Seven invitees and one qualified team will contest a prize pool of $100,000. The tournament will be played in a double elimination bracket format, all matchups being best-of-three series, apart from the grand final, that will traditionally extend into best-of-five.
And these will be the main actors on the NA BEAT Invitational stage:
Wings Gaming, ladies and gentleman
This will be the first international LAN tournament where you will be able to watch the team that won many fans’ hearts all over the world with their unconventional picks and strategies during their ascension at TI 6. Understandably, the Chinese did not make any changes to their roster following their major success. Wings are going to play at the Summit 6 and at the Boston Major, so this will be a good warm up tournament for them. Making a name for being a drafting enigma, Wings have been recently trying out Visage in some of their games. Rubick has been another popular choice for them as of late (Rubick also having resurgence in European Dota), so it will not be a surprise if we witness something brand new from the Chinese.
Will EG claim it?
The flagship of NA Dota was one of the most talked about teams during the shuffle period after Fear and Peter 'ppd' Dager’s retirement. Quite a few eyebrows were raised over whether the lineup would work and if Andreas Franck 'Cr1t-' Nielsen can fill in ppd’s shoes as Evil Geniuses’ captain. Reasons such as “greedy lineup” were mentioned here and there, but the results so far have proved the skeptics wrong. EG is on the path of victory after dominating the opposition in MDL 2016 Autumn, where they won in convincing fashion, especially in the final against Newbee. Now they will have a chance to take vengeance against Wings Gaming for their loss at TI 6 at the winners’ bracket finals.
Ad Finem - a (not so) surprising turn of events?
Ad Finem were invited as a replacement for Team Liquid, who withdrew due to roster issues, and it was certainly one of the best choices that the organizers could have made. The high-flying Greeks upset everyone by qualifying for a Valve event for a first time - the Boston Major, beating Team Secret and Team Liquid on their way. Although they lack experience on international stage, Ad Finem have twice been to LAN events before - The Summit 5 in July and WePlay Dota 2 League Season 3 in April this year. The difference is that they are now one of the best performing European teams and will enter the tournament with lots of confidence.
The rest of the bunch
EHOME strikes us as another potential favourite in the tournament. The Chinese powerhouse will be playing outside China for the first time since TI. Their new roster blend of experience and youth has been doing well on home turf so far, securing a spot at The Summit 6 after the qualifiers and coming third in Shanghai Dota 2 Open #2. EHOME are usually a force to be reckoned with and should not be underestimated.
Alliance rebranded and refreshed their squad, but success has been elusive for the new all-Swedish line-up. Things have been rough for Alliance since they failed to qualify for a number of events, including the Boston Major, and they will have to make the most of this event as it is most likely their last for the calendar year.
There is a considerable NA presence, as NP and compLexity will attend their first LAN event during this season too. EE’s team has been convincing on NA stages and managed to qualify for all of the events they took part in so far - The Summit 6, the Boston Major and ESL One Genting 2017. On the other hand, compLexity are facing an unavoidable problem just before the tournament, as Justin 'jk' Rosselle is no longer part of the team and a replacement is needed.
FDL are the only team that went through a qualifier and will make a second LAN appearance this year after taking part in the Summit 5 in July, as a fans’ favourite team poll. This will be a great opportunity for the team with nothing to lose and a chance to test their mettle against some of the very best.
Apart from the opportunity to see some of the best Dota 2 teams around, the tournament will feature top casting talent, such as Kevin 'Purge' Godec, Austin 'Capitalist' Walsh, Andrew 'Zyori' Campbell and SirActionSlacks.
The opening match between Ad Finem and Team NP starts on Thursday, 16:30 CET/10:30 EET.
