The preview of StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3
Anton PashencevThe general information
StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 is scheduled on the dates from March 5 to March 8 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Eight participants, each of which has passed qualifiers in its region, will fight for the prize pool of $300,000 and 660 DPC points and the champion will also guarantee itself a spot in the upcoming Major.
The format and the prize pool
All participants were divided into two groups where they will see the GSL format with bo3 matches. The top two teams from every quartet will proceed to the playoffs with a double-elimination bracket and bo3 matches. Only the grand final will be played in a bo5 format.
The distribution of teams by groups:
Группа А BOOMbusiness associatesforZeAster | Группа В AllianceFighting PandaSGambit EsportsNoPing |
The prize pool of the event will be equal to $300,000 and 660 DPC points and the champion will also earn a slot in the next Major - ESL One Los Angeles 2020.
The distribution of the prize pool:
- 1st place: $72,000 + 140 DPC points
- 2nd place: $60,000 + 120 DPC points
- 3rd place: $54,000 + 110 DPC points
- 4th place: $42,000 + 90 DPC points
- 5th-6th place: $24,000 + 60 DPC points
- 7th-8th place: $12,000 + 40 DPC points
The review of groups
Group A
Group A appeared to be pretty equal and the obvious favorite can’t be chosen, however, the guys from Team Aster have a small advantage. The team plays in the strongest region and had an opportunity to qualify for the Major, however, lost in both playoff matches. By the way, the coach who used to hold the same position in PSG.LGD has recently joined the team but he will not attend the event. The equally-experienced LaNm will be a coach in Team Aster at StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3.
The guys from business associates have a bit lower chances to prevail in the group. The team, which had represented the organization J.Storm not that long time before, passed qualifiers for this Minor without special problems. The team consists of experienced players who have already shown themselves from a better side at LAN tournaments. By the way, this roster always made sensations at large championships and even reached the 5th-6th place at MDL Chengdu Major, so it should proceed to the playoffs without special efforts.
The third team in terms of proceeding to the playoffs is the team BOOM Esports. The Indonesian team plays pretty strongly on the tier-2 scene in its roster, however, they have difficulties with the best rosters in Southeast Asia. The team managed to visit three Minors in the previous season, however, they were not able to get higher than the 5th-6th position there at all of them. Considering the team’s recent results, the guys are unlikely to advance to the playoffs.
Bookmakers consider the team forZe eSports to be the outsider of Group A but we will not agree with it. The roster of forZe (ex-Gentleman) was created in October last year and did not achieve any hights during this time, however, this team can’t be called weak. The team lost only to Natus Vincere in the group in the qualifiers for the Major, however, it lost to HellRaisers in tiebreakers, so moved to the Minor qualifiers. The guys were only weaker than Gambit Esports in the qualifiers for StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 but the matches were pretty equal. As a result, the guys now look weaker than Aster and business associates but they will be able to deal with BOOM for sure.
Group B
The undisputed favorites of not only Group B but the whole tournament are the representatives of the team Alliance. The guys have already proved themselves in the international arena and now, they place sixth on the list of the teams with the biggest number of DPC points. We can say without doubts that FATA and the company are the Major-level team but they were not able to qualify there only due to very high competition. The team should not have problems in these four and any result, except for the victory at the Minor, will be a failure for them.
Two teams in the face of Gambit Esports and Fighting PandaS will be fighting for the second spot in the playoffs, however, bookmakers do not believe in the North American team at all.
Fng and the company passed the qualifiers without special issues and, considering the return of Gpk~ to the main roster, they stay on one line with the main favorites of the tournament in the face of Aster and Alliance. Gambit managed to enter the top four at a few large events, however, they did not enter the top three at Minors and Majors. As a result, the roster is pretty competitive and everything will depend on their gaming conditions.
In our turn, we think that Fighting PandaS also have good chances to advance to the playoffs but bookmakers consider them to be the main outsider of the group due to the recent reshuffles - EteranaLEnVy and Bryle left the team and Skiter and KheZu took their place. The team has not played at a championship after the reshuffle, so it is difficult to speak about their shape but now, the players on the main roster are not worse than the previous ones and the previous roster performed pretty well.
We see NoPing e-sports as the last team in the second group but even these representatives of South America are not that bad. Despite the team was founded in the middle of December 2019, it consists of the pretty experienced players and does not look like another outsider from South America.