Meepwn'd will debut at Alienware's Area 51 Cup that features some of the top European teams, with Team Empire, ASUS.Polar and Virtus Pro competing for the top prize. Alliance and Team Tinker also feature in the event, which will be a test for their newly formed rosters.
The Area 51 Cup begins later today with Alliance squaring off against Virtus Pro and 4 Anchors taking on Team Tinker in two best-of-three matches. The tournament is a single elimination format that will continue through to January 23rd as they compete to win a first prize expected to be worth $4500. They will have to get past the winners from a growing grudge match between ASUS.Polar and Ninjas in Pyjamas and the battle between recent StarLadder XI victors Team Empire and the newly formed Meepwn'd.
Perhaps the biggest news from the event is that tomorrow will feature the debut of Meepwn'd in competitive Dota 2. The new team features former-Fnatic members Kai 'H4nn1' Hanbückers and Steve 'Excalibur' Ye, Secret Team's Tal 'Simbaaa' Aizik and Johan 'pieliedie' Åström who was recently kicked from the Cloud 9 roster. Romanian Aliwi 'w33haaa' Omar completes the five man roster, who has featured in a number of teams including Balkan Bears Corleone since June last year. Meepwn'd will have a big test for their opening match as they face currently in form Team Empire, who have looked dominant in recent weeks and will surely be the favourites coming into Meepwn'd's debut match.
In today's matches, Alliance take on Virtus Pro in their first match since failing to qualify for the Dota 2 Asia Championships. The Swedish team got close to securing the all important top three placements to secure a spot in the Wild Card stage of the tournament, but fell one game short to Natus Vincere. They take on Virtus Pro, who despite having an impressive 2014 have seen a dramatic change in form and lost all of their previous seven matches and last won a game back on December 19th.
The recently reformed Finnish team 4 Anchors take on Team Tinker in the second game of the day. 4ASC recently lost Jesse 'JerAx' Vainnika to their opponents Team Tinker, a move which almost saw the team disband. However, the Finnish were able to secure Sampsa 'nemphy' Kutvonen as a replacement, but will going against their former team mate make this a must win game for both teams? There is a bit of uncertainty about what team Team Tinker will field following the today's announcement that Turtoi 'Ar1se' Ionut has left the team. No word on who his replacement will be for the match, but it could be another big issue for a team that has already lost so many members.
free,LFT!
— Turtoi (@Ar1sE_3020) January 20, 2015
Tomorrow brings the third match between ASUS.Polar and Ninjas in Pyjamas in only five days, with the teams both asserting two dominant victories in each game. The two teams were competing in the recent StarLadder Season XI finals, but it was ASUS.Polar who came out on top of their growing rivals to force the Swedes into third place. ASUS.Polar, still without an official name as they go through some changes will surely be the favourites going into the match, but if their winner bracket match was anything to go by - some good drafting could secure Ninjas in Pyjamas a place in the second round.
Headline image from Kai Kienzle (flickr)
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