In the final event before The International 2016 we look at the 16 teams taking part in the Phillippines along with those not to make it this far
The group stages have been and gone and the scene is set.
Welcome to the Manila Major.
The Losers
Fans have been left in shock; some major names have already been kicked out of the tournament after falling far from a win in the lower brackets. Team Secret, Alliance and Evil Geniuses all faced elimination after one loss, while teams such as LDG, Fnatic and Digital Chaos secured spots in the upper bracket.
Who would have predicted that winners of TI5, Evil Geniuses, would face elimination after lacklustre performances, and would be kicked out of the Major on day one?
This surely must have been a tough pill to swallow. Their performance against ViCi Gaming was lacking the cutting edge that made them winners at T15. Showing a definite a lack of presence, fabled EG just didn’t seem together either.
The same goes for the winners of the Shanghai Major, Team Secret – a dire showing that few could have imagined. Even with luminary players Arteezy and UNiVeRsE, they were simply outplayed by Team Empire and eliminated after just 32 mins.
Inefficient hero picks, heavy farming requirements and too little aggression. On top of all this, they lacked communication; a death sentence in this meta.
Alliance were also eliminated after going up against NaVi, but not without a fight. The old rivals battled it out putting up a good fight on both parts, but in the end, NaVi came out on top.
NewBee and Fnatic
Coming into their first major, Team Empire were extremely on point; AfterLife utilised Sand King really well. They’ll be up against LGD, who were knocked into the lower bracket by Fnatic.
Speaking of Fnatic, DJ was beastly with Enigma in the third game against LGD. Two legendary Black Holes secured them the game, which means they have moved into the top six and will be going up against one of the strongest teams of the tournament: NewBee.
That said, the Newbee vs. DC games have shown just how vulnerable the former can be. DC played well and managed to finally end NewBee’s win streak. You couldn’t say the same for 29 win streak record breakers, which serves as a statement to the other teams: Newbee can be beaten by aggression.
Liquid and MVP Phoenix
Liquid have generally been considered the tournament favourites and there was little to challenge that view in the group stages. They took on, and took out, Alliance and Fnatic, cementing their place at the top of Group C.
Their pre-ordained progress to the title came to a grinding halt earlier this week, as Liquid found themselves up against MVP Phoenix. MVP blew viewers’ expectations out of the water, deploying Riki and Tidehunter to devastating effect.
It ended 2-0 to MVP. How did MVP do it? A combination of fearlessness and efficiency; the team went into their match against the favourites completely undaunted and made spectacular use of their spells to prolong fights. QO in particular delivered a compelling performance.
We can expect to see more of this strategy from the Korean team. Aside from QO, who has been a breakout star player, MVP isn’t packed with individual skill, especially when contrasted with a Team Liquid that includes FATA and KuroKy. Instead they rely on brutally efficient team coordination and an intuitive knowledge of when to go in for the kill.
Liquid making it to the finish line is looking less certain now that they find themselves in the lower bracket. They’ve pulled off a convincing 2-0 win against Complexity, but their position remains precarious.
MVP Phoenix, however, are upstarts of the Dota2 world and look like the team to beat. If they continue in the same vein, they could even take the title.
OG and Na’Vi
However, there’s still plenty of tough competition out there. OG, generally considered in the upper echelon of contenders, lost in the group stages only to NewBee and have just knocked Na’Vi into the lower bracket with a decisive 2-0 victory.
Playing Magnus to match Na’Vi’s Tinker, OG’s Miracle- set the pace of the first match from the get go, in what turned out to be a crushing, one-sided affair. Miracle- recently achieved a 9,000 MMR, proving that he is one of the game’s best at the moment. It’s dangerous to rely on one player, but all five stepped up to the plate and delivered a great split-pushing strategy that crippled Na’Vi.
A final kill score of 24-6 spurred Na’Vi on to perform better in the second match, but to no avail. They are now fighting for their lives in the lower bracket too.
The Road to Victory
OG will have to be careful going forward; as Fly acknowledged after their win, their play style happened to be strong against Na’Vi. That won’t be guaranteed against MVP, who they face in their next match.
OG can potentially exploit MVP’s picks with well-placed bans and even use MVP’s phenomenal aggression against them – there’s a fine line between antagonistic play and hubris. Both teams excel in early game control, so we could be looking at a tight contest. With things as they stand though, MVP look like the upper bracket finalists.
It’s also worth considering how a potential MVP vs NewBee final (which is looking like a real possibility) would shape up. Given NewBee’s vulnerability to aggressive strategies and MVP’s bellicose play style, an MVP win wouldn’t be a bad prediction. And, despite it’s stumble, Liquid could yet make it all the way.
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