European qualifiers will most likely focus on the big NAVI-Alliance rivalry, but that doesn’t mean SEA can’t deliver the same amount of drama and excitement, the fratricide struggle between MVP Phoenix and MVP Hot6 should cover that part. On top of that we have Rave representing the same country and it is safe to say that in this way Korea just became the hot spot of the SEA TI5 qualifiers.
Rave : The Korean Pinoy's
The SEA competitive scene is predicated on huge performance fluctuations and big swings in ranking positions which makes an impossible mission out of predicting a winner.
Widely considered as the team who was forsaken by Valve, Rave is the clear crowd favourite in the South East Asia qualifier. Prior to The International 5 invitation release, Rave was plagued with a series of unfortunate events such as failing to obtain travel visa to joinDOTA MLG Season 1, being stopped by immigration from returning to their training house in Korea, and subsequently losing in all the online tournaments they competed in.
The denial to leave by the Philippines immigration caused such a huge uproar that Filipino Senator Bam Aquino had to intervene. With a senator rallying behind them, Rave was finally allowed to leave but it was still too late. Shortly after, Rave competed in The Summit 3 with lackluster performance, allegedly due to the lack of practice, but has since arrived in Seoul on the 19th of May. In the past week, Rave has been looking for opponents to scrim against and are evidently training very hard but it was not enough to defeat their fellow countrymen TnC in the final of Corsair Gaming Arena #3.
MVP Phoenix and Hot6ix : The Korean Sisters
The MVP organization, a huge name in esports mainly for their Starcraft team, began their journey in Dota 2 with two teams right from the get go. MVP Phoenix always looked like the big overachieving sister in comparison to MVP Hot6ix who had somewhat of a bumpier road in the Korean League. So, when MVP decided to split Phoenix right on the cusp of their professional maturity, some thought that this can only result in diluting the talent and setting back what seemed to shape up as a successful project.
This created two strong core duos, Heen-Forev for MVP Hot6ix and March-QO for MVP Phoenix, on which they plan to build upon, maximizing their chances for a successful future in the DotA scene. Being great students of the game, and always looking towards west with great admiration, MVP are not afraid to infuse their roster with foreign flavors like Jerax and Kphoenii.
A special note on MVP Phoenix is their cerebral and amazingly talented captain, March. What makes this player special is his ability transition seamlessly from a position 1 to support (much like Kuroky) and still maintain a good grasp of his team decision making and vision. March is the reason, MVP Phoenix are one of the favorites in this qualifying round.
G-Guard : The "New" Orange
After the tragic loss of the great legend Sharky, who’s untimely passing away is mourned by the entire community, G-Guard somehow found the strength to reinvent themselves. Reformed at the end of March, G-Guard missed out on many qualifiers and online tournaments to showcase their true strength. Two weeks after their team was formed, G-Guard hosted the G-Guard Challenge but they only won three out of the seven matches they played.
On paper, with WinteR as captain, the former Orange e-sports player Net and the Dota 1 legend, YamateH in the team, G-Guard has some of the most experienced players in the South East Asian scene but their run in the qualifier will depend on if they are able to work well as a team.
TnC : Corsair Gaming Arena #2 to TI5 ?
TnC came like a tornado and ravaged the SEA scene in the past few weeks. While the team roster has been stable for a while now, TnC has not shown their faces for the majority of the year until two weeks before their invite. Their debut in the international scene saw them beating the two MvP squads and the supposed unbeatable Team Malaysia in Corsair Gaming Arena 2.
TnC continued their dominance in Corsair Gaming Arena #3 and this time, they defeated SEA qualifier favourite Rave 2-0 to win the finals. While they don't seem to perform that well in LAN (6th place in MPGL Season 7), they are quite the formidable opponent when it comes to online tournaments.
TnC is undoubtedly the dark horse of the SEA qualifier.
Invasion : Will they continue the dream run?
Another team that can threaten the Koreans is Invasion, by removing two of their core members right before the qualifiers, they practically chose to get it done the hard way but they delivered and won the open qualifier. It'll be interesting to see if they're able to add another chapter to their epic story so far but with two new Australian members one may wonder if there’s enough team chemistry to ensure a ticket for Seattle.
The Unlikely Suspects
Mineski, 5eva, Signature Trust and Can't Say Wips are teams that we always seen in different tournaments but they never impressed or managed to get their hands on an important title. They sure do look like cannon fodder, but as mentioned in the beginning, The SEA scene is too volatile and unpredictable to actually count them out.
