The Dota 2 WePlay AniMajor has Arrived!

The final Major of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit is here, kicking off in style as WePlay! shows what the AniMajor is all about! 

Over the past two years, it’s become glaringly obvious that WePlay!’s production and set design is a step ahead of almost every single company in the scene. From their past Dota 2 tournaments to their recent FGC events, they bring something unique to every broadcast. Entrusted with the AniMajor, the organizer has delivered some amazing content—and it’s only the first day.

Right from the outset, we were treated to an incredible anime-style opening with an original song from Owen “ODPixel” Davies, to caricatures of all the on-screen talent, costumes (or cosplays), and two incredible sets. On each of the A and B streams (or the RadiantGreen and DireRed) streams, a pair of unique sets made it look like the analysts were casting from a hidden Shaolin temple. 

The talent, dressed in Japanese-inspired outfits complete with kimonos and the occasional protagonist-pink hair or set of cat ears, were clearly getting into the spirit of things. And, of course, Twitch chat was appropriately filled with hundreds of Anime emotes.

In many ways Anime is the perfect theme for a Dota 2 major. Not just because of the recent release of the games Netflix original series. Tournament arcs, where a plucky hero runs the gauntlet against impossible odds, are a staple of Anime. 

And at the WePlay AniMajor, there’s plenty of teams who would like to be in that protagonist role. Especially in the Wild Card, overcoming adversity and making a surprise run to the group stages has to be on the minds of all competitors.

Kicking off the event with two critical matchups, Team Secret faced off against AS Monaco Gambit, while Team Nigma faced Vici Gaming. Unfortunately, the Secret/Gambit game was a reasonably predictable stomp, with just a few signs of life from the recently gutted Gambit. 

As Team Nigma and VG faced off, though, a genuinely titanic clash took place. With Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi on Morphling, Team Nigma were able to grab a good early lead. However, a series of unfortunate team fights led Vici back into a commanding position. Ultimately VG would take game one.

By game two, Miracle firmly turned into MiracLUL, with the recently swapped solo mid player giving up kills all over the map. But in an opposite situation to the previous game, Team Nigma held onto their lead and closed things out 1-1. Not a moment too soon, as Vici threatened to take over with a slowly building Spectre pick. 

But despite season-finale level matches at the outset and top-tier production, things weren’t completely rosy on day one. Anime stylings and kimonos all over couldn’t cover up some issues with the Twitch stream dropping frames. What’s more, lagging audio and a few cases where backing music doubled up meant there were some rough edges to this broadcast. 

Ultimately, the WePlay AniMajor has already delivered on plenty of its promises. It’s the perfect event to embrace your inner weeb while enjoying some high-level Dota 2. The WePlay Animajor continues until June 13th live on WePlay’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Dota 2 news and updates.