The International 4 Chinese qualifiers are set to begin May 20th at 6:00 CEST. The event will take place between May 20th and May 23rd, located at the Long Wish Hotel International, Jiangyin building. The playoffs will consist of an online and offline stage, with both taking place inside the building.
Finishing first place in the qualifiers will land the winners a slot in The International 4, while second prize will have a chance to enter The International 4 by winning the play-in series, where they will compete against other second place finishers from each region.
The Tournament Format
The first phase of the tournament will be online, where each team will play a best-of-one series against each team once. This is a massive hurdle for each team due to the extreme number of games in two days. Once these matches have concluded, the top four teams will advance to the offline playoffs.
Winning the group phase is important due to the top two finishers landing themselves in the upper bracket. Third and fourth place will be placed in the lower bracket, where they could potentially be knocked out by losing one series.
About the teams
The Chinese region boasts some of the strongest teams out of all The International 4 qualifiers, filled with teams that have proven themselves capable of competing with the best. With such talent converging to compete for the chance to win millions of dollars, expect some of the fiercest battles the qualifiers have seen yet. Despite having many powerful teams, only two will have the opportunity to move on to Seattle.
Despite receiving fourth place at The International 3, Tongfu underwent a constructory period after the loss of several of their players, notably Chen "Zhou" Yao and Pan "Mu" Zhang. Focusing on the amatuer scene of Dota 2, Tongfu.WZ was formed in the hopes of fostering rookies with great potential. Despite being an amatuer team. Tongfu.WZ has managed to compete with professional teams thus far, and looks to qualify for TI4 without a star studded roster.
LGD.CDED was formed a few weeks ago shortly after star player Yao "Maybe" Lu was released from the primary squad. Now captain of the number two LGD team, he hopes to lead them to victory in the Chinese qualifiers and prove that they have what it takes to compete on equal footing with other Chinese teams.
Despite a poor showing during last season of WPC, New Element has returned to the Chinese scene to compete in The International Qualifiers. Although they knocked Titan out of the MSI Gosucup Asia, New Element has yet to win anything significant. New Element hopes to showcase their strength by qualifying for TI4.
After Speed Gaming lost their international roster, Speed.cn was revealed in the 2014 WPC-ACE qualifiers. They are another team that has yet to achieve anything significant, but looks to make an impression with a strong showing in the qualifiers.
CIS, founded in 2014, was led by team captain Shiyang "June" Lin when Dota 2 veteran Dominik "Black^" Reitmeier joined in March 2014. Although CIS has recently been in a slump, they hold notable wins high caliber teams like DK and Newbee. Look for CIS to possibly upset some of the stronger teams in the tournament.
DT.NGC is one of the older teams in the Chinese Dota 2 scene, beginning their legacy in 2011. Led by Su "Super" Peng, they managed to earn third place in the Sina Cup Season 3 where they defeated LGD Gaming. They recently attempted to qualify for The Summit, but came up short against Vici Gaming. Now, DT seeks to qualify for TI4 and regain some of their lost momentum.
Orenda is an amatuer team not unlike Tongfu.Wz that seeks to compete with other professional Chinese teams for a chance at The International 4. Winners of the amateur qualifiers for WPC 2014, Orenda has recently suffered a string of defeats at the hands of some of the stronger Chinese teams. Undeterred, Orenda marches on towards the qualifiers with determination.
CNB.cn has recently been competing with an unknown roster, and therefore much mystery surrounds this team. CNB does not hold any notable achievements, but has potential as evidenced by victories over teams like CIS and HyperGloryTeam.
LGD is one of the favorite teams going into the qualifiers. Boasting a rich lineage of some of the best Dota 2 players in the Chinese scene, LGD has recently been unable to find success against the stronger teams that were directly invited to The International 4. Moving forward, LGD looks to once and for all dispel all doubts that they are every bit as capable as the other top teams in the world.
HyperGloryTeam is another one of the stronger looking teams based on past performance. Led by veteran Jian "ZSMJ" Gong, former player for Newbee and Tongfu, HGT looks to establish themselves as an up-and-coming team that is capable of performing at the highest level. With notable victories over teams like ViCi Gaming to claim first prize in the WVW National Electronic Sports Classic Season 1, HGT may prove to be a top contender for the Chinese 2014 International Qualifiers.
Casting information and roster
The live cast will be hosted by famous casters such as BBC, DC, LongDD, 820, xiao8mm, XX, Zhou, and Zippo.
In order : BBC, 820, DC, LongDD, XX, Zhou
For more information about The International qualifiers, visit our coverage hub here!
Head over to our wiki page for The International 2014!
Caster images from uu9.
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