WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon

Dota 2's WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon is the closing tournament in a series where three previous winners - Ninjas in Pajamas, Royal Never Give Up and Infamous compete against five invited teams to battle for the $300,000 prize pool. One of the invited teams is Team Secret, which recently won DreamLeague 13 in Leipzig, Germany and is currently ranked as the world's best team. Natus Vincere are also invited to the tournament in their home country Ukraine and the home fans will probably do their best to help their favorite team that for the first time in a long time seems to be able to compete and fight among the best. This event will take place February 19th and go on until February 23rd. B8, which is Danil "Dendi" Ishutin's new organization, is also invited to the tournament that takes place in their home country Ukraine and the home fans will probably do their best to help this new team to success. Regardless of the results, it is certain that B8 will be a fan favorite.

Current Participants

• Aggressive Mode
• B8
• Gambit Esports
• Infamous
• Nigma
• Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Team Secret
• Virtus.Pro

Prize Pool

• 1st $130,000
• 2nd $60,000
• 3rd $30,000
• 4th $20,000
• 5th-6th $12,000
• 7th-8th $8,000

WePlay! Tug of War Format

Group stage

• Two groups with four teams each
• Played in GSL format
• The winners of the groups go to the playoffs upper bracket
• Teams in second and third place go to the playoffs lower bracket
• Teams that fall in last place are eliminated.

Playoffs

• Double elimination
• All matches are best of three
• The finals are best of five

WePlay! Tug of War Expectations

Team Secret

Since Lasse "Matumbaman" Urpalainen joined the team, most things have gone as planned for Team Secret, who are considered the world's best team. Since they won the last major, DreamLeague season 13, further cemented that position. There is no doubt that the team is a favorite in this tournament as the opposition is not at worlds level. It will take a lot to make this incredibly stable team do anything other than win Tug of War: Mad Moon.

Ninjas in Pajamas

NiP had a very tough end of 2019 and 2020 hardly started any better. One last place finnish in Bukovel Minor was too low for the team that replaced Gunnar and Biver. In, Lelis and Daxak have come in and it has produced results in the immediate future. NiP did manage to qualify for ESL One Los Angeles, which is the season's next major. The European qualification is very tough and NiP qualified at the same time as Alliance, Team Liquid and Nigma to name a few that ended up outside. If the team can bring the fine momentum and build on, they should be able to go a long way in this tournament. A place in the final is very realistic.

Nigma

Nigma has been underperforming ever since the organization was created and it is now time for promotion before potentially the whole year is ruined. In the qualifier for ESL One Los Angeles, the team boomed and in the subsequent qualification for StarLadder ImbaTV Minor, Nigma got to be defeated by Alliance in the final. Going from a TI final to not qualifying for minors is hardly acceptable, but there is still a wealth of talent and experience on this team. It should only be a matter of time before they perform at a high level again. With all that said, however, the team should be seen as one of the favorites to go far in this tournament, but to overturn a team of Team Secrets class is unthinkable at the moment.

Everyone Else

Of the remaining teams, it is very difficult to see them go all the way to a final. Infamous and Aggressive Mode have to focus on getting past the group play and then they have to take it one match at a time. The teams from the CIS region are Gambit Esports, Virtus.Pro and B8, all of which have recently made player changes or in B8's case are completely new. It hardly gives us confidence that we think they will perform directly in this tournament, but if anyone on the paper should be able to challenge, it is Virtus.Pro. However, they are very far from what the organization once was and Tug of War: Mad Moon is most likely a chance to rebuild something new.

Where do I watch WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon?

The stream for the tournament can be found on WePlay's official twitch stream and in the event that multiple matches are played simultaneously you can find their other channels in their team channel.

Check back for Updates!

A lot of information regarding the event is yet to be anno0unced, make sure to check back to stay up to speed with the tournament.