Dota Pit League Season 5 Preview

Pressure Packed: 8 Teams at the Dota Pit League Season 5

Get ready to get down and rumble as its time for the Dota Pit League!

After going through the grueling qualifying phases, eight of the best teams in the world will now meet at the three-day event at Spaladium Arena in Split, Croatia, where they will clash and fight in the Dota Pit League Season 5 that will start January 20.

The fifth edition of the Dota Pit League offers an initial prize pool of $125,000, which can increase conversely with sales of in-game tickets, cosmetics and general merchandise. DPL Season 3 offered the biggest pool, after its $80,000 pool bloated to $265,000.

With the Pit just days away, let’s see how the two invited teams, and the six sides that survived the qualifiers fared before they all congregate in Split for DPL Season 5!

 

 

Digital Chaos

Digital Chaos is one of the only two direct invites in the Pit, and as such, is already considered as one of the teams to beat in Split this weekend.

The USA-based squad is fresh from its first ever LAN tournament victory, after it turned back the Chinese squad NewBee 3-2 in a full-scale thrilling series in ESL One Genting to take home $125,000 as prize.

In an attempt to infuse its lineup with some veteran presence and winning mentality, DC signed ex-OG offlaner David “Moonmeander” Tan in the post-TI shuffle, and it is now safe to say both sides would have no regrets about it.

Moon was a crucial piece for DC in Genting, with his patient and methodical offlaning that is coupled with his clutch initiating skills in team fights, DC found it easy to expand map control and widen gaps in gold and experience.

Of course, Rasmus “MiSeRy” Filipsen remains as the mind and soul of this squad, as evident in Genting. His draft choices were good for DC in the late game, and his play calling throughout the games had direction, for the guys in purple-and-orange always had an objective in mind, be it a tower, a shrine or a kill.

DC just discovered its capabilities and just proved it is a deserving champion. All opponents should watch out for the guys who seem to have mastered the current meta enough that it plays confidently despite being down in the series, in the championship one to boot.

Players:

1. Resolut1on
2. w33
3. Moonmeander
4. MiSeRy
5. Saksa

 

 

OG

European qualifier #1 winner OG is one of the favorites in this year’s Pit, and it’s not hard to tell why (because duh, it’s obvious).

True, giants fall unexpectedly from time to time, like with OG’s disastrous performance in TI6, where it got kicked out by little-known Filipino team TNC Gaming.

But if you are to play with the odds, you’ll find OG as a toughie, since it is fresh from conquering yet another Valve event. OG once again got to lift the Eaglesong trophy in the Boston Major, much like how they dominated the Manila Major in 2016 and the Frankfurt Major in 2015.

Many expected OG’s performances to fall off after they lost three crucial pieces in Amer “Miracle-“ Barqawi (now with Liquid), Moonmeander and Andreas “Cr1t-“ Nielsen (now with EG). But it seems Johan “N0tail” Sundstein and Tal “Fly” Aizik are fine and OG is still the winning team that everyone wants to beat down a peg or two.

Yazied “Yapz0r” Jaradat and Kalle “Trixi” Saarinen stood in for Fly and new midlaner Anathan “ana” Pham in the qualifier, meaning OG was not even at its best form then. So what can we expect when all players are present at the Pit?

Players:

1. N0tail
2. ana
3. s4
4. JerAx
5. Fly

 

 

Evil Geniuses

DPL Season 3 winner Evil Geniuses stand with DC and OG as one of the favorites in the 5^th season of the Pit League.

The American qualifier might not have won the Summit (3^rd), or the Boston Major (2^nd), and even the Northern Arena BEAT Invitational, but it won the MarsTV Dota2 League and China Top 2016, and took home more than $200,000 in those competitions alone.

The America-based squad lost veterans Clinton “Fear” Loomis and Peter “ppd” Dager to retirement, but replaced them with top-class players like Artour “Arteezy” Babaev and Andreas “Cr1t-“ Nielsen, who also took the captain’s mantle from ppd.

This new roster is yet to return to EG back to its glory days when it used to win TIs, but with its recent performance the side seem due for a breakout, especially if the team finally finds the harmonious chemistry and mile-long patience that consistent winning teams usually display in high-class tournaments like the pit.

With the proven winners and gifted players in this team, that should not take long, and it would be especial for EG fans if that happens as soon as the Pit League begins.

Players:

1. Arteezy
2. Suma1L
3. UNiVeRsE
4. zai
5. Cr1t-

 

 

Elements Pro Gaming

After Wings Gaming dropped out of the tournament because of visa issues, Elements Pro Gaming inherited the invite and will get the chance to test its mettle in the Dota Pit League Season 5.

Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the Russia-based team, since they somehow ‘earned’ the invite after what they accomplished in the European qualifier – giving team OG a run for its money and were even just one win away from outright qualification. The team formerly known as Elements One eventually bowed down 2-3 in the qualifier final, but its performance showed they have the skill to compete in the upper tiers, though they just lack the consistency to beat a team as well-organized as a three-time Major winner.

EPG has four Serbians and one Croat, meaning communication is not much a problem for these guys.

The carry, Uros “Swiftending” Galic, has last played for Team Defiance, before joining Elements One, which was later named Elements Pro.

Offlaner Damir “ Mitch” Skaricic is the lone Croat, though he has played with supports Gordan “g0g1” Prosic and Nikola “LebronDota” Popovic in Spider Pigz before the trio got signed by the Elements One organization, along with Swiftending and Bosnian Milan “MiLAN” Kozomara.

Konstantin “kole” Jancetovic is the last piece of the puzzle, when he replaced MiLAN after the latter left the team in November 2016.

Players:

1. Swiftending
2. kole
3. Mitch
4. g0g1
5. LebronDota

 

 

Team Secret

Despite the controversies that Team Secret is currently facing, the squad is still playing well, winning small competitions here and there and raking on the money from tournaments with large prize pools.

Its last big win was in ROG Masters, where it dominated Execration 3-0 in the final and took home more than $70,000 in prizes.

After a horrendous 13^th-16^th finish in TI6, Secret lost three players, with only captain Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and support Johan “pieliedie” Astrom remaining. Korean carry Pyo “MP” No-a, Malaysian midlaner Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng and offlaner Lee “Forev” Sang-don, who will later be replaced by Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann, completed the roster during the shuffle.

The Turkey-based team placed 4^th at MarsTV Dota 2 League 2016, but failed to make it to Boston after falling to Virtus.Pro in the semifinal in the qualifier. Secret also won the FACEIT Invitational, beating Vega Squadron in the championship match.

With only Puppey as the remaining core member of the Secret team that used to win a lot of games around one and a half years ago, the team is not a heavy favorite in the Pit, but one should not count out a team that dealt the Miracle-led Liquid a 2-0 beating in the qualifiers.

Players:

1. MP
2. MidOne
3. KheZu
4. Puppey
5. pieliedie

 

 

Virtus.Pro

It is said that a roster shuffle can make or break a team.

From that statement, it can be said that Virtus.pro got made in the post-TI6 shuffle.

The Russia-based squad signed 5 new players during the shuffle period, and the results since then proves how well it went for them.

Virtus.Pro won BTS Europe #4, dominated qualifiers and shocked the world after beating OG (!) 3-0 (!!) at The Summit 6 final last November.

17-year-old Carry Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev headlines VP, while former Vega Squadron player Vladimi “No[o]ne” Minenko handles the midlane. Pavel “9pasha” Khastunov man the offlane, while Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk and captain Alexei “Solo” Berezin are the supports.

It had a hiccup last December and finished 5^th-8^th in Boston, but recovered well enough to finish 3^rd-4^th at ESL One Genting to start the year.

With a young roster and its current momentum, VP will be a force to reckon with at the Pit, but since the big teams have scouted their game plans well, the Russian org has been quite less successful since then.

Players:

1. RAMZES666
2. No[o]ne
3. 9pasha
4. Lil
5. Solo

 

 

Team Faceless

Representing SEA in the Pit is Team Faceless, the roster Daryl “iceiceice” Xiang created during the post-TI6 shuffle after he returned to his homeland Singapore following two years in China with Vici Gaming and EHOME.

Like with any new team, Faceless is undergoing growing pains, though it is evident the team has potential.

Faceless dominated the SEA qualifiers for The Summit 6, the Boston Major and DPL Season 5, even winning the minor tournament ProDota SEA #3. The group also finished second at the ASUS ROG SEA Cup after losing to Execration in a five-game thriller in the final.

But once the main event of international tournaments start, Faceless finds it hard to finish in the podium, like in the Summit 6 where it finished 7-8^th and in the Boston Major where it finished 9-16^th.

But the year has turned, and Faceless players have logged more hours together, and with the direction of a veteran like iceiceice, Faceless can be more dangerous inside the Pit.

Former Fnatic Carry Dominik “Black^” Reitmeier plays the 1 position for Faceless, while Anucha “Jabz” Jirawong checks in as the solo midlaner. Singaporeans Toh Wai “xy-“ Hong and Wong Jeng “NutZ” do the support stuff for the squad.

Players:

1. Black^
2. Jabz
3. iceiceice
4. xy-
5. NutZ

 

 

Invictus Gaming

Invictus Gaming will enter the Pit as a replacement team for the winner of the Chinese qualifier, NewBee, which will not make it into the event due to complications in its visa applications and time constraints with its ESL One Genting journey.

iG is basically a new team, as three of its players just joined the group last September, though the other two have been together since their days in iG.Vitality, the youth roster for iG.

This new lineup that got formed during the post-Ti6 shuffle is yet to have a breakout tournament, though it has been competing well in Chinese tournaments.

iG finished third in Nanyang Cruise Cup #1, third in Dota2 ACE- Provisional and fourth in Dota 2 Professional League Season 2 – Top.

But all throughout those local success, iG failed to beat NewBee in the Pit qualifier, finished 5^th-6^th in the World Cyber Arena Chinese qualifier #3, 5^th-10^th in Boston major qualifier and 5^th-6^th in The Summit 6 qualifier.

Not taking anything away from the group of Xu “BurNIng” Zhilei, Ou “OP” Peng, Lin “Xxs” Jing, Ye “BoBoKa” Zhibiao and Fu “Q” Bin, but the roster seem to lack experience to compete in the Pit.

Players:

1. BurNIng
2. OP
3. Xxs
4. BoBoKa
5. Q