It seems like overlapping tournaments is considered to be a regular thing nowadays. Just a few days after we saw ESL One Katowice and MDL Macau, there are two more tournaments which will begin on the same date - March 7th. Both of them will try out the most recent update - 7.21c.

WESG 2018

WESG is an international Esports championship tournament hosted by Alisports. The global event from Alisports is the world’s only Olympic-style Esports competition so far. The last two seasons for WESG were extremely successful. This year’s event has an astonishing $890,000 prize pool, and it will feature some of the best players in the world. Let’s take a brief look of the format for the tournament.

Format

There will be 24 teams in total. They will be divided into four groups, which means that each one will have six teams in it. The top two teams will advance to the Playoffs while the bottom two will be eliminated from the tournament. All games during the Group Stage will be best-of-two.

The playoffs are going to be a best-of-three single elimination bracket. They start on March 9.

Specific news related to the WESG:

Kuku and Ninjaboogie are out

TNC’s star player Kuku is still banned from attending the tournament. That was expected, especially after the most recent drama. It is still uncertain whether his Chongqing entry ban will remain. I hope that his situation will improve because losing a player of his caliber is painful.

The bad news for TNC continues. Beside Kuku, a second player from their roster will not play in the event. Ninjaboogie left TNC Predator about a month ago. So far we have no information about who is going to fill in his role.

BOOM ID and Vici Gaming to miss the event due to a conflict with the schedule

Sadly, two of the most interesting Chinese and SEA teams will not be able to play in WESG. The reason for that is a schedule conflict with StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor, which also starts on the 7th of March. BOOM ID will swap themselves with MEGA Aourus from Vietnam while Vici is stepping down for Room310.

zFaith_bian and Ego are out.

EHOME’s player will miss the event due to an arm fracture. He actually got it while MDL’s crew was filming their team video. I hope he recovers quickly and we will be able to see him soon. XinQ will try to cover for Faith_bians’s absence.

Ego, one of EHOME’s top players, has also just left the Chinese teams a few days ago. His replacement will be End.

Team Canarinho

One of the stars of the Brazilian team will also not be able to play in the event due to the schedule conflict with the Minor. Liposa will play as a stand-in.

Ana is Back

The TI Champion with OG will play his first tournament of 2019. The young Australian prodigy decided to take a break after the end of TI 8. He was one of the main reason for the success of OG, and their current situation is proof of that. I think Ana should become more active because TI 9 is slowly approaching.

Teams

There is a wide range of teams that will take part in this years’ WESG. Some of them are your “ordinary” contenders while others are representing their own country. Only four out of twenty-four teams are directly invited. The others are from specific countries qualifier. Let’s look at some of the most interesting ones.

Team Russia and Team Ukraine Yellow

The “full Davai” squad has undoubtedly the strongest Russian players. As expected, four of them are from Virtus.Pro. The only non-VP player is Gambit Esports superstar - Afoninje. I would like to point out that VP’s mid laner - No[o]ne is not playing for Team Russia because he is Ukranian.

In my opinion, this is hands down the strongest team in the tournament. Taking the first place should be just a matter of time unless they make some significant mistakes along the way. I am really looking forward to a game against Team Ukraine Yellow. It will surely be a fantastic game to watch, should the two teams meet in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, one of the most famous Ukranian players won’t take part in the tournament. Dendi did not make it to the roster. One of the main reasons for that could be No[o]ne. He just seems to be a way better mid player in the last couple of years.

The CIS region is definitely looking very strong.

EHOME

EHOME Dota roster uodates: eGo leaves the team, citing personal reasons. NeverEnd (AKA End, zyf, YJ) joins EHOME as his replacement in the 1 position. Faith_bian will be out for an extended period following an arm injury sustained at MDL Macau. xinQ will step in at the 3 spot pic.twitter.com/v563S7zhiS — EHOME (@EHOMECN) March 2, 2019

The Chinese team is also one of the most interesting ones. The Bucharest Minor champions will have the “home ground” advantage because the tournament will take place in Chongqing, the city in which the last Major was played.

EHOME has emerged as one of the best Chinese teams in the last couple of months. The Chinese region, in general, feels a bit weak compared to the West. Xiao8 and his team-mates are one of the few teams that can go head to head with some of the top western teams right now. Hopefully, this will change in the future.

Keen Gaming

Another Chinese representative that is currently on the rise. Keen gaming have just won the JJB Spring Cup a few days ago against Invictus Gaming. This team definitely has what it takes to be among the best teams in the world. The question is, can they can utilize their full potential? Only time will tell.

Final Thoughts

Beside WESG, the other tournament which will see the light of day at the same time is the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor. It will be the second Minor of 2019. Besides a $300,000 prize pool, the event will also provide DPC points. As we know, they are required in order to qualify for TI 9. Expect more information about the Minor soon.