Spectacular show, high-quality Dota 2 and anime — what are we expecting from WePlay AniMajor 2021?
Yuriy SheremetTomorrow the second Major tournament of the season – WePlay AniMajor – will start in Kyiv. Eighteen teams have already come to the capital of Ukraine: they are to fight for the champion title and their share of $500,000 of the prize pool.
The main reward will be DPC points that are necessary for passing to The International 10 directly. Stakes are rather high, so everyone is really looking forward to the competition.
In the following article we will try to speculate on what we should expect and what we would like to see. Meanwhile, you are free to share your opinion in the comment section below.
Stability and again stability
The first thing we want and, I’m sure, we will get is the quality of the tournament. Recently big competitions have been rough (let’s just remember some situations at RMR tournaments in CS:GO).
As organizers, WePlay have already been acknowledged by their thorough approach to organization of their shows and they have got a reputation of the best visionaries in esports. And if the WePlay show is always long-remembered, the technical part sometimes drops the ball.
At Bukovel Minor 2020 we can remember lengthy games that continued up to late night and some troubles with logistics. We would not like to see the same problems at WePlay AniMajor.
High-level game
Confident organization and high quality of technical aspects is necessary for one thing: demonstration of high-class Dota 2. It will be provided by eighteen best teams in the world.
We must see it in Kyiv. It is the second tournament of this rank this year and teams have readapted to international LAN competition.
Unlike Singapore, 89 out of 90 contestants have made it to WePlay AniMajor, and only the current champions from IG will play with a substitute. The other teams will join the battle fully-mission capable.
If we go through the cost of a mistake again, let us take a look at the power of the teams and try to categorize them: favourites, underdogs, and outsiders. Let’s go top-down.
The Chinese – are they the main favourites of WePlay AniMajor?
It would be strange to deny that in 2021 Chinese teams are ruling the ball. After IG’s bright victory at the first Major tournament of the season, it won’t be possible to deny the power of teams from China.
Maybe their successful performance was affected by the practice of local LAN tournaments that was given to Chinese teams at FMWH Dota 2 Championship, i-League 2021, and at the very DPC league. Yet, maybe the year is successful?
Be that as it may, now Chinese clubs are sheer favourites of WePlay AniMajor. Among Aster, PSG.LGD, Vici and IG, we would like to mark the first two teams.
In the previous season Aster showed a great Dota 2 at home and the players would have done the same at the major in Singapore if Boboka hadn’t had a little adventure at the airport. This time the organization explained how important the tournament is to the performers, so the whole roster of Team Aster came to Kyiv safely and is ready to play at the playoff of WePlay AniMajor.
The substitute must have caused some troubles for Aster while showing their best game in the previous season and the current condition along with all main players will help Aster do their best. We can say the same about PSG.LGD.
Ame and the team haven’t changed much since the previous season which is pretty favourable for PSG.LGD. Getting third place at ONE Esports Singapore Major 2021, skipping Wild Card of the tournament, this time PSG.LGD will start participating in the tournament with the group stage so their chance for at least Top-3 is rather high.
We should not ignore Vici Gaming. Vici has already proved that the teams is capable to got to 7-8 place in the playoff from Wild Card. But as for IG with a substitute, we don’t really believe in their win.
Underdogs
This category must be the biggest as almost all other teams could be defined as underdogs. And IG stands at the top of this list.
IG might be considered to be a favourite if not their substitute factor. In the previous season Aster showed us an example of how badly absence of a player can affect the game.
If we go lower in the underdogs’ hierarchy, we will see a number of various teams: these are Vp, EG, Alliance, Liquid, Secret, and Nigma. The Western guards can always offer a battle to Eastern teams from China which we often saw at international tournaments.
In the previous season EG almost became the champion which is another proof of competence of teams that do not represent China. Besides, youngsters from Vp got some experience and now they must show a high level of gaming in a comfortable environment.
Among the four Europeans, we want to believe in SumaiL’s return to the high league and Alliance’s rehabilitation after the Major tournament in the previous year. Secret and Nigma will start from Wild Card where they will have to face at least Vici and IG.
Either of them is likely to proceed, and before the start of WePlay AniMajor both teams seem to be equally strong. But this is not the end of the list of underdogs.
We should take a closer look at NoPing e-sports, beastcoast, and TNC. These three clubs haven’t been seen on the international arena. As for South America, we saw their game in the previous season and it was pretty impressive which we can’t say about Southeast Asia.
Talking about SEA, we should not ignore T1. In the previous season they played with a substitute which influenced the results which, we hope, are going to be better this season.
Quincy Crew will be the last team that closes the list of teams that are able to surprise us. In the previous season the guys showed that they can play Dota 2, and they are going to start with a playoff at WePlay AniMajor which will definitely increase their chances for a good outcome.
Outsiders
We don’t really want to pick out outsiders of the championship, as in Dota2 like in any traditional kind of sports anyone can win. However, like in any traditional kind of sports there will be teams that you expect nothing from.
According to the author of the article, these are Execration and AS Monaco Gambit. Execration is an outsider due to the fact that all Southeast region has been showing weak gaming and T1 along with TNC are underdogs only due to the fact that they start AniMajor not from the Wild Card stage.
AS Monaco Gambit is also an underdog but it is not their fault. Being deprived of two players before the start of the major, they had to look for a substitute and find a way-out of the situation.
Even Nigma and Aster were unable to cope with the absence of one player in the previous season, what can we say about the inexperienced Gambit? Besides, all this situation will only increase the number of the club’s fans and will be able to put in sports anger to the performers.
Ready, steady
The spontaneous flight of thoughts and acts of graphomania are ending up – this is going to be over when WePlay AniMajor 2021 starts. The main tournament in June in the Dota 2 world will start on 2 June, at 13:00 СЕТ.
We, as before, will keeping an eye on the event and we’ll check if any conjecture we made is going to come true. See you later on our portal!
Photo: WePlay Esports
Yuriy Sheremet – Expert in mobile gaming and esports among shooters and MOBA games.
At EGamersWorld, Yuriy, as in 2020 when he joined the portal, works with content, albeit with adjustments to his area of responsibility.