The qualifiers for the upcoming ESL One Los Angeles Major came to an end. Three Dota 2 teams are moving forward.
China coming in last
Both the qualifiers for ESL One and therefore the ones for the StarLadder Minor were delayed by the coronavirus quarantine in the Land of the Dragon. We saw some player changes between PSG.LGD and CDEC as Wang "Ame" Chunyu got traded for Lai "Ahjit" Jay Son, effectively swapping their places. Ahjit was swapped soon after for Li "ASD" Zhiwen. Because who wants stability, right?
Sadly, after all these transfers, LGD failed to make it through the open qualifiers. CDEC took part in the closed qualifiers but ended up in 8th place. The four teams that made it to the playoffs are Invictus Gaming, Royal Never Give Up, EHOME and Team Aster. With 3 slots reserved for the region, only one of the squads had to drop their ambitions.
IG, RNG and EHOME were the clear leaders in their respective groups while Aster lagged behind a bit in points. The situation didn't change much in the playoffs as IG defeated Aster while RNG took down EHOME. The third spot was decided by the two losing teams and EHOME eventually came out on top with a convincing 2-0.
Another shot with the StarLadder Minor
Team Aster's journey is not over yet as they'll have a chance to make it back to the ESL One Major through the Kiev Minor which is set to start on March 5. The other three teams which qualified for the Minor are Avengerls, Newbee and Keen Gaming.
The winner in Kiev will also receive the last invite for Los Angeles where teams will compete for the big prize of $1,000,000 and 15,000 DPC points. The ESL One Major will take place between March 15 and March 22, so the next time we hear of the event will probably be in a month.
But don't despair because there is always something new in Dota 2 esports!
