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Dota 2: Five Takeaways From DreamLeague Season 19

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Dota 2: Five Takeaways From DreamLeague Season 19

Here are a couple of interesting things we’ve learned from DreamLeague Season 19.

One of the biggest non-DPC Dota 2 tournaments is finally over. Over almost two weeks of epic games, DreamLeague Season 19 came to an end. We will remember this event for a lot of things, including the fact that The New Frontiers Update dropped just 2 days before it was over. Of course, this is just one of the things that made it special because the tournament offered us a lot of things.

Following the end of DreamLeauge Season 19, we’re just a couple of days away from the beginning of The Berlin Major 2023. The latter will be incredibly interesting to watch, but before that, it’s time to take a look at a couple of things we’ve learned from this event.

Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid are the best in the world

DreamLeague Season 19 allowed us to watch tons of epic matches over the last 2 weeks. However, it’s safe to say that the Grand Final between Gaimin Gladiators and Team Liquid was on another level. 

The arrival of the Dota 2 patch 7.33 changed the game as we know it (more about it in just a bit), but even this wasn’t enough to stop these 2 powerhouses. Following an epic 5-game series, Gaimin Gladiators eventually prevailed and defeated their mighty Western European counterparts. This was yet another victory for dyrachyo and co. against Nisha’s squad, and GG became the only Dota 2 team that could defeat Liquid.

Speaking of the devil, TL was the big favorite in this tournament because it had no problems in both groups, as well as the Playoffs. In fact, Liquid defeated GG in the Upper Bracket final, but the latter eliminated Shopify Rebellion, which allowed them to play in the final.

Even though Team Liquid wasn’t able to win DreamLeague Season 19, there is no arguing it is one of the best teams in the world. As for Gaimin Gladiators, this was a second tournament under their belt because the team won The Lima Major 2023 a few weeks prior. What’s interesting is that it also had to go up against Team Liquid in the final, so this was a replay of the epic clash between the two.

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Western Europe is on another level

The fact that two Western European teams reached the Grand Final of DreamLeague Season 19 might come as a surprise to those who haven’t followed the professional Dota 2 scene. However, regular viewers know that this region is on another level, and the recent results prove it.

Following the end of the Group Stage, 3 out of 4 Western European teams have made it to the playoffs. Tundra Esports, Team Liquid, and Gaimin Gladiators were better than almost everyone else and deserved to advance to the next stage. In the end, the final was also between 2 of the best DreamLeague Season 19 squads from WEU.

The imbalance between the regions in Dota 2 is something that some people have addressed a lot lately. Although every region has its big names, WEU completely dominates the professional scene. The best Western European teams win every big international event, so we expect to see the same at the Berlin Major 2023. 

Shopify Rebellion is the only team outside of Western Europe that can go toe to toe with the best

Even though the top Western European teams are clearly better than their counterparts, there are a few glimmers of hope from other parts of the world. Following the end of DreamLeague Season 19, it became clear that Shopify Rebellion is among them.

Even though Arteezy and his teammates didn’t win the tournament, they became the only team outside of WEU to reach the Playoffs. Even more impressive is that SR didn’t have that many problems throughout the event. The squad even defeated GG in the second group stage, but it couldn’t do that again in the LB Final.

Despite losing against the event winners, Shopify Rebellion has proven the team is on the right path. Interestingly, SR wasn’t able to defeat TSM during the North America Tour 2 of the 2023 DPC, but the latter was nowhere close to their rivals at DreamLeague Season 19. Hence, we expect Abed and the rest to have no problems against Timado’s crew in the future.

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OG needs to improve 

Even though Tundra Esports, Gaimin Gladiators, and Team Liquid lived up to their fans’ expectations and didn’t have that many problems, the same can’t be said about OG. The fourth Western European team has had some problems lately, and it wasn’t able to live up to the expectations. Even though the team succeeded in the first group stage, it only won 2 matches in the second one. Consequently, OG wasn’t able to advance to the Playoffs. As you can imagine, none of OG’s players were happy with the result, so it will be interesting to see if there will be any roster changes.

Dota 2 Patch 7.33 Dropped In the Middle of the Tournament

There is no arguing that the latest Dota 2 Patch 7.33, The New Frontiers Update changed the game as we know it. This is the biggest patch in the game in years, and it includes a wide array of new things. In fact, you can learn more about some of the hero changes, item differences, and loads of other things.We expected Valve to drop the new patch because it was leaked on Twitter a few days prior. However, most of us thought that this would happen after DreamLeague Season 19 was over because this was a $1M tournament. It seems like Valve didn’t want to wait anymore because the new Dota 2 patch was released before the Playoffs matches.

As you can imagine, such a groundbreaking update caught even the best Dota 2 teams by surprise, and they had to be quick to adapt. The first 4 matches of patch 7.33 were extremely interesting to watch, but neither team knew how to make the most of it. Therefore, we can’t wait to see what will happen at the Berlin Major 2023.