The best moments of the upcoming Dota 2 tournament.
Prestigious eSports tournament The International 2017 starts August 7 in Seattle (USA) and it is going to take part the representatives of Ukraine.
So, the qualifying rounds have already been completed, the prize pool again broke the record, therefore, it’s time to predict what this tournament may surprise the millions of fans of DotA 2.
This year for the title will compete in 18 teams, among which, unfortunately, was not the place of the Ukrainian Natus Vincere. The winner of The debut International has not managed to overcome the play-off qualifying round, losing to the team of Vega Squadron. Misfire NaVi influenced the number of representatives of Ukraine at the tournament.
From now on TI7 was 4 Ukrainian: Andrew “Ghostik” Adam’s Apple, and Rostislav “fn” Lozove in Team Empire and Vladimir “Noone” Minenko and Ivan “ArtStyle” Antonov with Virtus.pro. Although the departure of Natus Vincere became the main surprise of qualifying, the latest results of wards of Igor “Caff” Sidorenko was the culmination of unsuccessful results of the team.
Only 6 teams have received a direct invitation from Valve to participate in the tournament: Evil Geniuses, OG, Invictus Gaming, NewBee, Team Liquid and Virtus.pro.
After last year’s The International, Evil Geniuses took part in 13 tournaments, which won in 7 and only twice been outside the top three.
Such impressive form the American team was affected by the return of Arthur “Arteezy” Babaev, who after the failure of The International 2016 left Team Secret and reunited with Evil Geniuses.
It is impossible to consider Evil Geniuses as the unconditional favourite of tournament in Seattle, but their fear and carefully analyzed. That is why the us team needs to be prepared that their tactics have already studied. If “evil geniuses” will be able to demonstrate well-honed over the past year, patience and teamwork, victory at The International in 2017 is not surprising.
OG – the only team that won in 4 official tournaments Valve. The last trophy won by the Europeans became Major of Kiev, which recently took place in the Palace Ukraine.
Victory in Kiev tournament title defense in Boston Major demonstrates the power and persistence with which OG is coming to The International 2017. It’s possible the series of victories relaxed OG, as evidenced by the 4th place in Mars Dota 2 League 2017, or the latest results are intended to lull the competition, but that the OG will be 100% ready to TI7, no doubt. In addition, The International is the only tournament from Valve, which did not win the OG.
2017 Invictus Gaming started well – 5 wins from 9. However, after Kiev Major (3rd place) the results of the Chinese team will not be called successful. At recent major tournaments Invictus Gaming, have secured the 5-6 line of the tournament table. These results both motivate the team and create additional pressure. The desire to rehabilitate in the eyes of the fans and prove to ourselves that a direct invitation to The International is first of all their merit, can become a good irritant for Invictus Gaming.
The situation with another representative of China – NewBee looks like the opposite situation of Invictus Gaming. The team was in a fever the whole year after The last International: series of 4 consecutive victories alternated not with the best results. In 2017, the situation reached its climax – the 9th place on the Kiev Major.
However, after several unsuccessful Championships, the team pulled together and won two consecutive major tournaments, finishing in third place in Mars Dota 2 League 2017, where it narrowly lost to LGD Gaming, who eventually won the tournament. With a similar success rate from a NewBee can expect anything. Of course, we are not talking about winning the tournament (as evidenced by statistics on the TI), but the role of dark horse team could handle.
Team Liquid is considered to be one of the favorites TI7. The team managed to defend the title of champion of Moscow EPICENTER 2017, winning one of the major rivals Evil Geniuses with a comfortable score of 3-1.
Team captain KURO “KuroKy” Takhasomi has participated in all The International, and there are only 4 players in the history of the tournament. At the moment KuroKy ranked second in the world ranking of players of DotA 2.
Last year for Team Liquid was not very successful – only one win DreamLeague Season 6 and losing in qualifying for Boston Major. The situation changed dramatically with the victory at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, which was preceded by two won the qualification for the European and Asian premiere tournaments.
If the 9th place on the Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 will not cause much enthusiasm, following the 5th place in Kiev Major and the previously mentioned victory in 2017 EPICENTER has granted Team Liquid the right to speak at The International 2017.
The cohort of the main contenders for victory closes the Russian team Virtus.pro, which demonstrates a consistently high-quality game over the last year. The defeat of OG in the final Major of Kiev (2: 3) and departure from Team Liquid on the home EPICENTER is not a joke angered the wards of Dmitry “PoDoX” Shishkov.
In the latest achievement of Russian team was the victory at the Summit DOTA 7, where in a bitter struggle “Virtus” has overcome Team Secret with a score of 3: 2. On the eve TI7 guide Virtus.pro renewed contracts with their players, thereby motivating them to win in the upcoming tournament.
In addition to direct invitations through the sieve of qualification covers the following teams: Team Secret of Planet Dog, Team Empire, Team NP, Digital Chaos, TnC, Fnatic, Execration, Vitality, iG, LGD.FY, LGD, and Infamous.
The play-off round of The International 2017 to be held August 7-14 in the U.S. city of Seattle. The prize Fund at the time of writing has reached 20 893 843 USD.
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