The second Major of the competitive season is upon us. Since the last major, the point totals have seen some shuffling, and the game itself has been patched. While Virtus.Pro has been sitting pretty at the top, the 1500 points that are on the line could change that quickly. Of course if Virtus.Pro wins DreamLeague as well, they will further cement their spot in TI8. They’re not the only ones with their eye on the prize though, so let’s take a look at their competition.
Team Liquid
Roster:
Position 1 – Lasse “MATUMBAMAN” Urpalainen
Position 2 – Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barqawi
Position 3 – Ivan “MinD-ContRoL” Ivanov
Position 4 – Maroun “GH” Merhej
Position 5 – Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi
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Liquid has shown no signs of slowing down after a dominant start to the season. Currently they are the only team to have won more than one tournament this season. Liquid continue to prove that they are a team to be reckoned with, and I doubt anyone would be surprised if they were the team to take the lead in the rankings after DreamLeague.
Newbee
Image courtesy of teamliquid.net
Roster:
Position 1 – Xu “Moogy” Han
Position 2 – Song “Sccc” Chun
Position 3 – Damien “kpii” Chok
Position 4 – Hu “Kaka” Liangzhi
Position 5 – Zheng “Faith” Hongda
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Newbee is fresh off the heels of a victory at the Perfect World Masters tournament. It is clear they are not going to let their TI runner-up stigma effect their performance moving forward. Though soul-crushing at the time, they have bounced back well. During the Chinese Qualifiers for DreamLeague, they only dropped a single game. Newbee is clearly the pinnacle of Chinese DotA right now, and we can expect good games from them at DreamLeague.
Team Secret
Image courtesy of teamliquid.net
Roster:
Position 1 – Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard
Position 2 – Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng
Position 3 – Adrian “Fata” Trinks
Position 4 – Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat
Position 5 – Clement “Puppey” Ivanov
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Team Secret is looking for redemption after falling just short of first place at the last Major. Fortunately for them, their second place finish at ESL One also puts them at second place on the current rankings leaderboard. Their chances at the Perfect World Masters Tournament was hamstrung by a personal emergency that left them without MidOne, but the gang is back together now and ready to give it their all.
Evil Geniuses
Image courtesy of teamliquid.net
Roster:
Position 1 – Artour “Arteezy” Babaev
Position 2 – Sumail “Suma1l” Hassan
Position 3 – Saahil “UNiVeRsE” Aurora
Position 4 – Andreas “Cr1t-” Nielsen
Position 5 – Clinton “Fear” Loomis
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It has not been the best year for Evil Geniuses so far. As it stands, the team has only managed to secure a single third place victory this season. That being said, they pulled it together for the DreamLeague NA Qualifiers, and only dropped a single game. This could be a sign that they are trying something new, or getting more familiar with the patch. The team will definitely have to step up their game if they hope to perform on the main stage. So far though, their chances do not look the greatest.
Fnatic
Roster:
Position 1 – Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao
Position 2 – Steve “Xcalibur” Ye
Position 3 – Khoo “Ohaiyo” Chong Xin
Position 4 – Djardel “DJ” Mampusti
Position 5 – Johan “pieliedie” Åström
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Fnatic is the first team on the list without a single Qualifying Point to their name. Though their 7-8th place finishes at ESL One and Dota PIT earned them some prize money, that money will not help them secure a spot at TI. That being said, Fnatic have been looking better and better over just the last two weeks. They achieved first place in both the DotA Summit SEA Qualifiers and the DreamLeague SEA Qualifiers. I don’t know what possibly could have happened to warrant this 180 turn, but Fnatic may just be a real contender in this tournament if they can hold on to this momentum.
Infamous
Roster:
Position 1 – Alonso “Kotaro Hayama” León
Position 2 – Mariano “Papita” Caneda
Position 3 – Steven “StingeR” Vargas
Position 4 – Elvis “Scofield” De la Cruz Peña
Position 5 – Christian “Accel” Cruz
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Not much has been heard from Infamous since their disappointing finish at PGL Open Bucharest. They succeeded in taking first place at the World Cyber Arena tournament in South America last month, but since then they have only been playing in qualifiers. This tells me that my previous evaluation of them may have been true. In the confines of the small South American scene, Infamous are kings on the playground. Unfortunately this does not translate well to success on the world stage. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a team from an underrepresented DotA scene succeed. Everyone can remember how hype Ad Finem’s run through the Boston Major was last year right? It makes me sad to say that I’m unsure if Infamous is the team to bring that hype back given their poor performance recently.
Virtus.Pro
Roster:
Position 1 – Roman “RAMZES666” Kuchnarev
Position 2 – Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko
Position 3 – Pavel “9pasha” Khvastunov
Position 4 – Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk
Position 5 – Alexei “Solo” Berezin
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The champions of the last Major are back to prove they can do it again. However, their DreamLeague qualifier performance does not exactly inspire the utmost confidence from their fans. They were only one loss away from being tied with OG at 7-7 and forcing a tie breaker. At the same time they recently crushed the DotA Summit CIS Qualifier by beating Na’Vi 3-1 when Na’Vi is looking strong. I have no doubt Virtus.Pro will make the top 4 at DreamLeague, but they need to bring their A game if they hope to win another Major.
Na’Vi
Image courtesy of teamliquid.net
Roster:
Position 1 – Vladislav “Crystallize” Krystanek
Position 2 – Danil “Dendi” Ishutin
Position 3 – Victor “GeneRaL” Nigrini
Position 4 – Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan
Position 5 – Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev
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I could gush about Na’Vi’s return to relevance in the DotA 2 scene for hours. This team has had a rough few years, but things finally seem to be turning around. Fellow Game Haus writer Eli Sherman already wrote a great article on the topic, which echoes many of my sentiments as well. You can find that article here.
DreamLeague Season 8 will take place in Jönköping, Sweeden from Dec 1st – Dec 3rd.
Featured image courtesy of dreamleague.dreamhack.com
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