Tundra Esports Is Ready To Win The International 11 ‘Dota 2’ Tournament

Tundra Esports has dominated The Worldwide 11 Dota 2 match to this point. Within the group stage they gained 14 of their 18 video games, topping a stacked group B that additionally featured two different groups which have since made the highest 4 and the defending champions Group Spirit. Within the higher bracket of the playoff stage they simply dispatched two time champions OG and the most effective Chinese language crew within the competitors Group Aster. Now all they’ve left to do is win two extra matches and the trophy might be theirs.

However in contrast to different years, Tundra and the opposite three remaining groups in The Worldwide 11, have needed to endure a painstaking 5 day break. As a part of a brand new format for the competitors, the principle portion of the double elimination bracket was performed over 4 days on the Suntec Singapore enviornment final week, whereas the highest 4 groups will compete within the remaining 4 matches of the match this weekend on the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The final matches have been performed on October 23, with the following match set to kick off in a couple of hours on October 29.

In a match that has beforehand seen many winners cite the momentum of profitable quite a lot of video games in a brief house of time as a key issue of their life altering win, you’ll be able to see why this can be a main new problem for the gamers concerned.

“Personally I hate it,” says Martin “Saksa” Sazdov, a veteran participant at The Worldwide, when speaking concerning the week break. “[It] looks like this complete match we’ve been fully immersed in Dota and centered on it, and we’ve been in a position to see many wonderful video games/performances for lots of groups. Now that this break is right here feels prefer it takes us out of that Dota mindset a bit and ruins the momentum for a lot of gamers. Hopefully we gained’t see one thing like this once more.”

Whereas his teammate, Neta “33” Shapira, jokes that it has allowed him to atone for sleep which is a optimistic, he too argues that this break places a cease to any momentum the crew could have had, and has modified their preparation course of for his or her upcoming higher bracket remaining match in opposition to fellow European roster Group Secret, contemplating they’ve had considerably extra time.

“We had a time off after our match vs Aster the place we simply relaxed and watched the video games, after that we had a full day of media so it was mainly one other day of resetting a bit from Dota,” says Shapira. “Now we’re specializing in getting again into the match mindset so we be sure that we hold a superb schedule and play scrims/pubs. Our essential focus is Group Secret. We’ve talked a bit concerning the different groups [left in the competition] however nothing critical, just a few informal discussions on their play type/heroes that they like.”

With 5 days for every crew to organize for this upcoming match, nobody actually is aware of what to anticipate. Each groups know one another extremely nicely, having performed in opposition to one another all year long within the European DPC league and already at TI within the group stage the place Tundra gained 2-0, however with this further time you might be positive each groups have analysed each second of these video games and we may very well be in for a really completely different meta for these final 4 days.

However the Tundra gamers aren’t nervous, in truth there’s an air of confidence throughout the crew, even if Sazdov thinks this match in opposition to Secret would be the hardest to this point. After revealing how they felt their pre-tournament preparations had put them in an awesome place heading into the match, the crew continues to be pointing to the basics they mastered throughout this time because the the reason why they’re assured of a superb outcome.

“Our concepts of play the sport, like what heroes praise one another and counter essentially the most meta heroes [are some of our key strengths],” says Sazdov. “Additionally most likely the most important factor we improved on is our crew combating, we put quite a lot of give attention to that in our bootcamps and I believe we’ve carried out a greater job at that than most groups.”

They’ve additionally been cautious to keep away from earlier errors. Sazdov factors to the earlier DPC season and the Arlington Main, the place Tundra may solely handle Fifteenth-Sixteenth place, as a giant studying expertise. The crew was burnt out by the point the match rolled round, having labored so laborious for months prior. This time they made positive to organize another way, and all through the match have been cautious to not overwork themselves, with the gamers having particular person downtime and happening crew walks collectively to get away from the screens.

With just some hours to go earlier than Tundra takes to the stage as soon as once more there’s an air of anticipation across the Dota 2 world. Regardless of all the nicely publicised points round The Worldwide 11 manufacturing, the in sport motion has been among the finest we’ve got ever seen. The 4 groups left within the competitors all have unbelievable tales behind them, and are simply able to lifting the Aegis of Champions on Sunday, which means each map counts from right here on out. For Tundra, high three is already an awesome outcome, however they rightly have eyes for the final word prize.

“I knew if we performed our greatest and hit a superb momentum we may simply attain high three and extra,” says Shapira. “However going into the match anticipating such a result’s fairly unhealthy because it places extra strain on you. So it’s higher to take issues step-by-step. It clearly feels nice to already be within the high three. I’m very pleased with our efficiency to this point and hope we are able to stick with it all the best way to the finals.”