Review of WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020

The tournament turned out to be pretty predictable. All the teams performed in the way we had told in our preview. We did not see any surprises and the competition was quite cut-and-dried so it could help betters to raise some money.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

This European team should be analyzed separately from other participants. Despite the fact that experienced esportsmen represent the team, they cannot achieve any good result. NiP arrived at WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020, played four maps without any motivation being unable to win at least one and completed their participation in the championship on the 7-8 position in the tournament bracket. At the first meeting they lost a battle against Geek Fam on the maps that lasted 39 and 35 minutes, and the second match against Team Spirit the battles ended up in 37 and 32 minutes. It is remarkable that FURIA Esports, which was the main underdog of the competition turned out to give more opposition than NiP's represented. If before the start of the tournament Ninjas in Pyjamas' fans had a hope that ppd and his teammates could reach the Tier-1 level, after the performance of the Europeans at this minor, these hopes got ruined. We, by the way, were considering the variant that NiP would not be able to make it to the playoff and were not out of pocket.

Team Spirit and Fighting PandaS

In our preview we shared our opinion that Fighting PandaS could reach the 5-6 place in the tournament bracket in the best case and Team Spirit would be the first to finish participating in the tournament as well as FURIA Esports. Ninjas in Pyjamas performed so poorly that the players did not let Spirit make our prognosis come true and the CIS team got placed on the 5-6 position having defeated NiP 2-0. As for Fighting PandaS, they played as we had expected. The only surprise from EternaLEnVy and his teammates was their win over Nigma. The first battle between Nigma and FP was intriguing, tense and it made clear that the championship was not going to be boring. As a result, the battle ended up with 2-1 for Fighting PandaS and that was the end of the success for the Canadian team. At the next two battles with Gambit and Nigma, the team lost 1-2. An interesting fact: all the battles resulted in at least one map for the Canadians which proves their good preparation. The efforts and the 5-6 place brought Team Spirit and Fighting PandaS $24,000 and 60 Dota Pro Circuit points.

Geek Fam and Gambit Esports

Gambit showed a great game but the team was not good enough to make it to the final of the lower bracket at least. As a result, Fng and his teammates won the 4 place in the tournament bracket. In the group stage, Gambit defeated FURIA 2-0 and beat Fighting PandaS 2-1. At the playoff, the players were not so lucky and lost a battle against Geek Fam 0-2, and after that lost against Nigma 1-2. The CIS team was close enough to block Nigma's way to the victory and as a result, Gambit took the 4 place and Nigma became the champions. Their efforts brought the CIS team $42,000 and 90 Dota Pro Circuit points.

Sportsbooks did not believe in Geek Fam passing to the playoff. They estimated Nigma, Gambit, NiP and RNG higher than the Asian players. Geek Fam at the playoff was unexpected, wasn't it? It was true but only in the case of you didn't read our review. We paid attention to the history of the matches of Kuku and his teammates and claimed that we expected to see the team in the playoff on the 3-4 place in the tournament bracket. That is what happened. Geek Fam took the 3 place and their work brought them $54,000 and 110 rating points.

Royal Never Give Up and Nigma

RNG and Nigma considered to be ones of the main favorites both in their groups and the tournament itself. RNG got to the Top of Group A, starting their victory march that was interrupted at the very end. In the group stage RNG defeated Team Spirit and Geek Fam 2-0, and at the upper bracket in playoff they beat Nigma and Geek Fam 2-1.

The Europeans from Nigma got placed on the 2 position in Group B, as their first match against Fighting PandaS was unsuccessful: they lost 1-2. The team won the other battles with FURIA and FP 2-0 and 2-1, correspondingly. The battle against Fighting PandaS was uneasy and for the second time but then KuroKy and his teammates beat the opponents. At the playoff RNG beat Nigma 2-1 and the Europeans had to pass through the lower bracket. There KuroKy and the team defeated Gambit Esports and Geek Fam 2-1. The grand final was very interesting and intense. The first map was gained by Royal Never Give Up and as the score was 1-0 for them, many viewers thought that Nigma was unable to win the rematch with the Chinese, but as well as in the case with Fighting PandaS, the Europeans managed to restore justice and beat the team that used to be impossible to win. All the other maps were taken by Nigma and two out of them were long enough and lasted more than an hour, 80 minutes and 64 minutes.

The second place resulted in $60,000 and 120 Dota Pro Circuit point for Royal Never Give Up. Nigma became the winner and this way gained the main prize of $72,000, 140 rating points and the main prize — an invitation to DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major.

Results of the tournament

• 1 place: Nigma — $72,000/140 rating points + invitation to DreamLeague Season 13: The Leipzig Major
• 2 place: Royal Never Give Up — $60,000/120 rating points
• 3 place: Geek Fam — $54,000/110 rating points
• 4 place: Gambit Esports — $42,000/90 rating points
• 5-6 place: Team Spirit — $24,000/60 rating points
• 5-6 place: Fighting PandaS — $24,000/60 rating points
• 7-8 place: Ninjas in Pyjamas — $12,000/40 rating points
• 7-8 place: FURIA Esports — $12,000/40 rating points