lol-banner
All News
article-headline
Dota 29 years agoAndreea "divushka" Esanu

TI5 EU qualifier: The tale of two champions

The champions

No other region features two former TI champions in their qualifying rounds. Both Alliance and NA’VI look like fallen angels banished by all mighty Valve to the purgatory and condemned to redeem themselves by undergoing a trial by fire.

These two titans seem to have their destinies intertwined and there’s a great deal of similitude in their recent history. After disappointing their huge fan bases with subpar performances at TI4, both teams suffered important roster changes and none of them truly recovered for a long period of time.

There’s an apparent link between the presence of Puppey as captain and NA’VI’s period of glory. Some may disagree, but the fact is that their performance dramatically dropped right after Puppey and Kuroky decided to part ways with the Ukrainian organization. The raw talent of Dendi, XBOCT and Fun1k doesn’t seem to compensate the lack of direction and structure necessary to succeed. This becomes clearer by looking at the desperate attempts to patch this leak of leadership In NA’VI’s boat. No roster change, so far, managed to fill the big shoes Puppey left behind. But there’s hope.

Three years away from home and now the prodigal son returns. After leading NA’VI to their TI title in 2011, Artstyle disappeared from the scene and chose a rather perilous lifestyle as he declared in a recent interview. His comeback seems to be the last legitimate attempt to reboot NA’VI but some questions remain. Is Artstyle able to assimilate the changes the Dota scene suffered in his years away from the game? Does he still possess the ability to whip his team in shape in time for TI5? Is he THE ONE?

Alliance mirrors almost the same journey since TI4. S4 and EGM leave the Swedish powerhouse and the decline starts. Just like Puppey, S4 was the pillar that gave structure and strength. His constant performance and inspired draft ability looks almost irreplaceable for the swedes. Just like NA’VI, they’ve tried a lot of new shoes but to no avail.

And to keep the story perfectly symmetrical, Alliance found their stray dog and welcomed him back. This happy event boosted their performance in recent months and there’s hope for betterment, especially with the new patch which favors AdmiralBulldog’s staple heroes.The drastic change in perspective for Alliance is the compromise they made on their “all swedish” concept. Adding 7ckngMad to the roster and passing him the leadership role yielded results, so that looks like a good change. 

Having Alliance and NA’VI seeded in different groups for the qualifiers makes possible a final featuring the two big rivals. The TI3 finalists have a chance to meet again in TI5 qualifying finals. This describes the extreme pace at which the Dota 2 scene changed in the past two years.
 

The challengers

Given their past accomplishments and their huge popular support, NA’VI and Alliance seem like clear runners for the top two places. But there are a few teams that might cause upsets and overthrow the favorites.

Recently formed NIP, featuring Era as their main star, have proven to be quite the contender in a lot of online and LAN events. Renowned for his ability to play off beat carry heroes, disregarding the meta, Era could create enough traction for his team and pull them through the qualifiers. And who knows, with the recent addition of the Aghanim’s Scepter for Lifestealer, we might see a return of the monster carry player that we all know Era to be.

Another newly formed team capable to generate chaos in the ranks is Vega Squadron. They elevated the CIS aggressive style to new heights producing consistent results. Benefitting from Mag’s talent and experience, the Russians have clear potential for a surprise.
 

The middle of the pack

Power Rangers, 4 Anchors and HellRaisers are well known names in the Dota 2 scene. However, given the stakes and the competition, they don’t seem to stand many chances to make it to Seattle. On the other hand, they have the opportunity to raise their level and break the Tier 2 team status by proving the skeptics wrong.

A special place in the qualifiers cast is held by Burden United.  SingSing and ComeWithMe have a common history of failed projects (QPAD Red Pandas, Teamerino Tinkerino). This team looks like yet another fragile contraption put together for the sole purpose of not missing the last train to TI 5. Not to take away anything from these absolutely talented and entertaining individuals, but I don’t see this Frankenstein survive the TI campaign.
 

The newcomers

London Conspiracy are the perfect example for hard work and tenacity. They are new, hungry and doing well in recent tourneys. Remains to be seen if the inexperience of competing at high level will choke them or if they’ll embrace their underdog tag, play relaxed and produce the upsets.

And last but not least, we have the Yellow Submarine. Coming from the open qualifying rounds this team is surrounded by mistery. Which in turn, enhances the excitement. Will they sink to the bottom of their group or do they have the ability to torpedo the big names?

Author
divushka-avatar
Andreea "divushka" EsanuI can resist anything but temptations... Follow me @DivDota

All Esports

Entertainment

GosuBattles

Account