In 2023, a key event occurred on the professional Dota 2 scene. In September 2023, Valve abandoned the outdated, ineffective, and frankly, pointless DPC system.

The abandonment of the DPC system literally breathed new life into the dull ecosystem of Dota 2 esports tournaments. Full-fledged tournaments have replaced the probably tiresome DPC leagues. And this affected not only eSports in the standard sense, but also the betting market. I think that other disciplines should also take an example, so that the same valorant betting does not turn into what we saw during the DPC.

Most of these new championships have brought back the spirit of offline Dota 2 tournaments, and these tournaments are taking place in different parts of the world. Tournaments like Clavision: Snow Ruyi – a championship held in China from July 28 to August 4, 2024. In this article, we will discuss Clavision: Snow Ruyi, its features, impact on the competitive scene, and what made this unique tournament memorable.

What is the Clavision: Snow Ruyi Tournament?

As we mentioned earlier, at the end of 2023, the Dota 2 competitive ecosystem underwent a significant shake-up. With the cancellation of the DPC system, many LAN tournaments have appeared on the international stage. What’s even more interesting and, in my opinion, cool, is that these tournaments are being held in different corners of the planet, in different regions. I would like to see a similar situation with the valorant tournaments, which are currently moving through the regional system.

A prime example of this kind of Dota 2 globalism and inclusivity on the professional scene is the Clavision: Snow Ruyi tournament. The championship took place in the Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, at the Snow Ruyi arena, from July 28 to August 4, 2024. By the way, at about the same time, the VALORANT World Championship – VALORANT Champions – was and is being held, which is the central event on valorant betting sites and valorant crypto betting and not only.

The tournament was organized by AndaSeat in partnership with ZOWIE and ONWEAR. As far as I remember, this is the first time AndaSeat has been mentioned as an organizer of major Dota 2 tournaments. And Clavision: Snow Ruyi can be classified as a major tournament for several reasons, besides the LAN format, of course. The first is the prize pool, which amounted to $500,000. The other reason is the participants of Clavision: Snow Ruyi, whom we will discuss separately.

Clavision: Snow Ruyi Participants

Ten teams competed at the Clavision: Snow Ruyi championship, battling for $500,000 and the title of champion from July 28 to August 4. You can see the list of participants below. I’ll add right away that it’s very solid.

Among the definitely top-tier teams, it’s worth noting Spirit and Xtreme. Both clubs consistently played in other significant tournaments of the season and showed quite high-quality play, reaching late stages and even winning championships.

Another notable aspect related to the list of participants at Clavision: Snow Ruyi is the process of their selection for the tournament. And specifically the selection, as all teams received direct invitations from the championship organizers, with no qualifications or preliminary tournaments.

The logic behind the invitations is somewhat understandable, but not entirely. Obviously, teams like Xtreme and Spirit deserved a direct invite, as they have been demonstrating top results at top tournaments. It’s also clear why many Chinese teams, which haven’t been impressive in recent years, were invited. After all, this is a Chinese LAN tournament, and it was important for the local audience to see representatives of their country to attend Clavision: Snow Ruyi and make it profitable. However, the invites for NaVi and Vp, as well as Talon and Nigma, remain somewhat puzzling to me.

Ultimately, the tournament results shed light on the participants. And we’ll discuss them in more detail below.

Result of Clavision: Snow Ruyi

The Clavision: Snow Ruyi tournament turned out to be quite successful for the Chinese region, primarily thanks to Xtreme Gaming.

Xtreme Gaming, the top team in the region, took third place in the group stage, competing in Group B. Ultimately, they played with a 3-1 record, which allowed them to advance directly to the upper bracket of the playoffs.

In the playoffs, they first defeated NaVi 2-1, then overcame G2 x IG (2-1) and Team Spirit (2-0). In the grand final, they met Team Spirit again and confidently closed them out with a 3-1 score.

Xtreme Gaming not only became the champions of Clavision: Snow Ruyi but also set trends and were, in general, several levels above their opponents in strategic and tactical terms. They were the ones who introduced Tinker as a support and had the widest hero pool in the tournament.

One could sing praises for Xtreme Gaming for a long time, but it’s also worth noting the performances of other teams, particularly Nigma Galaxy and NaVi. Both clubs played with substitutes in their lineups and still showed high results: Nigma finished in the top 3, while NaVi ended up in the top 4. For both teams, these results can be considered successful, especially considering their recent struggles in other tournaments.

Conclusion

The Clavision: Snow Ruyi tournament, which was the first championship of the year held in China, ended with a confident victory for a local team, giving hope to see a competitive region at future top tournaments, including The International and beyond. Of course, there were quite a few quirks during the championship, such as a prolonged one-hour pause due to a heavy downpour. Ultimately, such incidents evoke nostalgia and the vibes of tournaments from the early 2000s, for which Clavision: Snow Ruyi can also be thanked.