Cover-Credits:
Tundra Esports dominated The International 11 (TI11), registering an effortless win in the event. Nevertheless, this team's form has slipped since it claimed the title, just like many past TI winners. Tundra narrowly won the Lima Major slot in the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) 2023 Tour 1 after finishing fourth before putting on a disappointing show in the event as it placed 9th-12th.
Now that Tour 2 has begun, the team has shown good promise once again with back-to-back 2-0 victories. Asked about what went wrong in Tour 1 during a recent post-match winner’s interview, offlaner Neta "33" Shapira sarcastically said it was always his team's problem and that he had never struggled with anything.
Tundra Esports' 33 playfully takes a jab at teammates for a dip in form in DPC 2023 Tour 1
It was a simple victory for Tundra as it took down Nigma Galaxy 2-0 in its second series in the DPC WEU 2023 Tour 2: Division I. In both games, 33 played on his trademark Doom and farmed both creeps and heroes mercilessly.
When 33 was asked why Doom, a hero he has long been considered one of the best on, wasn't winning games for Tundra in last season's results, 33 humorously deflected responsibility on his teammates.
“I don’t think anything really changed. I think my team was just noobs. They weren’t winning so I could not carry…the team is always the problem. I was playing perfectly as always,” he remarked with a slight grin on his face.
A few months after losing motivation with its overall performance in the first season, Tundra is looking to be back on track with its trademark map movements and lane performances this season. There haven't been that many breaks this year, but the Tundra players are able to relax and reset, 33 also said in an interview.
Continuing his teammate teasing, he singled out Oliver "skiter" Lepko and quipped that with only two people currently at the bootcamp, the conversations are less noisy and the atmosphere is calm.
“Everything feels good. We are happy. Some people got time off to relax and reset a bit. I’m here on the bootcamp with Sneyking but it’s a lot more relaxed when it’s only two people. You don’t have constantly noisy conversations and people yelling and skiter yelling. We are just happy. We are chilling, playing, and hopefully, things will work out for us this season.”
WEU has shown to be the most competitive region this year, and it will be intriguing to see if Tundra can reclaim a spot in the top two positions. The team’s next series in the DPC WEU 2023 Tour 2: Division I will come against Entity on 20th March.
