SEA Shanghai Major Qualifiers – The Teams
In the only region that did not get any direct invitees to Shanghai, the spoils of war were shared by Fnatic and MVP Phoenix in the qualifiers. Let’s take a look at these two teams and their chances in China following the SEA Shanghai Major qualifiers.
Fnatic
One of the clear favourites from SEA, Fnatic didn’t have an easy time in the group stage, qualifying for the brackets with a record of 2 wins and 2 draws. However, once out of the groups, two match wins without losing a game were far more convincing as they sailed to Shanghai.
Fnatic are currently ranked 1st in the SEA and Oceania region and their January form reads 6 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, a win rate of 55%.
However, last summer at The International 5, things were far different as Fnatic were one of the early eliminated teams and achieved only 13-16th place.
Typically for the Dota scene, this led to roster changes, with the team almost completely reformed before The Frankfurt Major. Despite the addition of Black^, DJ and Net, Fnatic’s efforts weren’t rewarded and they ended up again in 13-16th spot.
It was time for another change as Black^ came out and Miduan came in. At the next tournament, last month’s Starladder, the team were eliminated in the group stage, although there was some improvement as they were only one win away from advancing further than 7-12th place.
While captain Mushi’s reputation as a carry and mid player is solid, his drafting skills have been questioned over the last couple of months as this is a task that he wasn’t used to doing in his previous teams. Apart from a drafter, he is also a team captain, a role more natural to support players who usually have more time and space to think about the team’s next move. As a carry, he is most often occupied by his farming role which requires more focus and dedication.
Miduan is another key player of the team. He is exceptional with the Templar Assassin and in 9 games in the current patch, Fnatic are still unbeaten whenever he has played the TA. Invoker and Puck are his other signature heroes, but the latter is not so popular in the current meta, which limits his playable hero pool.
The team heavily favours some of the current meta’s most popular heroes – with Gyrocopter and Dark Seer getting a 95.7% pick and ban rate, Invoker 91.3% and Tusk 82.6%. Fnatic feel particularly vulnerable when playing against Juggernaut, a hero strong enough in every stage of the game, so much so that he was banned in 16 of their last 23 games.
Recently, Fnatic have demonstrated that they are the best SEA can offer and when at their best, they are a considerable foe for any opponent. However, there are still question marks over their recent form in major competitions.
MVP Phoenix
The South Korean team is currently ranked 2nd in the SEA and Oceania region and 26th in the world. Although they managed to secure a spot in Shanghai, they had some poor performances (in particular vs Fnatic) in the qualifiers, and they will need to give their absolute best if they want to make any impact in China.
There is room for optimism, however, with a January win rate of 62%, having 8 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses on their record.
The South Koreans are built around Kim “QO” Seon-yeob, a key team player who has been with MVP since March 2014, and Febby, another long-standing star who has been playing for MVP since last February. With the two of them on the roster, MVP Phoenix surprised many by reaching 7-8th place at The International 5 last summer.
Two other notable performances in Premium tournaments soon followed – 5-6th in the MLG World Finals 2015 and 3rd-4th at Game Show Global eSports Cup.
Furthermore, QO has had some notable performances in recent games. His farming is particularly impressive and playing against Team Departure, he managed to average an astonishing 1.1k GPM with Alchemist (14/0/12 KDA).
MVP Phoenix tend to pick more heroes from the current meta and their picks go beyond the most popular ones. Only two heroes have been picked for more than 50% of their matches in patch 6.86 – Invoker (58.1%) and Witch Doctor (54.6%). They also seem to be comfortable playing with a greater range of heroes and have made a total of 49 different hero picks in the current patch. MVP don’t like to play against Io and Bounty Hunter, who have been banned 22 and 20 times respectively.
Despite the positives, their most recent games showed some lack of coordination in the initiation of team fights and ganks (most notably the games vs Fnatic in the SEA qualifiers, where quite a few of captain DuBu’s decisions were questionable). They will need to improve their decision making and coordinate their actions as a team if they want to be more competitive at the main event.
MVP need to play as many high tier matches as possible in order to keep growing because the current level of Dota in South Korea is behind the leading scenes. However, MVP Phoenix cannot be considered a marginal team as the opponents who did suffered the consequences in some of the premium tournaments in the last quarter of last year. The South Koreans certainly have some cards up their sleeve but will need to play them well at the Major.
To place a bet on either of the teams that went through at the SEA Shanghai Major qualifiers, visit Dafabet.
