Contents
After more than a month of hard-fought online matchups, LGD.Forever Young have claimed the coveted spot for MDL Macau by winning the Dota 2 Professional League Season 4.
The initial round-robin was arguably one of closest contested tourneys in the history of esports. The gap between the top teams in the round-robin and the bottom teams was just nine total points.
Here’s how the table stood going into this past weekend’s action:
| Pos | Team | W-D-L | Pts |
| 1 | LGD.Forever Young | 4-4-0 | 12 |
| 2 | VGJ.Thunder | 3-5-0 | 11 |
| 3 | Newbee | 2-6-0 | 10 |
| 4 | Vici Gaming | 3-3-2 | 9 |
| 5 | Invictus Gaming | 4-1-3 | 9 |
| 6 | LGD Gaming | 3-3-2 | 9 |
| 7 | iG Vitality | 1-4-3 | 6 |
| 8= | Team Max | 0-3-5 | 3 |
| 8= | CDEC Gaming | 0-3-5 | 3 |
Team Max and CDEC Gaming would have a playoff, and the loser would be relegated to the secondary division. The winner would join iG Vitality in the Relegation Playoffs against the second- and third-place teams from the secondary division to decide who would play in the next Dota 2 Professional League.
Here’s what happened.
The playoffs
The quarterfinals got underway with Newbee defeating LGD Gaming 2-0. Vici Gaming overcame Invictus Gaming by the same scoreline to earn a shot at the two top seeds in the semifinals.
In the semis, the event became double elimination. In the winners bracket, LGD.Forever Young progressed to the grand finals unbeaten, defeating Vici Gaming and then Newbee, both 2-1.
Newbee, who defeated VGJ.Thunder 2-0 in the semifinal but then lost to LGD.Forever Young in the winners final, eventually joined the latter in the grand finals.
In the end, LGD.Forever Young raced into a 2-0 lead before Newbee struck back to win the next two maps in equally convincing fashion. This led to a crucial deciding game in which LGD.Forever Young claimed the win in just over 40 minutes.
LGD.Forever Young is now the third team to qualify for the $300,000 Mars Dota 2 League event in Macau, beginning Dec. 8.
Natus Vincere (the CIS qualifier) and Infamous (the South American qualifier) have already earned their places. We now wait for teams from Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America to be named, plus the two teams that will receive direct invites to the event, which offers 300 Dota Pro Circuit Points.
Captains Draft qualifiers in Europe and China this week
This week, Dota 2 bettors will eye the two qualifiers in Europe and China for the Captains Draft 4.0 tournament.
One of the first big esports events of 2018, Captains Draft will be held in the District of Columbia from Jan. 4-7. Six teams will represent six different qualifying sections, and two teams will be directly invited to the event due to their past performances.
As part of the Dota Pro Circuit series, there will be another 300 points up for grabs alongside the $300,000 in prize money.
Six teams have already qualified for Captains Draft 4.0. They are:
- Evil Geniuses – Direct Invite
- Team Secret – Direct Invite
- compLexity Gaming – North America
- Midas Club Elite – South America
- Team Empire – CIS
- Mineski – Southeast Asia
Two final qualifying sections must be decided this week.
European qualifier
The European qualifiers are already well underway. Six teams competed: No Rats, The Final Tribe, MidOrFeed, mousesports, OG, and HellRaisers.
OG have confirmed their place in the grand final, having come through the winners bracket.
With losers round games still unplayed, they will face MidOrFeed, mousesports, or HellRaisers in the grand final. Betway is currently offering odds on these matches.
Chinese qualifier
The Chinese qualifier hosts just four invited teams: Vici Gaming, VGJ.Thunder, and the two finalists from the Dota Pro League event, Newbee and LGD.Forever Young.
The semis in this qualifier contained a shock. Newbee came through their semifinal against VGJ.Thunder as expected — 2-0. But Vici Gaming upset the fancied and in-form LGD.Forever Young 2-0.
