Cover-Credits:
In what looked like an abysmal start for Nigma Galaxy in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) Western Europe (WEU) 2023 Tour 3: Division II, the team turned it around to finish second and get promoted to Division 1. A league full of highly competitive teams saw Nigma with only one win after three series at the start of the season, but the team won four straight series to finish with five wins. In the end, it came down to Nigma, Level Up, and ex-Monaspa in a three-way tiebreaker for two spots since they all had the same number of victories and it was Nigma and Level Up who edged ex-Monaspa to find their way to Division I.
Nigma Galaxy overcomes tiebreakers to earn promotion in DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3: Division II
The last week of the DPC WEU 2023 Tour 3: Division saw an intriguing series of matches, with Old G, Level Up, ex-Monaspa, and Nigma Galaxy all deadlocked in points and having one series remaining.
What made this even more exciting was that all four teams were considered favorites in their matchups and unfortunately for Old G, it was the only team that failed to deliver its best game on the day and fell to Ancient Tribe.
Following that, a Bo1 tiebreaker was held on 28th June between Nigma, Level Up, and ex-Monaspa, with Nigma facing off against Level Up first. A close contest saw Nigma win after meticulous gameplay and scaling and then beat ex-Monaspa as well to secure the top spot.
The race for the second and final spot came down to Nigma versus ex-Monaspa. With Kasra "Mikey" Mesbah in the midlane on Puck, Nigma dominated the game to finish second.
While regional leagues will resume after The International 12 (TI12), Nigma will be relieved to have made it to Division I, where larger prospects await. The squad had not started well, and concerns immediately emerged then as to whether the newest roster move of adding Mikey and Yuma "Yuma" Langlet would make matters worse for the team, given that success has eluded them for the past few years.
However, the squad discovered a way to play cohesively as coach Park "March" Tae-won remarked in a recent interview, noting that while there has been growth, there are still aspects to improve with the two new young players.
Nigma's focus will swiftly change to spending more time together as a team and returning stronger than ever at TI12’s regional qualifier in August. Although this is expected to be one of the most difficult qualifiers ever, the squad will want to put its best foot forward and use its expertise of punching above its weight in such high pressure competitions to earn one of the two slots.
