Shanghai Major Preview – Group A
Group A of the Shanghai Major will contain the following teams: Team Secret (Europe), EHOME.cn (China), CDEC Gaming (China) and MVP Phoenix (South Korea).
Team Secret
Their record and current form don’t suggest that the team will do any better than 5-6th place.
Team Secret emerged as an all-star team at the beginning of 2015 and it didn’t take them long to start dominating the Dota 2 scene. However, in the TI 5 they suffered major disappointment as they were eliminated early.
The team disbanded and was reborn by Puppey, who signed some fresh talent, including the relatively experienced EternalEnVy. The newly created outfit have played well of late, but since their second place at the Frankfurt Major, their form has significantly dropped.
Their recent achievements include:
- 9th-12th at WCA Cyber Arena
- 5th-6th at Starladder i-League
- 7th-8th at MarsTV Dota2 League Winter 2015
The team’s January form was not particularly good, with a 36% win rate consisting of 5 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses.
Their playing style mostly revolves around the classic four protect one with the carry EternaLEnVy getting farmed up. This generally leads to longer games which are decided in the late game stage. This strategy makes EternaLEnVy (537GPM, 523XPM) and his farming skills very important and ever since he was added to the team, they have won 11 and lost 12 of their 23 games.
Puppey’s role is also crucial. He is known for being a stable drafter and a great strategist who favours picks that the team is familiar with rather than experimenting. The team’s most picked heroes in this patch are Dazzle (9 times picked, 48.3% pick-ban rate), Earth Spirit (9 times picked, 48.3% pick-ban rate) and Invoker (8 times picked, 37.9% pick-ban rate), while the most disliked hero to play against for this team is Io, who has been banned 17 times. Despite being quite popular in the current meta, the Gyrocopter isn’t one of the most frequent carry picks as he is not EternaLEnVy’s favourite choice.
The reality is that their performance in this tournament might seal the fate of the current roster because they have been underperforming for a while.This looks likely as despite their skills.
EHOME.cn
A major contender for the trophy, EHOME should be able to land at least a top four spot. However, they are the favourites for many and so it wouldn’t be surprising if they win the tournament.
EHOME.cn were directly invited to the competition and are favourites for a major tournament for the first time in years. Their current domination of the Dota scene was most recently demonstrated by their crushing 3-0 victory over EG (undoubtedly the best team in 2015) in the MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter Final.
Their current win rate is 60%, with 6 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss, while since finishing 4th at the Frankfurt Major, their most significant results have been:
- The Summit – 5-6th
- MarsTV Dota 2 League Winter 2015 – 1st
One of their key players is Cty (616GPM, 608XPM). Known for his overly aggressive style, his play has matured of late and he no longer plunges into uncoordinated and aggressive solo moves that put the team’s strategy in peril.
Their tactics depend in large part on captain LaNm. A veteran Dota 2 drafter, he is not afraid to experiment with his drafts and try different heroes for his team. He is also prone to counterpicking his opponents, playing to the enemy’s weaknesses and favouring an aggressive ganking support style.
EHOME’s hero picks in 6.86 are typical for the Chinese meta these days. The three most picked heroes are Earth Spirit (12 picks, 8 bans, 56.3% pick-ban ratio) and Batrider (10 picks, 3 bans, 40.6% pick-ban rate), while Vengeful Spirit (53.1% pick-ban rate, 5 picks, 12 bans) is the most avoided hero in their drafts and has the highest ban rates in their games in the current patch.
CDEC Gaming
Given Team Secret’s poor recent performances, CDEC have a chance of reaching the upper bracket, but they have a battle on their hands to achieve this.
A directly invited team, CDEC Gaming have been absent from premier tournaments since the Frankfurt Major.
They have maintained the same roster for a while now and this has manifested itself in a series of stable performances, particularly as Agressif, Q, and garder have been together since October 2014. They have only played three official games over the past two months though and their recent form is a bit of an enigma. Out of the three matches, they won one and lost the other two, corresponding to a 33% win rate.
Agressif is one of their key players (512GPM, 486XPM). He is renowned as a carry with excellent farming skills, especially with Juggernaut (889GPM is his personal best), with whom he manages to find a healthy balance between aggression and caution.
The most picked heroes for the team are Gyrocopter (8 picks, 4 bans, 46.2% pick-ban rate) – traditionally an Agressif pick – and Spirit Breaker (8 picks, 3 bans, 42.3% pick-ban rate). Meanwhile Dark Seer is one of the heroes they fear the most (10 bans, 3 picks and 50% pick-ban rate).CDEC finished in 5-6th place in Frankfurt and will aim to achieve a better ranking this time. Their recent stats (or lack of) are not indicative of their skill level or potential.
MVP Phoenix
We will have to see if they have managed to up their game, but a 7-8th place would be considered a success.
MVP Phoenix managed to qualify as the second best team from the SEA region. The South Korean outfit have had a core group of players since 2014, with Kim “QO” Seon-yeob (541GPM, 531XPM) being the most influential. Febby is another long-standing player, having joined the team in February 2015.
MVP failed to qualify for the event in Frankfurt, but they have achieved two significant premier tournament rankings recently. They are:
- 5-6th in the MLG World Finals 2015
- 4th at Game Show Global eSports Cup
MVP Phoenix have played a significant number of official games over the past two months, with their January win rate at 62% (8 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses) and 57% in February (4 wins and 3 losses). Most of these matches, however, were not against top tier teams.
In regard to hero picks, MVP love Invoker (12 picks, 3 bans, 46.9% pick-ban rate) as well as Witch Doctor (12 picks, 0 bans, 37.5% pick-ban rate). A hero hated by this team is Vengeful Spirit (16 bans and only 2 picks, 56.3% pick-ban rate) in the current patch.
Relieved of any expectations, this team embraces the role of underdogs and tends to surprise, with the biggest being their 7-8th spot at TI 5. Recently, however, their performances in the qualifiers showed some significant weaknesses in terms of team coordination in the initiation of ganks and team fights.
