The State of North American Dota 2

Time Stamp: July 3, 2022 9:10 PM

In Dota 2, there have always been regions that stand above the others, similar to other eSports. Whether it is the player base size, servers, or a cultural factor, some regions produce more world-class teams than others. While North America did take home a championship at The International 5 back in 2015, since then they have struggled to put forward more than one strong team at a time.

[Related: The Important Roster Changes After the Stockholm Major]

European and Chinese Dota have always been the best in terms of teams, and everyone knows it. Western Europe and China get 4 teams for each major tournament, and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia get 3. After the slots for other regions, North America and South America are restricted to just 2 teams heading to majors.

While this system doesn’t seem fair at first glance, it makes sense when looking at past tournament results. Evil Geniuses has been the only NA roster consistently putting up high finishes internationally. However, 4/5 of their players are imports. But, in recent months, other NA teams have started to improve. NA Dota now is much stronger than it was a year ago, with new organizations joining the fray, and with teams that can compete internationally.

The Org Effect

The biggest change in the past year for NA Dota has been the amount of sponsored teams on the scene. One year ago, Evil Geniuses were the only team under an organization banner. Now, there are four teams sponsoring Dota 2 rosters in NA, and all three new rosters have improved incredibly quickly since they have been signed. Team Undying finished 13-16th at TI10, and was the third-best team in NA. But, when TSM chose to pick up the roster they immediately won the regional finals against EG, and qualified for the Stockholm Major.

From there, a roster that placed 13-16th at their prior international tournament made it all the way to the finals of a major. The roster changed no players, they just joined an org and were able to focus more on the game. That simple change allowed the roster to flourish, and defeat three of Europe’s best teams 2-0 in their upper bracket run.

[Related: TSM Dota 2 Secure a top 3 spot at the Stockholm Major]

4 Zoomers were right behind Undying to make it to TI10, but barely got beat out by Undying in the grand finals of the qualifiers. Recently before Tour 3 of the DPC, the roster was announced as the first team signed for Nouns eSports. In their first tour since being signed, the roster jumped to a 4-0 start to the season, including beating Evil Geniuses 2-1.

The roster has 4 players from the United States and a carry from Brazil, proving that homegrown talent can still come out on top of import players if given a chance. While Nouns did lose 2-0 to Quincy Crew in their most recent series, they still sit in second place and may even qualify for the Arlington Major.

With more NA rosters joining organizations, the teams have quickly improved. Now, there are four NA teams fighting for spots internationally, instead of Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew.

Keep an Eye on the Crew

Speaking of Quincy Crew, the roster looks better than ever. After picking up Fata as their captain, Quincy Crew brought back two players from their TI10 roster. With Fata at the helm, the roster with 3 Americans and 1 Brazilian is 5-0 in the DPC.

Quincy Crew hasn’t dropped a single map, and they are the only team across all regions to do so. They swept TSM, the major runner-ups, 2-0 after their midlaner’s power went out and they almost got disqualified.

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From there, the Crew won against Nouns, and is nearly guaranteed to take the #1 seed at the Arlington Major. This version of Quincy Crew looks like the best team in NA, and will be competitive internationally too. Even without an org sponsorship, Quincy Crew looks even better than they did at TI10.

Image Courtesy of Liquipedia

With Quincy Crew, Nouns, and TSM all fighting for first, Evil Geniuses isn’t the only team that can compete internationally. In fact, even though EG and TSM represented North America at Stockholm, both rosters may miss the Arlington Major. Quincy Crew and Nouns sit in first and second, with the Crew at 5-0 and Nouns at 4-1.

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