DreamLeague Season 14 was inevitably going to leave one or two big-name teams out of the ONE Esports Singapore Major. The only question was which team was going to miss the boat, and an answer came Sunday during tiebreakers.
With Tundra Esports, OG, and Team Liquid tied with 3-4 records, they were forced to fight for the last remaining spot in the major. After two round robin tiebreakers, Team Liquid came out on top, while OG and Tundra will be forced to stay at home. That's not too bad for OG given that its captain will be staying in a 17-bedroom mansion, but it's a jarring turn of events for those that don't follow the Dota 2 pro scene closely.
Though Tundra was the longshot in the equation from the start, OG missing out on a major comes as a bit of a surprise. OG’s poor record during the regular season portion of the winter league came from a combination of factors.
DreamLeague Season 14 was exclusively made up of formidable teams, with no easy outs among them. With the exception of Team Secret, who finished the league with a perfect 7-0 record, there was that was predictable when it came to who would beat who.
That said, this mediocre performance isn’t really all that unusual in the grand scheme of OG’s entire existence. Outside of Valve-sponsored majors and The International in recent years, OG has never performed especially well on a consistent basis.
The team hasn’t won a tournament outside The International since the 2017 MDL Macau minor, and this lower caliber of play wasn’t out of the ordinary for the team. Though OG is rightly regarded as the most decorated team in Dota 2, the likes of Team Secret and Vici Gaming have always been better teams when considered on a weekly basis.
This new format forces teams to bring it each game and that may force a cultural shift in OG and other top teams that are used to taking it easy until The International appears on the horizon. Though OG has been able to get away with cocky and troll strategies over the years, they may have just missed the major because of a cheeky play going wrong in week six.
Which teams are competing in the ONE Esports Singapore Major?
The first season of the 2021 Dota Pro Circuit is wrapping up in five out of six regions by Sunday night. That has seen most of the field for the ONE Esports Singapore Major. Here are the teams that have qualified, and which stage of the tournament they have qualified for:
ONE Esports Singapore Major playoffs invitees
- Team Secret
- Virtus.pro
- Fnatic
- Beastcoast
ONE Esports Singapore Major group stage invitees
- Alliance
- Thunder Predator
- Neon Esports
- Natus Vincere
ONE Esports Singapore Major wildcard invitees
- Team Nigma
- Team Liquid
- T1
China took an extended break in the middle of its season, and no teams have mathematically secured a spot in the ONE Esports Singapore Major as of yet. The CIS and North America regions have tiebreakers that are yet to be played.
In the CIS region, Team Spirit and AS Monaco Gambit are playing in a best-of-three to determine who will get a wildcard invitation. In North America, Evil Geniuses, Quincy Crew, and Undying all finished with a 6-1 record that will see them face off in a round robin tiebreaker to determine which two teams will advance to the ONE Esports Singapore Major. The final day of league play in China is on March 13, with tiebreakers likely to follow then as well.
