Esports Gaming: To kick off the festive month for competitive Dota 2 gameplay, fans will get the chance to watch the Republic of Gamers Masters Major, starting on December 7. A sub-brand of gaming tech company ASUS, this tournament offers an appropriately alluring prize pool of $235,000 to the winning teams. Although a fairly small competition, compared to some, an interesting lineup of teams and players makes the Kuala Lumpur competition all the more worthwhile to watch.
Format
With only six teams in attendance, this tournament obviously has to rely on a slightly unusual format to determine its winners. The six teams are first split into two groups of three, and play off against one another within these groups in a best-of-two matchup. After each team has faced the two others in their group, the side in each group with the most wins advances straight to the semifinals.
The remaining four teams begin a tier lower, and must play in the semifinals first. These matches are all best of three, save for the finals, which are best of five. This ensures that each team will get to take part in a minimum of three matches, and a maximum of five, guaranteeing that all teams present will get a good chance to show off their skills.
Entrants
Interestingly, none of the six teams at this event were invited – instead earning their spot through regional qualifiers. Two teams from Europe and the Middle East & Africa (EMEA) will take part, along with two from the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), one from the Americas and one from China.
Considered one of Russia’s top eSports teams, EMEA qualifier Empire have an impressive collection of past wins, with six first-place prizes at major tournaments between 2014 and 2015. Their recent performances have been less noteworthy, however, mostly attending smaller tournaments and qualifiers after their 7th-8th place ranking at TI7. However, only last month, the team saw the return of veteran Empire player, Silent. A talented and capable player who once held the record for the most wins in competitive matches worldwide, the presence of this past player might help give them the edge in some of the tournaments they’ve qualified for this year.
The runners-up of the EMEA qualifiers are PENTA sports, a lesser-known German-European team. Without less than a single percentage of Team Empire’s total tournament winnings of $1,800,000, it’s tough to see these underdogs winning the tournament after losing to Empire in the qualifiers. The team only formed this year, but have seen some success so far, coming in first at the StarLadder ProSeries S20 and the WellPlay Invitational #9.
First place at the APAC qualifiers is WarriorsGaming.Unity, one of Malaysia’s top Dota 2 teams. A fairly experienced group, with some impressive past accolades – perhaps the greatest, and certainly the most profitable, was placing top eight in the 2016 Boston Major – their performance is difficult to predict. Recent overhauls within the team mean that all members have joined within the last four months. Some players who recently left have cited communication difficulties; this lack of unity may be a key weakness for the team.
The runners-up, Execration, are a Filipino Dota 2 team, who have butted heads with WarriorsGaming repeatedly in the past. Though arguably a more prestigious team, going by their tournament winnings, they seem to have been defeated all too often by the Malaysians in the past. And with frequent organisational issues plaguing them, it’s tough to see this team making it all the way in the weeks to come.
Team Max come from the China qualifiers, with team OpTic coming from the USA. There’s not a lot to say about these two teams, however – Max are a minor team that only formed at the start of the year, and haven’t been able to distinguish themselves just yet. Team OpTic, typically a Call of Duty eSports group, created a new Dota 2 division as recently as September. With some impressive names in their roster, like zai and ppd, and after coming in first place at the recent Midas Mode tournament, this team could well be a rising star in the scene. Although both relatively untested, ROG Masters 2017 gives both of these teams a chance to distinguish themselves.
Conclusion
This tournament has perhaps more young blood in the scene than many Majors we’ve seen this competitive season thus far. With a chance to see some of the newer teams in action, even matching up against veteran group like Team Empire, is a rare opportunity. And if one goes on to win the tournament, it could well be the mark of five up-and-coming champions.
