Dota 2 d2l 2013

[D2L] League Recap + Playoff Preview

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D2L Season 2
Playoff Preview

With so many leagues drawing to a close these days, it would be easy to miss something like D2L. It’s been chugging along for a while now, and after months of league play we’re just entering the playoffs. Empire, Liquid, Dignitas, and Fnatic. EU are in the running for the $5000 first place prize, and with these four teams there you can rest assured that competition is going to be fierce.

TL writer Tephus has a quick League Recap for those of you who missed the regular season, and a Playoff Preview to get you excited for the double elimination style playoff bracket that will be played out soon.

Finally, by popular demand, we have a Playoff Poll. Vote for who you think will face each other in the finals, and then come back on game day to boast about your Dota 2 clairvoyance. Called it!

League Recap

By Tephus

With the last game having been played a few weeks ago, and the league taking place over a four month period (and three separate balance patches), fans may wish to brush up on how the final teams came to be.

Featuring the top teams from the EU and NA regions, the group stage ended extremely tightly, including a three way tie. Due to the limited number of final qualifying spots, numerous high tier teams like No Tidehunter, Natus Vincere, and Virtus. pro were eliminated prior to the bracket stages. The D2L also saw the tragic fall of the mTw organisation and the disbandment of the remaining team, Redefining Madness, and possibly forecast the split of Team 3DMAX. On the other hand, the tournament started only days after Team Liquid was announced, and has been a great tournament to follow the team’s growth.

Empire claimed the top seed spot, impressively only dropping two matches in a pretty stacked league. With a three way tie in match scores between Dignitas, Fnatic. EU, and Team Liquid, the tie-breaking process was decided by total map wins and then by inter-team play. Let’s preview each team a little more in depth, going into the final bracket.

Playoff Preview

By Tephus

Empire

Empire are coming in fresh off of a disappointing showing in the Star Ladder finals on their home turf, managing just a single map win. On the other hand, just a couple weeks ago they took home first place in the CIS-only Techlabs Cup. These radical differences in play exemplify some of the inconsistency plaguing Empire over the past couple months. In The Defense, they came out of the group stages in first place, but did not manage to win a series in the large playoff bracket. Even their recent overall record shows this; they have only won 3 of their last 10, but the 15 games prior to that only include 2 losses.

Empire is clearly nowhere near showing the dominance they achieved a few months ago, and many people will attribute this to their recent roster shuffle. Moving Scandal to the offlane to make room for their famous fresh recruit, Vigoss, has also raised a few eyebrows. For Empire to see success here, Vigoss must once again display his historic ability to dominate a game, and all the other gears will need to return to their pre-shakeup form.

Fnatic

As recently as a month ago, Fnatic were in top form, displaying some of the strongest play in Europe. They won the DotaHut Invitational in convincing fashion, and came out undefeated in their The Defense groups. Even after their first round loss in The Defense, they managed to scrap their way through the loser’s bracket, only to lose in the finals by a single map. They are currently even holding on to second place in The Premier League.

Unfortunately, Fnatic have started to slip in the past month or so, dropping sets to top NA and EU teams. Most uncharacteristically, they were even eliminated early in the Ritmix RDL, not managing to win a single match. Luckily, their recent Achilles’ Heel of Virtus. pro, who has terrorized the squad by winning 5 of their last 6 meetings, will not be in attendance. They are also coming fresh off a second place finish in Starladder, perhaps a sign they are back in top form, and their poor results were only a blip. Also, with VP already out of the way, Fnatic may be able to cruise to a win here.

Team Liquid

Recently putting together an incredible winning streak, Liquid has received a lot of attention in the Dota world, but the last couple weeks has seen a few ups and downs. While they finished first in their group in the DreamHack Invitational, and are currently leading The Premier League, they didn’t manage a single win in their EMS One group. Most recently, they finished 4th (just out of the money) in Ritmix, and reached second place in the second Eizo Cup.

Liquid has a good chance of finding success here, assuming they continue to play at their best. While they are not in the middle of a 20 match win streak any longer, they have still been performing well, and come into the finals with a good record recently versus Fnatic and Empire.

Dignitas

While perhaps slumping over the past couple months, the return of Sneyking has appeared to revitalized the second NA Dota team in attendance, as Dignitas put on an extremely strong showing at the recent Ritmix Dota 2 League with a first place finish. Dignitas are also riding a seven match win streak into this event, which includes a win over their first round matchup Fnatic.

Should Dignitas continue to ride their current wave, they will be a scary opponent for any team coming against them. If for some reason some of the magic fades, they can still fall back on some very unique pocket strats which have earned them wins in the past.

Playoff Poll

Call the finals, and then come back here later so you can gloat about your amazing prediction skills!