The Bucharest grand finals are ready to begin today with one team expected to be eliminated as the opening round commences. Cloud 9 are set to battle with American qualifiers Team Tinker in the opening match to begin the battle for the newly announced $150,000 prize.
Schedule for April 24th:
Cloud 9 vs. Team Tinker: 11:00 CEST
ViCi Gaming vs. London Conspiracy: 11:00 CEST
Team MY vs. Team Secret: 15:00 CEST
LB1 vs. LB2: 15:00 CEST
WB1 vs. WB2: 19:00 CEST
Schedule has recently changed
A last chance to impress for a direct invite to The International
The grand finals of StarLadder Season XII is finally ready to begin today with a busy day of matches beginning with a double header. Chinese team ViCi Gaming will take on London Conspiracy, a greek roster competing at their first major LAN event. Taking place at the same time is Cloud 9's opening match against the newly tinkered roster of Team Tinker. A loss for either team will see them forced into action at 15:00 CEST in the first elimination stage of the tournament. The second game scheduled for 15:00 CEST is Team MY's opening game against Team Secret, while Invictus Gaming's opening game against Alliance has been rescheduled following visa issues for the Chinese team as they attempted to travel through Frankfurt Airport to reach Dreamhack Bucharest. Their troubles has seen the organizers rotate the schedule to focus on the top half of the bracket, with both lower bracket and upper bracket matches now scheduled to take place today. Invictus Gaming and Alliance are expected to either meet at 23:00 CEST tonight or play each other on a busy second day of professional Dota 2.
This is the first tournament featuring some of the biggest names in professional Dota 2 since the Asia Championships in February and could be an explosive tournament for many of the roster changes throughout the team. The Chinese New Year roster shuffle has seen Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier depart ViCi Gaming and replaced by Chen 'Hao' Zhi Hao , but the hard carry will be hoping for revenge with his new American roster Team Tinker. Elsewhere Invictus Gaming have brought in Xu 'BurNIng' Zhi Lei and Zeng 'Faith' Hong Da, Alliance have brought in Sébastien '7ckngMad' Debs while former-EHOME members Chai 'Mushi' Hee Fung and Khoo 'Ohaiyo' Chong Xin will be competing with their new all-Malaysian roster that has been dominating the SEA region. The tournament is expected to be the final event under the current patch.
With the new patch scheduled for the post-StarLadder season, it's also an important time for The International 5. The direct invites are expected to be announced in around the start of May, which is only a week away. Teams could be nervous to impress with so much competition for the eight invitations. While some remain destined to claim that invite, this could be a good chance for Team MY to prove they can continue their winning streak outside of the South East Asian region while their competition in Rave and MVP Phoenix are forced to watch from home.
The former-Europeans battle the former-Americans
Main Stage: Cloud 9 vs. Team Tinker: 11:00 CEST
Let's be honest, the way regions work in professional Dota 2 has long been a confusing subject with many teams seeming to relocate between America and Europe whenever they choose. Two big cases of this feature in the opening match of the finals, Cloud 9 and Team Tinker. Questions were raised when Cloud 9, now classed as European were placed into the American qualifiers for the Asia Championships (DAC) featuring a roster of four European players. Eyes are now on Team Tinker with the arrival of Black^ who have taken residence in their gaming house in North America and competing in American tournaments, despite currently competing with three European players.. The team were competing in European qualifiers as recent as the second i-League tournament back in December last year. A win for either team will give them the confidence boost they need to seriously compete in this tournament, as they approach a likely second round match against the Chinese titans ViCi Gaming. Current GosuBets have Cloud 9 as the favourites for this match, but a big performance from Black^ and his team could fire them to a hard fought victory.
Can Conspiracy conquer their biggest challenge yet?
Second Stage: ViCi Gaming vs. London Conspiracy: 11:00 CEST
Upcoming Greek roster London Conspiracy have moved mountains to get to their first major LAN event. Placed in a qualification group with Cloud 9, Virtus Pro and defending champions Team Empire they were clearly the underdogs and expected to drop to three of the top teams in the world. An unexpected 2-0 victory over the Season XI champions forced the Russians out of the competition and allowed London Conspiracy to scrape through on score difference to reach their first major LAN event. Now placed against the top Chinese team all signs would point to an easy victory for ViCi Gaming and the GosuBet statistics enforce that with a massive 90% in their favour. This may be one step too far for the developing Greek team, but a victory here will enforce the biggest statement that they are ready to compete on the big stage.
A heavyweight opponent for the new Malaysian powerhouse
Main stage: Team MY vs. Team Secret: 15:00 CEST
You have probably heard the statistics, Team MY are dominating their region. Since the team were born they have lost a single series and have already secured 45 wins over their opponents. The team have gone from strength to strength, qualifying for ESL One Frankfurt, i-League and Red Bull Battle Grounds and now have their first big test as they move into an opening round match against the GosuRankings #1 team in the world. A tense match up for Malaysian fans and what could erupt into a great series if Team MY are able to keep up with the drafting from Clement 'Puppey' Ivanov. GosuBet statistics are understandably fairly even with Team Secret a narrow favourite to defeat the in-form Malaysian squad. Could there be a surprise in the opening round, or will Team Secret just have too much for a team that was only placed together a month ago?
With the schedule reshuffle due to Invictus Gaming's travel woes we should see both the first upper bracket finalist and the first elimination by the end of the night. Expectations will be towards ViCi Gaming claiming that first spot, but there could be a few surprises along the way. This could be an action packed tournament with so many in-form teams competing in Bucharest. Let the day begin.
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