With the Dota 2 Lima Major about to start its group stages, the community has predictions already. Coming off the tour, the top 18 teams look to seize victory and gain DPC points. These points help them secure a direct invite to TI, and Lima is the first stop.
WEU and China sent four teams each, and SEA and EEU sent three each. The Americas, amidst clamoring for more, only sent two teams each.
Now betting sites and Liquipedia are ready to see traffic on their sites. Viewership is projected to be as high as Arlington, for being the first South American Dota Major. With roster moves before the start of the tour, the balance of power shifted to and fro. Now the winter major arrives and some teams look like they might as well take it all.
Team Liquid
A team you can’t help but root for, wearing their hearts on their sleeves. Team Liquid is a storied organization, starting in NA before relocating to WEU in 2016. This iteration of Liquid combines mainstay TL members with former Team Secret members. Lesse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen and Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg transferred to TL over a year apart. After their magical TI11 performance, MATUMBAMAN announced his retirement from professional dota after their 3rd place exit.
Enter Michał “Nisha” Jankowski, another Team Secret player. A change of pace netted him a spot in the TL roster, and it was instant magic. Dropping only two games, their 7-0 performance is similar to other teams on this list. Moving Michael “miCKe” Vu to a safe lane to pave Nisha’s path proved to be excellent. TL are the favorites for the Dota 2 Lima major, their hype and skill can back it up.
Beastcoast
Home is where the heart is, and the fans are. Beastcoast leads South American dota in the Lima major. After a 7th-8th place finishes at TI11, BC took some time to rebuild their team. Jean Pierre “Chris Luck” Gonzales Salazar and Adrián Céspedes “Wisper” Dobles were taken to recreate Evil Geniuses, they needed to reform BC. They took Herrera Martínez “DarkMago” Oswaldo Gonzalo and Rafael Hinostroza “Sacred” Yonatan to retake mid and offlane.
With the reformed roster, they went 7-0 in SA, dropping 2 games. Sporting aggressive hero picks, they manage to run down enemies at a high tempo. The team is yet to test its strength against other regional teams. It might be the crowd that gives them the edge over other teams. The difference a crowd of fans makes is apparent. Don’t let their smiles fool you, they are hungry for major gold.
BetBoom Team
The fear factor of an EEU superteam is palpable. BetBoom Team reformed their team, bringing in new players from everywhere. Danil “gpk” Skutin and Vitalie “Save-” Melnic got picked up as Mid and Support from Virtus Pro. After a stint in North America, Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko returned to EEU reprising an offlaner role.
TI10 winner Aleksandr “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek began practicing hard support before moving to BB. Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko transferred from Entity after a 9th-12th place finish in TI11.
The roster from EEU displayed domination in the winter tour. BetBoom swept with a 7-0 record, dropping only two games all tour. They enter the Dota 2 Lima major as favorites due to the reputation of its players.
Individual performances make BetBom Team incredible, but their forte comes in team play. Without any language barrier, BB is more cohesive in its play and strategies. This coupled with individual skill made their tour performance great.
