Vega Squadron’s current roster came together in April 2015. The squad has not made a single change in seven months, this rarely happens in the DotA 2 scene. Even TI5 champions Evil Geniuses swapped a player one month after winning the International. This shows their reliance on team play and coordination rather than star players.
The CIS squad made it to the International 5 wildcard stage by finishing second in the European qualifiers. But they lost to MVP.Phoenix and CDEC, both 1-2, and got eliminated. Even after losing, they did not make any changes. Out of the 18 teams at TI, only Vega, CDEC and Virtus Pro did not make any changes. They worked hard in the next few months and became one of the best in Europe. To qualify for the main event at ESL One New York, they won four BO3s in a row. At the LAN, Vega beat Evil Geniuses, Invictus Gaming and Team Secret in a row. Conseuqneltly, securing their first international title.
This is as good of a story as it gets; from getting eliminated in the wild cards at TI5 to winning a major international event at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Vega has played 69 games on 6.85 which is the third highest on this patch for any team. They also have a very impressive win rate, 62.3% which is also the third highest. This statistic is a little skewed because some of their games have been against weaker opponents but it is still impressive. They definitely have experience on this patch which will help them a lot during the event.
Mag, their offlaner, is the most experienced player on this lineup. He’s been playing pro DotA since 2011 and has played on top teams in the region since. His main job is to create space for the other two cores and that is what he does best. Vega’s hero picks also reflect the same; the squad has been the most successful with Beastmaster and Clockwerk. Both of these heroes are known for their play making ability early in the game.
Their best hero has been Ember Spirit, with which Vega has a 82% win rate. Moreover, both 9Pashaebashu and No[o]ne play that hero. This allows Vega to get niche picks for either of the two. Their captain, CeMaTheSlayeR is one of the best defensive supports and shines on heroes like Dazzle and Winter Wyvern by protecting the two farming cores very well. Vega’s win rate of 65% with these two heroes is impressive as well.
Going into the main event at the Frankfurt Major, Vega Squadron is undoubtedly a top contender. They are not the favorites to win the whole thing but they weren’t the favorites at ESL One either. If they did it then, why can’t they do it now?
Statistics from DatDota
Image Credits: Vega's Twitter
