Cover-Credits:
Solo tournaments were once a thing of the past in competitive Dota 2, but BetBoom Dacha has revived them, with the ongoing 2024 event in Dubai producing one of the most exhilarating 1v1 tournaments to date. It was a close race with 40 participants until Team Liquid's Michał "Nisha" Jankowski emerged as the winner and took home $50,000 USD in prize money. The grand final saw Nisha defeat Xtreme Gaming's midlaner Guo "Xm" Hongcheng by a scoreline of 3-1, finishing with a Meepo matchup in the fourth game where he easily defeated Xm, who is not known for being a Meepo player.
Nisha reigns supreme in BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024: Solo Tournament
During the day off from the main tournament, 40 players who had registered for the solo tournament at BetBoom Dacha 2024 competed in a single elimination bracket. Players from other roles, and coaches and managers also took part in the competition in addition to the midlaners.
Nisha's journey in the tournament began in the second round with a Bo1 versus Team Falcons' Ammar "ATF" Al-Assaf. In a typical 1v1 Shadow Fiend faceoff, Nisha got the first kill and then better last hitting allowed him to become stronger and win with the second kill.
The second Bo1 round featured Falcons' Stanislav "Malr1ne" Potorak, and the game lasted nearly 15 minutes, with Nisha once again taking the kills and outperforming on final hits.
Nisha's next challenge involved a Bo3 series against Danil "gpk" Skutin from BetBoom Team, both renowned as top-tier midlaners in the current era. The first was a 1v1 Mirana matchup, and it was the one of the closest games of the series for him, but he was able to pull it out in the end with two kills to one for gpk.
Both players played aggressively in the second game on Shadow Fiend, with gpk tying the series at 1-1. The crucial third game was a slow-paced Lina duel, and although both players scored one kill apiece, Nisha won after 15 minutes because of a higher creepstat (89/31 to 72/14).
It was then a Bo5 match versus Xm, who had made his way from the opposite side of the bracket. Nisha began with an emphatic victory over Mirana, taking the lead. In a very similar encounter versus gpk on Shadow Fiend, the two players clashed, and Nisha lost again, tying the series 1-1.
In the third game on Marci, Xm was performing well in terms of last hits but was outplayed by Nisha, who won with two kills to his one six minutes in.
As it turned out, Xm, who is not a Meepo player, seemingly forgot to ban the hero and had to play it in the fourth game, when he was easily defeated given Nisha's extensive experience with the hero.
While Nisha receives $50,000, Xm receives $20,000, and the players finishing third through eighth place each receive some part of the $1,000,000 prize pool.
Nisha was an expected finalist and a contender for the crown, but one of the tournament's highlights was Gaimin's Quinn "Quinn" Callahan, another favorite for the solo event, losing to Virtus.pro's Ilya "Kiritych" Ulyanov by just 2 creeps in the first round.
Meanwhile, Samuel "Boxi" Svahn, Team Liquid's position four player, who has noticeably improved over recent years, advanced to the semifinals. However, he was defeated by Xm in a tightly contested Bo3 series.
These players now turn their attention to the main tournament, where eight teams will compete against each other starting from the upper bracket. Nisha’s Team Liquid will go up against Azure Ray on 11th Feb 2024.
