The BetBoom Xmas Show gathers the best of Eastern Europe for a Christmas brawl. Besides, featuring renowned powerhouses, Team Spirit and Virtus.pro, the event also invited many more Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) staples.
As the group stage games are currently underway, here’s a glimpse into the featured teams worth watching into Playoffs. After all, we are merely weeks before the DPC 2023 kicks off its first Tour, so the BetBoom Xmas Show will give some expectations on the upcoming teams.
Team Spirit
Holding the title as the International 10 (TI10) champ, Team Spirit is the only Eastern European champion besides Natus Vincere. Even after a poor season, Spirit still won much more in TI prize pool than its predecessors, which is also the highest TI prize pool any team has won.
Spirit’s run might have been a fluke, as the players even doubted themselves after TI10. So troubled that Alexander “TORONTOTOKYO” Khertek departed Team Spirit after their TI11 downfall. While it’s never fun to see such an inspiring team go downhill, Spirit is still going into DPC 2023 with four founding players and a newcomer, Denis “Larl” Sigitov. Larl, who previously played for BetBoom, was a rising star and made his first TI debut this year.
As for TORONTOTOKYO, the former mid-player transitioned to the hard support role after leaving Spirit. He now plays for BetBoom, which now features the rumored CIS superstack. The rest of this team includes Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko, Danil “gpk” Skutin, Egor “Nightfall” Grigorenko, and Vitalie “Save-” Melnic.
BetBoom isn’t actually a participant at the BetBoom Xmas Show but considering the event itself shares the Esports org’s namesake and there’s still an unannounced team. It might just be reasonable to assume which team is taking the last slot.
Entity and Gaimin Gladiators as WEU representatives
Another two familiar faces are Entity and Gaimin Gladiators. The latter team’s former mid player, Miroslav “BOOM” Bičan left for Team Secret. Unexpectedly, the replacement is Quinn “Quinn” Callahan from North America.
For what it’s worth, Gaimin wasn’t too shabby at TI11, considering it was their first TI debut, albeit they have seasoned players. The point is, Gaimin had as much potential to be a Western European powerhouse after their consistent performance throughout DPC 2022.
With Quinn on the forefront, Gaimin might just be a massive threat not just at BetBoom Xmas Show, but the DPC 2023. As for Quinn, leaving his home region to play for WEU is the opportunity he needed to showcase his strength. Even so, it’s a shame that NA region just lost another talent on top of the other powerhouse disbands.
The same can be said for Entity, which made its TI11 debut recently. The WEU competitive scene wasn’t this competitive years ago, so having these staples are reassuring. Nevertheless, Entity and Gaimin pale in comparison to the other WEU stacks, such as Tundra Esports, Team Secret, and Liquid. Let’s not forget about OG and Nigma, who are highly-anticipated teams going into DPC 2023.
Other superstacks forming over in CIS
Virtus.pro falls under honorable mentions at BetBoom Xmas Show since they completely revamped their roster. Additionally, it’s a less notable stack of players who are playing under the VP namesake. Despite that, VP has the Final Stage seed and gets to skip the group stage. This is odd, considering Team Spirit itself had to play in the group stage before qualifying for Final Stage.
There are PuckChamp, One Move, and Nemiga Gaming, which are decent teams in EEU, so they should put up a fight. HellRaisers, which features Alexey “Solo” Berezin, will surely be on everyone’s watchlist.
Spirit and Nemiga already secured Playoffs, as only two spots remain open ahead of this weekend.
All in all, the BetBoom Xmas Show is stacked with promising teams and powerhouses, and it will be a treat to watch these formidable teams battle it out for $50,000 winnings. There is plenty of quality Dota 2 to watch over the Christmas holiday.
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