The great Danil “Dendi” Ishutin’s Dota 2 tournament dry spell is over after the popular mid-laner led his team B8 to a 3-2 victory over Team Tickles in the European Pro League. The win is B8’s first since forming back in 2020, and Dendi’s first in four years.
Despite being a minor event with a modest prize pool, EPL still drew some of the most exciting up-and-coming rosters in Europe, including the likes of Team Tickles, KZ Team, and Alliance in attendance. None, however, could stand in the way of Dendi and B8’s upper bracket run.
In the grand final, B8 played against Tickles in a thrilling series filled with constant back and forth. Neither of the teams could go back-to-back in the best-of-five series with everything coming down to the decider. Ultimately it was a throwback game for the ages from the Ukranian TI winner that got B8 over the line. B8 drafted Puck for Dendi in the deciding game, and he just went ham.
Dendi’s Puck tore Tickles apart with a 13-0 kill score combined with 15 assists. With Dendi creating space around the map, B8’s core out-farmed Tickles significantly in the 43-minute affair. With the entire series exceeding four hours, B8 took home $5,000 while injecting hope into fans’ hearts for the upcoming open qualifiers in 2024.
As the Dota Pro Circuit is gone, teams will play in more qualifier stages than ever before—a system that will undoubtedly see the rise of the occasional underdog. The best-of-one nature of open qualifiers makes them the ideal place for upsets, and B8 will surely be on the radars of many a team in the stacked European region ahead of the competitive season’s resumption.
The absence of DPC also hurt teams like B8 the most since the league system introduced stability to the Dota 2 scene. Non-tier one teams tend to value stability above all, but since Dendi recently made the jump to Kick as the platform has sponsored B8, the organization might be able to weather potential storms.
