SVG on the decline of North American Dota: “The grave has been dug, and it’s already been filled in.”

Cap: We’ve already said that this was probably where things were headed. North America will die out like the dodo bird. We know that North American Dota is dead. And now the North American qualifiers for ESL tournaments are dead too. North America has been removed from the new ESL Pro Tour season, and now teams have to choose where they’ll play: in Western Europe or South America. Apparently, they have no other options. Although I wonder if they’d be allowed to play in any other region if they really wanted to.

Is this the end for GamerLegion? After all, they’ve also made a roster change: they cut Ghost and brought in Timado. I was just discussing this on my social media. People were saying, “That’s it, GamerLegion is finished. They won’t make it to any more tournaments.” And I replied: if there are combined qualifiers for North and South America, GamerLegion will surely be one of the two favorites—along with PlayTime.

I think LGD will play in Europe. Or perhaps in the Chinese qualifiers, if the LGD organization itself insists on it. But I still suspect they’ll play in Europe. That leaves PlayTime and GamerLegion—the two top teams in the American qualifiers. And it’s quite possible that the separate North American region will be eliminated, but a unified Americas region will still be given two slots. Until the recent cheating allegations against a bunch of players from South America, that would have been a completely obvious decision. Perhaps that’s the only reason they won’t grant two slots.

SVG: We’ll see. This has been a long time coming. There isn’t a single significant team in this region besides this one. So what’s the point? That’s the reality. And no new teams will emerge there. The grave has been dug, and it’s already been filled in. It’s a sad sight. Ah, if only BuLba hadn’t stood in people’s way for ten years… How things could have turned out. If only I hadn’t stood in people’s way. Maybe North American Dota could have become great. Maybe we’d have plenty of commentators from outside the U.S.

Cap: Yeah, because there would be more North American teams and fewer North American commentators. Everyone outside North America would be much happier.

SVG: The day I destroyed an entire region, Austin… I never thought I’d live to see this. I never thought I’d end up with this much power. But maybe my long-term plan to destroy my own career has finally come to fruition.