The Bucharest Major
The Bucharest Major kicked off on Sunday, March 4th with a best-of-one Swiss group stage that’s received some criticism from the community this week for knocking teams out after they lost 3 best-of-one matches. The top eight teams after the group stage drew random match-ups for the single elimination bracket. Virtus.pro, who were the winners of the previous Dota 2 Pro Circuit tournament, and VGJ.Thunder, who were identified by The Bucharest Major panel as dark horses of the tournament, advance to the grand finals, to be played on March 11th.
Leong “ddc” Fat-meng (pictured above) joined VGJ.Thunder at the beginning of February 2018 and his international experience and skilled support play have been identified as a standout reason for the team’s recent success.
TNC Tiger
Though rosters formed after the February 5th winter roster lock deadline are not eligible for direct invitations to The International 8 nor the regional qualifiers, there have still been a few roster changes. Notable is the March 5th teaser for Theeban “1437” Siva’s new TNC-sister-team: TNC Tiger. 1437 played for TNC from May of 2017 through the end of January 2018, when he was replaced with Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios. Though the full TNC Tiger roster hasn’t been announced, it’s clear that the Tiger mascot should rival Team Kinguin’s penguin for most adorable.
Artifact
The Dota 2-themed digital card game originally teased at The International 7 was revealed to the media this week. Of interest to Dota 2 fans is that Artifact will feature Dota 2 lore, and there is potential for Dota 2 heroes to debut first in the card game and then be ported to the MOBA. A release is expected later in 2018, with a US$1,000,000 tournament already announced for Q1 2019.
Virtus.pro to The International 8
By securing a top two placement at The Bucharest Major, Virtus.pro becomes the first team to secure a direct invitation to The International 8 due to Dota 2 Pro Circuit qualifying points. Congratulations to the CIS team, and good luck to the rest of the field: with ten events remaining on the official schedule, there’s plenty of points left on the Circuit to collect before The International 8.
The Bucharest Major Grand Finals air on March 11th at 7:00 am EST and can be watched at https://www.twitch.tv/pgl_dota2.
Photo courtesy of PGL Esports