WePlay!'s Tug of War: Mad Moon ended almost a week ago, but the ripples of its impact on the Dota 2 community will travel for quite some time.
Not their first time
This was WePlay!’s second big event for the year after the Bukovel Minor. The latter took fans and players to the largest ski resort in Ukraine and presented some high-quality Dota 2. Amazing production quality, highly competitive matches and a dose of entertainment all met in Bukovel. WePlay! even released a video of the whole process behind the scenes and how the organizer’s first DPC event came to be.
Viewership for the event was the highest of any Dota 2 Minor so far and reached over 93 000 average while peaking at more than 233 000 during the grand finals. The tournament had a very cosy atmosphere which was perfect for the season.
Tug of War: Mad Moon
Just over a month after the outstanding success of the Bukovel Minor, WePlay! had another event coming up – Tug of War: Mad Moon. Little did we know that the production would even surpass the one in Bukovel. Taking place in Kiev’s VDNG Concert Hall, the entire arena was transformed into a city of the future clearly inspired by the cyberpunk genre.
The giant crater right at the middle of the stage was also a nice touch. At first glance casters were wearing some very unusual clothes, but they were in tune with the theme of the event.
To top things off, one of the teams, namely Virtus.pro, arrived on the stage with Elon Musk’s upcoming cybertruck.
During the breaks between each game, viewers in chat were left with Daft Punk and an animated Drow Ranger dancing between a cyberpunk dystopia and the Dota 2 terrain.
Speaking of viewers, Tug of War: Mad Moon surpassed all expectations and broke the record set by the Bukovel Minor. Averaging more than a 113 000 and peaking at over 295 000 the event was unmatched when compared to any DPC Minor. It actually came closer in numbers to some Majors like the MDL Chengdu one.
WePlay! have managed to set a high standard for quality and it won’t be easy for anyone to steal their thunder. It would also come as no surprise if we see the organizers potentially get behind The International 2021, as Valve are currently accepting applications from cities around the world. So TI11 Ukraine maybe?
The next DPC event in line is the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 and it’s going to take place between March 5 and March 8 in, you guessed it, Kiev, Ukraine. The country has been a hotspot for Dota 2 fans for the last three months and this time the venue will be Kiev’s Cybersport Arena. We’re all curious if StarLadder and ImbaTV will be able to dethrone WePlay!, but for now we doubt it.
