Alliance’s Dota 2 team has been eliminated from DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3: Division II, dropping out of the DPC system for the time being.
Alliance’s Dota 2 team has been eliminated from the DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3: Division II after being defeated by Nigma Galaxy in the final scheduled game of the season. Alliance were defeated 2-0 by Nigma, after two strong showings from both teams.
Game one initially seemed in Alliance’s favor, with good early kills and a composition based around early-game aggression. Even as the game started to slip away for Alliance, They kept things close, pushing it into the 40, and then 50-minute time frame. However, after a near hour-long slog, Alliance could defend their highground no more, and lost the hard-fought game.
Game two, saw both teams attempt to ban away the most troublesome elements of the previous game. But Alliance missed one key element: Pugna. With Maroun "GH" Merhej playing the annoying diminutive sorcerer, it was virtually impossible to kill Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Ivanov’s already formidable Beastmaster. As a result, Alliance found themselves defeated and relegated from Div II
Alliance eliminated: Only up from here?
Alliance’s long downfall has reached its lowest point. From TI-winning squad, to a consistent TI attendee, Alliance has struggled with the modern DPC format, falling from a Div I spot, to a perennial Div II team, and now out of the system almost entirely.
Team founder, coach, and former player Jonathan "Loda" Berg tweeted after the loss: “Feel sorry for the players. I know they’ve worked hard but sometimes it's just not enough. There is still a glimmer of hope with the TI qualifiers and we don’t give up until it's truly over.”
Compared to the tone of some of Loda’s statements, there’s a tinge of optimism in the post.Perhaps that’s because there are two nuggets of positivity that can be garnered from this unenviable position.
The first is the TI Regional Qualifiers. Although eliminated, Alliance will still feature in the TI12 WEU Regional Qualifiers, of which there are two spots for WEU. While there’s likely to be some pretty nasty teams in this qualifier, including OG, Entity, Team Secret, Nigma Galaxy, and others, it’s still a chance to compete against top EU teams and prove their worth.
The second upside is that there is nowhere else to go for Alliance but up. Requalification is the only possible move that isn’t lateral. As a result, Alliance fans, supporters, and the organization itself has somewhere to go from here, and that in itself is positive.