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Here are the Dota 2 rivalries to watch before this year’s The International
The race to The International is heating up and there are storylines aplenty. We’ve taken a close look at the biggest rivalries on the road to Dota’s biggest tournament.
The International, the crown jewel in the competitive Dota calendar, is creeping ever closer, and the competition is heating up. Rivalries have been reignited and roster changes have created even more drama across the Dota Pro Circuit leaderboard.
As we edge nearer to Canada’s first TI in August, teams are chopping and changing their line-ups, and less teams are eligible for direct invitations. We’ve just seen compLexity remove esteemed captain Kyle ‘melonzz’ Freedman and OG drop Roman ‘Resolut1on’ Fominok. As a result, both teams effectively see any DPC points acquired thus far rendered useless because they won’t be eligible for direct invitation or regional qualifiers.
Virtus.Pro are the first team to officially qualify for TI, but the field is continuing to thin out despite a truck-load of competitions still to be played. We’ve seen GESC Jakarta conclude, as well as the Bucharest Major, and there are storylines aplenty. As the bumpy road to TI continues, we’ve picked our biggest rivalries as we approach esports’ biggest tournament.
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Virtus.pro and Natus Vincere
Virtus.pro became the first team to officially qualify for The International following victories at ESL One Katowice and the Bucharest Major. Even without those two victories, it’s likely they’d have made it. But so far, they’re now the only team that could theoretically not turn up for another tournament in the coming months and still have a place on the plane to Vancouver come August.
They were also one of the few teams to completely stick with the same roster through The International. However, at the start of February the roster would make its first change, replacing Ilya ‘Lil’ Ilyuk with Vladimir ‘RodjER’ Nikogosyan and since then they’ve gone on to win two Majors.
Daniel ‘Dendi’ Ishutin remains a Na`Vi staple
© ESL / Bart Oerbekke
Natus Vincere acquired Lil as part of the deal that saw RodjER go the other way and as a result received a tidy boost to their DPC points, putting them in the top eight. Na`Vi remains home to Daniel ‘Dendi’ Ishutin who, it’s safe to say, hasn’t managed to top the success of coming second at The International 3. Still, he remains one of the Dota community’s favourite players.
At the moment, Na`Vi are barely clinging on to a position in the direct invites slot, and Lil – an outspoken player at the best of times – has had to sit and watch his four former teammates win the better part of $1,000,000 and secure qualification to TI8 in the short time he’s been gone. We’re not sure how many times these two will meet in the coming months, but it’s sure to be an intriguing contest whenever they do. Virtus.pro theoretically have very little to play for – but Na`Vi have it all.
OpTic Gaming and compLexity
As two of the top North American teams, this rivalry was previously penned around the long-standing war between Peter ‘ppd’ Dager and Kyle ‘melonzz’ Freedman – two vociferous captains. However, in recent months it’s developed into a whole lot more.
The North American region has a host of capable teams, although prior to Evil Geniuses’ victory at GESC Jakarta last weekend, there wasn’t a whole host of good results to show for it. compLexity have triumphed over OpTic in qualifiers more often than not, but it’s simply not been the same at LAN events. OpTic and compLexity faced each other at both Bucharest and ESL One Katowice, and the result went the same way both times.
At Katowice, OpTic emerged victorious in a close best of three to prevent compLexity from reaching the main stage, while at Bucharest it was a best of one that saw coL dumped out by their North American counterparts.
Since then, coL have announced the departure of their captain and will now have to battle through open qualifiers at the minimum. There’s still a whole host of competition left, however, and the coL vs. OpTic battle will rage on. compLexity’s tendency to be the king of online qualifiers will need to be maintained as they head into a new era without the captain, who’s been omnipresent throughout the years. Meanwhile, ppd’s pursuit of a second Aegis of Champions has a long way to go.
Team Secret and Newbee
Team Secret’s Yazied ‘YapzOr’ Jaradat is focused
© ESL / Bart Oerbekke
Team Secret and Newbee sit third and fourth in the Dota Pro Circuit standings respectively, and definitely aren’t far from securing a place at Dota’s biggest tournament. Both teams have won two tournaments, with Newbee picking up two minors and Secret notching a major and one minor – leaving them both sitting fairly comfortably in the overall standings.
Of the top eight teams, they’re the only two teams to have attended nine events apiece and as a result we’ve had some great results. It almost seems as if between Team Liquid, Virtus.pro, Team Secret and Newbee, they’re heads and shoulders above most of the field and are in pole position to qualify for The International. Team Secret looked in barnstorming form in the earlier part of the season, but they’re not quite there yet.
Newbee’s Song ‘Sccc’ Chun during the ESL One Katowice group stage
© ESL / Adela Sznajde
At ESL One Genting, it was Newbee that knocked them out of the semifinals, and a similar fate befell the Clement ‘Puppey’ Ivanov-led roster at the Bucharest Major this time around. Again, Newbee would emerge victorious – this time in the quarterfinals, to leave Secret staring at elimination once more. There’s little doubt that these two will continue to lock horns throughout the season, and it’s almost reminiscent of the Liquid vs. OG vs. Newbee battle last year which carried straight through to The International and beyond.
With The International within reach now, there’s still plenty of DPC events left to play. There are chances for teams that are not even on the leaderboard to make a late run and notch a top eight spot given the heavy distribution of Pro Circuit points to major tournaments. There are storylines aplenty as late roster drama mean the open qualifiers are going to be as stacked as ever, and the aforementioned rivalries will rage on well into the summer.
Who will come out on top though? It’s definitely not clear, but time will certainly tell.
