January 2020 Regional Update
Image by JA
China
China is arguably the most competitive region in all of Dota. Even LGD wasn’t able to make it out of the open qualifiers for DreamLeague season 13 but that was a fluke that wouldn’t happen 99 out of 100 times.
This region doesn’t get many imported talents. They have arguably the best talent development system in all of Dota and many young talented players are grown from their established system of player and team development. Their player development is something other regions should learn from.
Teams doing well
Vici Gaming has been a tier one team for a long time now. Last DPC season they won two majors which tied Team Secret for most major wins. They’re continuing to be dominant and placed 2nd at the last MDL Chengdu Major.
Team Aster is another newly formed team that’s doing well. This team features Chinese stars Sccc, Fade, Boboka, and veteran captain Mikasa. They’re making it out of the Chinese qualifiers to the majors but they’ve been eliminated in the 2nd round of the lower bracket in both tournaments.
Invictus Gaming is also doing well. They won the first minor of the season, DOTA Summit 11 to make it to the MDL Chengdu Major where they placed 3rd. At the time of this writing, they’re 3rd in overall DPC points this season.
Notable players
Eurus (aka Paparazi) and Ori are still a very strong core pair and the backbone of Vici Gaming. They’ve been playing very well for the first two DPC season and that trend looks to continue in this 3rd season.
Invictus Gaming features players doing very well to. Emo and Flyfly are another core duo who are both young and have very high potential. Kaka is bringing excellent veteran leadership to help this young team achieve deep tournament runs at all three of their tournaments this season.
Heroes they like
This region isn’t known for picking too many flashy heroes. Just some solid heroes at every role that do their job and can team fight well. That being said, this region does like their 
Lina as a support and of course 
Puck is highly contested here.
North America
North America is a region that is struggling to gain a grip over the dominance hierarchy in professional Dota. Only two teams stand out from this region and only one of them can be considered a tier one team.
Evil Geniuses and Chaos Esports Club are those teams and Evil Geniuses seems inconsistent in their play from series to series. One series they look utterly dominant and have people saying EG is back! And in their next series they look utterly lost and have people saying EG LUL!
The talent pool of new North American talent is lacking but this region is always importing talent. With the addition of Ramsez666 and Abed joining EG, NA sort of relies on bringing in talent from overseas. But with Sumail missing in action, the scary threat of NA players has decreased significantly.
Teams doing well
Evil Geniuses and Chaos Esports Club are the only teams that might have other teams feeling nervous about playing them. Everyone else has been underwhelming in terms of their tournament performances.
Ninjas in Pajamas were eliminated in the group stages of both Minor tournaments this season, Fighting PandaS went 0-4 in the MDL Chengdu Major playoffs, and J.Storm managed to win one series in the upper bracket but then lost two in a row to get eliminated.
Notable players
CCnC aka Quinn is a young player who has silenced the doubters. People questioned his presence on Optic Gaming during the first DPC season but has grown tremendously since then. Now he’s a great mid player that carries his team often.
His teammate MSS also is a player who seems to be making himself a household name. MSS seems like a player who may be dismissed as a top player but often times his play makes it unignorable.
Ramsez666 formerly of Virtus.Pro is also coming into his own in Evil Geniuses. After switching from position 1 to position 3, it looks like he’s found his footing with great play at the DreamLeague major.
Heroes they like
Crystal Maiden and Lina seem to be valued highly as supports in North America. Maybe it’s because of veteran players like PPD and SVG enjoying playing those heroes so you see them more often. Also of course Puck is an in meta hero that is highly contested in North America.
South America
South America is a region that people have generally viewed as the weakest region. They’ve faced criticism in the past about the validity of their regional qualifier slots for tournaments that people have thought should be given to other regions. Those voices have largely been silenced as South American teams continue to prove their worth.
The most famous team from this region was Pain Gaming, a team that featured European talent like w33 and Misery. Now beastcoast has largely eclipsed them as the de facto SA team and they only have players from that region. No one wants to play against beastcoast because they’re the unknown team that has shown in the past that they can compete against the best.
Other than beastcoast though, the next team up from SA is a revolving door of Brazilian or Peruvian teams and no one has emerged as a top tier team.
Teams doing well
beastcoast managed a top 8 finish at TI9 under the team Infamous. In the DreamLeague major they knocked out Nigma in the lower bracket, a team that placed 2nd at TI9 and some people thought were the favorites to win it all.
Other than beastcoast though, there really are no teams worth mentioning because no one else from SA has accomplished anything worth talking about this season.
Notable players
Hector/K1 is becoming a house-hold name as a carry player. His 
Wraith King play was one of the highlights of TI9, rivaling Ana’s 
Io play.
Chris Luck is also emerging on the scene as a top tier mid. These two cores on beastcoast are lapping the history of SA cores like hfn and Timado in a short amount of time.
Heroes they like
Heroes you will likely see in this region include: 
Magnus, 
Tusk, 
Tiny, 
Lich, 
Clockwerk, and of course Puck.
Europe
Europe is home to many legendary teams and players. You have multiple TI winners in OG, Nigma (formerly Team Liquid), and Alliance (the organization won). You have multiple Major tournament winners in Team Secret. You have arguably the best players and captains ever in Kuroky, Miracle, N0tail, Ana, and Puppey.
This region is very top heavy and to make it out of a qualifier means beating at least one of Alliance, Team Liquid, Nigma, Team Secret, and OG. Even Nigma lost in the DreamLeague qualifiers and had to win the Minor to make it to DreamLeague.
Teams doing well
Alliance is doing very well with the team they’ve put together. A bunch of talented European players banded together under Alliance and it looks like they’ve found something special. This team beat Nigma for the last spot in the European qualifiers for the DreamLeague Major.
Team Liquid had a rough start to the season but they’ve stuck together through it all and now they’re back to their winning ways.
Team Secret is still strong like always. Nigma is up and down but you still wouldn’t want to bet against them.
OG seems to be on an extended break but they have nothing left to prove so they’ve earned the rest.
Notable players
Matumbaman back? He replaced MidOne, a very good player, and Team Secret hasn’t missed a beat. They’re still winning qualifiers and winning series in upper brackets of tournaments. This doesn’t mean one player is better than the other but a change of scenery is sometimes the best thing for certain situations.
Fata has been impressive as a position 5 and a captain. This is a role he hasn’t been in before but his veteran experience is showing and he’s delivering results for his team.
Heroes they like
Heroes you’ll see picked in this region more often than others are: 
Bristleback, 
Ancient Apparition, 
Venomancer, 
Nature's Prophet, and of course the hero of the meta: Puck.
CIS
Virtus.Pro was one of the most feared teams in all of Dota 2 history with how they played in the first two season of the Dota Pro Circuit. They never won a TI but they did win more Majors than any other team during this time and in dominant fashion.
Other than VP though, no team has really stood out as a clear tier one team. Gambit Esports sort of came out of nowhere and made a few deep tournament runs and established themselves as a solid tier two team.
Teams doing well
This region is struggling to find their footing. Gambit Esports and Navi are doing their best to keep this region competitive in the DPC tournaments. VP is struggling since their core group disbanded.
In the DreamLeague Major, Navi managed to make it to the top of their groups which had Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid in it. Virtus.Pro went 0-5 towards elimination.
The deepest run by a CIS team this season was by Hellraisers in the first minor where they made it to the lower bracket finals. Most CIS teams have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs though.
Notable players
Navi has most of the notable players from this region. 9pasha joined this team and now they’re finally starting to see some results. Some people regarded him as a weak link in the VP team and he has something to prove still.
Crystalize and MagicaL are playing well for Navi as well. Resolut1on has yet to make a large impact as a new member of Virtus.Pro. He’s a player that was hailed as a young star but he switched positions from 1 to 3 and maybe he’s restarting his journey as a pro.
Heroes they like
You’ll see 
Earth Spirit here whereas in other regions that hero is rarely ever seen. Other heroes that will be found here are 
Shadow Fiend, 
Sand King, 
Gyrocopter, 
Brewmaster, and of course meta favorites Puck and Tiny.
SEA
SEA is seen as a region with talented players but lacking in leadership. There are many superstars from this region like Iceiceice, MidOne, Dj, and Abed.
The teams haven’t had many deep tournament runs except recently with TNC who won the last Major.
This is a very competitive region but with maybe only two tier one teams. There are many tier two teams though.
Teams doing well
Fnatic and TNC are the only stand out teams from this region that you might bet on to win it all at a tournament.
They somehow managed to be in the same group in the DreamLeague major though. Then they faced off in the lower bracket and TNC managed to win 2-1.
Other than them, there are a few notable tier two teams. Team Adroit sort of came out of nowhere and now they’re beating good teams in the regional qualifiers. There’s also Geek Fam with veteran players like Kuku and Raven and they’re always a threat to make it out of the regional qualifiers.
Notable players
Since March and Kpii joined TNC, the team has looked completely different. The veteran experience and leadership that those two players brought has been huge and they’ve been on a winning spree. They won every tournament since this current squad has joined together and that streak is still alive as they’re still in the DreamLeague Major tournament.
Heroes they like
Heroes in this region that will see play more often than others are: 
Kunkka, Venomancer, Ancient Apparition, Clockwerk, 
Vengeful Spirit, and Puck seems to be more contested in this region than most.
I'm here for Thicc Luna's Ass
а где Япония?
Forgant, you are mind reader
nice article image ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
These fucking animals never seen an ass?
That ass
Moon ass brought me here :^)
Luna's butt
ASS
I am Russian and switched to an English server, since the Russians are building up very quickly and already at 3 minutes after fb you can see the afk or feed
One question, какого черта Луна с голой жопой?)
Can't believe Navi was left out of this article, given their history. A) They are the only CIS team to have won a TI and B) they are easily the best team in the region right now.
Luna T back
Im here only for Luna's thicc ass