Cover-Credits:
The young squad of BOOM Esports won the Gamers Galaxy Dubai 2022 tournament, besting some of the most experienced players and teams in the game’s competitive scene. In a recent Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) post-match interview, Evil Geniuses' veteran coach Kanishka 'Sam' "BuLba" Sosale, when talking about up-and-coming teams, expressed his delight at BOOM’s win at the Gamers Galaxy 2022. While BOOM's playstyle was integral, BuLba said that his happiness was driven by the personalities of their players and seeing such new players flourish. Using BOOM and The Cut from the North American (NA) DPC as examples, BuLba said that, over time, he has become more understanding of newer teams and players and cheers for them as well.
BuLba expresses his delight with BOOM’s win at the Gamers Galaxy 2022
Evil Geniuses' fourth series win in the NA DPC 2021-22 Tour 2: Division 1 brought coach BuLba for the post-match winner's interview where he spoke about BOOM from Southeast Asia in the initial discussion of some of the newer teams in NA Dota. BuLba said that seeing BOOM win the Gamers Galaxy was motivating for him as their playstyle and personalities both impressed him.
“I was super happy to see BOOM win that tournament. That was really motivating for me to watch. It’s not just because of the way they played or the Dota they played. It’s like - seeing their personalities and even our new team, we have different players from so many different regions now. So, just getting to meet everyone and the culture and all, so I am cheering for all those up-and-coming teams.”
As far as his own NA region is concerned, BuLba also talked about The Cut, another team with young players, and one of the only teams to take a game off Evil Geniuses so far in Tour 2. In the previous Tour, Evil Geniuses lost more than they expected to teams like The Cut, and as a result, BuLba said that seeing all of them over the past few months has helped him gain a greater respect for them.
“It’s really cool to see The Cut team come up. I know a few of their players. They work pretty hard and especially after even our losses earlier in the season to some of these teams, I don’t think we’d ever thought, you know. I think I have also grown to be more respectful of how they are and the reality is that they are also working as hard as us or even more. It’s good to kind of get that status check. Just understand everyone’s situation. So, I am cheering for a lot of these teams.”
BuLba talks about the number of new teams coming up in NA Dota
As BuLba expressed his happiness and excitement at the prospect of new teams popping up around the world, he said it has been difficult to find a lot of new players in North America. Other regions such as Southeast Asia and China, according to him, have such players in greater numbers when compared with NA.
“I am definitely all for some of these new players out. The reality is that a lot of these players are coming right now… In NA, it has been just hard to find new talent, I think. A lot of the players that are coming to NA DPC are international players. So, the reality is that the amount of Dota players in all the regions - NA is the lowest compared to Southeast Asia, Russia, Europe, or China. I don’t exactly know the numbers.”
Observing the NA DPC standings over the past year, it is evident that even though some newer teams have won some difficult games and series, it has only been Evil Geniuses, TSM, and Quincy Crew leading the rankings. Currently, Evil Geniuses and TSM lead the table in Tour 2 with four victories each and no losses, followed by Quincy Crew with three wins and zero losses. With only two Major slots available for NA, it seems likely that two of these three teams will qualify for the Major in May.
