Everything you need to know before the Manila Major
The third Dota 2 Major will begin in less than two weeks, with the Philippine capital of Manila hosting another important Dota 2 event following the ESL One in April.
A total of 16 teams will fight for a share of the $3 million prize pool as well as bragging rights. There are now 12 (instead of eight) invited teams plus four that managed to qualify through regional qualifiers.
Four groups with four teams each will form the opening Group Stage of the tournament. For the subsequent Main Event, the first two teams from each group will advance to the Upper Bracket and the bottom two to the Lower Bracket.
The match format remains the same – best-of-five for the Grand Finals, best-of-one for the first two rounds of the Lower Bracket and everything else as a best-of-three.
The Favourites
Team Liquid
Runners-up in Shanghai, Team Liquid have been showing a consistently high level of performance recently and winning gold in Moscow will only enhance their appetite for success.
Arguably the best Dota 2 team right now, Team Liquid have just won Epicenter after losing two recent finals in Premier competitions (the Shanghai Major and ESL One Manila). At Epicenter, they managed to reach the Grand Finals from the Winners’ Bracket without losing a single match. The only team who truly tested their mettle was Newbee in the final match-up, but the KuroKy-led squad managed to overturn a 2-1 disadvantage to triumph 3-2.
Newbee
Impressively, the team qualified for the Manila Major without dropping a single game and will enter the tournament with high confidence.
Newbee’s recent resurgence became evident when they started having an impact in their home Dota scene by winning the weekly H-Cup Seasons 5 and 6. Building on that, the team almost won Epicenter after going all the way from the Qualifiers to the Grand Finals. They have set a record of 29 straight wins (beating Na’Vi’s three-year-old record of 24 wins in a row), the longest winning streak in Dota 2 so far.
MVP
The team have been performing at a high level and are rightfully considered among the favourites for Manila.
Due to Fnatic’s recent dominance of the SEA region, MVP failed to qualify for Epicenter. However, they did win two recent Premier tournaments – the WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3 earlier in May and the Dota Pit League Season 4 back in March. MVP shone in Shanghai where many teams were unprepared for their early aggression playstyle. This allowed them to finish 4th.
OG
Winning DreamLeague Season 5 last weekend marked their first tournament success this year.
The winners of the first Major in Frankfurt back in November did not perform to their best in Shanghai, finishing 7-8th. Having climbed into the top tier of teams after winning the first Major, OG went into a bit of a slump following a subsequent success in DreamLeague Season 4 and did not win any tournaments for a couple of months. Recently, they have bounced back, managing to finish 3rd in Epicenter after causing problems for champions Team Liquid. They were just one step short of the Grand Finals, losing 2-1 to Newbee in the Losers’ Finals.
The Contenders
Team Secret
At ESL One Manila they were eliminated in the Group Stage without making any impact while the team also failed to spark at Epicenter, failing to win a single match before being eliminated by Alliance in the first stage of the Losers’ Bracket. This is one of Team Secret’s worst performances to date.
The main reason for leaving the star team out of the list of favourites is that the new roster hasn’t been working as well as expected. The last two Premier tournaments have ended in disappointment for Team Secret.
EG
The TI 5 winners’ position as the best NA team is not as firm as it used to be.
Following the roster changes which saw them lose UNiVeRsE and Arteezy to Team Secret, the team participated in two tournaments earlier this month. They earned 3rd place in the WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3, battling their way from the Losers’ Bracket. EG also took part in Epicenter, where they lost against compatriots compLexity for the first time. Key issues for them are that Aui_2000 is still adapting to the Carry role and the team’s chemistry still leaves a lot to be desired.
Wings Gaming
The team participated in the Qualifiers for ESL One Frankfurt this month, but were eliminated by Vici Gaming.
The Chinese underdogs accounted for the biggest upset this year by winning the ESL One in Manila all the way from the Chinese Qualifiers. The team haven’t participated in an International tournament since then, which makes their current form a bit of a mystery.
LGD Gaming
Winning the ESL One Frankfurt Chinese Qualifiers is another sign of good form and why they should be considered a good outside chance here.
One of the more questionable invitees for the tournament, LGD were part of the general Chinese failure at the Shanghai Major, finishing in 9-12th spot on home turf. The team have upped their game since the middle of March following some roster changes though, securing 3rd spot in the StarLadder i-League Invitational.
Vici Gaming Reborn
This Chinese team is part of the Vici Gaming organization. The current roster was formed back in March and it didn’t take them long to win a tournament by upsetting everyone at the StarLadder i-League Invitational. To do that, the team had to overcome solid European opposition as well as compatriots LGD. Given their recent success, their invitation for the Manila Major is not surprising.
Fnatic
Fnatic are one of the teams that have been building momentum over the last couple of months.
After setting records in March for being unbeaten for 22 games in a row, the team surprisingly failed to advance to the main event at Epicenter as they were eliminated in the pre-tournament wildcard stage. Mushi’s return following a period of sickness forced the first roster change since December 2015, with Net leaving the team shortly after being substituted in favour of 343. Fans were quick to point out that Mushi is no longer needed and disrupted the chemistry of the team, but only time will tell whether the move was a wise one.
compLexity Gaming
The American-Swedish amalgam could be one of the surprises in the forthcoming Major.
While two months ago it seemed that the poster boys from the NA Dota scene were EG, now things aren’t so clear as compLexity managed to gain their first victory over them, eliminating EG from Epicenter en-route to finishing 4th. The team haven’t been making huge leaps in terms of improvement, but they have been steadily bettering their game and their latest performances highlight this (Dota Pit League Season 4 – 3rd-4th place, Epicenter – 4th).
Alliance
The team haven’t ranked higher than 5-6th in the last two tournaments and so it is hard to put them alongside the favourites.
The Swedish Dota giants of the past have recently struggled to finish in positions matching their reputation. In January this year they showed signs of a comeback after winning the Star Ladder Star Series Season 13 & i-League Season 4, but this achievement was not repeated in the months that followed. Although not disappointing, they have not been too impressive either – 7-8th in Shanghai is below expectations.
Na’Vi
One of the most beloved teams of recent times, the Ukrainian outfit have recently reemerged as one of the top tier Dota 2 teams.
Missing the previous two Majors, Na’Vi deserved an invite with their good performances in Dota Pit League Season 4 (3rd-4th), StarLadder i-League Invitational (2nd) and Dream League Season 5 (1st). Performing in a Major is a whole different story though and this will show whether the new Na’Vi can play with the big boys.
Team Empire
The team’s entirely new roster has proven to be capable of causing problems for some of the best teams around.
Team Empire overhauled their entire roster in March and managed to qualify for Manila by overcoming tough opposition in every stage of the European Qualifiers. Empire were resilient enough to reach the Grand Final through the Losers’ Bracket and eventually win in a five game thriller. Fourth place in WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3 and 3rd-4th in ESL One Manila 2016 are some of their more notable recent performances.
The Underdogs
Mineski
Despite being hosts, Mineski will most likely have a really hard time to do anything worthy of note.
Qualifying for International Dota 2 events had become somewhat routine for Mineski, but since the rise of MVP and Fnatic in the SEA region, the Philippines-based team have found things more difficult. This time, both of their rivals received a deserved direct invitation, so Mineski had a bit of breathing space during the Qualifiers.
Digital Chaos
Digital Chaos haven’t been convincing at home and have failed to qualify for a number of International tournaments. Given that this will be their first test at this level with this roster, expectations are not high for them.
DC qualified from the Americas zone, where Shazam proved to be the only serious opponent. The new March roster contains names of two winners of the Shanghai Major (w33 and captain MiSeRy) which is impressive. Although they failed to qualify for Epicenter and most recently ESL One Frankfurt, the team performed when it mattered and managed to qualify for the Manila Major.
Dafabet will be providing competitive odds on The Manila Major.
