Cover-Credits:
Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Southeast Asia (SEA) 2021-22 Tour 1: Division 1 finally came to a close with Fnatic finding its rhythm, as it posted convincing victories against T1 and Team SMG in its tiebreaker matchups. With positions second to fourth at stake, Fnatic entered the contest with great drafts and had even better execution to win second place. This earns the team $28K USD in prize money as well as 180 DPC points.
Following this, T1 and Team SMG battled for third place with the former winning the BO1 match to secure the higher position. While this tiebreaker was important for the three squads in terms of DPC points, all three will still be participating in the upcoming Regional Finals.
Fnatic takes down both T1 and Team SMG to finish second in DPC SEA
In the regular season, Fnatic, T1, and Team SMG all finished second with five wins and two losses. Three BO1 games among the three teams were needed to resolve this tie and decide the final standings.
The first game of the tiebreaker between Fnatic and Team SMG was a thriller. Yeik "MidOne" Nai Zheng’s last pick, Terrorblade, seemed like a smart pick for Team SMG, so Fnatic, for its last pick, decided to go in with a gamble, offlane Grimstroke for Anucha "Jabz" Jirawong, in order to counter this hero.
In the game, Terrorblade was a beast for the most part, and Team SMG was ahead for a long time, before Jabz's Grimstroke, with an Aghanim's Scepter, took over. As a team, Fnatic also fought back in an impeccable manner to win one teamfight after another and win the game in 51 minutes.
Fnatic then faced T1 with a chance to clinch second place. Fnatic went with the usual in-meta lineup of a mid Queen of Pain, Luna in carry, and Beastmaster in offlane. In the middle stages, the team ramped up the aggression, taking one objective after objective. T1 uncharacteristically appeared disoriented in its teamfight execution, while Fnatic was making no mistakes today, winning the game in 33 minutes.
The battle for the third place finish was down to T1 and Team SMG after Fnatic had already beaten both of them to finish second. Team SMG was stuck on which hero to choose last for MidOne after T1 had selected a solid lineup. Among the options available, Anti Mage looked like the most appealing choice since T1 had heroes like Wraith King, Leshrac, and Io, so Team SMG ultimately opted for the hero.
Leshrac's triple kill to start the game gave T1 the upper hand and it never let Team SMG make the space it wanted to for Anti Mage. A few strong defenses were made by Team SMG, but it was not enough to turn the game around, losing in 34 minutes.
The final standings for the DPC SEA 2021-22 Tour 1: Division 1 are as follows.
BOOM Esports, Fnatic, T1, and Team SMG are the four teams competing in the Regional Finals in February. In a double elimination bracket, the four teams will compete from 11th to 13th Feb for a share of the $100,000 USD prize pool and 380 DPC points. While all teams will get a portion of the prize pool, only the top two earn the points. While all teams will receive a share of the prize pool, only the top two earn points.
All four teams were the best of the bunch and have shown that they have the potential to take each other down. None of them have a big edge going into the Regional Finals, and it will be interesting to see who prevails in the end.
