From world champions to one month old teams, the 16 teams who will be playing in the DAC group stage are all unique in their ways; each having a different story and something they want to prove by taking the title of the DAC Champions.
We are still the best of the best
What is Newbee without Zhang 'Xiao8' Ning, what is Vici Gaming with out Bai 'rOtK' Fan? The top two finishers in The International 4 will be looking to prove that they are still the best in the world after their roster changes. The approaches of these two teams towards maintaining the spot are as different as day and night; Newbee has been rather quiet until the recent month whereas Vici Gaming has been taking first place in multiple tournaments.
Vici Gaming
Vici Gaming put up an amazing performance after the roster changes they had post TI4, taking the title of The Summit 2 with relative ease and winning i-League #1. But recently they have not been putting up results that are too convincing in the tournaments they have played in, losing to teams such as HGT, IG and MVP.Pheonix; teams which they would have usually taken down without issue. This could be due to their exhaustion after The Summit 2 affecting performance and/or the under-estimation of other teams; in the DAC, they will want to prove that they are out of their slump and back with a well rested and motivated team. Another incentive to do well for this team is that if they do badly here, many fans and viewers might think that Vici Gaming are not no longer as good as they used to be and hence impacting their chances of a TI5 invite.
Newbee
Newbee, the champions of TI4 seemed lost after the retirement of Zhang 'Xiao8' Ning, their team leader. In order to replace him, they decided to pick up the equally or if not more skilled player Zhang 'Rabbit' Wang. However, the lack of a captain was still an issue, and for some time after the roster change, Newbee were unable to find their elusive TI4 form. This resulted in them being only able to win against less well acclaimed teams and losing against many of the stronger teams in China, but as of late, they have been putting up a very convincing performance especially at ECL #2 which they won; now sitting at the top of Gosurankings, they will be looking to stay there going in and out of the DAC.
The seeds of a new reign
It seems that all you need to start a new empire is a hot sauce brand, a furry duck and four others. (MMY's name means furry duck in English) This is exactly what LGD is going to try to do by winning this tournament. Going on a hot-streak recently, LGD will want to win the DAC to give Valve and the world a wake up call that the new king of Dota has arrived and is worthy of a TI5 invite. As for EHOME, this mostly untested team will be aiming high given the presence of Chai 'Mushi' Yee Fung in the team; the goal of winning DAC might not be as far fetched as one might think purely looking at their line-up.
LGD
LGD will be looking to clear all doubts about the skill as a team by achieving good results in this tournament. Following LGD's triumph at G-League and i-League #2, placing well in this tournament will surely crush any doubt viewers have on the team and possibly put them on the invite list for TI5.
In addition, the current all-star roster of LGD might become the DK of this year considering their stellar showing in their recent games and very probably their games to come. One of their major achievements last month was taking down HGT 3-0, a team who defeated VG twice in the same tournament, i-League #2.
EHOME
EHOME, one of the most iconic brand names in the whole of Dota2 reformed recently with the player of LV-Gaming and Team Malaysia. The team debuted in the D2L LAN finals which they won without breaking too much of a sweat, winning the grand finals 3-1 against Asus.Polar, a testament to their strength. Considering that the team consist of one of the best mids and best offlaners in the world as well as upcoming talent in the Chinese scene, they make for a formidable opponent whose potential has arguably not been fully shown.
Only dropping a few games in the group stages of the DAC, expectations are high for this team to live up to the legendary EHOME name; winning at the DAC could mean a new reign by EHOME and a convincing achievement for this new team to get a direct invite to TI5.
We are back, with a vengeance
Fear, destruction and defeat; these are some of the words that one would think of upon hearing the name Invictus Gaming in the past. But this iconic brand has not been able to repeat its past success in recent times, prompting many fans and viewers to ask, has the great IG fallen?
Invictus Gaming
IG's path to redemption is much longer when compared to the many other Chinese teams who have been in a slump post TI4, this is due to their long history of instability and inconsistency ranging back to the TI3 period. A good placing here could act as a grand announcement to the world that they are back in shape and are ready to become the world champions once again. Taking a quick look at IG's past performances, it seems they are slowly climbing out of their slump, if this momentum is coupled with a few wins at the DAC group stages, IG might once again be back on their road to world champions.
However, a good placing in the DAC is something IG cannot be content with. Although all the attention will be on the revival of IG, there will still be doubts about their ability to maintain their form; these doubts will only be dispelled if they go on to put up a strong performance in future tournaments.
Different roster, better team?
The results of the player reshuffle between Cloud9, Secret Team and Evil Geniuses have yet to be fully witnessed given how recently it has taken place. Their performance in this tournament will be a big indicator as to how well the teams will do in the future, and who is still worthy of a direct TI invite.
Cloud9
In EE-Sama we believe. Cloud9 has so far not played against the stronger teams with their new roster, meaning that their performance in this tournament will be hard to predict; hard enough to the extent that even second place is not assured for them. Having replaced the two previous support players, Cloud9 will want to find their style and synergy with their new support duo of N0tail and Misery before the start of the tournament. Not only that, they will also need to find how the two new supports will synergize with the three core player's styles; time is their enemy as they try their best to check off all these points. Whether they will be able to achieve this in this for the tournament, we will not know until it starts, only time will tell if Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao and his boys will be on cloud9 after the DAC ends.
Secret Team
Will the reign of the Secret Team end here or is it just the beginning? This is the big question that will be answered in the coming weeks.
Having brought in EG's former mid and support players Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev and Ludwig 'zai' Wahlberg to replace Tal 'Fly' Aizik and Johan 'BigDaddy-N0tail' Sundstein, the team is not only facing player swaps but also a role rotation which will see Kuro 'KuroKy' Salehi Takhasomi back to the support position. A star-studded line-up that splits the community on how well they will perform. Judging just by individual class however, this team could be the new team on the block and what better way to assert dominance than to win the DAC.
Evil Geniuses
Even after the roster swap, everyone who is currently on EG know each other quite well, with the exception of Syed 'SumaiL' Hassan, a new player to the Dota2 scene. The performance of Syed will be one of the biggest uncertainties when predicting the performance of EG. Syed being a new player to the scene has only attended the D2L LAN finals and no other international LAN. This lack of experience might have an impact on this new and young player, if it does, it will be up to the four old veterans on EG to help him get back on track. Being a player who is not known in the Chinese scene however, will have a big advantage if he plays to the best of his abilities during the LAN as teams will be unable to predict his movements as well as the other EG players.
Who are you calling tier 2?
CDEC, HellRaisers and Tongfu used to be considered tier two teams but given their recent performances, they find themselves in a similar spot to where Vici Gaming were pre TI3, between tier one and two. The common traits of these teams are the lack of experience playing in a LAN setting and low amount of games played against international opponents; the latter, will make it such that it is nearly certain that multiple upsets will be pulled by these teams, on the other hand, the former will most likely prevent these teams from achieving constant results and possibly a good finish.
CDEC
Out of the three teams in this category, CDEC is the most experienced in a LAN setting; playing in two in the past two months. This experience will be vital for them against the other teams and might level the playing field for them against the likes of Cloud9 and Vici Gaming. In addition, Tong 'Mikasa' Jun Jie temporarily standing in for the team will bring to the table the much needed veteran who can make the right late game decisions.
CDEC has a lot going for them in this LAN and seem ready to crush any team that do not respect their strength. Making a deep run in this tournament will tell the world that CDEC are no longer the team stuck between tier one and two but are a next generation tier one team, it might also be the tipping point for the public opinion to change to deserving a TI5 invite instead of a TI5 qualifier invite.
HellRaisers
"To hell with you!" the words of Lion will be on the minds of Andrey 'Dread' Golubev and his boys as they hopefully take down multiple favored teams in the tournament. Hellraisers has had a much lower profile than the other participating Western teams in the DAC, a fact they will be pleased with as some of the Chinese teams might tunnel vision on understanding the other bigger name Western teams such as Secret Team and EG, going into their match against Hellraisers blind.
Recent performance of this team seems to imply that their biggest enemy is inconsistency. They managed to take down Asus.Polar and Empire 2-0 and 2-1 but lost 2-0 to Fire and Na'Vi within the span of a month, raising the question of how consistent this team actually is. Another way to interpret these results is that Hellraisers are still not very comfortable in a LAN environment, given that their two recently lost games were at the Star Ladder 11 LAN and their two recently won games were in an online setting.
Tongfu
This Tongfu squad was the replacement for Tongfu's main squad after they decided that it was not possible to form a good Dota2 team with the available players at that time. Instead, they decided on picking up an amateur squad and training them up; the question is, has their investment paid off? It seems likely that it might have.
The Tongfu squad are on a roll after coming in first for the Asian qualifiers of this tournament - even managing to take down CDEC 2-0. If Tongfu manages to put up such an impressive performance in the group stages of the main event, they will be a force to reckon with; so strong a force that perhaps when they are matched up against IG, they will be able to protect their cup porridge from Wong 'ChuaN' Hock Chuan.
SEA's last hopes
The Asian qualifiers for DAC saw the absolute destruction of every SEA team in it - not a single SEA team made top 8. The only SEA representatives left are the invited ones, MVP.Pheonix and the Korea based Filipino team, Rave. Judging from past performances of both teams, although solid, they do not seem as strong as both newer Chinese teams such as CDEC and Tongfu and the older teams such as LGD. A good performance in the DAC could attract more attention towards and investment into the SEA scene and possibly allowing it to develop more.
Rave
Not much can be said about this team's recent performance as they have been relatively inactive, their latest official game was played on the 20th of December against Vici Gaming which they lost 2-0. Plainly put, it is hard to say how the team will perform in this tournament.
Rave might surprise the other teams and the viewers of the tournament given the time they have had to prepare and train, or they might crash and burn due to them having some difficulties settling back into the groove of playing official matches in a LAN environment. The chances of them being on the radar as a TI5 direct invitee hangs in the balance as it will almost entirely depend on how they match up against the teams here. The question viewers and fans will have going into the group stages will be, how much of a rave will this team cause?
MVP.Phoenix
This is the more experienced team of the two, having played multiple international lans and having been together for far longer than Rave. MVP.Pheonix is a team that is constantly improving at an astounding rate, they went from being a totally unknown team which formed about a year ago to the fourth place finisher at i-League #2 and Starladder Season 11. But, given their performance against VP.Polar match in SL11 which they lost 2-0, it seems that this team still has quite a way to go before being able to stand against the likes of Cloud9 and Newbee.
Alas, the time they have between their last LAN and the DAC is sufficient for MVP.Pheonix to perfect a few of their strategies and try a few pocket strategies. If MVP.Pheonix have trained as hard as they did pre-TI4 and the effects were as evident as their improvement pre-TI4 to TI4, many teams in the tournament will probably be caught off guard by their giant leap in performance, dropping games to them.
Gods will never die
Big Gods
Big Gods, the bunch of Chinese retired veterans playing together in a non-serious team have been consistently taking down weaker teams easily but having a hard time against the tier 1 teams in China. The highly skilled and experienced players on these team will be the barrier to overcome for the newer teams to prove themselves. A good performance by this team in the tournament will serve as a point of pride for them, telling the world that they were called the best of the best in their time for a good reason. Another implication of a good performance by this team is that the Dota2 professional scene might not have improved as much as people might have thought.
Pictures used from: Taken by Hyungjin Ahn at ThisisGame.com (Kabu), Dota2.ru (Hellraisers), blog.dota2.com (Chuan), VG Facebook (VG team), e-clubmalaysia.com (Rave), mineski.net (MVP.Phoenix), Secret's Facebook (Secret team)
Editor's Note: Some of the team photos are outdated but are the most recent ones that could be used
