For those who might have missed the most important news from the past week in the competitive Dota2 scene, here is a short recap.
Tournament news:
Trial player Ah Fu qualifies with LFY for EPICENTER 2017
Released from the WG Unity roster only a week ago, Tue Soon 'Ah Fu' Chuan is on trial status at LGD Forever Young and has already produced some great results for the Chinese team. LFY announced last week two new additions to their roster, namely He 'Inflame' Yongzheng and Ah Fu. However, in LGD’s official announcement made via their weibo account, the former WG Unity member was declared as initially joining on an 'experimental phase'.
Clutch Gamers secured their fourth LAN presence this week.
In less than one month these Filipino sensations have taken the region by storm and ripped open the doors into the international scene. Starting at the end of April, the team secured themselves a place at premier events in all four corners of the world - Manila Masters, EPICENTER Moscow 2017, Summit 7 and MDL.
Thunderbirds punch their ticket for EPICENTER Moscow 2017
With a tidy 2:0 sweep through the revamped Team NP squad, Thunderbirds have claimed a spot for the Epicenter Moscow 2017 LAN to battle it out for a slice of the $500,000 prize pool next month.
Na’Vi steamroll everyone and qualify for the Summit 7
After a rather long string of sub-par results Natus Vincere seemed to be on the up once again. With Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev returning to the team in late April, the team looked to center themselves and get through a grueling few months of qualifiers. The 7th iteration of Dota's Summit saw them excel in the European qualifier – even though they were given what was essentially a free pass as Cloud 9 withdrew from the tournament.
NP lock down Summit 7 LAN spot
Only two weeks after forming one of the most anticipated new rosters and rising formidable opponents, NP has snatched another LAN spot after edging out Digital Chaos in the hard fought 5 game grand finals of Summit 7 NA qualifiers.
CDEC Gaming qualify for the Summit 7
After nearly two years of missing big LAN events, CDEC Gaming defeated LGD Gaming this morning to ensure themselves the tickets for the seventh edition of the Summit.
Warriors Gaming Unity are going to Taipei for Zotac Cup
WG Unity used two players from their youth team to play the Zotac Cup and MDL qualifiers. While Mars Dota 2 League didn’t go well for them, the Malaysians dominated the Zotac Cup bracket to reach the grand finals and defeat Mineski in the last act.
Nahaz returns to the analyst’s desk with StarLadder i-League Invitational S2
Bringing you the action from SL i-League Invitational S2 are well-known casters like Ben 'Merlini' Wu, Austin 'Capitalist' Walsh, and crowd favourite Jack 'KBBQ' Chen. Alongside the English talent, Starladder announced their Russian studio as well, with the likes of Roman 'Casperrr' Lepekhin and Alexey 'Bafik' Bafadarov on the list. Helming the English studio, however, is the sorely missed stats man himself, Alan 'Nahaz' Bester.
Valve announcements:
Impatiently awaited by many, the 7.06 gameplay update brings huge changes to the game mechanics, including the removal of all the 42 respawn talents.
Team announcements:
Cloud9 disbands their entire Dota 2 roster
The five Danes of Cloud9 have decided to part ways with the organization as well as with each other as they announce the disband of their Dota 2 roster, just three days before the end of the Post-Kiev Shuffle's drop period ends. BabyKnight may have left Cloud9, but Cloud9 is certainly not leaving him anytime soon, as he will continue to remain under the Cloud9 banner as a streamer alongside WehSing 'SingSing' Yuen, who is also streaming under the Cloud9 banner.
TNC pull out of the Southeast Asian qualifiers for EPICENTER
Internal issues seem to be overshadowing TNC Pro Team's tournament schedules, as they pull out of the Southeast Asian qualifiers for EPICENTER.
Hao makes his return to competing with Vici Gaming
Chen “Hao” Zhihao has brought his hiatus to an end after almost nine months - joining up with Vici Gaming. As Hao steps in, Yang "END" Pu will be taking a break from gaming according to the organization.
Mineski welcomes aboard a CIS veteran
The announcement of Mag joining Mineski was made by Yammerz Yui, Mineski’s Dota 2 team manager, on her personal facebook and twitter accounts. There’s been no official statements released by either the organization, nor Mag.