Pro League 2016 Summer Overview

Pro League 2016 Summer is a Chinese Dota 2 event which will take place from 22-24 July at the Wuhan Optics Valley Stadium in Wuhan. It will feature Asian teams only.

The tournament is the first of its kind and will host two invited teams and six that came through qualifiers. The two invitees are two of the top SEA teams – MVP and Mineski – while the qualified teams are all from China and had to battle their way past 14 other challengers.

The teams will have to fight hard if they want to go home with anything in their bank accounts as the prize pool of $100,000 will be split between the top three teams only, with the winner getting $50,000, second best $30,000 and the third $20,000.

The group draw has not been made yet, but the teams will be separated into two groups of four teams, with games played in a round-robin format. The two best teams will advance to the semifinals, while the bottom two in each group will be eliminated as there is no loser’s bracket. The semifinal matches will be played in a best-of-three format, while the Grand Finals will be played in a best-of-five format.

Let’s take a look at the teams:

The days of glory when TongFu secured 4^th place in The International 2013 seem to be long gone. The current roster features decorated players such as Faith and Lin, but TongFu have not participated in an international tournament since 2014 and are in the shadows of the big Chinese names in the domestic scene. Nevertheless, the team managed to win G-League this month. The most notable player in their roster is Faith, who was a winner of The International 2012 with iG. Lin is the other player with significant experience, having been part of the LGD team that secured 5-6^th place at TI 4.

 

The current roster was formed in March this year with the arrival of Puer tea, Chao, Sober and hydsb. A subsidiary of the biggest eSports organization in China, EHOME, EHOME.Keen are comprised of young players who are hungry for success. More of a breeding ground for fresh talent, EHOME.Keen’s achievements have been largely on the domestic scene. They came 2^nd in the weekly H-Cup Season 7 in June despite their most impressive player kphoenii being snatched by rivals Newbee (where he has become a vital part of arguably the most impressive Chinese team at the moment).

 

iG Vitality are the second team of the iG organization, one of the largest Dota 2 Chinese organizations that stormed the scene in 2012 with solid financial backing. iG Vitality are one of the most impressive second teams of the big Chinese Dota 2 organizations and have been able to play on a par with the most renowned names on some occasions. The team won the weekly H-Cup Season 7 in June without dropping a single game, were placed 4^th in the same competition in March and also finished 5-8^th in the G-League 2016 earlier this month. Their most impressive member is Yuno, a gifted mid player noted for his mechanical skills and the individual achievement of being the first player to reach 8000 MMR in the Chinese region.

 

CDEC Avenger are part of the growing CDEC organization following the success of CDEC Gaming at TI 5, where they finished 2^nd. The current roster for CDEC Avenger was formed in March this year and they have yet to play on the international stage. Luo is the most experienced player in the team and is a former iG player. The other main talent is June, who has played for the likes of iG and Newbee. CDEC Avenger perform regularly on the domestic scene and have secured four 3^rd places at the weekly H-Cup tournament (in the first, second, third and seventh seasons) this year. The team also managed to finish 3^rd-4^th in the recently concluded G-League.

 

EHOME traditionally command respect in the Chinese Dota 2 scene, but 2016 has not been the best year for their main roster. The team had a great January, starting with winning the Shanghai Dota 2 Open on the domestic scene. This was followed by a win in the MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter 2015 on the international stage. This meant that EHOME went to Shanghai as favourites for the Major, but a 9-12^th place was not what they wanted. Changes followed, but the addition of stars iceiceice and Fenrir did not result in improvement and EHOME are still struggling to find themselves. They missed the Manila Major and have yet to qualify for the TI6 Main Event through the Wildcard opportunity. With no other major tournaments coming up, The Pro Gamer League Summer will be the rehearsal for their TI 6 Wildcard battle.

 

After surprising everyone at TI 5 and making a name for themselves by finishing 2^nd, CDEC Gaming have had a hard time repeating their success of 2015. The team was a long way from qualifying for this year’s International and the only international appearance for them has been at the Shanghai Major, where they finished in the bottom four teams. To make matters worse, Agressif then left the team and Shiki and Xz were demoted to the Youth side. Meanwhile, proven players such as Rabbit, Super and Yao were acquired. This didn’t lead to improvement and ever since then, the team have struggled to gain a place in international tournaments, ending up having to perform mostly on the domestic scene. Most recently, the team managed to finish 3^rd in the National Electronic Arena 2016. With TI 6 no longer an option, CDEC will be motivated to cut themselves as big a piece of the prize pie here as they can get.

 

Mineski are an organization that emerged back in the early days of Dota and were key in the establishment and popularization of eSports in the Philippines. Until recently, the team had the status of a dominant force in the SEA region, but 2016 saw several teams surpass them in both skill and achievement, particularly MVP Phoenix and Fnatic. Mineski attended a couple of tournaments (MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter 2015, ESL One Manila and The Manila Major), but they finished in the lowest rankings possible. Their failure to qualify for the Shanghai Major forced them to undergo some changes and the team acquired Benhur and Bok to replace Kuku and ryOyr. With not having to face China’s best teams, Mineski might stand a chance of something significant here.

 

The Koreans are one of the favourites for the tournament. The current roster was put together throughout 2015, while the influential QO has been with the team since 2014. Their growth this year has been strong and resulted in impressive wins in the Dota Pit League Season 4 and WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3, alongside a 4^th place in the Shanghai Major and 5-6^th in the Manila one. Their recent form however raises some doubts as they failed to qualify for the Nanyang Dota 2 Championships Season 2 and didn’t impress during the qualifying cycle. The team are having a bit of trouble adjusting to the current meta and with TI 6 just about the corner, this will be the last chance for tuning the instruments before playing on the big stage.

Although the tournament will not feature much of the crème de la crème of Asian Dota, Pro Gamer League will surely offer plenty of entertainment for the fans. On paper, there is a disparity between some of the teams involved, which makes it a general rehearsal prior to The International for some and a potential stepping stone to greater things for others.