Evil Geniuses, Na’Vi round out DreamLeague Leipzig Major teams

By Steven Rondina

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Dec 5, 2019

Reading time: 2 min

The qualifiers for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major have officially wrapped up.

15 teams have officially locked up spots in the event, with most of the biggest names in Dota 2 present and accounted for. That’s undoubtedly welcome news for DreamHack, who saw some of the game’s most popular and storied brands post upsets to earn a spot in the major. Here are the teams set to compete at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major:

  • Team Liquid
  • Team Secret
  • Alliance
  • Invictus Gaming
  • Vici Gaming
  • Team Aster
  • Reality Rift
  • Fnatic
  • TNC Predator
  • Virtus.pro
  • Natus Vincere
  • Chaos Esports Club
  • Evil Geniuses
  • paiN Gaming
  • beastcoast

One more invitation will be awarded to the winner of the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. The qualifiers for that event are currently underway and the list of participants will be revealed.

Evil Geniuses barely qualifies for DreamLeague Leipzig Major

The North American region was only granted two spots in the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, which is somewhat strange. Though the region is actually considerably deeper than it was in the 2018-2019 Dota Pro Circuit season, Southeast Asia was actually the region that received a third qualifier slot alongside Europe and China.

That was inevitably going to leave some major-level teams out in the cold.

Chaos Esports Club actually earned the first North American slot in the DreamLeague Leipzig Major. The team went 6-0 in the qualifiers. That momentum didn’t slow down in the playoffs, with the team besting Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fighting PandaS to lock things up.

Evil Geniuses had a much harder road. The team went 8-0 in the group stage, but lost in the playoffs 2-1 to Fighting PandaS. That forced Evil Geniuses into two elimination matches.

The first was a relatively straightforward 2-0 victory over NiP. While Fighting PandaS got the better of Evil Geniuses in their first series, EG returned the favor to take a spot in the major.

NiP and Fighting PandaS still have a chance to qualify for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major, as they will compete in the qualifiers for the WePlay! Bukovel Minor.

Natus Vincere, Virtus.pro return to form in CIS qualifiers

Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro both flopped in the MDL Chengdu Major qualifiers, but they righted the ship for the DreamLeague Leipzig Major.

The two teams were paired into the same group, with Natus Vincere going 7-1 while Virtus.pro went 5-3. Na’Vi won their match 2-0.

Despite that, Natus Vincere stumbled to start the playoffs, losing 2-1 to Team Spirit. Natus Vincere rebounded with a hard fought win over Gambit Esports to stay alive. From there, the team punched its ticket by defeating Team Spirit in a rematch.

Though Virtus.pro didn’t look as strong in the group stage, the team exploded out of the gate in the playoffs with a 2-0 win over Gambit Esports. From there, the team locked up a spot in the event by taking a 2-1 win over Team Spirit.

Both Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere boast some of the most talented lineups in the region, but underperformed in the Chengdu Major qualifiers. How the teams perform at the DreamLeague Leipzig Major will be one of the biggest stories at the event.

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