TSM FTX won’t be able to duplicate their achievement at the PGL Arlington Major after an impressive second-place showing at the Stockholm Major.
After TSM FTX acquired the lineup of Undying, they quickly gained notoriety by winning the North American Regional Finals following the first DPC season. A second-place result at the ESL One Stockholm Major followed that. Therefore, it makes sense that most people would have predicted that they would dominate the opposition in the last DPC Season of 2021–2022, but the outcomes have come as a bit of a shock.
TSM FTX lost to their toughest rivals, Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew, for the first time in the DPC Leagues’ brief history. Even after those defeats, there was still a chance to advance to the Major, but doing so required TSM FTX to sweep their remaining matches. But nouns, the season’s biggest surprise, had other ideas!
TSM FTX vs Nouns
In what turned out to be a brief series, nouns destroyed TSM FTX 2-0. The two games offered no difficulty for nouns at all. Through the course of the two games, their cores only perished five times in total. TSM FTX was trailing in both games for the majority of the time. The first game, at least, was a little challenging and took longer than 46 minutes. Game 2 was a 20-minute thrashing in which TSM FTX was completely helpless to counteract opponents’ actions.
In a tweet by ESL Dota2:
ESL Dota2
@ESLDota2
“What a superb showing from @nounsesports! 😱
They effortlessly take down @TSM 2-0 in our first #ESLOne #DPC NA series of the day!
Second series starting soon ⏰
🔴 http://twitch.tv/esl_dota2”
This triumph demonstrates TSM FTX’s defeat in the race to attend the Arlington Major. Ebb and flow are a characteristic of competitiveness, albeit few would have foreseen this.
The fascinating part of the narrative is on the other hand. The team of the old 4Zoomers, like TSM FTX, has significantly improved since being acquired by a company. This season, they also overcame Evil Geniuses, and now, for the first time, they are competing for a spot at a DPC Major. The story’s climactic twist is that Evil Geniuses have yet to perform Quincy Crew! If EG loses and nouns win their final game, Quincy Crew and nouns will represent them in the Major. It might come down to a three-way tiebreaker if EG wins.
| Team | Matches | Wins | Draws | Loses | Points |
| Quincy Crew | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| EG | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Nouns | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| TSM FTX | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| WG | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 5RFS | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| The Cut | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Felt | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
The question of whether North America deserves three spots in the Majors has been up for discussion for a while. That defense would have been laughable a few years ago, when Evil Geniuses was the only reliable team in North America. But more steady teams started to form in the area when the DPC Leagues were introduced. The argument would be settled once and for all if nouns were able to surpass EG and make the Major.
