The idea of fairness frequently arises in the discussions about the TI6 invite and qualifiers system. The reason for it is especially clear when comparing the Chinese and SEA qualifiers: the former was stacked with battle-hardened veterans and proven young talent, while the latter was generally looked on as Fnatic and nine “other” teams. Nevertheless, the stage is almost set and it might be a good idea to freshen the memory or get acquainted with the Eastern teams.
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The big headline for the majority of the past year has been the decline of the Chinese Dota scene. The issue was further exacerbated by the poor showing of the Chinese teams on their home turf during the infamous Shanghai Major. Yet, surprisingly, it is the Chinese region which produces a strong TI contender consisting of mostly young talent for the second year in a row.
The story of Wings Gaming is very different to the one of CDEC. They do not come into this tournament as underdogs. In fact, they are one of the tournament's favourites. Their big break was the ESL One Manila 2016 not so long ago, which has put them on the map and since then the team has been dominant in the online tournaments and group stages.
The secret to their success is probably their efficient training routine. It certainly shows both in their in-game decision-making and drafting. Not only is this team packed with mechanically talented players, but they also always seem one step ahead of the meta. They are disciplined, but by no means conservative—dedicating so much time to studying Dota definitely pays off and it is not uncommon for the team to draft unconventional yet intimidatingly efficient lineups.
The biggest problem the team is currently facing is themselves. Under normal conditions of a regular online tournament they thrive, yet their performance in the LAN format have been lacklustre. The 13-16th place in the Manila Major certainly shows the lack of experience and general shakiness of the roster. If the team manages to overcome whatever psychological barriers they may be facing, there is a high chance we will crown yet another TI champion from China.
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Vici Gaming Reborn (VG.R) was formed after the lacklustre performance of the main squad during the Shanghai Major. The team was built around the Vici Gaming’s star player—AR.fy with the addition of another experienced support—ddc.
The rest of the roster was filled with younger players coming from the secondary squads of Vici Gaming and CDEC. Once again the magic formula of Chinese roster reshuffles has proven to be highly effective: under the supervision of the Dota veterans and TI winning coach 友善对待每一局, the young talent has bloomed and it wasn’t long before the team has started showing great results. Following the SLTV | i-League 1st place the team has been promoted to become Vici Gaming’s main squad.
The team’s latest result do not look too impressive, but they still managed to qualify for the International 2016, despite heavy competition. Unlike many other teams, VG.R thrives in the offline format, frequently gaining momentum throughout the tournament. Unless they get eliminated early-on, they have very high chances of placing high in the tournament—a trend usually associated with teams fully consisting of battle-hardened veterans.
A major problem the team is currently facing is the loss of their main playmaker and offlaner due to Visa issues. The squad has proved on several occasions that they can adequately adjust to the changes in their roster and AR.fy is undeniably a very experienced player, but their performance in the tournament is going to be highly unpredictable.
Very little can be said about the current TnC roster. It took its current form slightly over a month ago with the addition of an NA legionnaire—DeMoN, and has not participated in any major tournaments yet. However they managed to confidently beat the region’s favourites, Fnatic, during both the TI6 qualifiers group stage and the tiebreaker match that followed.
Whether it is the infamous Fnatic instability or indeed the superior skill of the team which lead them to the TI, they still look like underdogs, only marginally more promising than the last year’s unknown#####. However, we should never forget the upsets the mentioned team has created during the Frankfurt Major, even eliminating the former TI champions—NewBee.
Perhaps the magical Chinese formula will work for an SEA team, with former somewhat experienced Mineski players and Demon leading the young and the bold. Perhaps it won’t, but one thing is certain—the potential for surprise is very high with this team, since the underdog position definitely gives an advantage, especially against younger, less experienced teams.
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Team Fnatic consists of extremely dedicated players. Most of them had to sacrifice a great deal for their passion for Dota and that on its own is worthy of highest respect for both the team as a whole and its individual players.
The roster is often viewed as the strongest team in the SEA, constantly battling for this title with directly invited MVP Phoenix. However, the team is coming to TI6 as the runner-up of the SEA main qualifiers, possibly indicating some instability.
In fact, instability can be considered one of the main characteristics of the team—on a good day it easily goes toe-to-toe with the biggest names in Dota, on a bad one they can lose a random series in “Professional” tier tournaments. The map awareness, mechanical talent and team coordination sometimes just seem to vanish completely, leaving the fans baffled. The opposite is also true—almost as frequently team shows amazing prowess and when this roster clicks it clicks big time. The question, however, remains: is Fnatic a good team that sometimes falls short, or is it a weak team, sometimes capable of amazing feats?
Despite or because of this instability the team often finishes in the top half of the tournaments, but rarely takes the first place. Regardless, the team is always extremely entertaining to watch and will surely keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.
Both China and the SEA qualifiers have been extremely tense, probably for completely different reasons, however the qualified teams undoubtedly deserve their spots in the tournament.
Some teams also add a nice variety to the usual mix of teams and will definitely come with their own ideas and play styles, celebrating the diversity of the current patch. Surprises in the big tournaments are always entertaining and it seems TI6 is going to be full of them.
This is the first and last time ill say this, but 1st.
Second
third
'the former was stacked with battle-hardened veterans and proven young talent, while the latter was generally looked on as Fnatic and nine “other” teams'
Why was this not put in the NA/EU post, where NA qualifiers were E.G. and 6 "other" teams?
fifth
6th lul
Nothing to say about MVP huh... I'm interested to see if they will perform well once more.
Execration ti6 champs
I've just played 10 games in a row (with a quick pause for lunch). Is that too many? How many does Miracle plays in one day? I got 8 wins, 2 loses and 1 abandon (sorry team, my head was just screwed it up, I had to quit). Not that impressive as I am in normal skill I know. But why does everytime me and my team were saying "Yes, we're all reporting Enchantress!" and I am play with Zeus, the reports comes all to me? It's not the first time, Valve. What the f*ck is going on? If you want it any motive to stop me from playing just do something else but don't give their reports to me! Fuc*! These guys still have to learn their lessons, don't give their bullshit to me! I think my account is bugged.
10th #LetPHPlay
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open for free wallet codes
Работяги, сделал качественный русский перевод статьи, добро пожаловать!
https://vk.com/wall-125039490_1767
Hi there! That was just a russian translation of your article! Thanks!
If you don't know about the Asian teams, that's youryour fault moderator.
试试中文。。。。。
nothing was said about MVP, and what about the two other uprising SEA teams, Execration and Warriors Gaming, the latter of which beat Fnatic for TI qualifiers SEA?
i think MVP & Fnatic have bigger chance than others. But well, who knows? TNC & Wings are dark horses. Experience will make huge differences.
Hi KawaiiSocks,
I believe Dotabuff is written for a global audience, not just for westerners, and a significant amount of users on dotabuff are Asians. So if you write an article about Asian, shouldn’t you be at least neutral?
1. Do a little research on Asian teams.
‘Fnatic and nine other teams' – We have our own favourite Asian teams too. If you only know Fnatic, does it mean you discount every one else?
2. Avoid stereotyping and framing us like we're exotic characters in Kung Fu Panda 4.
The headline 'The Mysterious East' – What's so mysterious about it? Just because you don't live here, it doesn't mean it's mysterious. There’s nothing mystical here. We wake up, go to school and work in offices too, just like you.
To be honest, I’m not very offended, I’m just bored at work. But I do hope you’ll take this as constructive feedback and frame your articles in a more neutral manner.
Cheers to better content.
- Bored Asian Guy
^lol Kung fu panda reference
Hey... it is neutral and unbiased.
World lvl teams from EU/CN?
Pretty much every big name in the scene.
World lvl teams from SEA/NA?
Fnatic/EG (DC and CoL are EU from players and Korea isn't SEA...)
Now it's The International -- not 16 best in the world. Or else many teams wouldn't be there -- like TNC or Execration. Even Fnatic is undeserving right now.
SEA should have 1 qualifier slot... China 4 EU 4 and NA 1.
This is coming from an American who only wants to see good dota.
Oh! And the majority users of Dotabuff are NA/EU ; so to a lot of people the east is mysterious from a dota2 point of view. Twitch doesn't exactly promote SEA/CN dota... so people know less about the teams that play there.
It has nothing to with you being exotic or shit... no one even cares. It's about dota2 and the east being mysterious to the western audience.
Don't think you're important exotic or mysterious -- as you said you're neither. It's about dota2... not asians as people.
Nobody knows anything about SEA, except that Chinese squad White Fries had to play there because they had xFreedom in their team and China wouldn't allow someone with the word "freedom" in their game handle to play on their servers.
Yot,
My main point is about the quality of writing, not dota.
It’s simply not nice to be generalised and stereotyped. Especially if the reason is “I’m not familiar with the east”.
It’s like me going “all Americans are rednecks” because I see Donald Trump on TV. According to your logic, it’s okay to make that statement since I’m not familiar with America. (this is kind of an extreme point of view, but I’m sure you get the gist.)
And if Twitch not promoting SEA/CN teams is a good excuse to not do your research, then sign me up as a writer!
By the way,
https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/3jhc04/i_was_curious_to_know_how_prevalent_is_dota_2_in/
If you look at the graph 5 out of the top 10 nations are Asians.
You're terribly off topic. Socks gives no offense -- you take it.
The article isn't about asians being mysterious but about asian dota2 being mysterious to a western audience.
Hence your entire diatribe -- especially the part with rednecks -- is off topic.
My logic doesn't consider asians as mysterious... your flawed rhetoric does.
The writing is fine since it's about the asian scene and not the people.
By deduction, your reading skills are shit.
Hi Yot,
If it's about the Asian scene then wait... who belongs in the Asian scene? Right... Asian people.
Imagine Sally is partying on a podium with some champagne (cristal), and it starts spraying everywhere and it hits you. Sally just wanted to have fun. Her intentions were good, but you didn't like the champagne all over your brand new shirt. (Sorry I like using random examples hahaha)
Point being: Offense can be taken uneven if you didn't mean it. And if you simply ignore the people around you (asians who are also avid readers of dotabuff), somebody will get upset.
That’s my main point. A point that I brought up (in the first place) and stuck to. How can I go off topic on my own point? :\
I think you took this note to socks too personally. Cheers to differing opinions, but personal attacks like 'your reading is shit'… really? Hahaha.
Even your example is bad. I'd take offense against deliberate action, only ; as should you.
Secondly, the point you're trying to argue is that because there is a small portion of asian viewers, that Dotabuff can't bring forth the idea that the eastern dota2 scene is mysterious to the general western audience?
If people say NA dota is weak... should I take offense? No. There are facts to back up that affirmation.
If people say Eastern dota is mysterious to the western audience... should any asian take offense? No. Once again facts can back that up -- apart from afficionados -- no westerners follow the eastern scene closely.
Once more, you only care because you believe you're part of the scene... Wake up! You ain't a pro. Only pros are part of the scene. Noobs are on the sidelines.
This isn't about you or asians in general, it's about the professional dota2 teams coming from the east from the perspective of a western audience.
Go take a critical writing class before you attempt to argue with biased and invalid points.
It's not deliberate but it's sloppy. If people complain, it's the consequence of the writer not giving a damn about the audience that they're writing for.
Btw, we're talking about dotabuff content which is written about pros for the general community.
I think you're confusing the subject matter (pros) and the audience (non-pros like us).
Anyway I think we have different opinions and we're not gonna convince one another. Ever.
How bro? Are we gonna continue posting every day?
You just lost your own case. If the subject matter is pros and the audience is us... which it is -- your previous points are instantly invalidated unless you're somewhat of a xenophobic person that categorizes folks and then I'd respect your choice of being an asshole with stupid arguments.
As it stands it's about the pro scene. EU basketball is unknown to the US audience... mysterious as fuck eh?
Get a clue. Wrong is wrong and so are you.
Normal skill player... actually a correlation between IQ and MMR on all games fyi. And you've played more than enough to learn...
Huh?
If it's written for fans... shouldn't the fan's feelings be considered?
What is your logic, can you please explain again?
How am I being xenophobic when i'm saying that Asians are not being fairly represented. LOL. I'm talking about the exact opposite. Do you know what you're saying or are you just throwing random words out...
I think you need to take a step back and try reassessing what you're saying because you're looking like an idiot right here.
And snobbish with your baseless IQ and MMR correlation analogy...
You clearly believe you were wronged. I feel sorry for you ; you're an idiot and society allows you to feel you've been wronged.
Little thin skinned kid...
You're the one who looks like an idiot. Your main point is that you and others could take offense over trivial wording when you're not even the targeted audience. Way to be stupid.
Keep being a thin skinned kid -- you'll commit suicide soon enough to not be a pain in the ass doubled with an idiot.
And IQ/MMR isn't baseless you wanton prick : http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016028961500104X
Come talk back to me when you own a phd, Mr.Allwrong and when you can assess something correctly.
pls od range cast of prision astral
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