First of all, congratulations to Team Dignitas for winning the European Spring Championship and taking home the first place trophy!

The past weekend we saw eight of the top teams in Europe travel to Katowice, Poland to fight over two coveted spots for the Global Championship in Seoul, South Korea in early April. The games were chaotic as the European scene showed signs of evolving and adapting to the newest meta, but the end result was still a successful tournament full of outstanding results and incredible plays.

Group Stages

In the group stages, we already saw the first upsets of the tournament. Both winners of the first tournament qualifier, Epsilon Gaming and Team Liquid, found themselves among the teams that did not even make it out of the group stage. On the opposite end of the spectrum, mYinsanity barely managed to qualify for the event but finished first in their group ahead of the eventual EU champion Team Dignitas. After everything was said and done, the teams that went on to the playoffs were mYinsanity, Dignitas, Fnatic and Virtus.Pro.

Semifinals Round One - Fnatic (FNC) vs Dignitas (DIG)

Dignitas and Fnatic were the first teams to face each other in the playoffs. Starting on Tomb of the Spider Queen, DIG drafted a lineup with superior pick potential, utilizing Stitches as their backbone, while Fnatic secured the better wave clear and lane control. The momentum quickly shifted in favor of DIG with an early pickoff of scHwimpi’s Falstad. Capitalizing on any mispositioning from Fnatic, DIG managed to secure Game One in the series.

They looked poised to take the series after their decisive victory and, with a strong draft in Game Two, things were looking grim for their opponents. In the second game on Cursed Hollow, DIG managed to secure the first curse as well as an early boss with the third tribute giving them a two level lead that eventually snowballed into a victory.

Semifinals Round Two - mYinsanity (mYi) vs Virtus.pro (VP)

Compared to the first semifinal, the second one between mYinsanity and Virtus.Pro was a lot closer. Beginning on Tomb of the Spider Queen, the game started out with engagements back and forth that left no clear winner. In the mid game, mYinsanity managed to get a strong fight, taking out four players from Virtus.Pro and netting them a boss as well as a full level lead. This lead eventually allowed mYinsanity to end the game a few minutes later with their quicker level 20 talents.

In the second game on Cursed Hollow, mYi opted for a fascinating strategy with The Lost Vikings and a four-man roaming squad. After some time, they looked to be in a strong position, but after losing a devastating fight late game, they were forced into a base race with only Greymane and Vikings still alive. Though very close, VP managed to pull out the win and take the series to Game Three.



With the series tied, Blackheart’s Bay ended up being the decider map. mYi secured a small level lead during the mid game, giving them the faster level 20 talents. In the face of this, VP decided to gamble on a backdoor Core rush, but mYi saw it early enough and managed to defend, taking the game and winning a spot in the finals.

Finals - Dignitas(DIG) vs mYinsanity(mYi)

After months of chaos in the European scene with player swaps left and right, Dignitas and mYinsanity proved to be the most stable teams in the region, and it shows. Despite barely managing to squeeze through in the last qualifier and coming into the event as the underdog, mYinsanity showed lots of promise this weekend. Dignitas has been one of the strongest and most consistent teams in the region, taking second place at Blizzcon 2015 among other decorations. One might have expected a close series between the powerhouse Dignitas and up-and-comers mYinsanity, but things didn't really go well for the latter.

Game One:

Dignitas started off strong on the first map Tomb of the Spider Queen. Getting several takedowns early on, they managed to get the first turn in and propel themselves quickly toward level 10. From here on out, Dignitas pushed their advantage to the max by securing a second turn in and allowing them to take two forts and gain a two level lead. With Lunara’s Wisps and Tassadar’s vision, DIG managed to keep control of the turn in points, preventing mYinsanity from any chance of coming back. After the third turn in, DIG were a tier talent up and managed to grab the boss as well. With Sonya on the defense, mYi got caught in 4v5 fight with devastating results, losing the keep in the process. It would still be a few more minutes before Dignitas managed to close it out, but with the incredible lead they possessed, there was no doubt as to who would take Game One in this Bo5 series.

Game Two:

Game Two took place on Battlefield of Eternity, a map that mYi is notorious for playing Cho’Gall on. With this in mind, DIG banned some of the Hero’s strongest counters like Leoric and Anub’arak, baiting the Cho’Gall out from their opponent and counterdrafting with a huge stun train combo. Once in-game, Dignitas secured their first immortal after sniping Cho’Gall with a combination of stuns from ETC and Tyrande, allowing Thrall and Jaina to quickly finish him off. Having a good lead in early takedowns as well as getting the first Immortal, Dignitas managed to secure level 10 before their opponent and used this power spike to get the second Immortal. mYi tried soaking aggressively to get back into the game, but strong rotations from DIG prevented them from doing so.

Shortly before the third Immortal, mYi got a pick on JayPL’s Muradin, giving them a small window to capitalize and make a comeback, but ultimately Dignitas was able to hold. With the talent advantage going in DIG’s favor, they once again secured the objective and took a keep, launching them even further ahead. On the fourth Immortal, HasuObs on Falstad decided to fly back to defend the incoming catapults -- a mistake that would prove to be fatal for mYinsanity. Noticing their opponent’s error, Dignitas forces a 5v4 situation to take down the opposing Immortal to secure the fourth objective and win the game.

Game Three:

After two dominating games for Team Dignitas, they were not about to stop as they headed into Game Three on Infernal Shrines. Confident in their ability to soak and push against their opponent, DIG sacrificed the first Punisher in order to get the walls mid and bot lane. In the end, this trade ended evenly with mYinsanity taking a small exp lead after securing a takedown as the Punisher fell. On the second Punisher, both teams collided fighting to attain an early game lead. With a quick powerslide from Bumbi and a good follow up from Nurok’s Tyrande, mYi took down JayPL to give them control of the shrine. Ultimately, the second Punisher also went to mYi, but with a solid hook from Wubby, DIG secured a takedown which allowed them to easily defend.

As the third shrine came up, the teams were going toe-to-toe as each were quickly approaching level 13. Finding themselves in an inferior position, DIG was forced to retreat, allowing mYi to have the arcane Punisher. But just as things started to look like it would go in mYi’s favor, they overextended on a dive behind the enemy fort, allowing DIG a four-man sweep and neutering the Punisher, resulting in DIG with a full level lead. By playing it passively, DIG hit level 16 first and got a solid hook on ETC, giving them an easy shrine. mYi managed to defend the Punisher and, despite another dangerous hook from Stitches, stay alive without any major losses. As DIG closes in on 20, mYi goes on the offensive trying to look for a fight, something they pull off successfully. Unfortunately, DIG takes the better fight, giving them the talent advantage as well as the next Punisher. The late game Punisher proved too strong, and DIG took the series 3-0 in a dominating display of strength.

Looking Forward

The two teams that will be representing Europe in the Global Championship in Seoul, South Korea in April will be mYinsanity and Team Dignitas. Dignitas showed just how powerful and consistent they are, giving them the seed over mYinsanity the upcoming tournament. In Seoul, they will face off against all the best teams from other regions including Cloud 9 and Team Naventic from North America. The final question on everyone's mind: can Team Dignitas or mYinsanity take the title of World Champion back to Europe, or will they once against crumble to their American rivals? Only time will tell.



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