EPICENTER XL kicks off with VP as the local heroes

posted by Brasozial,

Just one game from each group will be played on Day One. compLexity Gaming will kick off the ten-day Major from the Russian capital, Moscow, followed by Virtus.pro in Group B.

The most important Major win for VP

There is no room for discussion — Virtus.pro are the team which best took advantage of the new Dota 2 Pro Circuit. At the time of writing, the Russians are the only team to have already qualified for the upcoming The International 2018. Aleksey 'Solo' Berezin and co. have already won three different Major tournaments this season — yet EPICENTER will be the most important.

They don't need any points, but winning a Major in front of their home crowd has to be a dream for all VP players.

Under the old Dota 2 system, they came close to winning a CIS Major — The Kiev Major in 2017. After building a strong 2:1 lead, they lost both their following games and had to watch OG lift the trophy once again.

At EPICENTER they will kick off Group B against the Brazilians of paiN Gaming, who have recently added none other than Omar 'w33haa' Aliwi to their roster.

The hope of North America versus VP's fellow countrymen

VP are not the only team dreaming of winning in front of a CIS crowd: Natus Vincere, Winstrike and Team Empire also surely have ambitions of winning in front of the Moscow crowd.

Our #coLDota team has arrived in Moscow, Russia! They'll be playing the @epicentergg XL Major starting tomorrow 💪

Be there when we kick things off at 5pm CEST / 11am EDT!https://t.co/2BizmEGXJW pic.twitter.com/mo5PcJ4sU1
— compLexity Gaming (@compLexity) 26. April 2018

To start with, Fly to Moon will play against compLexity Gaming, the only NA team in the tournament.

To find more about EPICENTER XL, you can go here.

Photo credit: ESL - Helena Kristiansson