Sneyking: “NA Dota is in a bad state because of its low player base. Europe has 10 times more players, which means more good players.”

In one of the interview segments at the PGL Arlington Major, host James Banks sat down with the captain of Tundra Esports, Wu "Sneyking" Jingjun. They talked about the team's form and many other topics but one take from sneyking is particularly interesting. He gave his insights on the current state of North American Dota as compared to the European scene, explaining why one is better than the other.

The host asked the Canadian player, "What do you make of where NA Dota is right now?" This question is undoubtedly popular and the community has been discussing it for a while now. Interestingly, sneyking played almost his entire career in NA and only recently transitioned to EU Dota with Tundra Esports. It only makes it right to ask the captain who has experienced both regions about this topic.

Sneyking believes the problem with NA Dota is its low player base. Due to the region's low population of players, the region becomes less competitive. The European scene, on the other hand, has more concentration of players, thus better competition.

"I think NA Dota is just currently in a really bad state. It just stems from the lower player base. In Europe, there are ten times more games happening and ten times the playerbase and that just means there's going to be way more good players in Europe.. and good players foster great players. NA as a region, as a whole right now.. just lack players."

It is not a secret that the European scene has been the center of competition when it comes to Dota 2. It has always housed the best of the best from organizations to individual players. NA Dota 2's peak achievement was during The International 2015, when Evil Geniuses won the championship and brought home its first ever Aegis of the Champions. Since then, EG remained a strong contender but never got another title. No other NA teams have neared its achievement so far.

This year, we saw a bright hope for NA with the rise of TSM. For the first time in a long, long while, North America has a new king and EG is no longer the only face of NA. Although they didn't qualify for the Arlington Major, they are still present as stand-ins (Fnatic and Entity) and they're performing remarkably well.

We also have a reformed Quincy Crew (now Soniqs) showing some impressive plays during the NA DPC. However, it looks different at the Arlington Major. When Soniqs became the first and only team to take a game off PSG.LGD, the win rekindled hope for a lot of fans. But as the Arlington Major Group Stage comes to an end, Soniqs life in the tournament might too. The team is now at the bottom of Group A with the lowest scoreline. It only has one more series to play against Outsiders to decide its final standings.

Meanwhile, Evil Geniuses is holding on. The team crumbled last Stockholm Major, placing last. This time around, EG managed to recover the next half of the Group Stage to settle at the 5th ranking and score a Lower Bracket slot. We can expect the team to ride the momentum and give a smashing performance during the Playoffs.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Dota 2 news and updates.