The inaugural year of the Dota Majors is coming to a close, with only the Manila Major standing between now and The International 6. 16 teams will soon assemble in the Philippines to fight for a $3 million prize pool and an almost-guaranteed invite to the World Cup of Dota 2.
Today, we learned which twelve squads will be directly invited to Manila, and which teams will have to fight through the regional qualifiers. Some are expected, some are bubble picks, and a few are likely to raise some eyebrows. Let's take a look at the twelve teams that have garnered a direct ticket to the Major:
Team Secret
An invite for Secret is fairly predictable, given it's the champion of the Shanghai Major and the runner-up to the prior Major at Frankfurt. Although it's had a poor performance at last week's ESL One Manila, dropping 2-0 and 2-1 against an impressive Empire squad, its pedigree and résumé still merits a direct ticket to the main event. All eyes will be on captain Clement "Puppey" Ivanov, as well as the carries Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao and Artour "Arteezy" Babaev, to put up a more impressive performance in their second appearance at the Mall of Asia Arena main stage.
Team Liquid
One of the most reliable picks for a direct invite and a favorite for the top spot, Team Liquid has been a competitive and dangerous team since its first place finish at the Defense Season 5 Grand Finals. Though the team has been snubbed twice now at major LANs, once at the Shanghai Major, and again at ESL One Manila, Liquid has shown consistent play and quality wins over almost every other team invited to the Manila stage. Look for impressive performances from Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen, Adrian "FATA-" Trinks and the rest of the Liquid roster as it looks to secure its first Major title.
Evil Geniuses
Champions of The International 5, Evil Geniuses have since been snubbed at third place at each subsequent Major tournament. The departure of core player Arteezy and offlaner Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora left some uncertainties, and though its new lineup has yet to compete in a LAN together, the name and expectation of the EG squad are enough to save it from the gauntlet of qualifiers. Look to the fresh-yet-familiar replacements Kurtis "Aui_2000" Ling and Sam "BuLBa" Sosale to try and fill their former teammates' shoes as they fight for a Major finish higher than third.
MVP Phoenix
The bird rising from the Korean Dota scene, MVP Phoenix hasn't had stellar performances recently but still has enough quality wins to earn a ticket to Manila. Despite an 0-2 loss at the StarLadder i-League Invitational to OG, expect MVP to come into this Major with a chip on its shoulder and a hunger for the top spot.
Dual cores Pyo "MP" No-a and Kim "QO" Seon-yeob will be the players to watch, as their unique style of play and versatility will provide for some interesting matches. Phoenix surprised many with a fourth place finish in Shanghai, and you can expect it'll bring the same potential to bear on the main stage.
Wings Gaming
The dark horse of ESL One Manila, Wings rose from relative obscurity outside of Chinese Dota circles to win a best-of-five against Team Liquid in convincing fashion. Showing flexibility and clever play, from hard carry Chu "Shadow" Zeyu to support Li "iceice" Peng, you can expect teams to spend some extra time in the replay room, sussing out what gave Wings the edge over a strongly favored Liquid line-up. It's exciting to see Wings get the nod for a direct invite over usual suspects from the region, as its style and play is sure to result in some top tier games in Manila.
Vici Gaming Reborn
The "Reborn" squad has become the main Vici squad to watch in all but name, as a confident first place finish in the StarLadder i-Series Invitational Grand Finals showed. In the past month, this team has taken series from EHHOME, Wings, Na'Vi, OG, LGD, and MVP Phoenix in a decisive manner. It's unknown whether its sub Tong "Mikasa" Junjie will return to play mid over Wang "Nono" Xin, but look to Yang "Zyf" Pu and seasoned four-role support Xu "Fy" Linsen to lead this Chinese squad to a solid performance at the upcoming Major.
Fnatic
A crowd favorite, it's hard to not love the story that Fnatic weaves coming into every tourney. The pride of Malaysia, Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung had to sit out at the recent ESL One Manila tournament, with the relatively unknown Adam "343" Shah subbing and hard support player Wai "Net" Pern Lim moving to the core position. After an impressive performance at ESL One, it's unknown if Mushi will remain a coach or retake his spot, but either way, Fnatic continues to excite and surprise with every appearance. Many fans are likely happy these crowd-pleasers won't have to slug it out for a ticket to the Manila Major.
OG
The victors of the Frankfurt Major, this former Monkey Business squad has had difficulty securing the same success it saw in subsequent tournaments. Perennially runner-up to other teams in the last few months, this European squad has certainly performed well enough to garner a direct invite, but it remains to be seen how deep it can make it in a pool of increasingly tough competition. Amer "Miracle-" Barqwan will be the player to watch here, an electric core who often turns to less popular picks like Ember Spirt and Phantom Lancer to create interesting line-ups to clash against.
Complexity
This American team has stuck together longer than most others on this list, and its faith shows in its performance. Putting in consistent fifth place finishes might not sound impressive, but the team has a proven ability to take a series when least expected, and to surprise even the most prepared team. With the charismatic captain Kyle "swindlemelonzz" Freedman at the helm, expect to see Complexity eager to steal some upsets and show up for the American region.
Alliance
One of the stranger invites, a direct line to the main event for Alliance might have raised eyebrows for a few who were surprised by the expansion to twelve direct teams for Manila. Although its current roster once took the big trophy at The International 3, recent performances have been shaky.
A 7th-8th place finish at both the StarLadder i-Series Invitational and the Shanghai Major have shown cracks in the TI champion's play, and it's a team that often finds itself at the mercy of the current patch's meta gameplay and picks/bans. Still, the team has proven once already, at the StarLadder Star Series Season 13, it can stand tall among the top contenders. We'll have to wait and see if patch 6.87 and the grand stage at Manila will be kind to it.
Natus Vincere
Another fan favorite of the TI3 era, Natus Vincere are to Dota as the Atlanta Braves were to televised baseball. At a time when many were getting a first taste for competitive Dota 2, Na'Vi's electric play and charismatic mid laner, Danil "Dendi" Ishutin, turned the team into online superstars.
Several years have passed since those glory days, and though Na'Vi has had some bumpy spots in the road, its new squad led by Dendi and former captain Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov have made quite an impression. A second place finish at the StarLadder i-Series Invitational under its belt, this new Na'Vi line-up looks faster, more aggressive, and more disciplined than it's been for some time. Though we may not see a Dendi Pudge pick anytime soon, you can still expect crowds to be clamoring for this revitalized Natus Vincere roster.
LGD Gaming
Despite a third place finish at the StarLadder i-Series Invitational, LGD's new lineup has been overshadowed by other storylines and roster changes. This doesn't mean it's a team to sleep on, however, as the combination of players here is intimidating for any opponent. This is the dangerous eighth or ninth seed, the mid-conference team that could easily snatch the grand finals away from a complacent favorite.
Former CDEC carry Sun "Agressif" Zheng and CDEC Avenger support Xue "September" Zhichuan will look to lead the charge, alongside the veterans Lu "Maybe" Yao, Lei "MMY!" Zengrong and captain Zhang "xiao8" Ning, returning after a long break from competitive Dota. The smartest teams at the Manila Major will be the ones keeping an eye on LGD's scrims and strategies, as it's one of the surest bets for upsets over any of the above teams.