Winstrike Team
Coming out of the CIS qualifier, this Russian team will be the youngest to participate in this year’s International.
Only established in June, Winstrike haven’t had much of a chance to make a name for themselves thus far, but the roster certainly isn’t to be sniffed at.
Under the FlyToMoon team banner, these players managed to place 3rd in the EPICENTER XL Premier, even managing to take a win against TI7 champs Team Liquid, although Liquid were able to beat them 2-1 in the end. They did, however, manage what many of the world’s top teams have failed to do – soundly defeat Russian giants Virtus.pro, beating them 2-0 in the quarter-finals.
Even so, only two members of the team have participated in an International event before – position 5 player ALWAYSWANNAFLY, and position 1 player Silent. The latter is perhaps the team’s most formidable player, best known for his 2015 performances. With Team Empire, he made it to the 9th-12th place of TI5 and ended the year as the world-record holder for the most competitive games played, and most competitive games won.
The team are certainly a minor one, with the current incarnation having never competed in a tournament before the International qualifiers. But with the ability to come ahead of groups like Team Empire and Team Spirit, and having proved they can go up against some of Dota’s most daunting teams, they may well be a wild card to keep an eye on.
Dafabet title odds: 27.830
Team Serenity
The story for this Chinese team goes much the same as Winstrike’s – a fairly recent addition to the competitive scene, they managed to beat a few top-tier teams during the China qualifier.
That qualifier saw them win 2-0 against LFY, absolutely rolling over the 3rd-placed TI7 team, as well as going 2-1 against Invictus Gaming.
Founded in the aftermath of last year’s International, the team have struggled to qualify for tournaments.
Even if they are able to rise to the challenge, experience poses a significant risk to the team’s International hopes – none of their current roster has ever made it to the world stage before now.
Perhaps their most capable member is XinQ, the team’s offlane player, a veteran of the scene since 2014 with more earned from prize pools than the rest of the team combined. Best known for his victory at ESCC 2015 during his time with TongFu, even he seems to lack the competitive record most International hopefuls boast.
Similar to Winstrike, this team could shake things up – their ability to soundly defeat LFY may bode well for them, though they haven’t proven their potential quite as much as the Russian hopefuls.
It would be a surprise to see Serenity managing to earn a high score at TI8, but stranger things have happened.
Dafabet title odds: 20.590
Invictus Gaming
The runners-up of the China qualifier, Invictus are yet another team with everything to prove at TI8.
They have attended every International except for TI6, winning TI2, meaning the team is one of the rare few to have a chance at becoming the first two-time International winners.
The team are best known for their dominance during the game’s early years, but nowadays seem to be struggling. The past year has seen them eliminated early even at qualifiers, and their matches against some of the other TI8 participants have been one-sided – they have suffered decisive defeats at the hands of LGD, Newbee and OG over the past few months. The team haven’t won a major in over two years, their last at the National Electronic Arena 2016.
Invictus’ performance at TI7, however, was a strong one. They managed to rank 5th-6th, even knocking the eventual winners Team Liquid to the loser’s bracket with a 2-1 success in the early stages of the event, before ultimately being eliminated by LGD.
Their roster has changed somewhat – Agressif and Srf filling positions 1 and 3 respectively – but they have maintained their key players. BoBoKa especially distinguished himself at TI7, demonstrating his talent for picking off Liquid’s heroes on Night Stalker and Riki, giving the rest of Invictus the freedom to play the game they wanted.
But without many significant victories since TI7, and having been beaten in the qualifiers by a minor team like Serenity, Invictus will have to pull out all the stops to prove that their best days aren’t behind them.
Despite entering the tournament without managing to secure a win, the Chinese team’s prospects are better than a few in the pool of teams, thanks to their experience and competitive record. That said, their lacklustre recent performances make them fairly big outsiders. Not many expect to see iG make it as far as they did last year.
Dafabet title odds: 96.050
