DPC Regional Qualifier winners, as predicted by the Dota community

The DPC regional qualifiers began Wednesday morning as the South American and Eastern European regions took the stage. With so much more Dota to go, Upcomer reached out to several casters and analysts to see which teams they thought would survive.

South America

Predicted winner: NoPing esports

When scoping out the thoughts of analysts for the South American Qualifier, the votes were mostly for NoPing esports. “For SA [South America] I see NoPing taking it as long as they don’t tilt themselves,” said John “johnxfire” Nathan Fernandez, Caster for BeyondTheSummit.

NoPing have consistently shown themselves to be the strongest team in the region, making it into the WePlay AniMajor, where they eventually fell to Evil Geniuses in the first round of the lower bracket.

The only person who went another direction was Brynden “Neph” Barbour, the commentator for the lower division of the North American DPC. Neph is instead leaning Infamous gaming to win the South American DPC regional qualifier.

When asked why Neph would go against so many of his compatriots in his decision, he simply replied “Kxy owns,” referring to Infamous gaming’s Eliseo “Kxy” Arancibia.

Eastern Europe

Predicted Winner: Team Spirit

When it comes to Eastern Europe, it seems that recent results have also dictated the predictions. Team Spirit has been the overwhelming favorite among analysts on twitter. Mike “MLPDotA” Le Phoenix, Muriëlle ‘Kips’ Huisman and Rikumikko “T-Panda” Kangasmäki all included Team Spirit in their predictions.

Have you seen this Naruto run? 👀#SpiritDota #Dota2 #WePlayAniMajor pic.twitter.com/ddteN1P4Rp

— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) June 11, 2021

The team looked like they grew a lot, overcoming their trials at the WePlay AniMajor. They also went further than any other Eastern European team at the Major, apart from Virtus Pro. Will Team Spirit Naruto-run their way to The International? The answer seems to be an overwhelming yes according to the community.

Western Europe

Predicted Winner: Team Nigma

The Western European qualifiers have been touted as one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult of all the DPC Regional Qualifiers. Team Nigma is the predicted winner due to their amazing performance at the WePlay AniMajor and ESL One Summer. While they did not do as well in ESL One Summer, losing out to their in-region rivals OG, their long track record and cohesion as a team should carry them through the tough Qualifier.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours 👀 pic.twitter.com/IBV2Qhv4Xq

— Mike Le Phoenix (@MLPDotA) June 22, 2021

While Team Nigma are the favorites, there are other contenders that could take their place. The newly formed OG with Syed “Sumail” Hassan at Carry will prove to be a challenge to Team Nigma. Team Liquid have also recently gotten Samuel “Boxi” Svahn back after a long hiatus. Hopefully Team Liquid will be able to show the unique, flexible style they had before Boxi left.

Southeast Asia

Predicted Winner: Motivate.Trust Gaming

Despite not making it out of the Southeast Asian region, Motivate.Trust gaming is at the top of the predictions for Southeast Asian analysts. The Thai-based team has been a sleeping giant in the region. They won the recent BTS Pro Series Southeast Asia in dominant fashion, taking the series 3-0 against Boom esports. The results for the team are astounding considering they were in the open qualifiers for the first season of the Southeast Asian DPC. Motivate.Trust fought their way into the upper division in Season two and have a lot of believers behind them.

“I think Motivate Trust is easily the big one to watch out for, anyone who’s been watching SEA since late 2020 would know how damn good MTG has been since then and has really just been getting better since,” said johnxfire.

Another team that has a chance of making it out of the qualifier is TNC Predator. Their recent performance at the WePlay AniMajor was better than expected. The Filipino team were able to take out tournament favorites Team Aster in the first round of the lower bracket, a result no one expected. When asked why John picked Motivate.Trust over TNC, he said: “I’d give Motivate the edge, I don’t know if TNC can play cleanly enough to beat MTG (Motivate.Trust gaming).”

China

Predicted Winners: Elephant Gaming

China is another DPC Regional Qualifier worth watching closely. According to Benjamin “Bkop” Kopilow, a long time English commentator for the Chinese scene, the qualifier would come down to: Elephant, EHOME, Phoenix gaming and RNG. He cited that RNG was the weakest team out of the four due to their recent inconsistencies. On the other hand, Elephant would most likely make it out of the qualifier. Elephant gaming consists of some of the best players China has ever seen. The team includes the likes of International finalists Lu “Somnus` M” Yao and Xu “fy” Lin Sen.

“With how tough the region was and the top teams already qualifying I think now these (four) teams have a real chance to get in. The change from RedPanda to Super for Elephant is a big one, but the question becomes will they have it all together in time for the qualifiers,” said Bkop.

Bkop also mentioned that Phoenix gaming might not be a contender to the eyes of fans. However, he thinks that the team is heavily underrated and that the team will have nothing to lose come time for the qualifier.

North America

Predicted Winner: Undying

The North American DPC regional qualifier really comes down to two teams: Undying and 4zoomers. These two teams have shown the most resistance against the reigning Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses. Undying ended the regular season a spot above 4Zoomers and beat them in both head-to-heads. Across fans and analysts, the decision seems to be split. North American caster Neph has gone the other direction, believing that 4Zoomers will eventually take the spot.

“I think undying has lots of skilled players and good leadership but they’ve been at home with the same teams as 4Zoomers for many months,” Neph said. “I think the zoomer players are all just playing more games as well, which is gonna give them an edge.”

Neph places importance on the number of games played because the patch that might hit the game next week. According to him, the more practice the teams have adapting right now, the more they will be able to take advantage of the new patch later. While a patch has not been confirmed by Valve, there is a recurring pattern of a small patch hitting right before The International. Whether the patch will even be released is still up in the air.