Big Names Heading to Seattle for The International 4
Valve has announced which teams have received a direct invite to the biggest Dota 2 tournament in history, The International 4.
All three previous winners, NaVi (TI1), IG (TI2) and Alliance (TI3) have made the cut along with Titan eSports, EG, Fnatic, Vici Gaming, Team DK and Cloud 9. Team Empire has also received a direct invite after a stunning run of success in recent months as have the newly formed Chinese super team NewBee.
There will be 16 teams in total at the event so 5 spaces are still up for grabs. 4 of these will go to the winner of each region’s qualifying tournaments. The runner up from each qualifying tournament will head to Seattle and compete for the final place at TI4 in a Play-In Series just days before the event starts.
The qualifiers will start on May 12th with the North American group and will conclude on May 27th with the European group, but not before the winners of the Chinese and South East Asia groups have been decided. The full list of teams in the qualifiers can be seen below but the standout teams are obvious.
Team Liquid would have almost been assured a direct invite had Fulff not left the team (in a less than graceful way) a few months ago but now are forced to fight it out with eHug and other NA teams in the qualifiers.
Personally I feel Team Dog are deserving of a direct invite. Despite being a new team their current roster of Pajkatt, MiSeRy, MSS and the two former Sigma (and Mouz, lest we forget) players FATA and paS make for one of the strongest teams around right now. (It’s also worth noting that Sigma seem to be gone for good as they don’t even feature in the qualifiers.) With a bit of luck they will be able to fight off the tough competition from Next.KZ and RoX.KIS in the European group and grab a spot at TI4.
The China and SEA qualifying groups are more of an even bunch but I’m putting my money on LGD or CIS to take the Chinese group and possibly Zephyr or MVP Phoenix to take SEA (although this certainly looks like the most even group out of the 4, so anything could happen).
But what about Dota legend SyndereN? I hear you ask. Well as he has retired from professional play he wont be partaking in the tournament but will instead be joining up with his Dota Cinema casting partner SunsFan and D2L caster Ayesee along with the Beyond the Summit crew to commentate and provide coverage of all the qualifying events for North American. The European casting hub will be taking place at the GD Studio house and will see collaborations with the JoinDota crew and the almighty Pyrion Flax among others.
The International 4 is coming up fast but there is still a lot we don’t know about the event, be sure to stay tuned to God is a Geek for more coverage of TI4 as the event draws near. Below is a rundown of all four qualifying groups.
May 12 – 15th NA Qualifier
1. CNB e-Sports Club
2. No Earthspirit
3. North American Rejects
4. Osiris Gaming
5. Revenge eSports
6. Sneaky Nyx Assassins
7. Team eHug
8. Team Liquid
9. TOP5
10. Union Gaming
May 16th – 19th SEA Qualifier
1. Arrow Gaming
2. Execration
3. First Departure
4. Mineski Infinity
5. MiTH.Trust
6. MVP Phoenix
7. Orange Esports
8. Rex Regum Qeon
9. Scythe Gaming
10. Team Zephyr
May 20th – 23th Chinese Qualifier
1. CIS Game
2. CNB.cn
3. DT.NGC
4. HyperGloryTeam
5. LGD.CDEC
6. LGD Gaming
7. New Element
8. Orenda
9. Speed Gaming.cn
10. TongFu
24th – 27th European Qualifier
1. Aware Gaming
2. hehe united
3. Monomaniacs
4. Meet Your Makers
5. NEXT.kz
6. Power Rangers
7. Relax
8. RoX.KIS
9. Team Dog
10. Virtus.pro
