Valve has released the list of teams who will have the front row seats on the plane ride to Key Arena in Seattle, where the Dota 2 world will stop and watch as the best players collide in The International 2017.
Four-Major winner Team OG is, of course, the first team to make the invite list, followed by Virtus.Pro, Evil Geniuses, Team Liquid, Invictus Gaming and NewBee.
It is safe to say that for the first time in a long while, Valve hit the home run with the invites, as all these teams have done enough to secure the tickets with their recent performances.
Below, we’ll try to list down what the teams achieved to take that sweet painless path to Dota’s grandest stage!
OG – Frankfurt. Manila. Boston. Kiev. Nuff said.
Virtus.Pro – According to famous Dota statistician, Alan “Nahaz” Bester, teams who made it to the top four of the previous Valve event and did not change rosters will surely get invited to the next event.
The Russia-based squad not only placed second in Kiev, they nearly beat OG in the deciding Game 5 of the final. To refresh your memories, VP had a 10k lead in networth and kills in the mid game, but a botched clash on the 38th minute saw them lose four heroes, and OG capitalized to turn the game and championship around.
Evil Geniuses – The Blues are one of the semi-finalists in Kiev, and have not changed their rosters since that Major, so they also got a direct invite to TI7.
But even without that rule, EG would have had a good chance to get an outright ticket following its dominant LAN win in the loaded Manila Masters, where it beat NewBee in the finals.
EG also placed second in another LAN, bowing 1-3 to Liquid in the Moscow EPICENTER.
Invictus Gaming – China’s IG earned the qualification through two ways: one as a semifinalist in Kiev, and as DAC 2017 champion.
IG has thawed off since that fiery DAC 2017 championship and the Kiev Major, but the resurgence of Burning and his team will be a thing to watch in Key Arena.
Liquid – It took time for the new-look Liquid to gain traction, but EU’s fastest growing team is currently one of the world’s bests.
Liquid hit a snag following their championship at StarSeries 3, finishing last in DAC and 8th in Kiev, but the latest patches have been good to them and Liquid rattled off title wins in StarLadder Invitation 2 and EPICENTER 2017.
With three 9k MMR players in Miracle, Matumbaman and GH, Liquid will be one of the teams to beat in TI7.
NewBee –The long-standing Chinese franchise underachieved in the Kiev and finished among the last teams, but after a 4th-place finish in the StarLadder Invitational 2, the Blue Bees have found their groove and won LANs to earn its place among the TI invitees.
It came up short against another Blue-colored giant in EG in the Manila Masters final, but it handily won both Taiwan’s ZOTAC Cup Masters and China’s Galaxy Battles. NewBee outclassed NP 3-1 in ZC, and dismantled Planet Odd 3-0 in Hong Kong.
