Dota 2 DPC Eastern Europe Division II Week 1 Recap

Following BetBoom Team, HellRaisers, and Team Spirit’s success in the 2023 Eastern European Division I, it is time to focus on Division II. We’ve already seen the best in action, but there are a couple of interesting names in Div 2 that are also worth following. Feel free to check our overview of Division II in every 2023 DPC region to learn more.

The matches in Division II during the first week of the 2023 DPC in Eastern Europe were definitely more interesting than we expected. To be fair, EEU only has a couple of teams that most people are aware of, but we’ve decided to keep an eye on them. With that said, here is an overview of what happened during Week 1.

PuckChamp lost its opening series

Despite being the most popular Eastern European Division II team and the big favorite for one of the two slots for Division I, PuckChamp failed to live up to the expectations.

The team’s first series was against Sigma.YNT, is one of the new names in the EEU’s DPC. Although we expected an epic battle with tons of back-and-forth action, this was only true during the first game. In fact, it lasted almost one hour, so it wasn’t surprising that we saw tons of fights.

Despite PC’s solid draft with Brood, Ursa, and SF, it was no match against a 6-slotted Naga and Invoker. After a while, Sigma.YNT took control of the game and defeated their opponents. 

The loss in the first game didn’t stop PuckChamp from winning the second game. In fact, it took just 21 minutes because their Ursa and Ember combo quickly took complete control of the match. VANSKOR and the rest couldn’t do anything to stop their opponents’ cores from snowballing and lost the match really fast.

Fortunately, the stomp in the match’s second game didn’t affect the team’s performance in game 3. Sigma.YNT decided to surprise their opponents by picking Tinker, a hero that we rarely see in professional Dota. He had to go up against the likes of Magnus and Silencer, but even this wasn’t enough to stop.

After around 40 minutes of play, Sigma.YNT delivered its knock-put punch and won the match.

HYDRA secured 3 victories 

Even though we expected PuckChamp to dominate the Dota 2 DPC Eastern Europe Division II, it seems like this honor goes to HYDRA. No one expected dream’ and the rest to dominate, but the team secured 3 victories after Week 1. In other words, HYDRA has an excellent chance of securing one of the two slots for Division I.

Dream’ and his team started the week after a dominant victory against cybercats. The team had no problems in the first game and won the second one following an epic one-hour battle. 

After defeating its first opponent, HYDRA also dealt with Sigma.YNT in its second series of the week. This one was way more interesting because SIGMA was also one of the interesting squads that people expected to shine. However, luck was not on their side, and the team lost the match.

In game one, Sigma.YNT got a really greedy draft with Morphling and Ember Spirit. Although the team did ok in the laning stage, HYDRA knew they were playing against the clock, which is why they’ve stepped up their game. In the end, this was enough to win the match.

After securing the first victory in the series, Sigma.YNT changed its draft for the second game, but more was needed to defeat their highly motivated counterparts. HYDRA had little to no problems and secured yet another important victory.

The final series

The last challenge for Worick and co. was the battle against X3. Surprisingly, the latter defeated another team earlier, which meant that HYDRA had to win to secure itself a comfortable lead in Division II.

Although we expected this series to give us access to a lot of action, the reality was different. X3 wasn’t able to live up to the expectations, and the team lost both matches relatively easily. The first game of the series ended after 32 minutes because Hydra’s Night Stalker and Batrider draft was a nightmare to play against.

We expected X3 to bounce back in game 2, but this match was even easier for the EEU powerhouse. HYDRA got Slark and IO in response to X3’s Morphling, and the two heroes ripped through their opponents’ draft. In the end, the squad won the match after 27 minutes.

Ccats lost against PC

After PuckChamp could not win its first series of the week, the team bounced back and secured a crucial victory in the second series. Even though there are 2 more weeks until the EEU DPC Division II comes to an end, every victory counts, and this one was no exception.

What made this series way more interesting than expected was the third game of the series. Cybercats and PuckChamp exchanged one victory in games one and 2, but the third one turned out to be an 87-minute deathmatch.

We can write a separate article just about this game because it was enjoyable and full of epic moments. Needless to say, everyone had tons of items at this stage, but since ccats had TB and Techies, we expected them to win. 

Even though they had the lead throughout most of the game, in the end, this wasn’t enough for them to win. PuckChamp defended their high ground and waited until they had access to an Aegis and Cheese. Once that happened, the team started playing more aggressively, and in the end, it won the match.