PGL Wallachia Season 3: Who Has Qualified?

PGL Wallachia Season 3 may still be about a month and a half away, but all 16 teams participating in the $1 million Dota 2 tournament are now confirmed and locked in for the start of the event on March 8th. Half of the squads were directly invited by organizer PGL, while the other eight went through regional qualifiers.

The six “classic” regions were included in the qualifiers themselves, with some regions having more qualifier slots than others. If you missed the qualifiers, whether partially or entirely, I’ve got you covered with our list of winners.

Western Europe: AVULUS, OG

I mentioned AVULUS being an up and coming mainstay of the European scene as a whole in our qualifier results page for DreamLeague Season 25, so it’s no shocker that they’ve come out of the Western European qualifiers here at PGL Wallachia Season 3. They’ve really hit their stride lately, consistently qualifying for major tournaments — but I’m sure they’d like to reach that next level and really fight for podium finishes this year.

What does surprise me a little bit though is that OG actually managed to salvage the awful start to their own qualifier run. They lost to Zero Tenacity, a team whose only notable players are Axel “Pablo” Källman and Nikola “LeBronDota” Popović, in the first round, falling to the lower bracket far too early in a tournament with not that many sharks around.

And they almost got eliminated right off the bat in the lower bracket too, losing the first game of their first series there. Sébastien “Ceb” Debs must have given them a real classico pep talk after, because it was then when they rallied to win the next two games. Bolstered by the momentum, they ran roughshod through the rest of the lower bracket, dropping only two maps in total on their way to qualifying. Talk about the closest of calls for OG.

Eastern Europe: Na’Vi, BanyaPivoSamogon

Seeing the new look Na’Vi come out of the Eastern European qualifiers is quite nice, as they really need all the experience they can get as a relatively new roster. They cut their teeth at ESL One Bangkok just last month, where they finished 12th. Not a particularly impressive result by any means, but certainly important to their development as a squad.

On the other side, have a team that I’m sure no one has ever heard of (including myself): BanyaPivoSamogon. This roster first had to go through the open qualifier to even get to the regional qualifier itself, so it’s actually incredible to see such a seemingly ragtag band of new challengers at an event with this kind of payout.

Not that I expect them to get very far, but stranger things have happened in professional Dota 2.

China: Team Tidebound

Finally, a Chinese team that isn’t just Xtreme Gaming or Yakult Brothers has made it into a premier event through the regional qualifiers. Team Tidebound actually had to go through Yakult Brothers in the grand final of the Chinese qualifiers, where they swept them clean three games to none.

The names on this roster are no slouches, either. Star mid laner Cheng “NothingToSay” Jin Xiang (formerly of PSG.LGD fame) and TI6 champion Zhang “y`” Yiping call this place home, and their experience and pedigree will certainly come in handy at PGL Wallachia Season 3. If they can make their presence felt at the tournament, perhaps there might still be hope for the Chinese scene yet.

Southeast Asia: Talon Esports

Truly, it’s death, taxes, and Talon Esports coming out of Southeast Asian regional qualifiers wherever you look.

There’s really not much else to say about them at this point, other than that they need to dig deep and unlock their potential if they want to be somewhere other than the bottom half of the standings in each major tournament they attend this year.

North America: Wildcard

Now here’s another genuine surprise: the team coming out of the North American regional qualifier is not Shopify Rebellion, but rather Wildcard — formerly known as Apex Genesis.

WE ARE SO BACK IN DOTA 🔥

🇺🇸 @speeedyt
🇺🇸 @yamsun_dota
🇺🇸 @DotaFayde
🇺🇦 @Bignumdota
🇺🇸 @FFundemera

🧠 @JustBliNcc
📝 @stresspresso_gg #StackTheDeck pic.twitter.com/0xBAcqXIsD

— Wildcard (@Wildcard_GG) January 8, 2025

Well, this is also as much a result of Shopify not participating in the qualifiers as it is Wildcard just being the second best team from the region right now, but I’m sure they’ll take any and all opportunities to play wherever they can.

South America: Looking for Org

Perhaps the one team on this list with the most apt name ever, Looking for Org beat out other South American squads like M80 and Hokori on their way to qualifying for PGL Wallachia Season 3. Prior to this, they played as Team Waska, the same team that managed to place eighth at DreamLeague Season 24.

And it shouldn’t astonish anyone to know that, considering that these guys are longtime veterans of the South American scene. Although they might not be perennial threats in terms of the top 4 in most international LANs, they’re certainly capable of a few upsets here and there — hence the respectable eighth place finish that I mentioned.

With HEROIC also around via direct invite (thanks to winning the previous season), the two SA teams in attendance should consider this a great opportunity to hone themselves for the rest of the year.