picture courtesy of StarLadder
Southeast Asia has no team directly invited to The International 2017 but three teams will qualify at the end of this week to the biggest event of the year.
The four days qualifiers marathon has started with the Southeast Asia region matches. Without any team receiving a direct invite to TI 7, the competition is quite stacked, with TnC, Faceless, Clutch Gamers, Fantic, Mineski, Happy Feet, all looking to secure their presence in Seattle this August. The qualifiers are taking place in two phases, and at the end of the first phase, which is a best-of-one Round Robin group stage, one team will be already qualified. So, an undefeated run after day one for TnC is a blessing for the region favorites.
TnC played four of their nine matches on day one and they have already defeated their arch-enemy, Faceless. Since January this year, TnC has beaten Faceless only in the Kiev Major SEA qualifiers group stage. TnC did in fact take another two games from Faceless at the same event, one in SEA qualifiers playoffs and one in the Major main event, but the series finished with an overall 2-1 score in favor of Faceless. Daryl Koh 'iceiceice' Pei Xiang’s team is also responsible for the early elimination of TnC in the Kiev Major main event, Faceless taking down TnC in the first round of the single elimination main event bracket in Kiev.
The qualifiers format for The International 2017 is slightly different from the Kiev Major ones and if TnC will continue to rock on the second day as well, they might not have to deal to Faceless again. The clean 4-0 run from day one places TnC at the top of the group, and if they maintain their position, they will be the first team to qualify to TI 7. However, a lot can happen on the second day as Fnatic is doing really well for a change.
Struggling to find any form, Fnatic had a miserable year, being close to irrelevant in their region, despite a top 4 finish at TI 6. Since then, the team that once was the best in SEA, has undergone several roster changes, lost their iconic captain Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung and weren’t able to qualify to any big events so far. With the International 7 regional qualifiers Fnatic seem to have finally found their stride as they finished day one with four victories and only one loss, and that was registered to Mineski, who now benefits from Mushi’s experience.
After day one matches in the SEA regional qualifiers, the standings are the following:
Day two will kick off at 04:00 CEST and at the end of it, the top seed of the group will be the first team to qualify at The International 2017. Second to fifth placed teams in the group will advance in the second phase, which is a GSL bracket. Two more teams will claim their tickets to Seattle from this phase.
Southeast Asia regional qualifiers format:
Phase one:
10 teams - Round Robin group, bo1
1st place qualify to TI 7
2nd to 5th place advance to phase two
Phase two:
4 teams - GSL bracket, bo3 series
Upper Bracket winners qualify to TI 7
Lower Bracket winners qualify to TI 7
TI7 Regional qualifiers broadcast:
Matches will be broadcast live in English:
Beyond the Summit stream 1
Beyond the Summit stream 2
Beyond the Summit stream 3
Beyond the Summit stream 4
Beyond the Summit stream 5
Beyond the Summit stream 6
MoonDuckTV stream 1
MoonDuckTV stream 2
Shaneomad stream
Click here for results, VODs and all the other information
