A look at The International 3 West qualifier

Written by: Skim & ReiNNNN

1. The Match-Ups

2. What do the invitees think?
3. Bruno on EG's inconsistency
4. 915 thoughts on who will win
5. Drinks for the Brits 6. Interviews, interviews and more interviews

Group A

RoX.KIS vs. Absolute Legends

RoX.KIS vs. Absolute Legends will be the first match-up of the Western qualifier. The Russians, being a rather new team to the scene - at least in this constellation - have not faced the Danes often, in fact we only count four encounters over the past months, all in favor of RoX.KIS. The most noteworthy encounter was during the EMS One Spring LAN finals, where RoX.KIS took a convincing 2-0 win. Prior to that have only been less important games, such as the BigPoint Battle or 4PL Cup. The Danes have had ups and downs in terms of results and is still lacking proper achievements, whereas the Russians won about $6,500 in prize money over the past two months. Nevertheless, Absolute Legends have many experienced players in their line-up and all of them have proven to be rather successful in the past.

Heroes to look out for: RoX.KIS: Absolute Legends:

Team Empire vs. DD.Dota

Empire of course has also not played many games with this roster and the last official encounter with dd.Dota dates back to the old Danish roster. Both teams in fact have not had much exposure, but both have also been in a slump prior to the roster change. The mainly French roster might have placed first in their EMS One group, but it those games were only best-of-one and before that results have been slacking. The same applies to Empire. Despite having won Techlabs - again, best-of-one matches except for the final - the Russians have failed to deliver results, hence the roster change. The showings both teams had were promising, but not yet convincing. In an interview with us, Empire's twiSta- hinted out that they do however have something prepared that might force Scandal onto another role. DD.Dota on the other hand has already shown quite a few changes with Sockshka taking on the support role and 7ckingMad occupying the offlane as Silent plays the hard carry. Two reformed teams meeting in the first round should make for an interesting battle. However, what makes the match-up even more interesting is the clash of former team members. Goblak and Silent have both been part of the successful Empire roster. The Russians are considered as favorites with the acquisition of LighTofHeaveN, but DD have two masterminds in 7ckingMad and Goblak who both have been successful in the past.

Heroes to look out for: Team Empire: DD.Dota:

Group B

Mousesports vs. iCCup

Mousesports and iCCup also lack a decent match history with two match-ups and each team taking one win home. The Germans are deemed as the favorites, seeing as a lot of people still question the Ukrainians' invite to the qualifiers. Black^ and co. certainly have made a name for themselves and the brand has been around since the dawn of the beta. Even without KuroKy, the team did quite well and their newest acquisition in syndereN adds an additional portion of experience and leadership to this young and talented team. The recent week has seen quite a convincing performance from mousesports as the team has shown more and more patience and foresight in their execution than usually. ICCup did not seem as convincing in the recent matches. The mainly Ukrainian squad however consists of players that have been around for quite some time and have all played with top players from the CIS scene. This team in particular has been playing together since February and has shown potential, but lacks the proper exposure and results aside from Techlabs. With the right preparation, this team can definitely go for a big surprise in the qualifiers.

Heroes to look out for: Mousesports: iCCup:

Evil Genuises vs. QPAD Red Pandas

Once again a match-up that lacks previous encounters, but both teams have been rather active in the past weeks. QPAD, keen on improving themselves, is seemingly taking every tournament invitation they can get their hands on - with only little success so far. Their results are not representing their progress well, as they have struggled after their first showing in the SK Invitationals. EG on the other hand is doing quite fine, trading blows with top teams quite equally. Ever since they acquired SexyBamboe, the team has been performing even stronger, not counting the occasional throws. EG will go into this match as the clear favorite, having a line-up of experienced players. QPAD has two rather inexperienced players with SeleCt and Jerax, but especially SingSing seems to have developed a lot and the team is eager to travel to Seattle. They have recently changed their role distribution, putting Sing on the hard carry, Wagamama returns to the offlane and SeleCt occupies the midlane. It seems to be working better, but results are still missing out.

Heroes to look out for: Evil Genuises: QPAD Red Pandas: