For those who might have missed the most important news from the past week in the competitive Dota2 scene, here is a short recap.
Tournament news:
Galaxy Battles is the newest $150,000 tournament of NESO: Open qualifiers to commence this week
Organized by the National Electronic Sports Organization (NESO), Galaxy Battles will take place in China from June 14 to 18 with four directly invited teams and four qualified ones fighting for a slice of the $150,000 base prize pool. The open qualifiers will commence today, May 22 and will be held across five regions: Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, China and India. The European and American open qualifiers will start slightly later than the rest of the regions, on the 29th of May.
For those interested in playing in the Galaxy Battles open qualifiers, the registration links are as follows:
For Europe register HERE
For North America register HERE
For Southeast Asia register HERE
For China register HERE
For India register HERE
Team Liquid take home the SL i-League Invitational S2 trophy
Although the tournament was held in Shanghai, China, none of the Chinese teams made it to the grand finals. Instead, TnC had an amazing run through the group stage and playoffs, reaching the grand finals undefeated, followed by Team Liquid who also had a stunning performance throughout the entire event, dropping only a single match in the playoffs finals against IG. Team Liquid secured their second StarLadder title in just a few months. Back in February they won the SL StarSeries and now they managed to pocket the SL i-League Invitational Championship title too.
Na'Vi win the fan vote for Epicenter 2017 by a landslide
Epicenter put all second places from each qualifier to duke it out for one last time. Team NP from the America Qualifier, Na’Vi for the EU-CIS, Team Faceless for SEA and LGD for the Chinese. Na’Vi took the vote with nearly 75% of 72k people. NP managed to score a second place with 10% and the SEA and Chinese teams were all below that.
Manila Masters brackets and schedule
With only five days to go, the Manila Masters brackets have finally been released - revealing the first match ups set to take place starting May 25th. Though the Mall of Asia Arena will open for spectators on May 26, the first day of the tournament will take place behind closed doors on May 25. This will include the first and second round of the upper bracket series.
Virtus.Pro take the championship title for Mr. Cat Invitaitonal Europe
Virtus.Pro were invited to the second stage of Mr. Cat Invitational Europe - placing them into the semifinals of Stage 2 right away. Their grand finals opponents were Team Empire who had taken an invite to the first stage. One loss flanked by two overwhelmingly convincing victories was all that was needed for Virtus.Pro to take the title and the $25,000 prize.
NP to grace the stage of Zotac Cup Masters in Taipei
Team NP have received their second direct invite for the new season - heading to Taipei, Taiwan to battle it out in the Zotac Cup Masters first premier LAN event. With $100,000 prize pool on the line, the squad will compete at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei against ex- Cloud 9, Invictus Gaming, Stan, Fnatic, Warriors Gaming.Unity, NP and one other invited team yet to be announced.
Team announcements:
ACE bans former Wings players from competing in China
According to a few weibo posts, ACE has decided to issue a lifetime ban to the former Wings players, aimed at preventing them from competing in any competitions except Valve’s Majors and International, as well as banning any organization or club in China from signing any of these players. The severe action was taken as a reaction to players’ decision to leave the Wings Gaming organization while still under contract.
Ah Jit joins Fnatic as their new carry; Meracle to be benched
Earlier this year in April, Fnatic announced their new roster which saw Galvin 'Meracle' Kang Jian Wen, Kim 'QO' Seon-yeop and Djardel Jicko B. 'DJ' Mampusti teaming up with Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo and Kim 'Febby' Yong-min to complete the team. After reforming their new team, they realized that Meracle's style of play was different to what the team required, and led to the addition of a super-aggressive Ah Jit. Ah Jit was part of the Malaysian powerhouse Warriors Gaming.Unity who were able to dominate the SEA scene on the back of Ah Jit's, and were able to secure an impressive top eight finish at the Boston Major, beating Fnatic in the qualifiers, and knocking out Complexity Gaming at the main stage before falling to the Boston Major champions - OG.
Fnatic's new roster:
Lai 'Ahjit' Jay Son
Kim 'QO' Seon-yeop
Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo
Djardel Jicko B. 'DJ' Mampusti
Kim 'Febby' Yong-min
Galvin 'Meracle' Kang Jian Wen (sub)
The face of Cyber Anji, XBOCT, has parted ways with the team
Just over two months ago XBOCT had returned to the competitive scene after an eight month haitus. The incredilby popular and highly decorated Ukrainian veteran was the first player to be brought on board to the Russian Premier League football organization's foray into esports. While the idea of competing with the new clug was appealing and motivating for XBOCT, the experience wasn't on par for what he had expected and hoped for.
Cyber Anji roster:
Vadim "Sedoy" Musorin
Yaroslav 'Pikachu' Vasilenko
Maxim 'yoky-' Kim
Evgeniy 'Chuvash' Makarov
Alexander 'NoFear' Churochkin
EGM departs from the Alliance shores
After failing to qualify for the Kiev Major and a having a less than average performance at the StarLadder i-League Invitational 2, Alliance have let go of EGM.
Alliance will update and announce their new roster – or any news on this front – in the coming days
Valve announcements:
Although the arcana is here, it is only available to players who have a level 245 Battle Pass or higher, similar to Kunka's prestige item that can be obtained at level 225. It cannot be bought from the Community Market nor can it be traded. So if you like the Ball's transformation into a lovey-dovey cube, it is time to whip out your wallets!
The International 2017 Prize Pool has reached the $10 million mark
As The International 2017 quickly approaches and the Battle Pass gets snapped up by more and more members of the community, the prize pool has reached $10,000,000. Last year, for TI6, it took nineteen days for the prize pool to get to this point, and thirty days in the previous year for TI5. This time around, after only fifteen days, TI7’s winnings are already over $1,200,000 ahead of the curve of last year’s and still climbing steadily.
