Outsiders end Team Spirit’s undefeated run in the EEU DPC

TI10 Champions, and top seed in the EEU DPC, Team Spirit finally have a blemish on their perfect record in the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3: Division I as Outsiders sweep them 2-0. Team Spirit fell to a 4-1 record and into a four-way tie for first place in the division following their match on Thursday (July 7th). This tie includes Outsiders—the mantle which Virtus.pro play under in the EEU DPC—Natus Vincere, and Betboom Team.

In two remarkable games from Outsiders, the roster were able to cling onto early game leads, and slowly but surely grind down and defeat their opponent. In game one, Danial "yamich" Lazebnyy’s fearless Tiny support spend much of the game seemingly sacrificing himself to toss back Spirit’s carries into the waiting maws of Danil "gpk" Skutin Queen of Pain, and Roman "RAMZES666" Kushnarev’s Templar Assassin. The high mobility carries dominated the late game.

In game two, Spirit came out with more aggression. However, this backfired, with Spirit’s Alexander "TORONTOTOKYO" Khertek dying repeatedly on Puck in the early game. A grim bit of irony, given that RAMZES666 was playing under the alias “respect puck players).” Virtus.pro’s lineup didn’t listen to this piece of advice, and crushed Team Spirit in game two.

With a four-way tie at the top of the EEU Div I league, things are going to get messy ahead of the Arlington Major. With just three spots available for EEU, one of these top teams, BetBoom, Na’Vi, Outsiders, or Spirit, isn’t going to be heading to Texas. While it’s highly likely that Team Spirit will secure the top of the table position back on Sunday, as they face off against Mind Games, the final few games of the season are going to be messy.

Outsiders are playing incredibly well. On Wednesday (July 6th) the squad, under the Virtus.pro banner, defeated Team Unique in dominant fashion in the Dota 2 Champions League. They’ll face Entity on Saturday in the D2CL. Should they be victorious, they’ll head to the finals, where they’ll perhaps have a scheduling clash. Outsiders are scheduled to face BetBoom team on Sunday, the same day as the D2CL finals with the match start times scheduled just an hour apart. The winner will move to 5-1, while the loser will fall to 4-2, and be pushed out of Major contention. It’s a very high stakes matchup.

Of all the teams, it's Na’Vi that seem most secure at the moment. With a match today (July 8th) against Rune Eaters, and a Week 6 clash with One Move on the horizon, they arguably have the easiest path to the Major ahead of them. But a lot can go wrong in the game of Dota 2, and it will come down to the wire in the EEU DPC.