Who Will Win the WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020?
WePlay! Bukovel Minor is the 3rd DPC event of the season. As the name suggests, this tournament is a Minor and offers $300,000 in prizes. More important than that, it offers a chance to take part in the 2nd Major of the season, DreamLeague Leipzig Major. A total of eight teams will compete for that spot and in this article I will take a look at them.
WePlay! Bukovel Minor Info
WePlay! Bukovel Minor is scheduled to take place in Bukovel, Ukraine between January 9th – 12th. If you’re from Europe, the event will be easy to follow. But if you’re from North America, then you will need to adjust your schedule quite a bit in order to watch the matches.
WePlay! Bukovel Minor Competitive Format
The format used at WePlay! Bukovel Minor is quite simple. The Group Stage will be played in two groups of four. The top two teams from each group advance to the Playoffs. The groups will have GSL formats. The Playoffs will be played in exactly the same way: double-elimination. Every match is Bo3, except for the Grand Final (Bo5).
WePlay! Bukovel Minor Teams
WePlay! Bukovel Minor features 8 teams from all of the six official regions.
- Europe: Nigma
- CIS: Gambit Esports, Team Spirit
- North America: Ninjas in Pyjamas, Fighting PandaS
- South America: FURIA Esports
- SEA: Geek Fam
- China: Royal Never Give Up
The big favorites here are Nigma, NiP, and RNG.
Nigma
Nigma is KuroKy’s new organization. After he finished 2nd at The International 2019, he and his team decided that it was time for them to do their own thing. And so they created Nigma. However, after declining to take part in the qualifiers for the first Major, Kuro and his roster lost the season start and then ran into unexpected had troubles during the qualifiers for the 2nd Major. Luckily for them, they qualified for this Minor, which might still grant a spot at the Major if they can win it. On paper, they are vastly stronger than the rest of the competitors. But the latest patches transformed the game completely so now it’s not entirely clear what the pecking order is.
NiP
NiP is ppd’s team and this season he’s relying on his good old friend from EG, Universe, to help him steer the team in the right direction. Given its roster, NiP has decent potential to become one of the top teams in North America. However, they don’t seem capable of doing more than that. At an event like WePlay! Bukovel Minor, NiP is one of the favorites simply because there’s not a lot of competition around. And so they’re expected to finish at least in the top four.
RNG
RNG finished 7th – 8th at The International 2019, albeit with a slightly different roster. Their start in the new season was poor, but there are still good chances that RNG will get its act together and start playing Dota 2 at a very high level. In that sense, they should in principle qualify for the Playoffs at this event.
Image courtesy of WePlay!
