With the new patch launched, teams will all be playing on even ground. Unlike during i-League, players and teams will come prepared for the patch, while still trying to figure out what suits them best.
WCA itself as a tournament is a successor of the old World Cyber Games and has years of experience in hosting events such as this. Dota 2 is not the only eSports title to be played out, as there will also be a Hearthstone tournament and many others. The tournament has had no online stages and invited all the attending teams, leaving only little room for a build up and excitement.
Vici Gaming
A breeze of Team DK is in the air with Vici Gaming displaying the same versatility and flexibility that the once so prominent Chinese superstar team conveyed. The duo of Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh and Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier seems to be insync and being able to rotate both roles and heroes, Vici Gaming is an unpredictable juggernaut that is currently dominating the Chinese scene.
Boasting an 80% winrate in September, the TI4 runner-up has managed to grab important wins in decisive matches, qualifying for both ESL One New York and StarLadder Season X's LAN finals. Their most recent win netted them glory at the i-League LAN finals, triumphing 3-0 over Oldboys. Despite the fact that the tournament was held on the new patch 6.82, Vici displayed stunning synergy and showed that the team is clicking.
With only a little bit of downtime, the team will head to their next LAN. With the momentum of their latest triumph, Vici Gaming will look to redeem themselves for WEC and won't allow a Western team to be victorious on Chinese soil again. The team certainly is in good form and are definitely the favorites for the title.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Jun Hao 'Super!' Xie (C) |    | 1st - i-League | 1st in World |
| Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier |    | 2nd - The International 4 | Notable Picks in September |
| Daryl 'iceiceice' Koh |    | 3rd - The Summit |  |
| Lin Sen 'Fy' Xu |    | 2nd - Sina Cup Season 3 | Winrate in September |
| Chao 'Fenrir' Lu |    |
2nd - WVW April | 24 / 0 / 6 (80%) |
Natus Vincere
Natus Vincere has had a lot of ups and downs in this new season so far. With a ferocious start into StarLadder, the team fell off, picked it up again and are now facing a bit of mediocrity. Also facing DDoS issues as of late, the Ukrainians will take the opportunity of the new patch to reset and refresh. All three matches on the new patch have been won, granted two of them were against seemingly easier opponents such as xGame.kz and HellRaisers.
For Na'Vi it is a return to China after losing in the WEC LAN finals a few weeks ago. The team has not been able to show off the aggression and creativity that once made them so strong. The team however used the opportunity to scrim against Chinese teams and in an interview with EternalEnvy, the Canadian revealed that Na'Vi is more active than ever, eager to compete and practice as much as possible.
Whether or not these efforts will be rewarded remains to be seen for now, but Na'Vi has the experience to show off their strength on LAN once more. They will face off against Newbee and will immediately have to give it their best from minute one onwards.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Artem 'fng' Barshak (C) |   | 1st - StarLadder Season 8 | 8th in World |
| Danil 'Dendi' Ishutin |  | 1st - Dota 2 Champions League | Notable Picks in September |
| Gleb 'Funn1k' Lipatnikov |    | 2nd - DotaCinema Captain's Draft Invitational |   |
| Alexander 'XBOCT' Dashkevich |    | 7th/8th - The International 4 | Winrate in September |
| Ivan 'Vanskor' Skorokhod |   | 18 / 5 / 11 (53%) |
LGD.cn
Being one of the biggest names in the Chinese scene, LGD-Gaming has struggled to return to their days of glory. Multiple roster shuffles in the Chinese scene have caused LGD to struggle to field a strong squad. However, now the team has managed to sign both Zeng Rong 'MMY' Lei and Hongda 'Faith' Zeng, two veterans that boast years of experience.
On paper, this new LGD team looks very promising, being able to rely on experience and raw talent, but the results say otherwise. With only a 42% winrate in September, the team has been struggling to keep up with the best. In a scene dominated by Vici Gaming, LGD has fallen behind both Newbee and iG, being unable to unfold their full potential.
The team around leader Yao are, in their current shape, not to be considered as a serious title contender, but the once Chinese Juggernaut knows better than to go down without a serious fight.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Zheng Zheng 'Yao' Yao (C) |  | 1st - Dota 2 League Season 4 | 12th in World |
| Jia Jun 'Sylar' Liu |   | 2nd - MarsTV Dota 2 League | Notable Picks in September |
| Xiao Dong 'InJuly' Yang |  | 2nd - Netolic Pro League #5 East | |
| Zeng Rong 'MMY' Lei |  | 5th/6th - The International 4 | Winrate in September |
| Hongda 'Faith' Zeng |   | 10 / 0 / 14 (42%) |
Cloud 9
Cloud 9 had the stigma of only placing 2nd all tournaments, but the creative minds around captain Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao were looking to lock down their second big tournament win at WEC. Their hopes however got crushed by Evil Geniuses who took them down in two consecutive bo3s.
The team still struggles with a lack of consistency, being able to win matches against the best teams, yet dropping points to seemingly weaker ones. Cloud9 seems to be shaping up though, winning six of their last nine matches. Being known for unorthodox methods and picks, it is likely that they will be able to get an early head start into the new patch.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Adrian 'FATA-' Trinks |   | 2nd - WEC 2014 | 5th in world |
| Kurtis 'Aui_2000' Ling |  | 2nd - D2CL Season 2 | Notable Picks in September |
| Pittner 'bOne7' Armand |  | 2nd - Dreamhack Bucharest |  |
| Jacky 'EternalEnvy' Mao (C) |  | 2nd - Dreamleague Season 1 | Winrate in September |
| Johan 'pieliedie' Aström |  | 5th/6th - The International 4 | 16 / 3 / 8 (59%) |
Invictus Gaming
Invictus Gaming is in a similar situation as LGD, yet not as worse. The TI2 champions have lost crucial members of their team in the post TI4 shuffle and on paper their new team does not live up to the likes of YYF and Faith. With many ups and downs at the beginning of the season, it did in fact look as if iG was unable to perform at a high level with their new roster, however their recent form suggests that all they needed was a bit of time.
In their last nine matches, they were able to win five of them, conceding all losses only to Vici Gaming. The results however only tell half the story, as their performances have become more convincing and the team seems to have found the synergy they were looking for. In the first round of the WCA tournament, they will once more face Vici Gaming and winning against them could be a turning point for ChuaN and co in this new season.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Hock Chuan 'ChuaN' Wong (C) |  | 7th/8th The International 2014 | 4th in World |
| Yinqi 'Luo' Luo |  | 1st - WPC-ACE League 2014 | Common Picks in 6.81 |
| Feichi 'Ferrari_430' Luo |  | 3rd - Esports Champions League | |
| Chen 'CHisbug' Li |  | 1st - WVW Nest June | Overall Winrate in 6.81 |
| Shiyang 'June' Lin | | 1st - Netolic Pro League #5 | 11 / 0 / 9 (55%) |
Alliance
The post TI4 shuffle left Alliance with only three member left and the team trusted in both Rasmus 'MiSeRy' Filipsen and Rasmus 'Chessie' Blomdin to fill the void. One a veteran in the scene with multiple years of experience on his back, the other a young and hungry talent from HoN. The team certainly has been able to show off what they are capable off, at the same time also displayed that a lot of work still needs to be done.
Similar to LGD, the Swedes have not been able to play on par with the best at the moment, conceding multiple losses to the likes of Team Tinker and Cloud9. Yet, the performances they displayed were promising and WCA will be an even playing field, with a new patch and on Chinese soil. Loda, Akke and MiSeRy all have experienced China multiple times and they should thus not be surprised by the culture or the surroundings, something teams often have had issues with when first playing in China.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Jonathan 'Loda' Berg(C) |    | 1st - DreamLeague Season 1 | 11th in World |
| Joakim 'Akke' Akterhall |  | 1st - Dreamhack Bucharest | Notable Picks in September |
| Henrik 'Bulldog' Ahnberg |  | 1st - D2CL Season 1 | |
| Rasmus 'MiSeRy' Filipsen | | 2nd - SLTV Season VIII | Winrate in September |
| Rasmus 'Chessie' Blomdin | |
| 9 / 3 / 8 (45%) |
Team Malaysia
Out of all the teams attending, Team Malaysia has the edge in terms of communication and synergy. The players have played together in this constellation quite successfully already, taking third place at Ti3. If it hadn't been for Mushi leaving towards China, one could only imagine where this team could've gotten to. Then again, with Yamateh, a more than suitable replacement, the players were able to put up a convincing performance at Ti4 once more.
Now back together, the squad is a force to be reckoned with. Experienced, young and hungry the team will be travelling to the WCA tournament and will be looking to make a statement. The only question is, whether they can immediately pick up where they left off at TI4. Recent performances say otherwise, as the team failed to impress thoroughly, recently conceding a crucial loss to IAP. On LAN however, this team will be able to perform much better.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Joel Zhan Leong 'Xtinct' Chan | | 7th/8th The International 2014 | 37th in World |
| Yee Fung 'Mushi' Chai (C) |   | 1st - WPC-ACE League 2014 | Notable Picks in September |
| Chong Xin 'Ohaiyo' Khoo |  | 3rd - Esports Champions League | |
| Kang Yang 'kyxy' Lee | | 1st - WVW Nest June | Winrate in September |
| Wai Pern 'Net' Lim |  | 1st - Netolic Pro League #5 | 24 / 4 / 3 (77%) |
NewBee
Following the fairy tale that was The International 2014, Newbee has replaced the retired xiao8 with LGD-Gaming's Rabbit. The team still looked promising on paper but the dominant force is gone. The Chinese have not been able to continue their stellar performances, even though they are still boasting a 60% winrate. Much like Alliance, Newbee is unable to grab wins against other top tier teams, dropping behind Invictus Gaming and Vici Gaming.
The TI4 champions still have to find the synergy they once had with xiao8 and it feels like they miss out on an actual leader that is able to pull the team together. Struggling to perform on a consistent basis, Newbee will be looking to find a new rhythm with the new patch.
| Team Roster | Notable/Signature Heroes | Team Achievements in 2014 | GosuRanking |
| Pan 'Mu' Zhang (C) | | 1st - The International 4 | 3rd in World |
| Zhi Hao 'Hao' Chen |  | 1st - MarsTV Dota 2 League | Notable picks in September |
| Jiao 'banana' Wang | | 2nd - ECL 2014 | |
| Zhao Hui 'Sansheng' Wang |  | 2nd - WVW Nest June | Winrate in September |
| Wang 'Xiaotuji' Wang | | 3rd - WPC-ACE Season 2 | 15 / 0 / 10 (60%) |
