Obviously, from all the eight teams competing in China starting on the 23rd of February, OG and Digital Chaos have the least pressure on themselves. Although it is still unclear exactly how Valve decides on who is getting a direct invites at their events, OG and DC invitations are a no brainer. OG are the Boston Major winners and runners up at Dota Pit Season 5 while DC secured the ESL One Genting trophy almost a month ago. Those achievements alone should be enough to guarantee them a ticket to Kiev.
Now, both OG and DC are seeded in different groups at SL i-League StarSeries #3, and their safe spot for Kiev might come back to haunt them in China this weekend. Only the top two teams from each group will advance into the playoffs and the competition is fierce. OG is facing Secret, TNC and iG.Vitality in group A, while DC have Liquid, Wings and VG. J to fight against in group B. Looking at their first series it’s hard not to take into consideration two very possible upsets.
So, for now, let’s take a look at who is fighting against OG in Group A.
TNC were responsible for OG’s elimination from TI 6 and their current roster is very close to the one they had in Seattle last year. At the same time, it’s true that TNC has recently lost the DAC qualifiers, but that is only motivation for the team to prove themselves now. There is a big difference between the TNC playing online matches and the TNC playing offline. Their WESG win was not an accident and although most likely it won’t count for a Kiev Major invitation, the performance they put in China last month was just a preview of what a united team can do. The new TNC roster is very much alike OG if you want, in terms of player chemistry, professional behavior, and even tournament approach. And that’s why the OG vs TNC opening series of group A should be a very tense one, where placing OG as clear favorites might be a risky assumption.
But what about the rest of the teams in group A?
Thing become even more complicated when you look at the other match up from Group A, Team Secret vs iG Vitality. For both of these teams, a good performance this weekend is crucial. Team Secret hasn’t been the same since their Shanghai Major victory almost a year ago. Since then, they've delivered a long trail of disappointments for their fans, and not only competitively, but also seeing their image hit when Envy published his blog about his experience with the team and Puppey.
The new Secret, mainly rebuilt in the post TI 6 shuffle with a player change last year in November that saw KheZu replaced Forev, do have a tournament victory under their belt, namely the ROG MASTERS. However, the event was back in November and featured only Asian teams and Secret, and it’s more than likely irrelevant for a Kiev Major direct invite. Secret has recently participated at the Dota Pit Season 5 LAN finals but they didn’t do well enough in Croatia. Their losses against DC, EG and IG from last month speak about a Secret that still has a lot of work to do to become a real threat.
More recently, Secret have also had an underwhelming performance at DAC qualifiers where they lost against Liquid and Cloud 9. Soon after the DAC qualifiers MidOne returned home to Malaysia, most probably to sort out his visa for China. That indicates that the team hasn’t bootcamped for StarLadder i-League StarSeries S3 and will rely only on what they learnt together in the DAC qualifiers.
A very different situation can be described for Secret’s first opponents in China, iG.Vitality. The Chinese team has been playing with the same roster for a year now and ever since their inception, in the post Shanghai Major aftermath, everyone has expected them to bloom. The Boston Major was unfortunate for them as visa issues had them playing with a stand in, and the single elimination format of the Major saw them eliminated in the first round of the playoffs bracket. Their only achievements post-Boston are registered in Chinese competitions, a second place at Dota 2 Professional League Season 2, a qualifying spot at DAC, and of course at this season of SL i-League StarSeries. But keep in mind that nobody has seen them play an official game since January 15. How will they perform on the New Journey game update is a mystery for everyone, including Secret who has to play them first.
The good news for all the teams is that the GSL format of the group stage gives everyone a second chance. No one is eliminated in the first round and no one is securing their playoffs spot with only one victory. The games are starting in less than 24 hours and all of them are more than worth watching. It will be a long weekend for the Dota 2 fans but surely it will be worth changing your sleeping schedule if the China time zone does not fit your region.
Group A day one schedule:
February 23, 10:00 CST/ 03:00 CET: OG vs TNC
February 23, 13:00 CST/ 06:00 CET: Secret vs iG.Vitality
February 23, 16:00 CST/ 09:00 CET: TBD vs TBD (Winner‘s Final)
