The Weekly CourierVirtus.Pro Wins Third Pro Circuit Title At Bucharest, Digital Chaos Picks Up Team Animal Planet, Artifact Gets A Rough Timeline
Virtus.Pro Wins Third Pro Circuit Title At PGL Bucharest
Virtus.Pro dominated VGJ.Thunder in a 3-0 sweep for the PGL Bucharest Major. It was the team's second consecutive title, with their first one being at ESL Katowice just the week before. The win now gives them a substantial cushion on top of the Pro Circuit leaderboards, sitting at 7197 points. Team Liquid is trailing in 2nd place, wth 4635 points. It's been a remarkable run for the CIS team, who just recently replaced their position 4 player by adding Rodjer, the apparent MVP for both of VP's consecutive title runs.
With their performance at Bucharest, Virtus.Pro has effectively secured themselves a TI8 invite. Technically, they could rest for the rest of the season and prepare for TI8. But with biweekly patches testing the ability of teams to adapt and the amount of prize money still available, the community can expect to see Virtus.Pro push to maintain their dominance in the meta.
Digital Chaos Acquires Animal Planet
Digital chaos announced their reentry into the Dota scene with the acquisition of Animal Planet's roster: Ritsu, Bryle, Aui_2000, Moonmeander, and team captain Stan King. The team was formerly with Iceberg Esports, but the partnership fell apart after a month. In DC's statement, Aui_2000, one of the original members of the 2015/2016 squad, wrote "We are looking forward to working with an established organization like Digital Chaos. With their commitment to teams and players we hope to have a successful Dota 2 season.”
Valve Releases More Details About Artifact
In a closed session with Gabe Newell, Valve released a few more details about its Dota 2-based card game Artifact, including the game's first screenshots, its backing by designer Richard Garfield, from Netrunner and Magic:The Gathering fame. Fans, however, may be disappointed to learn that Artifact will not be free to play, unlike the game its based on or its most likely competitor in Hearthstone, which also has its own issues with an alleged pay-to-win model.
As with Dota's release, Valve will also invest in the esport future of Artifact, with a $1 million tournament, in early 2019. The game is currently in closed beta and is set to be public by the end of 2018, with iOS and Android versions coming in mid-2019.
I was hope artifact is free. I love tcg games
I have NO IDEA why Na'Vi agreed to swap Lil for Rodjer. They lost that trade hard. Maybe not directly, they are equally great support players, but the shakeup it did to Na'Vi's roster(Sonneiko was already having chemistry issues with his teammates, then they went and traded for someone he openly fought with in Lil, guaranteeing his exit)
And VP are just laughing to the DPC point bank
They have no choice,from what i know is rodger itself want to leave navi,not kicked out.Wheter they take lil and get some dpc point or they had to find another roster for their next week tourney.
Not impressed with first artifact images. Immediately gives the impression of a Hearthstone rip off. Not free to play. Doesn’t look original. Have a feeling I’ll be passing it up.
@The R.Rogue there were conspiracy theories that Na'Vi and VP traded so that Na'Vi, because of Lil's points, will be within the top 8 of the DPC rankings, and will thus get the direct invite to TI. "CIS graft and corruption". lol
Artifact probably won't be free2play. But please don't make it pay2win.
ritsu sucks