It’s been an exciting two days of dota 2 for the SEA region, with 8 teams competing for 2 regional spots in the Stockholm Major. With the finals almost upon us now, it’s time to look back at all the ups and downs from the qualifiers so far.

Group Stages – Opening Matches

There were plenty of thrills throughout the group stages.

The opening matches in Group A saw Mineski match-up against the newest team in the SEA region, Lotac.

Game 1 of the series was a total stomp for Mineski, who dominated against the new comers with 32 kills and a net worth of 27.9k.

Game 2 was not as disappointing for Lotac, but Mineski’s skill and experience meant they took the series with a 2-0 victory. Not a surprising result, considering Lotac have only been playing together as a team since September 2018.

Our second opening match in Group A saw TNC.Predator face off against Detonator. This series was TNC’s strongest games of the qualifiers, their second game against Detonator was a nail-biter, with Detonator clocking 30 kills to TNC’s 14. However, TNC came back stronger for Game 3. Securing themselves a 2-1 victory against Detonator and sending them on to meet Mineski in the winner’s match for one of the most exciting games of the group stages.

Group Stages – Winner’s Matches

Mineski showed their prowess again in the winner’s match for group A. Stomping TNC.Predator in game one, again racking up an impressive 32 kills to TNC.Predators disappointing 2.

While TNC.Predator fared a little better in game 2; there would be no glorious comeback for the team. Mineski took the game at 36 minutes for a 2-0 victory that saw them move to the upper bracket.

Our group B winner’s match, unfortunately, went straight to Fnatic thanks to some miscommunication on the part of PG Barracx, who showed up late to the lobby and were forced to forfeit.

Group Stages – Elimination

Detonator and Lotac faced off in group A’s elimination match. Game 1 went for almost 54 grueling minutes as Lotac punished Detonator leading the net worth throughout the game and securing 47 kills.

Lotac also took out game 2, sending them on to the decider match against TNC.Predator.

Despite being a relatively new team, Lotac’s roster includes veteran player Ohaiyo, who’s experience competing professionally stretches all the way back to The Asia 2012.

In Group B, our elimination match pitted Malaysia’s WarriorsGaming.Unity against Indonesian team Boom ID. Game 1 saw some back and forth, but Boom had the stronger draft which helped them take the lead in net worth and finish out the game at 39 minutes. Game 2 saw WG.U leading the kills, but Boom ID’s late game proved too strong, and they ended the series with a decisive 2-0 victory.

Group Stages – Decider

Group A’s decider match saw TNC.Predator face off against Lotac, for the second 3 game series of the SEA qualifiers. Game 1 of this series was one of the longest we’ve seen in the qualifiers. Lotac and TNC bounced back and forth throughout, and for much of the match, it looked like things could go either way. But after 57 minutes and 28 seconds, TNC managed to close out game 1 with a hard-earned victory. But, Lotac’s teamwork and precision landed them the next two games, and they triumphed over TNC with a 2-1 victory.

Group B’s decider match between PG.Barracx and Boom ID saw the two Indonesian teams compete for a chance at the playoffs. Boom were the clear favourites in game 1, ensuring plenty of farm for Dreamocel’s Troll Warlord to help them close out the match in under 40 minutes. PG Barracx put up a strong fight for game 2 and seemed to be leading. But the game’s final stages saw the net worth advantage swing towards Boom ID once more, guaranteeing them a place in the lower bracket of the playoffs.

Upper Bracket

Our first upper bracket match of the day was Mineski vs .Boom ID.

Mineski have been a real team to watch over these qualifiers, with strong performances every day. Once again, they showed us why they’re one of the top teams in the SEA region. They took two clean victories against Boom securing them a place in the upper bracket final. with game 1 over in under 25 minutes and game 2 just reaching the 30-minute mark.

Match two saw Fnatic meet Lotac. Lotac and Fnatic both competed against each other at King’s Cup in October last year, so many fans were eager to see how they’d fare against each other in this series. Fnatic were the clear favourites however, controlling the pace of game 1 to earn themselves a speedy 25-minute victory. Game 2 was more drawn out, with a strong start from Lotac that made it seem as if the series might go to a game 3. But Abed’s Medusa proved too strong to control in the late phase of the game and Fnatic took the game, sending Lotac packing to the lower bracket and going on to face Mineski in the upper bracket final tomorrow.

Lower Bracket

In round 1 of the lower bracket, TNC.Predator returned to play WarriorsGaming.Unity. Again, we saw TNC fight hard, taking the series to the full three games in their bid to beat WG.U. Game 1 was a close fight. Both teams scored an even 28 kills against each other over the course of the 50-minute game. Despite a very even fight TNC managed to claw their way to victory. However, like their previous series against Lotac, they were unable to keep the pressure up for the next two games, and WarriorsGaming.Unity dominated the pace, taking game 2 in 30 minutes and game 3 in under 27 minutes.

Despite a strong start on day one, TNC.Predator’s performance in these qualifiers petered out as the team moved into the later series of the group stages. The team miss out on a spot at the Stockholm Major in March, leaving many fans wondering if they’ll be able to muster up enough points this season to make it to TI9 in Shanghai later this year.

Detonator also faced defeat. The Japanese/Phillipino team had a strong performance during the open qualifiers, placing 1st-2nd and managed to take out game 2 of this series, but they were no match for PG Barracx in the end, with the Indonesian team eliminating them, 2-1.

Lower bracket round 2 saw Indonesian teams Boom ID and PG Barracx clash once more. This time Barracx started out strong in the first game, scoring a 25-kill victory over Boom in 39 minutes. However, Boom came back hard for the next two games, earning a massive 35k net worth in game 2. Game 3 went back and forth as Barracx put up a good fight, but in the end Boom’s team fight proved too strong. They move on to round 3 to face Lotac.

Lotac have been an interesting team to watch during these qualifiers, and their match-up against WarriorsGaming.Unity was no exception. This was the first time we’ve seen these two teams play against one another, so it was anyone’s guess how the series might pan out. Lotac took out game 1 in 39 minutes, but WG.U were not going to give away game 2 so easily, pushing back against Lotac to secure a game 3. The final victory went to Lotac however, defeating WG.U in the 3rd game of the series to move on to round 3 of the lower bracket, where they’ll face Boom ID.

Tomorrow is set to be another excellent day of play as the SEA qualifiers draw to a close and we find out which team will be the first to gain a place in the Stockholm Major. Tune in to Dreamleague’s Twitch to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the action.

Image via DreamHack

Videos via Dota 2 FA and League of Dota