Organized by WePlay!, The Dota 2 Pushka League has been a constant source of high-level plays in the past few weeks. Yesterday, the event came to an end with Team Secret and Vikin.gg grabbing first place in their respective divisions.
The global pandemic didn’t affect Dota 2’s popularity. Some of the canceled LAN events simply switched to an online format, with many more leagues forming as a result.
- READ MORE: Dota 2 ONE Esports Singapore canceled
One of those was the Dota 2 Pushka League which simultaneously offered two separate divisions (named aptly 1 and 2). The divisions would offer a proving ground for both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams of the Dota 2 CIS/Europe scene. Division 1 had a total prize pool of $250,000 and the Tier 2 teams were competing for the much smaller reward of $5000. The event started back on April 23 and came to a conclusion yesterday.
Division 2
The Tier 2 division included 8 teams (4 from each region):
Europe
- Aggressive Mode
- Kill Steal Kommando
- Yolo Knight
- Vikin.gg
CIS
- Cyber Legacy
- CyberTRAKTOR/Team Unique
- NOVA
- Team Empire Hope
The eight teams were split into two groups of four but there were some twists in the groups. Due to match-fixing, CyberTRAKTOR were replaced by Team Unique on May 2. Aggressive Mode withdrew from the event on May 4 and in the meantime, Vikin.gg and Cyber Legacy came out on top of their respective regions. In the grand finals of the tournament, it was Vikin.gg versus the freshly-joined Team Unique. The Vikings won the series with a convincing 2-0 and guaranteed a victory for Europe in Division 2.
Our congratulations to @GGVikin! They are your Pushka League Division 2 Champions after their confident victory over @Team_UNQ! #WePlayDota2 #WePlayPushka #dota2pushka pic.twitter.com/uDynVJQzpW
— WePlay Esports (@WePlay_Esports) May 12, 2020
Division 1
Here, the top teams from Europe and the CIS clashed:
Europe
- Alliance
- OG
- Team Secret
- Team Liquid
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Team Nigma
- OG Seed
CIS
- Virtus.pro
- VP.Prodigy
- FlyToMoon
- TeamSpirit
- Natus Vincere
- HellRaisers
- B8
OG Seed and B8 were the first teams to leave the event after the conclusion of the group stage. The top performers in Europe were Team Secret and Alliance, both finishing with a 5-1 score. In the CIS, it was HellRaisers (5-1) followed by Virtus.pro, VP.Prodigy and Na`Vi each with 4-2, so you could say things were pretty even.
It was at the playoffs where things got really interesting. HellRaisers and Natus Vincere were the next two to leave the tournament. While the main squad of Virtus.pro instantly fell to the lower bracket, their newly-founded VP.Prodigy kept going and eventually reached the Upper Bracket Final where they met Team Secret.
The encounter didn’t go well for the young bears as Secret took the series with a 2-0. Still, VP.Prodigy managed to make their way back to the grand final after taking out Team Liquid in the Lower Bracket Final. While many hoped that the rematch between Secret and Prodigy would go differently, it was really more of the same. Team Secret didn’t show any mercy on the young squad and finished the event with a 3-0 victory over their rivals.
@teamsecret emerge victorious in their Grand Final series vs. @virtuspro Prodigy, and earn the title of Pushka League S1 Champions! Our congratulations! GG!#Dota2Pushka #WePlayDota2 #WePlayPushka pic.twitter.com/eX1B5x72Rq
— WePlay Esports (@WePlay_Esports) May 12, 2020
The team also grabbed the two special awards. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov won the MVP Support title while Lasse Aukusti "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen received the MVP Core. Each of them was rewarded an extra $5000 for that.
WE MADE IT! WE ARE YOUR WEPLAY! PUSHKA LEAGUE CHAMPIONS Thank you to all our fans for your continued support during these challenging times #SecretDota #Dota2Pushka pic.twitter.com/dAh3NP0Ymp
— Team Secret (@teamsecret) May 12, 2020
WePlay!’s event once again managed to combine intense games, high-quality content, and huge interest as it peaked at over 180,000 viewers. For more Dota 2 news, keep it here, with EarlyGame.
