Take a quick peek at the Regional Qualifier teams for The International 8!
Here we are, all the way through a full season of the Dota 2 Pro Circuit (DPC), through four days of back-to-back Open Qualifiers and onto the Regional Qualifiers for The International 8.
From June 18-21, the China, CIS, and South America regions will compete; from June 22-25, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America will compete. The format is a Round Robin of best-of-ones, with the bottom four teams eliminated. The top four will be seeded into a double elimination bracket featuring best-of-threes, with a best-of-five Grand Final for regions with only a single available invite.
Let’s review, region-by-region, which teams are competing for invitations to the biggest Dota 2 tournament of the year!
China
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 2
Teams:
Invictus Gaming (direct invite)
Team Serenity
Keen Gaming
CDEC Gaming
iG Vitality
For the Dream
LGD.Forever Young
Young Dumb
Who to Watch:
This region is stacked with big brand name teams. Invictus Gaming is the only team not to go through the Open Qualifiers, but don’t discount the OQ teams! CDEC Gaming, iG Vitality, and LGD.Forever Young all stand out for their organizations, and Keen Gaming made impressive runs from OQs previously this season. After the first day of the group stage, For The Dream shares the top spot with Invictus Gaming with a 3-1 record.
CIS
Photo courtesy of EPICENTER
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 1
Teams:
Vega Squadron (direct invite)
FlyToMoon (direct invite)
Team Empire
Double Dimension
ESPADA
Team Spirit
20 min afk les
Gambit Esports
Who to Watch:
CIS Open Qualifiers were intense, and the Regional Qualifier should be doubly so as teams battle for only a single spot. Team Empire is looking quite strong, as is Team Spirit, already off to good starts in the group stage. FlyToMoon (who, along with Vega Squadron, got a direct invite to the Regionals) peaked late in the DPC season, so they could be on track to finish strong and snag the invite, but any team in this region could surprise and delight fans.
South America
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 1
Teams:
SG e-sports
paiN Gaming
Infamous
Torus Gaming
Thunder Predator
Midas Club
Who to Watch:
All six South American teams had to qualify through Open Qualifiers because this region saw so much roster-swapping after the winter lock. Some teams were plagued with internet issues during Open Qualifiers, and we can only hope that those are resolved heading into Regionals. PaiN Gaming could be the favorites here as they won fans over with their third-place finish at ESL One Birmingham 2018. Still, the other five teams should not be written off as this region’s seen multiple teams win Regional Qualifiers all season long.
SEA:
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 2
Teams:
Fnatic (direct invite)
TNC Pro Team (direct invite)
BOOM ID (direct invite)
TNC Tigers
Alpha Red
Entity Esports
Battle Arena Elites
Sterling Global Dragons
Who to Watch:
Fnatic and the two TNC teams may be most familiar to international audiences, and they should be expected to perform well. Entity Gaming and Battle Arena Elites (BAE, how can you not love them?) both have many familiar, strong players on them. Either team could snag one of the SEA invites.
Europe
Photo courtesy of EPICENTER
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 1
Teams:
Team Kinguin (direct invite)
The Final Tribe (direct invite)
Kingdra (direct invite)
Team Singularity (direct invite)
OG
Wind and Rain
BlinkPool
Alliance
Who to Watch:
Europe had the most direct invitations to the Regionals: four. Team Kinguin, The Final Tribe, Kingdra, and Singularity Esports didn’t have to make OQ runs. Of those teams, The Final Tribe’s had the most recent international visibility, competing at the final DPC event, the China Dota2 Supermajor. OG’s fielding a new roster after two players departed a month ago for Evil Geniuses. Wind and Rain, BlinkPool, and the new Alliance roster are also all stacked newly-formed stacks. The Open Qualifier teams are looking fierce, so the single invite to TI8 should be hotly contested.
North America
Number of Available Invites to TI8: 3
Teams:
OpTic Gaming (direct invite)
Immortals (direct invite)
Evil Geniuses
compLexity Gaming
Team Baidu
Leviathan
VGJ.Storm
To Be Decided
Who to Watch:
North America was long thought to be the region that would have the most intense Regional Qualifier, but with three invitations available, the heat’s been turned down a little. OpTic Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and VGJ.Storm are the team names that were bandied about before the Open Qualifiers began. Will they all make it through to finish? We’ll know in a week.
Note that at the time of publication, a final Open Qualifier series needed to be played to determine the final slot (No, To Be Decided is not a team name).
TL:DR
This is The International, and it’d be foolish to say any of the six regions has an obvious winner. We’ve seen debate about North America’s three invitations, we’ve seen plenty drama through the Open Qualifiers, and now we can set that all aside. Why? Because there’s top-notch Dota 2 to watch 24/7 until June 25th when we’ll finally know who all the teams competing at The International 8 are.
It’s time to call in sick at work, set up pizza deliveries for the week so you can eat, and kick back to enjoy the celebration and heartbreak of the TI Regional Qualifiers!
