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photo 2023 02 03 14.20.11

The Yays and Nays of the DPC SEA Tour

It is common knowledge that SEA Dota is crazy. And after the dust of the DPC SEA Tour 1 has settled, we have our winners and losers.

It is common knowledge that SEA Dota is crazy. And after the dust of the DPC SEA Tour 1 has settled, we have our winners and losers.

YAY: Philippine Dota

Out of the 40 players who participated in the event, 21 were Filipinos.

This number accounts for more than half of the tournament, and it is an understatement to say that Philippine Dota is merely alive. It can also be said that Filipino Dota players (and teams, for that matter — but we’ll get to that later) have been playing better.

DPC SEA Tour
Dota Philippines

In fact, eight out of the 15 Southeast Asian players who qualified to play in the Lima Major are Filipinos.

NAY: Blacklist Rivalry

The hype was electric when Tier One announced its newest esports team late last year. After all, it truly is a pleasure and a privilege for Philippine Dota to have such big names in one team.

On paper, Blacklist Rivalry looked scary.

Kuku, who helmed last year’s T1 with Ana and Topson; Tims, part of last year’s BOOM Esports which kicked out reigning champs Team Spirit from TI11; Karl, one of the best mid players in Southeast Asia; Eyyou; a wily veteran support player; and Raven, the team’s carry who is one of the heroes of TI6.

They had brilliant moments throughout the tournament, but they also had a lot of wasted opportunities.

Case-in-point: Their insane, almost 80-minute match against Geek Slate. Here, Blacklist had a lot of chances to close out but couldn’t convert.

Had they converted, they would have been one of the teams headed to Peru. Hopefully, they will play better in the next tournament.

YAY: Execration

This all-Filipino team was simply dominating everyone during the tournament.

Execration won all of its matches except the one against Geek Slate, the eventual runner-up. Their excellent drafting and methodical playstyle have allowed them to clinch the first slot at the DPC SEA Tour at the Lima Major with two games to go.

The expectations for them are high.

NAY: AFK Farming Carry Heroes

The current meta loves ranged carries who can join teamfights early on. Thus, nobody really picked “RTZ” heroes (Lifestealer, Phantom Assassin, Sven, Anti-Mage) who come online after 15 to 20 minutes of AFK farming.

The next patch is rumored to be out by March, and hopefully, these heroes will be playable again. 

YAY: Lina Inverse

Lina was the most picked core hero (carry or mid) in the tournament.

The Falcon Blade – Maelstrom – Silver Edge/BKB meta is still a pain to deal with. Dota players can expect a nerf in the next patch. In this tiebreaker match between Talon and Blacklist (for the last Lima Major slot), Lina was picked as a core hero for both games:

Banner images from Execration on Facebook.


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