The Dota 2 season heats up with the PGL Wallachia Season 1, boasting a $1 million prize pool and featuring sixteen of the world's best teams, kicking off in a couple of hours.

The fans are eager to see which team will reign supreme.

Let's dive straight into the favourites and underdogs one should keep a close eye on:

PGL Wallachia Favourites

Team Falcons

Team Falcons, without a shadow of a doubt, are the favourites heading into the tournament. This European powerhouse, headquartered in Saudi Arabia (MENA), has been on a tear lately, consistently placing high in recent tournaments.

The newly assembled roster has won more than one million dollars in prize money in the last four Dota 2 events, securing first place finish at BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, DreamLeague Season 22, ESL One Birmingham 2024, and a second place finish at the Elite League.

This string of impressive results combined with their aggressive playstyle and strategic prowess make them a serious contender for the championship. A good placement, especially a win at PGL Wallachia Season 1, will further solidify their confidence heading into the $5 million Riyadh Masters 2024.

BetBoom Team

BetBoom Team is another favourite expected to perform well at PGL Wallachia Season 1. The Eastern European team is a mix of refined talent, known for its exceptional team coordination and ability to adapt to any situation along with unbridled aggression.

BetBoom’s strength lies in their unique but explosive drafts. Their drafts are usually curated towards the element of surprise, with an unorthodox pick every now and then, surprising their opponents, and leaning more towards explosive teamfights.

Their biggest threat is Team Falcons as the latter has handed down whitewash defeats to the former in two consecutive grand finals with a clean sweep. Overall, BetBoom has decent placings in the last four tournaments with a second place finish at DreamLeague Season 22 and ESL One Birmingham 2024, third place finish at BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2024, and fourth place finish at ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023.

Team Spirit

Despite the heavy underperformance in the 2023-2024 Dota 2 circuit, Team Spirit still remain as one of the favourites heading into the tournament. A beast of its own kind, the reigning TI champions are expected to bounce back, especially after a lacklustre start in the new season.

For the lack of a better word, Team Spirit’s performance can be described as dismal considering the fact that they have won two TIs and multiple tier-1 tournaments. They have failed to qualify for the upcoming DreamLeague Season 23 and have also placed outside the top 6 in recent tournaments.

For a team stacked with individual prowess, analytical minds, unbridled aggression, mental fortitude and experience, the rhythm just feels missing. But it’s the classic Team Spirit norm – to start peaking as the year progresses.

The heart wants what it wants, and it wants Team Spirit to bounce back. Jokes apart, Team Spirit, despite their struggle, are a formidable force to be reckoned with and cannot be simply ignored. They have every element towards the making of a perfect recipe for winning.

Better watch out!

Underdogs

Heroic

This newly formed South American squad has been making waves with their impressive performance against established teams. Heroic has been nearly dominating the South American scene since its inception.

Their aggressive pub-style gameplay could be a game-changer, potentially disrupting the strategies of their more experienced opponents. Majority of the current line-up has played with each other at one point which makes the bond naturally strong.

The team is stacked with South America’s best players like K1, Scofield and 4nalog, making the team a strong contender. However, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness – their heavy reliance on farm-oriented strategies.

It remains to be seen if they can keep up with the pace of the ever-evolving Dota 2 meta and how far they can go at PGL Wallachia Season 1.

Nouns

The North American team is looking promising in recent times. They are one of the finest NA teams, second only to Shopify Rebellion, trying to mark their presence in the competitive Dota 2 landscape. They have an experienced leader in Tal ‘Fly’ Aizik, a veteran in the scene, who is known to get the best out of his team mates.
Nouns also has seasoned veterans in Rodrigo ‘Lelis’ Santos and Nicolas ‘Gunnar’ Lopez along with newcomers like Copy and Yuma in the mix. The team is blended with a proper mix of talent and experience that can come to their aid in the tournament.
Although nouns don't have many accolades to back themselves, they certainly have the element of surprise on their side, making them capable of going far into the tournament as the underdogs. However, they will need to play out of their skin to achieve the impossible.