The competitive Dota 2 scene is set to heat up as BetBoom Dacha enters the fray, offering a staggering $1 million prize pool in Dubai, UAE this upcoming February.
This blockbuster new addition to the schedule is great news for fans craving more elite-level Dota action to enjoy.
However, BetBoom also dropped a bombshell by revealing some eyebrow-raising qualifier region mergers for its event.
Let’s break down why these surprising decisions have the potential to stir up some serious controversy.
Controversy Over Region Merger Decisions
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in BetBoom’s initial event announcement.
Some seriously questionable decisions around merging certain Dota regions for qualifier spots threaten to dampen the hype.
NA + SA Merger
BetBoom announced the North American and South American regions would be bundled together into a single merged region for qualifying purposes.
This could severely hamper chances for either region’s teams to make it through.
China Merged With SEA
Even more shockingly, despite China’s resurgence lately, BetBoom has bundled them together with the Southeast Asian region.
This arguably creates an incredibly uneven and unbalanced qualification bracket.
Why Make These Mergers?
BetBoom’s rationale behind bundling regions is unclear.
Yes, the NA and SA merger makes some sense considering recent results.
But combining China, who just dominated ESL One Kuala Lumpur, with SEA seems outright disrespectful given how much Chinese Dota has bounced back lately after TI13 struggles.
If forced to speculate, perhaps BetBoom wanted to create intensely competitive merged regions producing the absolute highest level qualifier bracket possible.
But in the process, they risk angering fans from “weaker” regions like SA, and SEA who feel unfairly disadvantaged now.
Fewer Cinderella Stories for Underdogs?
An unfortunate side effect of merging regions together for limited qualification slots is it practically guarantees eliminating most wildcard underdog teams’ chances.
In the past, we’ve seen surprise emerging region teams make miracle Lower Bracket Cinderella runs on the world’s biggest stages after just barely scraping through qualifiers.
Fans live for those against-all-odds moments!
But with these mergers, the chances of a South American or Southeast Asian underdog somehow prevailing over Chinese/NA teams for lone qualifier spots seems almost impossibly slim now.
Sure, on paper having qualifiers packed with elite Chinese and European contenders might sound amazing.
But at what cost?
Stamping out impressive underdog runs before they can even gain momentum diminishes the thrilling open possibilities we expect from worldwide Dota events.
From a competitive integrity standpoint, bundling together regions of such vastly different strength levels into a single qualifier bracket with limited slots does seem highly questionable.
No one wants to see China, NA, or EU competing exclusively against each other all season either.
Final Thoughts and Hopes
Let’s hope BetBoom reconsiders the current region merger plan though. Watering down chances for amazing underdog stories developing or whole regions missing out altogether could cast an undeserved dark cloud over this event.
Open qualifiers kick off on January 3rd, 2024, and anything can happen.
Maybe a plucky underdog emerges from the regional blender, or maybe a merged team implodes under the pressure of clashing playstyles.
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