International Qualifying Teams
StarLadder.tv's StarSeries has traditionally been a regional tournament centred in Europe. The first eight seasons have seen the top teams in Europe and the CIS region competing, with the top four flying to Kiev, Ukraine for the LAN playoffs. Beginning in 2012, Na`Vi are the traditional champions of StarSeries, having won every edition in which they have made it to the LAN playoffs, while Alliance have won both times Na`Vi were not present.
However for this season, with MLG Columbus setting a precedence, StarSeries Season IX has expanded its horizons and moved to become a global tournament, with international qualifiers bringing in four teams from outside the European continent. In a series of announcements, StarLadder announced American, Chinese, and Korean qualifiers which would effectively double the usual number of teams involved in the LAN Playoffs.
The global reach of this tournament has made waves with global audiences, with many purchasing the tickets to watch the regional qualifiers. This has the added effect of generating hype for a mini The International: the LAN playoffs are effectively a preview of the top teams of each region clashing with each other. In this section, we introduce each of the 8 teams qualifying to the LAN finals.
European Representatives
The European qualifying group stage concluded on 7 April, with the top four teams of the groupstage earning their spots in Kiev. After a gruelling round-robin system of matches, there was a three way tie for the third and fourth qualifying places. After a series of tie breakers which saw Alliance beat both RoX.KiS and Cloud9, as well as RoX.Kis beating Cloud9, the top four teams of the groupstage were decided.
Some controversy occurred when Alliance had to play all their matches beforehand due to prior commitments to attend an exposure event in Dubai. This resulted in their final points tally being known, an inconsistency of the group stage since teams would then be able to plan their matches for seeding into a more preferred group, for example. The crux of this matter came down to the final match of the group stage between Empire and RoX.KiS - a victory for RoX.Kis would see them top the group, and Alliance failing to qualify. However, Empire took the victory, forcing a three-way tiebreaker.
Team Empire
Team Empire has been the focus of the European and CIS scene in recent months, with an amazing 15-0 run across all competitions and dominant form all around. Featuring Silent, VANSKOR, Reso1ution, ALWAYSWANNAFLY and Mag, they have been playing phenomenally as of late, and have made a strong showing of their title credentials by coming in top in the group. They are the team to have most recently won a LAN following their victory at TechLabs Moscow 2014.
They have been clocking wins across various tournaments with ease, and they definitely want to make a point to Valve to ensure their inclusion in The International this July. However, recently they have also shown that even gods can bleed, losing some matches sparingly, suggesting that perhaps teams have figured them out.
Look out for VANSKOR's exciting Rubick plays that seem to make him a walking highlight reel, or for the creativity and stability of Mag and Reso1ution that has carried them through many games.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 93 - 27 (77.5%) GosuRanking: 2nd in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-W-L-W-W-W
1st TechLabs Cup 2014
1st CIS Carnage
2nd ESP Shock Therapy Cup
3rd Dota 2 Champion's League #2
Natus Vincere
Na`Vi finished second in the table after getting forfeits from both Sigma and Insane nearing the end of the groupstage. 6-time Champion of StarSeries' first eight seasons, and with the advantage of home soil, Na`Vi are definitely looking forward to blow all competition out of the water with their fan support. And that's all without considering their star-studded and internationally renowned lineup of legends past and present: Puppey, KuroKy, Funn1k, XBOCT and Dendi.
Na`Vi are in the awkward position of having performances determined by the tournament they are participating in - they have looked absolutely dominant in some, yet faltering in others. Is it a ploy by Puppey to convince others of their shaky play? On that note, Na`Vi are still Na`Vi, born and bred of championship stock - they will definitely do their best at every LAN tournament, especially by pulling off miraculous comebacks on the brink of elimination. Having just won the D2CL Championship just yesterday, Na`Vi are definitely coming into this playoff on a high.
Look forward to the flashy and aggressive plays from Dendi, the masterful drafts from Puppey, the YOLO XBOCT dives, and the trademark chaotic fighting style of Na`Vi to confuse and confound their opponents.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 38 - 27 (58.5%) GosuRanking: 4th in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-W-W-L-W-W
1st StarLadder: StarSeries Season 8
1st Dota 2 Champion's League #2
2nd DotaCinema Captain's Draft Invitational
Alliance
Alliance have not been faring well as of late: some claim that they have problems adapting to the 6.79 and 6.80 meta which nerfed their strengths at maximising farm across the map. Instead, they have had to make changes internally, including changing their drafter twice, and expanding their hero pools beyond their normal comfort zone. Their roster has been stable since their formation a year and a half ago, with Akke, Loda, AdmiralBulldog, EGM and s4 all integral parts to their success.
On the back of this, they have seen a recent resurgence in their play, winning both the tie-breakers to qualify for the Starladder LAN Playoffs, as well as qualifying for the WPC-ACE LAN Playoffs in Shanghai, China. Look forward to watch The International 2013 Champions, renowned for their stability and unorthodox level 1 Roshan strategies, reassert themselves in preparation to defend their crown this July.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 41 - 29 (58.6%) GosuRanking: 8th in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: L-L-W-W-L-L
1st Dota 2 Champion's League (2013-14)
2nd StarLadder: StarSeries Season 8
3rd DotaChinema Captain's Draft Invitational
RoX.KiS
RoX.KiS are an extremely entertaining side that have been deemed the underdogs from the European scene. Qualifying through the tie-breakers after beating out Cloud 9 in the best-of-1, one could argue that they sneaked in by the skin of their teeth. However, their lineup will definitely look to pull no punches with StarLadder glory on the line. Comprised of Goblak, Sedoy, yol, BzzIsPerfect and Solo, they are a team of experienced veterans who have yet to make their mark as a team internationally.
Recently though, RoX.KiS appear to be a lot more stable and have consistently been able to take games off the top teams. Look forward to the unorthodox drafts from Goblak, as well as the rest of them pulling their vast experience and Russian aggression to put teams out of their comfort zone.
Common Picks in 6.80
?
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 59 - 47 (55.9%) GosuRanking: 12th in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-W-W-L-L-W
1st Netolic Pro League (West)
1st PinnacleSports Pro-AM
2nd TechLabs Cup 2014
Chinese Representatives
The Chinese qualifiers ended on 21 March, with the top four teams of the groupstage playing in an elimination bracket. The top two teams would have qualified for the LAN finals, but the Grand Final would still be played to determine seeding for the LAN groupstage.
DK were the first team to qualify for the LAN Playoffs, emphatically taking out IG 2-0 in the Winner's Bracket finals. The next day, IG beat NewBee 2-1 to secure their spot in Kiev as well. However, the Grand Final of the qualifier was forfeited by IG, who cited being too tired to play another best-of-3 against DK after their intense games against NewBee. Thus, DK proceeed to Kiev as the first seed from China, while IG are the second seed.
Some worries cropped up over DK's ability to attend the LAN event in Kiev, when LaNm lost his wallet on his way home to fix his damaged passport. However, all's well that ends well - LaNm managed to get a temporary replacement ID with which he was able to fix his passport, and thus successfully apply for his visa.
Team DK
Team DK are arguably the top team in China right now, having convincingly won most of the tournaments they have participated in since their reformation post-TI3. With the WPC-ACE League 2013, G1-League and Sina Cup under their belt, as well as second place at MLG Columbus and the RedBull ECL, their credentials as title challengers are rather intimidating. More recently, they seem to have made a habit of giving away the early game with aggressive players, then coming back to win the game with their solid farming skills.
Expect to see fan favourites and veterans BurNing, Mushi, LaNm, MMY and iceiceice working their magic as this All-Star team seeks to quench their voracious appetites for more Dota 2 Championships. Their stability and ability to each take turns to step up and make great plays make DK an extremely entertaining team to watch, whether it is LaNm's Earthshaker's, iceiceice's Invoker, BurNing's Lifestealer, Mushi's Puck or MMY's Wisp - they have an amazing repertoire of heroes and strategies that they can put into use every match.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 20 - 9 (69%) GosuRanking: 1st in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-W-W-W-D-L
1st Sina Cup Season 3
1st G-League 2014 Season 3
1st WPC-Ace League 2013
2nd Redbull ESports Champion League 2014
Invictus Gaming
Invictus Gaming have been on a hot streak since their transfers in the post-Lunar New Year period, seemingly finding a new stable position with incoming carry Luo. Ferrari_430, YYF and Faith continue to be the lynchpins of their lineup, and the readdition of fan favourite ChuaN to their roster brings back the flair sorely missed back when they were playing with Banana. Their stability and ingenious drafts mean that they continue to be a menacing threat.
Look forward to ChuaN's playful antics on LAN, as well as YYF playing his wide repertoire of offlane heros. In particular, do not miss Faith's signature Ethereal Blade saves, as well as Ferrari_430's amazing Brewmaster play, which is likely to see action at the playoffs. IG will definitely look forward to conclude this tournament with a good position, so as to cement their credentials as one of the top teams in the East.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 27 - 13 (67.5%) GosuRanking: 3rd in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-L-L-W-L-W
1st Redbull ESports Champion League
1st Netolic Pro League (East)
2nd G-League 2013 Season 3
2nd WPC-Ace League 2013
Korean Representatives: MVP.Phoenix
Note: This is indeed MVP.Phoenix although their jerseys say Hot6. The picture above is part of the advertising media that accompanied the KDL finals.
The Korean qualifiers ended on 30 March, with the top four teams of the groupstage playing off in an elimination bracket. MVP.Phoenix gained their wings to fly to Kiev after taking out BirdGang 2-0 twice in both the Winner's Bracket Finals and Grand Finals.
Notably, the Korean qualifiers shunted out two of the top performing teams in the Korean Dota League: Team Zephyr, featuring Blitz and co., as well as EoT.Hammer, featuring Jeyo and co. The reason given was that Nexon, the company publishing Dota 2 in Korea, handled the invites and decided to focus on developing local talent instead, since Zephyr and EoT.Hammer are comprised almost entirely of foreigners.
Nothing much is really known about MVP.Phoenix, other than the fact that they were just swept 3-0 by Team Zephyr at the KDL finals on 12 April. Their roster consists of Forev, Reisen, Heen, Carl and March, and they were champions of the second edition of the Nexon Sponsorship League late last year, albeit with DeMoN standing in for Carl. They are an aggressive team with unorthodox picks, and will look to leave their mark on the international scene as the top Korean team.
More recently, they have been able to take games and series off the best teams in South East Asia in The Inaugural, notably beating Orange ESports 2-0 and Mineski 2-1. They have shown they can compete with the best in South East Asia, but what about the rest of the world?
Common picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 21 - 14 (60%) GosuRanking: 20th in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 matches: W-L-W-L-L-W
2nd Korean Dota League
American Representatives: Evil Geniuses
The American qualifiers had a 4-way tiebreaker for the fourth place after the groupstage, with the victor of the GSL format heading to the elimination brackets. Team Liquid took the last spot in the elimination bracket after Osiris forfeited their position in the tie-breakers, although CNB.br would have actually made it through had the tie-breakers not been played.
The Elimination playoffs saw EG taking out Liquid in the first round, with Liquid coming back again through the lower bracket to challenge EG in the Grand Finals. However, EG prevailed, and earned their spot in Kiev.
EG are now seen as the hope of North America: featuring Fear, PPD, Universe, Arteezy and Zai, they have been performing extremely well in North American tournaments recently. Most notably, they took first place at the Monster Invitational 2014 at SXSW in Austin, Texas a month ago, and have been on a string of victories against all their North American rivals. Notably, they have been on a hot streak going into this LAN playoffs, clocking a chain of wins against Team Liquid. They will definitely look to bring their amazing performance since reforming to this StarSeries, and seal their position as the best in North America with a good placing at this StarSeries.
As Fear has been sidelined with an elbow injury for the past month, EG have played with Mason as their stand-in. However, as Mason is still schooling, they have instead engaged the services of EternalEnvy to stand-in for Fear for this StarSeries LAN playoff.
More importantly, EG will also be looking forward to pit their skills against international competition since they are dominating their North American counterparts.
Common Picks in 6.80
Iconic Playmakers: Highlight Reels Inbound!
Overall Winrate in 6.80: 76 - 19 (80%) GosuRanking: 7th in world
Recent Achievements in 2014 Last 6 Matches: W-L-L-W-L-W
1st Monster Energy Invitational
1st MLG TKO America
2nd Netolic Pro League (West)
LAN Playoffs
Location and Date
The LAN Playoffs will be held at Cybersport Arena in Kiev, Ukraine, from 17 to 20 April.
Group Stage Distribution
The Groupstage was determined by a livedraw on 16 April, at 18:00 CEST/12:00 EDT/00:00 SGT the night before the actual LAN playoff begins. The Groupstage will be played in a round-robin best-of-1 format, with the top two teams of each group proceeding to the Winner's Bracket, and the bottom two teams heading to the loser's bracket.
Play-Off Bracket
Prizepool
The official prizepool is determined by a $80,000 base prizefund with $2.50 of each in-game ticket sold.The global audience has ensured that the prizepool has more than doubled, and as of time of publish, stands at about $213,000, more than one and a half times the base prize pool. Not that $40,000 of those will not be paid as winnings but are instead used pay expenses for travel and accomodation for the various participating teams, leaving the efficient prize pool at about $172,000.
The prize distribution is as follows:
| Position | % of Prizepool | Approximate Prize Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 45% | ~$75,000 |
| 2nd | 20% | ~$34,500 |
| 3rd | 14% | ~$24,000 |
| 4th | 8% | ~$13,800 |
| 5-6th | 4% | ~$6,900 |
| 7-8th | 2.5% | ~$3,400 |
Online Spectators
Matches will be cast live by BeyondTheSummit and Starladder.tv in English and Russian respectively. Alternatively, the games will also be broadcasted on DotaTV if you have purchased the in-game ticket. The ticket costs $9.99, and $2.50 of the cost of every ticket will be directed into the total prizepool. The ticket is also bundled with the Frozen Star Lich set, as well as two unique loading screens.
Photo of EG From Monster Energy Gaming, photo of Empire from Team Empire, photo of RoX.KiS from GoodGame.ru, Photo of DK from Team DK
>> April 2014 - Bet on Dota 2 matches and win Lockless Luckboxes!
>> More featured articles
