BTS Pro Series Playoffs: Top Teams in Season 14
Season 14 has been underway since January 28th and now it’s almost time for the BTS Pro Series playoffs! Four teams were seeded directly into the playoffs and now they’re finding out which teams they’ll have to face off against. There may be some familiar faces from the DPC Leagues but that doesn’t mean the games are predictable.
This is going to be once of the best tournaments to check out the best teams the Southeast Asian region has to offer.
Direct Playoff Teams - The Top 4
It’s fairly unusual in Dota 2 for teams to qualify directly to the playoffs of a tournament, especially in the DPC Leagues, Majors and TI itself. While the practice is common in CS:GO, Dota usually requires teams to fight their way from the very start. The top four teams in this tournament are:
- Talon Esports
- Blacklist International
- BOOM Esports
- Fnatic.
Despite the fact that the BTS Pro Series is an invite only event, some invitations are a little more prestigious than others. The top 4 teams are, however, the highest ranking in the region. That means that those who have already fought their way through the group stage will have some rough games at the BTS Pro Series playoffs!
Group Stage - The Calm Before the BTS Pro Series Playoffs
With the final games of the group stage wrapping up on February 9th, and one of the final tournaments before the new patch, only the top four will be able to proceed to the next stage. It’s been a couple of weeks of amazing action with no team having a clean run of wins. Unfortunately for Reaper though, they did have a clean sweep of losses, going 0 - 12 in their games.
So what is left to come? Polaris Esports topped out the group with a very respectable 11 - 3, winning 5 series overall, earning their place in the BTS Pro Series playoffs. Not only that but brand new team XERXIA came in second place very close behind.
At the time of writing, the last 2 places were still being fought out between Spawn Team, EHOME and UD Vessuwan. After a disappointing run to TI for EHOME, it seems that they’ll be coming back fighting.
Tournament Meta - 5 Heroes to Rule Them All
Those fans looking for a little more variety in their Dota may be left disappointed by the meta. Out of the 50 games that have been played so far, the meta is almost identical to that of the DPC leagues. The top 5 heroes currently still stand as:
- Rubick
- Tusk
- Mirana
- Trant Protector
- Tiny.
With a new patch and a new hero teased for “early 2023”, fans will be expecting something a little different very soon. However, releasing a patch almost immediately before the Lima Major may give the teams something to scramble over. While not unheard of, it’s unlikely that Valve will drop the patch before the tournament wraps up on March 5th.