The Bukovel Minor came to a close on Sunday, January 12, when we saw Nigma produce a remarkable performance in the grand finals to beat Royal Never Give Up and claim a US $72,000 pay check, 140 DPC points and a ticket leading to the DreamLeague Season 13 Leipzig Major, which is currently being played in Germany.

While the Bukovel Minor will be remembered for Nigma’s incredible resurgence in form, the Ukrainian Dota 2 esports tournament has also earned a spot in the hall of fame as the most-watched Minor in the history of the DPC. According to esportscharts.com, the Bukovel Minor averaged 93,526 viewers, with 5,494,648 watched hours and 233,124 peak viewers tuning in to watch the grand final series between RNG and Nigma.

The previous viewership record was held by DreamLeague Season 10, which took place in November 2018 and saw 77,629 average viewers and 228,707 peak viewers with a grand total of 5,466,332 watched hours. The Bukovel Minor also came close to reaching the viewership numbers of the MDL Chengdu Major, which saw 106,129 average viewers but with almost the double air time (97h) compared to Bukovel (59h).

The immense success of the Bukovel Minor is easy to understand, considering it featured some great teams and a spectacular grand final bout between RNG and the ex-Liquid roster.

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“One of the keys to the success of WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 was the stellar performance of the teams,” said Oleh Humeniuk, the WePlay! General Manager.

“We used new technologies and had no creative limits. Everyone who worked on the event loves esports, and judging by the results and feedback the viewers felt it.”

Vitaliy “Nexius” Bozhko, the WePlay! Esports Dota 2 Lead, added: “WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 brought together the strongest player lineup in the history of DPC Minors. We are grateful to the participants for the unforgettable matches and the professionalism displayed during the tournament,”

Perhaps the biggest reason why the WePlay! Bukovel Minor was so successful in terms of viewership numbers was the excellent work from the broadcasters and the overall quality of the tournament stream, which concluded in magnificent fireworks.

The casters Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden, Austin “Capitalist” Walsh and Toby “TobiWan” Dawson made sure to keep the commentary professional yet highly entertaining, which kept the tournament enjoyable to watch even when there was no action on the battlefield.

The Minor tournament was greeted with a massive amount of positive feedback from the community, who were taken aback at the standard of the broadcast for a Minor event. Some even claimed the quality and enjoyment factor was greater than some Major events.

The next WePlay! event in line for 2020 is WePlay! Dota 2 Tug of War: Mad Moon, which will take place on February 19, 2020 with eight teams competing for the lion’s share of $300,000 at Concert Hall VDNG in Kiev. Team Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Royal Never Give Up, Infamous and Natus Vincere are confirmed to compete, leaving only three more spots for directly invited teams.

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Bukovel Minor – When Does It Begin

Dota 2 WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 is scheduled to begin on the 9th of January 2020 and run for four days, with the final day of the tournament being January 12th, 2020. The first match is scheduled to start on January 9, 2020 at 12:00 AM CET.

Dota 2 Bukovel Minor structure

The rules of the Dota 2 WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 will be the usual tournament rules and regulations. The matches will be held in LAN games with each team having five players. The teams are separated into two groups with 4 teams each and the winners of each group will be advancing to the Playoffs.

Bukovel Minor outright betting odds

Many of the best esports betting sites have outright betting markets available on the Dota 2 Bukovel Minor. The latest odds for the Dota 2 Bukovel Minor winner are:

Nigma -125
Gambit Esports +400
Royal Never Give Up +600
Fighting Pandas +1000
Ninjas in Pajamas +1300
Team Spirit +2500
Geek Fam +2000
Furia +5000

Bukovel Minor group betting predictions

A total of eight teams will be participating in the Dota 2 WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020. Among them are Gambit Esports, Team Spirit, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Royal Never Give Up, Geek Fam, Nigma, FURIA Esports, and Fighting Pandas. All of the mentioned teams will be split between groups A and B.

Group A tips

Group A will start with Ninjas in Pyjamas facing against Geek Fam while in the second Group A match, Team Spirit will be butting heads with the Royal Never Give Up team. The winners of both matches will face each other a day later while those who lose will be doing the same.

Group A tips and betting predictions: Group A looks significantly weaker than Group B, but we think there is still some good betting opportunities to be found. Royal Never Give Up is paying 2.10 to win the Group, but it’s the slightly longer Ninjas in Pajamas that we are predicting can win this group.

Group B predictions

Group B matches will feature Fighting Pandas going up against team Nigma as well as Gambit Esports duking it out with FURIA Esports. The winners of both matches will be facing each other a day later while those who lose the first match will face against each other in the same manner as in Group A.

Group B predictions and betting tips: We reckon there is nothing surer then Group B producing the winner of this Dota 2 Minor, with both Nigma and Gambit eSports featuring. We’re predicting the Pool match between Nigma and Gambit will be a highlight, and could foretell the ultimate winner of the tournament. While the winner of the tournament to come from Group B is only paying $1.25, we think this is making bank and can be a great leg in multibets.

Dota 2 Bukovel Minor – The Prizes

Dota 2 WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020 this year has a total prize pool of $300 000 and 660 DPC points which will be split between the eight participating teams. First-place winners will be given a prize of $72000, 140 DPC Points and an invite to the Majors. The team that comes in second will receive $60000 and 120 DCP Points while the team that comes in third will receive $54000 and 110 DCP Points. Other teams will be compensated as the following table dictates.

1st Place – 140 DCP Points – 72000 USD
2nd Place – 120 DCP Points – 60000 USD
3rd Place – 110 DCP Points – 54000 USD
4th Place – 90 DCP Points – 42000 USD
5th Place – 60 DCP Points – 24000 USD
6th Place – 40 DCP Points – 12000 USD

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FURIA Esports

+2700 at BetOnline

FURIA enter the Bukovel Minor as the only South American representatives and as heavy underdogs in a star-studded field. While they failed to reach the final stage of the recent DreamLeague Season 13 closed qualifiers, Heitor “Duster” Pereira and his team bounced back with strong wins over Vicious Gaming (2-0), EgoBoys (2-0) and Gorillaz-Pride (3-0) to secure a place at Bukovel as the third-best South American team.

Team Spirit

+1600 at BetOnline

Joining FURIA among the underdogs are Team Spirit, who came close to securing direct promotion to the Leipzig Major but fell short against Virtus.pro (1-2) in the CIS qualifying finals. While Spirit made it through Minor qualifiers, they looked very shaky with a 0-2 loss to Gambit and a nervy 3-2 win over HellRaisers. While a solid team, Spirit are no match for the better teams in the field at Bukovel.

Geek Fam

+900 at BetOnline

Geek Fam failed to make it through the stacked SEA Major qualifiers but put up a show in Minor qualifiers, where they bested BOOM Esports (2-0) and Cignal Ultra twice (2-0 and 3-0). As we see it, Geek Fam might be slightly underrated. They are at least as strong as a few of the teams that are priced at shorter odds. When push comes to shove, however, we don’t believe Geek Fam can go the distance.

Fighting PandaS

+750 at BetOnline

After suffering a painful defeat to J.Storm in the semi-finals of NA Minor qualifiers, Fighting PandaS displayed a dominant run in the lower bracket and had their revenge with a 3-0 win over J.Storm to secure the second ticket for the Bukovel Minor. While a team filled with talent, we have our doubts about whether FP can cause an upset against the favourites. A first-up bout with Ninjas in Pyjamas is tough enough, while the likes of Gambit, Royal Never Give Up and Nigma should prove beyond reach.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

+650 at BetOnline

Ninjas in Pyjamas are priced only slightly shorter than PandaS at most esports bookmakers, and we believe that is right on the money. A lot of expectations were put on the European team to deliver in the NA region, but NiP fell flat with losses to Chaos EC (1-2) and EG (2-0) in Major qualifiers. NiP ended up making it through the NA Minor qualifiers but left a lot to be desired with their 2-1 win against J.Storm. A top-four finish is a realistic expectation for Peter “ppd” Dager and company, but anything more is not likely.

Gambit Esports

+400 at BetOnline

Gambit started CIS Major qualifiers strong but fell short in the playoffs, where they suffered two crushing defeats against Virtus.pro (0-2) and Natus Vincere (2-1). That said, they redeemed themselves with a perfect run in the Minor qualifiers. It’s worth noting Gambit claimed a silver medal at ESL One Hamburg, where they narrowly lost to TNC Predator (2-3). That leads us to believe they are capable of much more that they showed in CIS qualifiers.

Royal Never Give Up

+350 at BetOnline

Royal Never Give Up failed miserably in the Chinese Major qualifiers, where they earned a spot in Minor qualifiers by the skin of their teeth. While their 2-0 tie-breaker win over Newbee was a solid result, RNG looked mediocre throughout. While they bested Look For Smile (2-0), EHOME (2-0) and CDEC Gaming (3-0) in Minor qualifiers, their form is very unpredictable. RNG are not to be underestimated, but they are not a team that inspires much hope at the moment.

Nigma

+140 at BetOnline

That leaves us with Nigma, who are priced as the undisputed favourites to claim the Major ticket. They boast the most stacked roster out of all eight teams and should have done a better job in their regional Major qualifiers, where they lost both of their bouts in the playoffs against Team Secret (1-2) and Alliance (0-2). Nigma have a lot to prove and all the needed tools to do so. If they can avoid dropping the ball again, the Bukovel Minor title will be theirs to lose.

Prediction: Nigma to win – +140 at BetOnline

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