Tournament Results

Second part of the WePlay! Tug of War trilogy is completed: two teams from Asia and Americas received their slots for the final third tournament of the series — WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon, where eight teams will battle for the total prize pool of $300,000. The WePlay! Tug of War: Dire winners are Royal Never Give Up (Asia, China) and Infamous (Americas, Peru), while the MVP titles got Du “Monet” Peng (RNG) and Roman “Resolut1on” Fominok (J.Storm).

WePlay! Tug of War: Dire Asia

Twelve teams representing China and SEA were competing during a week for the championship in the Asia region. The champion, Royal Never Give Up, were one of those teams invited directly to the semifinals of the tournament. The super final score with Infamous was 0-3 for RNG, it took them about one hour and a half to get this win. Royal Never Give Up didn't follow the meta, worked better with the situation on the map and timing for runes. They were stronger in large-scale clashes and could inflate or slow the pace of the game according to their own plan. What else could have been expected from a team that daily faces colossal competition in its native region?

WePlay! Tug of War: Dire America

J.Storm were the other super finalists in Americas region. Despite a good start, the Resolut1on team was able to win only one map — the first one. The rest of the battles were in favor of Infamous (1-3), having mastered and caught their successful game. Infamous were better at a draft, a strategy for the game, battles for Roshan, and even individual gameplay. Taking into account the day before recent reshuffles in the J.Storm roster — the North American mix has two new players at once — this result looks the most logical.

So, Infamous and Royal Never Give Up got slots at WePlay! Mad Moon, and teams J.Storm and Neon Esports were awarded with $6,000. Teams beastcoast, paiN Gaming, EVOS Esports and Invictus Gaming got $2,000 checks.

MVP Voting

Du "Monet" Stump became the best player of the Asian bracket. He is a twenty-year-old Chinese eathlete, Royal Never Give Up carry. The player showed the highest level of skill, hitting the highlights of the tournament not once and receiving a special love of commentators.

A famous player in CIS — Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok — expectedly won MVP title from the American side. Despite that J.Storm lost in the Super Final to the Peruvians from Infamous, the fans cast their vote for the beloved player, who perfectly owns his unique style in Dota 2. In addition to the title, recognition and respect, both players received prizes — $5,000 checks.

What's next

WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon will be the third and the final tournament in the Tug of War series. Ninjas in Pyjamas, Royal Never Give Up and Infamous are the three teams qualified through the online tournaments Radiant and Dire, and five more will be invited directly. The group stage format is a standard GSL-style scheme with Bo3 matches (up to two wins). The team who takes the first place in its group gets into the semifinal of playoffs' upper bracket, second and third place finishers start from the first round, and the teams in the last place in the group leave the championship.

Besides the $300,000 prize pool, the tournament's MVPs will be determined and awarded. This time the honorary nomination will be divided by roles: one prize of $10,000 is intended for the best core, the other, no less valuable, is for the best support.

WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon participating teams:

• Ninjas in Pyjamas (WePlay! Tug of War: Radiant winners)
• Royal Never Give Up (WePlay! Tug of War: Dire Asia winners)
• Infamous (WePlay! Tug of War: Dire America winners)
• 5 teams TBA (direct invite)

More details on invited teams, tournament schedule and place are to be announced soon by the organizers.

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