The closed qualifiers for the StarLadder Minor, the third Minor of the Dota Pro Circuit, are about to come to an end today. The sole exception will be China as they will be played out by the end of next Wednesday, February 19.
CIS
Gambit Esports were the first team to officially qualify for the StarLadder Minor Season 3. Defeating Cyber Legacy in the semi-finals and forZe in the upper bracket finals, the squad has earned their rightful spot in the Dota 2 tournament.
We've qualified for the third minor of the season with a 2:1 victory over forZe eSports. See you in Kyiv! #KyivMinor pic.twitter.com/BeY7XlfIoq
— Gambit Esports (@GambitEsports) February 13, 2020
North America
In North America, business associates defeated the opposition, taking out Fighting PandaS in the finals. The newly formed team consists of some well-known players from the region, most notably TI5 winner and former Evil Geniuses star Clinton "Fear" Loomis. The second slot for the region will be decided by Fighting PandaS and the winner from the Team Xolotl/Zoomies match.
Southeast Asia
SEA still had some surprises after the conclusion of the LA Major qualifiers. We saw TNC Predator fail to qualify for the ESL One event, but many hoped they'd make up for it in the Kiev Minor qualifiers. That turned out to be as far away from the truth as possible – TNC were bested by both Reality Rift and BOOM Esports. The latter met in the finals for the region and BOOM secured their tickets for Ukraine with a convincing 3:1 victory.
Your SEA Qualifiers for the Starladder ImbaTV Minor are @boomesportsid, taking it 3-1 over Reality Rift! #dota2 BOOM EsportsID DreamocelID MikotoID FbzID HydeID Khezcute pic.twitter.com/OyM83GT07a
— BTS Dota (@BTSdota) February 14, 2020
This will be BOOM's first DPC event for the season and they've done more than enough to earn their place in Kiev.
The remaining five
At the time of writing of this article, the finals for Europe and CIS are still being played out. In Europe, it's a decider between Alliance and Nigma, while the second team from CIS will be either Cyber Legacy or forZe.
In South America, FURIA Esports are already waiting for their opponent in the finals which will be either paiN Gaming or NoPing e-sports.
As mentioned previously, North America will project their second team later today and there's a high chance it'd be Jacky "EternalEnvy" Mao's Fighting PandaS.
China's top team will become clear, but first we'll have to find out which squads will make it to the LA Major.
Stay tuned for more esports event news from EarlyGame!
