None of the SEA Dota2 teams were invited to play at The Frankfurt Major which meant they had to battle it out and earn their places at the finals.
Mineski got in by beating Fnatic 2-1 in the upper bracket finals while Fnatic earned their place by beating fellow Malaysian team SatuDuaTiga, 2-0, in the lower bracket finals.
Here are the teams that they will face in the group stage:
- Europe: Virtus.Pro (VP), Team Secret (TS), Vega Squadron (VS), OG (formerly (monkey) Business), Alliance
- China: Invictus Gaming, LGD Gaming, Vici Gaming (VG), CDEC Gaming, EHOME, Newbee
- North America: Cloud9, Unknown.xiu, Evil Geniuses (EG)
Regardless of the groups that Fnatic and Mineski are placed in they’ll face a hard time unless luck is on their side. The caliber of teams from around the world is very high and they’re not going to be up against any “weaker” teams.
Still, let’s not be too negative, if Fnatic and Mineski are on fire (as they can be) we’ll see some really exciting and interesting games. And who knows, maybe there will be an upset or two, right?
What can SEA teams gain out of this?
To be perfectly honest, the SEA teams need to up their game in order to deal with the star power the rest of the work brings to international competition. This is not to say that SEA, as a region, does not have any talent whatsoever, but right now, potential would need to transition into reality for them to be successful. These teams need to be molded and turned into well-oiled machines that can legitimately stand up the big boys such as LGD, EG and VS amongst others.
Fnatic has all the experience and talent to be able to compete and win against other regions. However, each player needs to be placed in a role that allows them to create maximum impact. Adding a couple of heroes (or fully mastering the heroes) that they have in the pool should also help in giving them a better fighting chance.
Mineski, playing with a new roster, showing unseen before discipline and decision making skills are in a solid position to put on a strong fight. With a good hero pool they can be considered as a team who can give their regional counterparts a decent run for their money.
These SEA teams aren’t going to be going into the competition as solid favorites, far from it, but the experience that they gain at the event will undoubtedly put them in a good place for next year’s campaign.
How far can they go into the tournament?
Unless they can get a lucky draw or they can upset their opponents in two best-of-three matches, they are absolutely guaranteed to drop to the lower bracket at the Main Event.
Still, any placing in the tournament would be good enough for them…and a finish in the top eight would certainly create waves not just in the region, but all over the world as well.
