For those who might have missed the most important news from the past week in the competitive Dota2 scene, here is a short recap.
Tournament news:
Midas Mode on hold until after TI7
Fans that were looking forward to the event breaking up the monotony of traditional events may be disappointed, but Moonduck puts a positive spin on the delay.
Alliance, Fnatic , Secret, NP among those in EPICENTER 2017 regional qualifiers
For 32 teams, the journey to the Epicenter begun on the 6th of May 6th. Eight teams from NA, SEA, EU and China are engaging in first phase of their battle - a double elimination test of strength. Only four teams - one from each of the corners of the world will emerge as the victors.
Clutch Gamers snatched another LAN to be hometown heroes at Manila Masters
The Manila Masters granted local teams a unique and exciting opportunity for a chance to participate in the main event. With events being held in 20 different cities all over the Philippines each weekend through April 23rd, teams were able to secure a spot in the pre qualifiers and ultimately a chance to compete in the playoffs.
Team Singularity take their place at ZOTAC Cup Masters LAN
Team Singularity punched their ticket for Taiwan in the second of the European qualifiers for ZOTAC Cup Masters - a $100,000 event to be held in Computex Taipei, Taiwan starting May 30th. With $100,000 prize pool on the line, the squad will compete at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei against Cloud 9, Invictus Gaming, Stan, Fnatic and three other teams - two invited and one more qualified from SEA.
Valve announcements:
The Shuffle season is declared open
Valve has announced the post Kiev Major Shuffle dates and rules. All the teams have time until the 24th of May to work on their roster in a two-step structure:
Drop Period:
The drop period is available from the 3rd of 16th of May at 00:00 PST. This is when teams can drop as many players as they want from the current roster in preparation for the invite period. Any player who hasn’t been dropped from the current roster until the 16th of May will become locked to his team and will not be able to join another squad in the invite period.
Invite Period:
The second step is the invite, or the pickup period, which will start immediately after the drop window and this is the time when teams will have to issue their invites to the players they want to add to The International 7 rosters. The Invite period will end on the May 24th, 00:00 PST. Any team that will fail to lock their final five players before the aforementioned date and time will not be considered locked for TI 7 and will lose their eligibility for an invite.
The International 7 Battle Pass has arrived
The new Battle Pass has a lot of new features, including a party campaign in three acts, team quests, a Tidehunter and Kunkka announcer pack, prestige towers skins, a new seasonal map along with an aquatic themed permanent one, and for those feeling strong enough, a MMR gambling option. Introduced for the first time with the last year’s TI Compendium, the seasonal matchmaking option is an opportunity for everyone to recalibrate their MMR and it is made available again, but only for The International 7 Compendium owners.
Team announcements:
Yazied 'YapzOr' Jaradat replaces Johan 'pieliedie' Åström in Team Secret after the Kiev Major. This leaves the position fives support empty, meaning captain Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov will be back in it. As for the position four, a new team member in Yazied ‘YapzOr’ Jaradat, formally of team B)ears, will be filling the berth. He is famous for playing a very aggressive roaming support such as Mirana and is noted for his brilliance on Rubick.
Team Secret’s roster from position 1 to 5:
Noa ‘MP’ Pyo
Nai Zheng ‘MidOne’ Yeik
Maurice ‘KheZu’ Gutmann
Yazied ‘YapzOr’ Jaradat
Clement ‘Puppey‘ Ivanov
NP reveals their new roster: FATA and Pieliedie reunite with old teammates
In the process of reconstructing NP, Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao reunites the Cloud 9 support duo from three years ago, Johan 'pieliedie' Åström and Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling . And for nostalgia to kick in really strong, Envy also welcomes aboard another old Cloud 9 teammate of his, namely Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks, who is going to take the mid lane role.
Team NP’s roster from position 1 to 5:
Jacky 'EternaLEnVy' Mao
Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks
Arif 'MSS' Anwar
Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling
Johan 'pieliedie' Åström
Team Random quells rumors of disbanding
After problems with their organization, an unsatisfactory performance at the Kiev Major and rumors of disbanding, Team Random decides to take a break. An official announcement was made via weibo, quelling the rumors, saying that they need a much deserved break from professional Dota and to await further official announcements.
Here is what our team managed to translate from the weibo post:
Ah Jit and Ah Fu part ways with WG Unity
Although they managed to reform the full squad that surprised everyone last year with their top notch performance that got them to the Boston Major and ESL One Genting, WG Unity announced the departure of their carry player Lai Jay 'Ah Jit' Son along with the support player Tue Soon 'ah fu' Chuan.
WG Unity current roster:
Kam Boon 'NaNa' Seng
Chua 'KaNG' Soon Khong
Yap Jian 'xNova' Wei
