Cover-Credits:
A week before the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022 kicks off, popular Dota 2 streamer Janne "Gorgc" Stefanovski released a tier list of the 14 teams competing. Based on his own impressions of the team, he divided them into five tiers with the highest being S and the lowest being D to determine the overall ranking. In his tier list assessment, Gorgc gave a great deal of emphasis to the experience of playing LAN events, placing many in-form teams who have relatively less experience in such events a little lower on his list. Based on his "hot takes," here is Gorgc's tier list for the Stockholm Major 2022.
[Teams on the left side of a tier were given a higher ranking than those on the right.]
Gorgc thinks BOOM Esports will win the Stockholm Major 2022
The Major will be won by BOOM Esports from Southeast Asia (SEA), according to the Swedish streamer.
When it came time to place BOOM, Gorgc remarked that the squad looked fantastic in its current condition and was one of the top contenders for the championship.
“These guys are good boys. These guys are good…It’s likely we are going to see them in the top three boys. The question is if they are an A or S tier team? That’s a tough one. I think honestly, looking at all the teams right now, I think they are an S-tier team, guys. We might bump them down, I might change my mind I honestly think they will make it to the finals. I don’t think they are going to win necessarily. They are not my top-top seed but they are in the finals, I think. They are looking really good right now.”
According to the tier list, BOOM Esports' grand final opponent was initially Team Spirit, and Gorgc mentioned that the former would come out on top.
However later, after a lot of maneuvering between BOOM, Team Spirit, and Tundra Esports, Gorgc stated that the SEA team will win the entire tournament by defeating Tundra Esports in the grand final.
What did Gorgc say about the other two SEA teams - T1 and Fnatic?
Gorgc believes it will be "the SEA" Major. T1 is a formidable squad, according to Gorgc, and based on how he has seen them perform in recent months, he believes they can do well. He put them in the A-tier at first, but by the end, he had moved them to the top of the B-tier.
In Fnatic's instance, while he first placed them in the B-tier, he later relegated them to the C-tier, claiming that they were the team about whom he knew the least.
Gorgc on Evil Geniuses and OG
While Gorgc had thoughts on all of the teams, Gorgc's explanation for Evil Geniuses and OG's placement was particularly noteworthy.
In the instance of Evil Geniuses, he hilariously pointed out to team coach Kanishka 'Sam' "BuLba" Sosale's tendency of selecting Storm Spirit for Abed "Abed" Azel L. Yusop in the early stages of the draft in most games.
“I don’t know what BuLba is going to do if they ban Storm. Like he is going to throw away the papers - I am done drafting guys, I don’t know what to do anymore because they love their first pick Storm a little bit too much. It is strong in this patch. It wasn’t nerfed. It is a tough one. It’s a tough call between A and B guys,” Gorgc stated prior to placing Evil Geniuses in the B-tier. However, in the end, he switched them with T1 to put them in the A-tier.
In the case of OG, Gorgc stated that they were an S-tier team in their region and were even capable of winning the Major, but he was concerned about their performance at an international LAN, claiming that they could get overwhelmed by teams like Team Spirit and BOOM Esports. Because of their inexperience, he eventually placed them in the A-tier rather than the S-tier.
With the Major starting on May 12th, it is only a matter of time until we discover how much of Gorgc's tier list is correct. He also stated that Group A had tougher competition than Group B, despite the fact that Group B is home to Team Spirit, the International 10 (TI10) winners.
Group A consists of Evil Geniuses, BetBoom Team, OG, beastcoast, BOOM Esports, T1, and Tundra Esports. Group B consists of Thunder Awaken, Fnatic, Gaimin Gladiators, TSM, Team Spirit, Mind Games, and Team Liquid. $500K USD in prize money and 3,530 DPC points will be on the line in this event.
