Telkom Digital Gaming League (DGL) | DotA2 Emerald Genesis Proving Grounds & Do-or-Die Proving Grounds

22 January 2017 | Emerald Genesis Proving Grounds Finals Result

The finals of the Telkom Digital Gaming League (DGL) Emerald Genesis Proving Grounds took place last night (22nd of January 2017). The final two teams were to battle it out for bragging rights and a higher seed going into the Emerald Showdown at the end of the month. If you want to see the entire tournament bracket, please head directly over to the official Digital Gaming League tournament page here. If you’re confused about how all the Emerald qualifiers tie into each other, read our article explaining it all here.

Finals result:

Unfortunately, the Telkom DGL Emerald Genesis Proving Grounds Finals lasted only one minute and six seconds into Game 1 before Constant had to forfeit the match. This was due to some of the Constant players suffering constant ping/internet issues throughout. Being unable to play, and with no way to reschedule the match or enough competitive subs to cover, Constant were required to forfeit the series. Thus DUC! take the first place seed in this tournament, while the beleaguered Constant take the second place seed. A disappointing end to such an exciting series, but this is an all too familiar problem smaller teams face in the South African competitive scene. It’s a problem that Telkom might have to look into solving this year.

Emerald Do-or-Die Proving Grounds | Preview

The next qualifier cup is the Emerald Do-or-Die Proving Grounds. Registration closed yesterday, on the 22nd of January, and matches start later today, the 23rd of January 2017. A total of just 20 teams registered in time to take part in the cup, which is significantly fewer teams than in the Genesis Proving Grounds qualification cup last week. Since then, one team has already pulled out. This leaves the total number of competitors at just 19 at the time of writing. However, the Top 8 teams from the Genesis Proving Grounds are unable to re register for another Emerald qualifier cup. This is because they’ve already picked up a seed for the Emerald Showdown. We did expect greater attendance from teams in these qualifiers, but at least the 19 teams below have a really good shot at the Top 8:

  • Ventus Red DotA2 (DGL Premier Div)
  • Ventus Green (DGL Premier Div)
  • Wicked Gaming Salt (DGL Premier Div)
  • TopKek (DGL Premier Div)
  • Such DotA! (DGL Premier Div)
  • ErA Invicta (DGL Second Div)
  • Online Godz (DGL Second Div)
  • We Are Legion Forsaken (DGL Ladder)
  • Sini5ter 5 Burning (DGL Ladder)
  • Dominus Esports Extreme (DGL Ladder)
  • Dopamine Gaming Full Duvai (DGL Ladder)
  • Team Salt (DGL Ladder)
  • TERA Team Perfect Synergy (DGL Ladder)
  • TERA Anti-Heroes (DGL Ladder)
  • Vz (DGL Ladder)
  • Vindictus Esports (DGL Ladder)
  • Armageddon (DGL Ladder)
  • Carpe Noctem Red (DGL Ladder)
  • SyGyZy (DGL Ladder)

With so few teams taking part, I suspect this cup is going to be relatively straightforward. In addition, the majority of teams that have signed up are DGL Ladder teams (n=12). Thus if we keep to what we saw from the earlier tournaments, the majority of the teams who progress to the Top 8 should be those teams from higher divisions. As there are 7 teams from the DGL Second Division and Premier Division combined, I suspect they’ll make up the majority of the Top 8 here.

TL;DR Constant suffer constant ping/internet issues and forfeit. DUC! crowned Genesis Proving Grounds victors. Do-or-Die Proving Grounds underway with just 19 teams registered. We predict higher division teams make up the majority of this week’s Top 8.