A group including former TI Champions and runners-up, as well as a Solo Mid championship winners are neck and neck in the race for the one qualifying spot at the last Major of the competitive season.
With Vici Gaming Reborn and Wings Gaming being the only two teams actually accomplishing something after the Shanghai Major, and with Valve’s decision to directly invite only LGD Gaming from the “old guard’ of Chinese Dota, the rest of the former elite is now forced to fight in the regional qualifiers.
For some of the players this is the first time in their long careers where they have experienced regional or even open qualifiers for a Valve event, and that alone says everything about how dramatically the Chinese scene has changed.
The International 4 and 5 runners up respectively Vici Gaming and CDEC Gaming, along with EHOME, are fighting each other for Group A supremacy, while winners of TI2 and TI 4 Invictus Gaming and Newbee, are both in group B.
After the first day matches, VG is certainly out of the race with only two points accumulated and only match to play tomorrow. CDEC Gaming are also in danger of losing any chance to advance to the next stage as they are standing on two points and are in desperate need of at least one clean victory tomorrow.
Leading group A at the end of the first day, EHOME hasn’t dropped a single game yet and is a strong contender to advance into the Chinese double elimination bracket.
The Group B leaders after first day of matches are Invictus Gaming, with just one loss in their four games played, followed by Newbee who had to face only CDEC Youth and took the series 2-0. The two former TI champions will meet tomorrow and their best of two game series will be vital to determine who will advance further into the competition.
