In just a couple of days, Boston will be ablaze with powerful magic and torn asunder by mighty heroes. Yes, the 2016/17 year of Dota2 tournaments is about to begin...
This time round, the tournament format itself has been shaken up. It’s the first publisher-sponsored event to not feature a double-elimination bracket, which means possible early exits for even the most domineering teams.
The 16 teams will be seeded in based on their performance in the group stage.
Interestingly, this will be the first time two main Valve events will take place on a single patch, 6.88.
Normally, to eradicate one team using the meta to beast it over multiple Majors, a new one would be released.
But 6.88 incorporates such widespread balance that it’s not hard to successfully play multiple strategies.
So how are the regions looking?
NA
EG’s roster has shown strength since the post-TI shuffle; they’ve got a 61.40% win rate out of their last 57 matches.
Finishing first place at MarsTV Dota2 League 2016 and third at The Summit 6, we’re seeing a much sharper overall performance than at Northern Arena.
Since the arrival of carry Arteezy (for the third time), and the surprise appointment of Cr1t as captain, there’s been a notably faster and more aggressive tempo to their play style, with Venomancer at the epicentre of their strategy.
The question now is whether they have something new up their sleeve for Boston.
Along with EG, DC were directly invited to the Major as runners-up at TI6, but their performance has been lacklustre of late.
Absent from a number of events, it’s hard to get an accurate gauge of how they might play.
Team NP and compLexity Gaming, however, topped the regional qualifiers, with NP only dropping one game during the group stages, and compLexity close on their heels.
While NP haven’t come up against titans such as EG yet, their performance so far has been pretty inspiring for a newly-formed squad.
compLexity, on the other hand, looked shaky, but have recently shown a little more resilience. In their matches against NP, there’s no denying there was a notable difference in skill level.
EU
With such a large pool of strong teams, the EU region was by far the most cut-throat leading up to the main event.
Poised to cause a stir at the Major, Ad Finem have already shown their mettle by beating the likes of Team Liquid and Team Secret.
The all-Greek team kept their roster intact after failing to qualify for TI6 but have demonstrated good team synergy so far.
They kept cool during the playoffs, and came out of the EU brawl without dropping a single game.
Virtus.Pro are the second EU team, and are the lone CIS representatives at the Major. Their stunning 8-1 playoff run, dropping a game only to Ad Finem, magnifies the skill of their new, young roster under the supervision of veteran player, Solo.
It’s not a stretch to say that this new VP has the best (and most underrated) players of the CIS region.
We’re bound to see sparks fly, if their stunning victory at The Summit 6 is anything to go by.
The biggest upset of the EU region is the notable absence of long-standing veterans such as Na’Vi, Alliance, Liquid and Secret.
Maybe the Old Guard is finally being forced out, and the new blood will soon be flush with new money.
SEA
From the South East Asia region, invites were extended to MVP Phoenix and Execration.
Execration however have now been replaced by LGD because Valve failed to send over vital documents needed to process Visa’s into the US.
MVP are recently re-joined by Forev as a core, moving Febby back to support. Interestingly, they’ve lost every game since.
The SEA qualifiers have thrown up interesting participants, notably WG.Unity. After losing to Fnatic in The Summit 6 qualifiers, they then eliminated them in the Boston qualifiers. Their performances have been impressive since, with a 71% win rate for November.
The squad most likely to make waves in Boston is Team Faceless, which has dominated the SEA region lately.
They recently hammered invitee MVP Phoenix, in the Dota Pit League Season 5 Qualifiers, but how will they stack up against European and Chinese teams?
China
Finally, we come to China, a region that has three teams invited to Boston – the country’s two qualifiers mean that Chinese teams make up almost a third of all participants.
The regional frontrunner, and arguably the overall frontrunner, is Wings Gaming. Wings have had a phenomenal year, and their deep hero pool and aggressive style still makes them tough to top.
Could a disappointing 4th place at The Summit 6 be a sign that their 2016/17 season won’t be so golden?
LGD.Forever Young have been impressive on the Chinese scene, but will be playing Boston with two replacement players, DDC and END.
That’s because of – you guessed it – visa issues. These are two great players, but whether or not they’ve had enough time to gel is yet to be seen.
Despite the uncertainty, with NewBee, EHOME and iG Vitality also in the mix, don’t be surprised if China does very well for itself at Boston.
