The ever-popular StarLadder i-League StarSeries will be held for the first time in China from 23-26 February. Shanghai will be the battleground for some of the best teams in the world as they fight for a piece of a $300,000 prize pool, with $135,000 going to the winners.
Eight teams will take part in the tournament. Two were invited (Wings Gaming and OG) while the rest had to fight their way through four different regional qualifiers: Europe, Americas, Southeast Asia and China.
The format
The seeds have yet to be drawn, but the teams will be divided into two groups of four, with matches played in a double elimination format.
The opening two matches will be based on seeding, with the winners of each then battling for top spot in the group. The two opening losers will also face each other, with the winner then facing the loser from the winners’ match for second spot in the group.
There will be no loser bracket and only the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.
All games will be played in a best-of-three format apart from the Finals, which will be the traditional best-of-five affair.
The teams
The complete roster includes three Chinese, three European, one North American and one Southeast Asian team. They are:
Wings Gaming
Wings have become something of a Dota 2 powerhouse on the Chinese scene, but they have shown a slight decline since The Boston Major, where they were eliminated early. Wings subsequently took part in ESL One Genting and finished a creditable 3rd-4th, but their performances were still below par. They missed the Dota 2 Pit League Season 5 due to visa issues, but have home advantage for StarLadder and so are tipped to do well.
OG
OG have undoubtedly been one of the most impressive and consistent teams since TI6, showing gradual improvement before winning The Boston Major in December. Youngster Anathan “ana” Pham and Gustav “s4” Magnusson’s adaptations took a bit of time to bed in, but this OG line-up is very close to the all-conquering one from last season. With the other highly consistent team missing (EG), OG are surely one of the favourites for victory in Shanghai.
Team Liquid
Team Liquid are finally back on the big stage after a very disappointing post-TI6 period. KuroKy and co failed to qualify for The Summit 6, The Boston Major, ESL One Genting and The Dota Pit League Season 5. Such poor performances were not expected after last season’s star discovery, Amer “Miracle-” Al-Barkawi, joined the team in September. However, Liquid have improved following Kanishka “BuLba” Sosale’s departure last month, with his replacement Maroun “GH” Merhej slotting in seamlessly.
Team Secret
Almost a year since they won The Shanghai Major, Team Secret have been struggling to emulate this success. The new post-TI6 experimental roster did not work out as expected and Team Secret failed to qualify for The Boston Major. Following this, offlaner Lee “Forev” Sang-don left the team. Improvements have been seen since Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann joined, however, and a week later they won the ROG MASTERS despite naysayers claiming the new recruit is an inferior player to the man he replaced.
VG.J
This division of Vici Gaming was created in the Fall Shuffle as a result of a deal with the professional basketball player Jeremy Lin. Their failure to advance to The Boston Major prompted some changes, with Xu “fy” Linsen being brought back into the fold in December to re-form the legendary support duo with Lu “Fenrir” Chao. This duo had been so successful with Vici Gaming in the past. With former teammate Bai “rOtk” Fan already in the line-up, VG.J have three of the players who helped the main Vici Gaming team secure second place at TI4. Consequently, VG.J relies on experience, with Liu “Freeze” Chang being the only young blood on the roster.
iG.Vitality
Being together since last March has finally started to pay off for the second division of Invictus Gaming. Despite early elimination from The Boston Major, they left a good impression, and their potential was realized when they bounced back by winning the World Cyber Arena. This was followed up by a 2nd place finish in the Dota 2 Professional League Season 2 competition.
Digital Chaos
DC were the team that won the first event after the major 7.00 patch changes had been introduced – ESL One Genting. It was the current roster’s first Premier tournament win and success must have tasted great after coming so close on several previous occasions. Ever since then, DC have been consistent but not stunning. A 7-8th placement in the Dota Pit League Season 5 was followed by elimination in the DAC 2017 qualifiers by Team NP, but on the plus side they did qualify for StarLadder, which will be their last tournament ahead of the Kiev Major.
TnC Pro Team
TnC are hot property on the SEA scene right now. With Fnatic and MVP in decline, TnC are battling with Team Faceless to be the top name in the region. The team became the first Dota 2 World Champions after winning the World Electronic Sports Games as the Philippines representative last month. Bringing back Marc Polo “Raven” Luis Fausto from Fnatic and signing Timothy “Tims” Randrup were key in improving the roster. In Shanghai, however, the competition will be of a higher standard and it will be interesting to see how they measure up.
The third season of the StarLadder i-League StarSeries sees a nice blend of Dota 2 teams. Some of them are on a great run, while for others Shanghai could see them sink further into obscurity. While teams such as EG and Newbee will certainly be missed, the StarLadder stage has all the right ingredients for an explosive spectacle.
