Na'Vi

Natus Vincere have dominated the competition in the DAC Asian Championship wildcard qualifiers, earning their place in the main event with an impressive 4-1 score. They will be joined by Hyper Glory Team who broke past a four way tie in the final round to secure their place. Both teams will now join fourteen other participants in the group stages, where they will compete for over 2 million dollars. Unfortunately Power Rangers, Speed Gaming, Wings Gaming and Energy Pacemaker will not have the same opportunity, as they have now been eliminated from the tournament.

Bombs Away! Na'Vi bombard the competition!

Na’Vi proved dominant throughout the day, with the Chinese teams struggling to keep up with their highly aggressive style. However, despite their impressive score, Na’Vi often found themselves on the back foot, having to come back from significant early game deficits to take many of their games. Ultimately the Ukrainian squad utilized strong mid game and late game line ups to ramp up towards superior positions, this combined with some favourable fights saw their opponents crumble before them.

After four rounds of play the group had begun to distinguish itself, with Na’Vi perched atop the ladder and Power Rangers yet to claim their first victory. The home town squads where neck and neck, each with two victories and two losses to their name. However, a tie breaker would only ensue if both Na’Vi and Power Rangers lost their fifth round matches. It was then that Na’Vi decided to throw caution to the wind, having already secured their place in the main event they opted for a techies draft in the final round. Their opponents were quick to take advantage of this unorthodox draft, responding with Lycan and Nature’s Prohphet to subsequently finish off the previously undefeated Ukrainians in 35 minutes.

Unfortunately for Wings, Power Rangers also decided to break the mould in the final round, utilizing a Tiny Wisp draft to overcome Speed Gaming and claim their first and only win. Their victory effectively cancelled out Na’Vi’s original tie breaker inducing loss, leaving Hyper Glory Team to claim the second wildcard slot.

"I know a techies setup when I see one" -Godz

Both Na’Vi and HGT will have their chance to test their merit tomorrow as the first day of group stages begin. The group stages will see all sixteen teams face off against each other for five days, lasting until the 2nd of February. After which the main event will kick off, spanning four days from the 5th of February till the 9th, when a winner will finally be crowned.

Beyond The Summit have teamed up with Dotacinema to provide English coverage for the groupstages, for a list of streams check out our coverage article.

If you want to support the tournament, and the players attending, you can also purchase a DAC 2015 compendium, which will contribute towards the growth of the prize pool.

DAC Day 1 - Press Day!

Aside from today’s exciting wildcard matches, players also participated in the tournaments official press day, posing for photos and getting in as much practice as possible in preparation for tomorrow’s games. Some teams took to social media to share their experiences…

Final Wildcard Standings

This article was written by

Matthew Elmas, joinDOTA's Senior writer. Matthew has been an e-sports fan since 2008 and is currently undertaking the second year of his university studies; majoring in journalism. He also manages the Southeast asian team Can't Say Wips. Location: Melbourne, AustraliaFollow him on @Moxjoo.