The most important storylines of the next DPC Season

With the end of the International 11, the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) goes into the offseason. With so many interesting moves that have yet to finish this offseason, here are some of the best storylines to consider for the next season of DPC, so far. 

South America will become much more competitive 

The winner of the International 11 was Tundra Esports, but it could be argued that the South American region won just as much as Tundra did. A region that was joked about when they received two spots for International competition when the DPC officially started three years ago. 

Thunder Awaken made it out of the group stage into the upper bracket, defeated Evil Geniuses to confirm 6th place at the International 2022, the highest placing that the region has ever gotten at the International. On the way, they played one of the best series of all time at the International against Team Liquid. Beast Coast, the other South American team, also made it through the lower bracket and eliminated Evil Geniuses in the lower bracket before they were defeated by PSG.LGD in the next round. 

There will be significant investment into the region next season, with teams like Alliance and Evil Geniuses rumored to be sponsoring teams from the region next year. The region will be dominated by new organizations and will be much more competitive in the year to come. 

Western Europe looks ripe for chaos 

There are still plenty of teams in the Western Europe DPC that have not finalized their rosters for next season. At the top of the list is Nigma. 

The long time team based in the middle east comes into next season with a lot of questions. They haven’t performed that well throughout the 2022 season. They slipped into the second division right before The International and was not able to qualify for the event through the last chance qualifier. There are rumors that Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi and Kuro “Kuroky” Salehi Takhasomi will be taking a year off of Dota, there will be empty roster spots for the taking for the oncoming season. 

Alliance has also completely disbanded their roster following the end of the 2022 season. Their main carry, Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov has retired and moved towards streaming full-time. They are looking to pick up a completely new roster next season as they compete to make it back into Division one. 

Finally, Team Liquid has an opening at carry with Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen retiring after their third-place finish at the International 2022, one of the best teams in Western Europe now has an opening. Topias "Topson" Taavitsainen has been rumored to join the team, but there is no solid replacement as of this article. 

North America in shambles 

North America has a region will have a lot of issues this oncoming season if the rumors of what is happening in the region are true. The only shining hope for the region has been Evil Geniuses’ group stage performance throughout the International 11. The region barely made it into the International in the first place, they gained enough DPC points at the end of the season when their competitors, Fnatic and Outsiders did not have enough. 

If the rumors are true and Evil Geniuses move out of the region, it will be significantly weaker. Evil Geniuses is one of the oldest organizations in North America and their potential move to South America could severely affect the region. 

TSM is another team to consider as their offseason changes have already started this offseason. Kim “Dubu” Doo-young has already left the team as the first domino to fall. With rumors that David “Moonmeander” Tan Boon Yang will be leaving the team, TSM might be another team that has changes coming into next year. With two of the major organizations in the region having potential issues, North America might be a battleground for smaller organizations like nouns or Wildcard gaming next year.

The next Dota season will be an exciting one for sure, and the International 11 has caused a lot of changes in every region. With such a large number of free agents, which team are you looking forward to watching next season?