After weeks of an intensive online portion, StarLadder will be looking to open the doors on their 10th LAN finals. The prestigious event, held at Cyberarena in Kiev will feature eight top teams from around the globe. Initially, two Chinese teams were set to attend, but both Vici Gaming and Newbee, despite having qualified through the Chinese regional division, have declined their participation due to various reasons. Cloud9 and Virtus.pro, the 5th and 6th placed teams from the European division have stepped up to take the open slots and the tournament is ready to kick off.
Starting on October 23rd, Team Tinker vs. Evil Geniuses will kick things off for the anniversary season. Over $260,000 will be up for grabs with over $160,000 being raised through ticket sales. The tournament will include an allstar match on the main stage and the English coverage line-up looks promising than ever.
In the following, we take a look at five highlights of the event that you as a spectator should look out for.
1. Team Tinker's first LAN attendance
The new fan favorites have been on a hot streak online, placing 8th in the GosuRankings and establishing themselves as a top tier team rather quickly. Together with many popular players such as Qojqva, SingSing or Bulba, the team has already gathered a trusty following. Fans are desperately waiting for Tinker to enter the big stages and StarLadder will be the first one. Placing 2nd in the online portion of the tournament, Tinker certainly will be a favorite for the title, especially with top contenders such as Newbee and Vici Gaming pulling out. However, it should be noted that the team has struggled lately, and what was once a rather dominating streak turned into a rather mediocre exchange, dropping games as much as winning them. As it will be the first LAN event for them as a team, pressure and new experiences could be a hindering factor. Regardless of how they perform, let's hope StarLadder brings back the walk-on-stage music and that SingSing will prove his taste once more.
2. BigDaddy's new massage partner
The Fnatic team has split paths and BigDaddy, formerly known as N0tail, will now have to look for someone else's shoulder to massage. One could look towards the likes of Simbaaa, as he is BigDaddy's old Fnatic teammate. Him and Puppey though seem to be too tall to be up for the task, but considering how well their Phantom Assassin + Wisp combo has worked in-game, there is bound to be a certain level of chemistry between Kuroky and BigDaddy outside the game as well.
In-side the game, Secret is still looking strong, regardless of their elimination against Vici Gaming in New York. Ever since, the team dropped only one match against Alliance and looks more fearsome than ever, spicing things up with different drafts and strategies. Whether that will be enough to weather the storm of the strong and hungry opponents that await them remains to be seen and BigDaddy will have a handful of work, maybe outside the game as well.
3. IAP vs. the West
Being the only Asian team, IAP will be looking to upset the tournament by bringing down their adversaries. With young and talented players, the Philippines have proven over time that they deserve to be at this event. Considering the group they are in, IAP has a fair shot of making it far into the event, but even if they fall short the format allows them to redeem themselves after a poor group stage. The team has arguably nothing to lose and everything to gain as they will be considered as underdogs for the event. Many people expected the likes of Team Malaysia or Johnny+4 to make it to Kiev, so having qualified is a victory in itself for IAP. In the dark times of the SEA region and their scandals, IAP will be looking to do exactly what they always have done: Play and have fun, it's all about the game.
4. A New Hope, The Dog Strikes Back and Return of the Carry
Alliance will once again have to use a stand-in for the upcoming LAN, as Chessie, who is still officially just a stand-in, is still injured. While they chose to go with H4nn1 for New York, this time around they decided on Team Coast's Apemother and so far he has shown that he can fit into the team. The individual skill is there, the synergy seems to be working out, all is left is whether he can handle the pressure on LAN.
Apemother will however not be the only one who will be looking to prove himself. AdmiralBulldog has arguably had one of his weakest performances throughout the ESL One New York tournament. The Swede had some poor performances on heroes he is usually able to excel on.
Ever since the ESL One event however, Alliance has been struggling online quite a bit, losing five out of their last eight matches. Regardless of the results though, Alliance has shown strong performances, beating Team Secret and giving Cloud9 a run for their money. One could say they have warmed up for StarLadder and Loda has shown what he is capable of when he gets his motor running. He almost single-handedly carried his team to victory in New York and another stellar performance of his could get Alliance very far.
5. The Curse(s)
2014 is a cursed year for Cloud9 as the team seems to either pick up up only 2nd places in tournaments or drop out early on. Seven times has the team placed second this year, numerous times with real chances at the trophy and title, most notably at the WEC LAN in Hangzhou where the team lost two bo3s in a row to Evil Geniuses. The team has quite the experience on LANs, having attended three of them since The International already with the new roster. It will be the teams first StarLadder event though, except for Fata and EternalEnvy who both have already been to Kiev before. The question here is, will C9 be able to break the curse, can they in fact finally win a LAN again? Bonus question: If we do get walk-on-stage music back, will Envy be in charge of that?
Cloud9 is however not the only cursed team. Evil Geniuses has a small tradition of underperforming heavily on day 1 of a LAN, only to do much better later on. While it doesn't guarantee them a first place finish, it certainly has during The Summit and WEC. StarLadder's tournament format allows EG to come back from a horrible start, as all teams will advance to the playoffs and much like in The Summit and WEC, EG has shown to not have an issue with fighting their way up through the lower bracket. Two teams, two curses - both of them will face off against each other in the group stage. Going by the logic of both curses, Cloud9 should emerge victorious, only to fall short in the finals - most likely against EG.
BigDaddy and Loda image by Helena Kristiansson found in the ESL One NY Flickr Album, IAP image from their Facebook