiers. Relegated teams in the SEA region are Polaris and NGX.SEA, who UD Vessuwan has since replaced due to the roster released in October 2022.
Army Geniuses, Atlantis, XERXIA, and Team Flow are the middle teams. Team Flow was given the slot of team Summit Gaming, but the reasons are unspecified.
SPAWN Team and Myth Avenue Gaming are the closed qualifier teams that complete the Division 2 lineup. Originally Drink Water, Myth Avenue signed the team upon qualifying for Div 2. After four rounds of open qualifiers, Drink Water qualified for the first, while SPAWN qualified for the third.
Polaris Esports
The teams themselves mustered a reputation, particularly Army Geniuses, and Polaris Esports. At the start of the regional leagues, Polaris was at the top of Div 2 and was promoted to Div 2 during the second tour. Their performance wasn’t consistent enough as they were out of Div 1 contention on the third tour. But they were eligible to compete for the SEA qualifier for TI11, as did all remaining Div 1 and 2 teams.
Polaris fell to Talon Esports, but afterward, they did an upset and beat T1, who at the time had former TI champs Topson and Ana. They qualified for the Last Chance qualifiers, but the NA team Wildcard Gaming routed them in the lower bracket. With a complete team overhaul, Div 2 leagues prove to be Polaris’ first real stress test.
Army Geniuses
Based in Indonesia, Army Geniuses has a reputation of being one of the best teams in DPC SEA Division 2, but never able to get out of it. The team has since swapped and signed players left and right in an attempt to get the results it needed. Their current lineup with inYourdreaM, Jhocam, and Yowe join longtime AG players in db- and Varizh.
Muhammad “inYourdreaM” Rizky is known for being the first player to reach 9000 MMR on the SEA server. His first stint was with BOOM Esports, then BOOM ID. His most recent team was the now-obsolete NGX.SEA, before signing with AG. Yuri Dave “Yowe” Pacaña is their midlaner who had stints with Div 1 team Execration and TNC Predator, who are currently on hiatus. Tri “Jhocam” Kuncoro is a support player who was with inYourdreaM at NGX.SEA and BOOM ID. He spent most of 2020 as part of T1 and has since left the Dota scene.
They look to be top contenders for Div 2, but the organization’s reputation of being in the middle pack looks more apparent. Despite new additions, there will be some chemistry issues between them. This is partly due to language barriers between Filipino Yowe and the rest of the Indonesian squad. Regardless, we are excited to learn how they fare once the league begins.
Individual Players
These teams certainly have an edge over the rest. But, that isn’t to say we’re overlooking individual skill. SPAWN player Tri Daya “MamangDaya” Pamungkas, Myth Avenue’s Galvin Kang “Meracle” Jian Wen, and Ng “xsilearn” Anwei are players to look out for.
Mamangdaya and Meracle shared a team in NGX.SEA. There, they experienced the Div 1 limelight before relegation due to setbacks. Player xsilearn was part of RSG, where they took 1st in the 21`-22` DPC SEA 2nd Tour and 4th at Div 1 3rd tour. However, RSG’s Dota division would not thrive long, as they disbanded the team after a loss to Polaris in the TI11 SEA qualifiers.
SEA Division 2 will be an exciting event while we wait for the Lima Major. Players representing their countries command scores of fans to cheer them on during the league. While Polaris and Army Geniuses are our favorites, this doesn’t mean the rest of the league has dark horse potential.
If you liked this article, you can read more on our website. You can also follow us on social media to stay updated with the latest esports and gaming news.
