It's that time of the year again where we start the road to The International Dota 2 Championships (TI) Main Event via the Wild Card Series. This is the point wherein runners-up from each region's qualifiers battle it out to enter TI's prestigious main event.
I've been following the scene ever since the 2nd TI back in 2012 where Invictus Gaming (iG) took the title as the greatest Dota 2 team in the world. Back then, there were no wild card series, the winners of their respective region earned their spot while runners-up were set aside, humiliated and left to try out next year. The 3rd TI improved wherein the runners-up of both EAST and WEST Qualifiers would be matched up to get in, and that was the start of something new. The 4th TI changed the format a bit, There were no Qualifiers for EAST and WEST but instead regional qualifiers were set in place: the Americas, China, Europe, and South East Asia. With 4 regions gaining a spot in TI, 4 runners-up were also flown-in to Seattle for the Wild Card matches and only one team will make it out.
This year is a tad different. Valve's been generous enough to have 2 of the 4 region's runners-up fight for spots at the event. With that being said, TI 5's Regional Qualifier Runners-up CDEC Gaming from the China Region, MVP Phoenix from the SEA Region, Team Archon (formerly NaR v2.0 also known as North American Rejects) from the Americas Region, and Vega Squadron from the Europe Region will play in a double-elimination match to earn the coveted Wild Card spot into the Main Event.
This is my personal prediction for the Wild Card Play-In Series.
The Teams:
MVP Phoenix has been known for utilizing pocket strats in most of their plays, catching everyone off-guard. The team's captain Tae-won 'March' Park pick some of the most under-used heroes like core Warlock, Slark or Sven. Though their drafting and plays are mostly based on niche strategies, they are pretty aggressive when it comes to their laning, with supports helping their mid secure dominance in the the early stages of the game.
CDEC Gaming has been improving quite a lot ever since their stint at Dota 2 Asia Championships (DAC). Although they didn't place high enough in the competition, this gave them enough experience and exposure to compete in the highest of levels. Their plays are mostly come from behind, which means their early to mid-game advantage is a little bit weak, always going for late game is mostly on their mind. But when they are being pressured, that's where they really shine. They can fight back with relative ease and in most cases win their game. Be on the lookout for Zheng 'Agressif' Sun's aggressive plays carrying the team to success.
Vega Squadron has two experienced players in the form of Andrey 'Mag' Chipenko and Alexei 'Solo' Berezin playing for them. Mag has been known for his offlane prowess with signature heroes like Clockwerk and Centaur. Solo's not bad with IO either. Although not generalizing, as a CIS-team, they have been known to make big plays early into the game. Their signature-style fight, fight, fight, is shown in almost all of their plays. Their drafting mostly revolves with strong early to mid-game plays and this style of playing comes at a huge risk for them.
Team Archon is a team consisting of 2 former North American Reject players Steven 'Korok' Ashworth and Ionnas 'Fogged' Loucas (who subsequently became Na'VI North America in TI4) known for their long history in the US Dota scene. Although they have some of the more experienced players in their team, they are still considered as the underdogs as they are in one of the weakest regions in the world for Dota 2. Their often high-risk high-reward plays are sometimes questionable always lacking a follow-up when they do their skirmishes.
This year's wild card are some of the most diverse and exciting teams in the world. Each team has a different drafting and play style, from the specialized drafting of MVP Phoenix, late game prowess of CDEC Gaming, early game skirmish ability of Vega Squadron, to the big plays of Team Archon, there is sure to be a lot of action in every game.
The International 2015's prize pool has exceeded the $17 million USD mark and keeps on growing. With high stakes and earning a spot at the main event on the line, every team will surely put everything they got in order to take the wild card spots of The International.
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