Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.
PRO DOTA 2: THE INTERNATIONAL 2016 EDITION



Dota Crew Chat Thread: here

What is Dota 2?
Dota 2 is a popular free-to-play action RTS developed by Valve Software based on a custom map for Warcraft III. It features 5v5 competitive multiplayer with each player controlling a different hero chosen from a roster of 111, each with four or more unique abilities that allow them to move around the map, damage or disable opponents, or accomplish any other number of weird and wacky maneuvers. The objective of each team is to destroy a number of defensive buildings on the opposing side and ultimately destroy the enemy’s Ancient.

What is Pro Dota 2?
Dota has a robust esports scene, with near-constant events occurring throughout the year with a wide range of prize pools and prestige, ranging from online-only competitive series to invitational LANs. In 2015, Valve creted the Majors, three prestigious tournaments that were held in Frankfurt, Shanghai, and Manila, as the lead-up to the biggest tournament of the year, The International. These events are the pinnacle of the pro Dota scene and feature the very best teams from around the world competing for millions of dollars.

Pro teams are structured around each player taking a role that very broadly denotes what kind of play is expected from them, with one player serving as captain (often, but not always, the one responsible for drafting the team’s heroes). These roles are carry, midlaner, offlaner, farming support, and hard support (some videos on these here). Teams generally consist of players from the same geographic region (for Dota, these are the Americas, China, Europe, or Southeast Asia) and are divisionally organized using those regions as well.

What is The International 2016?
Once a year since 2011, Valve has hosted The International, the biggest tournament in the Dota scene by far. The 2016 International (TI6) will be held from August 8 - 13 2016 at KeyArena in Seattle and will feature the sixteen best teams in the world competing for an escalating prize pool that currently sits at over $18 million USD.

Who’s Competing At TI6?

OG

1 - Miracle, 2 - N0tail, 3- Moonmeander, 4 - Cr1t, 5 - Fly 👑
Stands for Octagon Guernica. OG are a team driven by the power of friendship, dog-having, and krav maga. They won the Manila Major in June and are a red-hot property right now. Miracle might be the best single player in the game.

Team Liquid

1 - MATUMBAMAN, 2 - FATA-, 3 - MinD_ContRoL, 4 - JerAx, 5 - KuroKy 👑
Liquid is a big umbrella esports organization whose Dota 2 team fell apart after the 2014 International. Last year they picked up 5Jungz, a squad of Europeans who have since put up some extremely promising results including second place at both the Manila and Shanghai Majors.

Newbee

1 - Hao, 2 - Mu, 3 - kpii, 4 - Chuan, 5 - Kaka 👑
Originally hailed as the Chinese ‘dream team’, Newbee (the organization) won The International 2014 with a lineup that’s wildly different from the one they have today. Support player Chuan used to be a basketball player, while kpii is the only player to ever rise above the toxic morass of Australian Dota.

LGD Gaming

1 - Agressif, 2 - Maybe, 3 - xiao8 👑, 4 - September 4 - Banana, 5 - MMY!
After the Chinese teams as a whole performed terribly at the Shanghai Major in March 2016, there was an enormous reshuffle in the Chinese Dota scene. Following that reshuffle, LGD Gaming found themselves stacked with great players, including power carry Agressif and legendary captain xiao8. They’ve had to replace 4-position September with their coach Banana on short notice after failing to secure a travel visa, so things are looking a bit dicey for them now!

MVP Phoenix

1 - MP, 2 - QO, 3 - Forev, 4 - Febby, 5 - DuBu 👑
While Dota’s presence in Korea has dwindled recently, MVP Phoenix’s status as a direct invite to TI6 should indicate where they stand in terms of pro teams. Known for unconventional, entertaining play, MVP are fan favourites looking to make a real run at TI6’s grand prize.

Natus Vincere

1 - Ditya Ra, 2 - Dendi, 3 - GeneRaL, 4 - SoNNeikO, 5 - Artstyle 👑
Probably the most popular Dota team in the world, Na’vi are a Ukrainian/Russian squad that have seen their fortunes soar after a rough reorganization in 2015. Midlaner Dendi is six for six on International attendance, all as part of Na’vi (they won in 2011) proving charm and humility are definitely the most important qualities in professional video games.

Evil Geniuses

1 - Fear, 2 - SumaiL, 3 - UNiVeRsE, 4 - zai, 5 - ppd 👑
Despite winning The International 2015, Evil Geniuses were forced to play through the Americas region open qualifiers due to various shenanigans violating Valve’s roster lock policies. Fear is one of the most versatile players in Dota and has a huge pool of successful heroes, while UNiVeRsE is lauded as one of the best off-laners in the world. With four-fifths of their TI5-winning roster reassembled, EG have a real chance of becoming the first two-time TI winners.

Wings Gaming

1 - Shadow, 2 - bLink, 3 - Faith_bian, 4 - Innocence 👑, 5 - iceice
A Chinese team of extremely talented but relatively unknown players, Wings are pretty much in a three-way tie for ‘best team in China’ with Newbee and LGD. They’ve achieved this with a very different style of play from their rivals, though, and lean towards unorthodox drafts and exciting strategies. Wings Are Beautiful.

Team Secret

1 - Arteezy, 2 - EternaLEnVy, 3 - BuLba, 4 - Puppey 👑, 5 - pieliedie
Secret are a mixed Americas/European team and were forced to play through the EU open qualifiers by virtue of being the other side of the roster chicanery that claimed Evil Geniuses. When they’re on their game, they’re completely unstoppable. When they’re not: they’re a pure vein of weapons-grade schadenfreude. Either way, always hugely entertaining to watch, and boasts the most Canadians of any team at TI.

TnC Gaming

1 - Raven, 2 - Kuku, 3 - Sam_H, 4 - eyyou, 5 - DeMoN 👑
Filipino Dota was in a tough spot. Their clubhouse was in danger of being shut down by land developers, and the jerks from Neutral Camp had stolen all their girlfriends. That’s when Jimmy “DeMoN” Ho showed up - in a tight spot himself, after a judge told him he could either go to jail for petty theft, or do community service. Can DeMoN’s plan for one last great bikini Dota game cause all the other teams to accidentally fall into a swimming pool? TnC Gaming: in theatres this August!

Digital Chaos

1 - Resolution, 2 - w33, 3 - Moo, 4 - MiSeRy 👑, 5 - Saksa
The previous Digital Chaos roster exploded at the end of March 2016, with three players departing on short notice just ahead of roster locks. The new team was hastily assembled by packing several European players onto a North American team and going from there, with surprisingly positive results. Edging out Complexity in the Americas qualifiers to take the second guaranteed slot in the region, DC aren’t likely to go all the way at the main event, but anything can happen in exciting pro esport Dota 2!

Vici Gaming Reborn

1 - Zyf, 2 - Nono, 3 - Yang 3 - Mikasa, 4 - fy, 5 - DDC
Another team formed just before the March roster lock, VG.R are several farm-team/pubstar players alongside relative veterans fy and DDC. Despite their relative newness they defeated the more-established Vici Gaming main team (along with former International winners IG and EHOME) during the Chinese qualifiers, showing there’s definitely some skill among the new squad.

Alliance

1 - Loda, 2 - s4 👑, 3 - AdmiralBulldog, 4 - EGM, 5 - Akke
Five Swedes with a huge fanbase, sponsored by organizations with neon-green logos, Alliance reassembled their TI3-winning lineup in hopes of another run at the grand prize in 2016. They’ve been turning in mostly-mediocre results in tournaments in the last six months, however, which probably speaks to just how strong the competition has gotten across the scene.

Fnatic

1 - Mushi 👑, 2 - MidOne, 3 - Ohaiyo, 4 - DJ, 5 - 343
Southeast Asia’s best and brightest hope, Fnatic were surprisingly not given a direct invite to The International. After they were surprised by TNC in the qualifiers, they managed nonetheless to secure one of the direct spots and have put in a couple of decent performances at The Summit and Starseries LANs since then. Captain Mushi is a powerful farming carry, while MidOne has been turning heads as a great play-making mid. Expect Fnatic to go far at the main event!

Wild Card Teams
These four teams will play for the remaining two slots at the main event, so don’t get too attached to any of them (except probably EHOME).

compLexity Gaming

1 - Chessie, 2 - Limmp, 3 - swindlemelonzz 👑, 4 - Zfreek, 5 - Handsken
American Zfreek and his thieving bog goblin brother swindlemelonzz were forced to swallow their pride after a poor showing at TI5, bulking out the team with three talented Swedish players who have nevertheless failed to make compLexity a stand-out even among NA Dota. Will they rise above their record and escape the wild card or tilt even further?

EHOME

1 - iceiceice, 2 - old chicken, 3 - eLeVeN, 4 - LaNm 👑, 5 - Fenrir
After the TI5 runners-up put up a rough result at the Shanghai Major in March, EHOME reorganized, bringing in former ViCi Gaming teammates iceiceice and Fenrir. This admittedly did not help them overmuch, and they failed to qualify for several tournaments in 2016. That said, they’re still one of the favourites to make it out of the wild card, just based on pedigree of their players.

Escape Gaming

1 - Era, 2 - qojqva, 3 - KheZu, 4 - YapzOr, 5 - syndereN 👑
Well-known caster and personality syndereN decided to try his hand again as a pro player in 2015 after a two-year hiatus. His first effort (Steak Gaming) faltered, but tried again with a new lineup under the name No Diggity. DiG worked out decently and have subsequently become sponsored by Escape Gaming, and they came within a hair’s breadth of securing a direct spot in TI6. That said, they can be shaky at the best of times, so it’s uncertain how they’ll fare in the wild card.

Execration

1 - Nando, 2 - Abed 👑, 3 - RR, 4 - Tims, 5 - Kim0
Another Filipino team with by far the most metal name and logo. Easily the team I know the least about, since they play in a time zone that I generally can’t watch. If they make it through the wild card it’ll mean there’s two Filipino teams at TI6, which would be super impressive! Possibly they won’t even get the chance, though, due to visa shenanigans.

Majuju fucked around with this message at 04:57 on Aug 2, 2016

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.
Okay! That Sounds Overwhelming! When Is This Happening Again?
The schedule is as follows!

August 2, 2016 - Wildcards - best of 3s, double-elimination, top two teams advance to group stage.
August 3-5, 2016 - Group Stages - two groups of 8, round-robin 2-game sets, top four teams in each group go to upper bracket at main event, bottom four to lower bracket.
August 8-13, 2016 - Main Event - one round of Bo1s for lower bracket, then Bo3s double-elimination from there on out.

Full brackets can be viewed on Liquipedia and I'll try and keep them updated here too.

Cool! How Do I Watch?
You have a number of viewing options available to you for live games!

Twitch
Youtube
DotaLive

or Steam broadcasts will all be running concurrently when the games are up. For the finals, you might be able to attend a local pubstomp and meet some new nerd friends who you will summarily drop when you learn their MMR is (somehow!) lower than yours. Lastly if you're in Seattle and want to try and get into the main event on a lark, there are rush tickets for the midweek games potentially available, or a giant outdoor screen if you can't get those.


What...What Is A Caster???

A miserable pile of memes and verbal diarrhea.

OFFICIAL CASTER TIER RANKING:





MEME ZONE UNDER CONSTRUCTION









nahaz mafia freakout


Majuju fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Dec 8, 2016

got some chores tonight
Feb 18, 2012

honk honk whats for lunch...
golem get ye gone

Quincy Smallvoice
Mar 18, 2006

Bitches leave

dongsbot 9000 posted:

golem get ye gone

fakeedit: also can you please just put the link to the general dota thread in the op lol

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

Quincy Smallvoice posted:

fakeedit: also can you please just put the link to the general dota thread in the op lol

done, also I just went looking for the vainglory thread as a joke but it's less than a page long and nobody's posted there since april

Radical
Apr 6, 2011

wheres the mozart picture???

edit: i played vainglory on the bus this morning, ironically at first, but its probably the best MOBA ever made in that the match lasted 10 minutes and i could buy items

botany
Apr 27, 2013

by Lowtax
good job on the OP majuju

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

Radical posted:

wheres the mozart picture???

edit: i played vainglory on the bus this morning, ironically at first, but its probably the best MOBA ever made in that the match lasted 10 minutes and i could buy items

the corresponding LD picture appears to be a broken img link but if you've got it saved someplace I'll use it when the talent's announced

Quincy Smallvoice
Mar 18, 2006

Bitches leave
kinda ridiculous that this poo poo has not been resolved yet. how are they supposed to plan around it

edit: welp https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/4unf0v/ti_is_literally_a_week_away_this_lack_of/d5r8uap

Quincy Smallvoice fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Jul 26, 2016

more like dICK
Feb 15, 2010

This is inevitable.
Reposting from last thread, but valve abandoning the game a few weeks before TI is pretty hosed up.

queef anxiety
Mar 4, 2009

yeah
What's the chance of the lauded big pre ti patch kicking off tomorrow? They need to release something soon, we haven't even got a format yet.

Also serial prize pool thieves WCA is streaming on a Lyrical cast

https://www.twitch.tv/moonducktv

Zurreco
Dec 27, 2004

Cutty approves.
OP is way too in depth and doesn't have enough stupid poo poo.

Everyone should be pulling for Escape to make it onto the main stage, but I hope they get eliminated early enough that Synd can cast LB Finals.

IcePhoenix
Sep 18, 2005

Take me to your Shida

Majuju posted:


What is The International 2016?
Once a year since 2010, Valve has hosted The International, the biggest tournament in the Dota scene by far. The 2016 International (TI6) will be held from August 8 - 13 2016 at KeyArena in Seattle and will feature the sixteen best teams in the world competing for an escalating prize pool that currently sits at over $18 million USD.

The first TI was in 2011 :eng99:

Also where are the caster bios :(

But it is an overall very good OP good job Majuju

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

IcePhoenix posted:

The first TI was in 2011 :eng99:

Also where are the caster bios :(

But it is an overall very good OP good job Majuju

whoops good catch!

caster bios are due for the second post when I know who I have to express disdain towards specifically

Captain No-mates
Apr 3, 2010

Zurreco posted:

OP is way too in depth and doesn't have enough stupid poo poo.

Everyone should be pulling for Escape to make it onto the main stage, but I hope they get eliminated early enough that Synd can cast LB Finals.

I'm pretty sure they can just walk it in after CoL hired Nahaz and Execration are having visa issues.

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

Captain No-mates posted:

I'm pretty sure they can just walk it in after CoL hired Nahaz and Execration are having visa issues.

yeah when I was going over the dumb blurbs I wrote I had initially given ESC a much slimmer chance of getting through but after Starladder it's looking a whole lot rosier for syndereN and the boys

also I'm seriously blown away by how lovely Valve are being re: information around the event, but it's not going to matter because they made $50 million off compendiums so who cares

schmitty9800
Feb 10, 2003

Captain No-mates posted:

I'm pretty sure they can just walk it in after CoL hired Nahaz and Execration are having visa issues.

Daryl disagrees...

Captain No-mates
Apr 3, 2010

schmitty9800 posted:

Daryl disagrees...



2 teams make it to the main stage so I was taking EHOME as a given.

Radical
Apr 6, 2011

nahaz is gonna sub in for swindlemelonzz and col will easily win the wild card

schmitty9800
Feb 10, 2003

Captain No-mates posted:

2 teams make it to the main stage so I was taking EHOME as a given.

Whoops I forgot they changed that, as you can see Valve has really made everything clear to viewers.

CRISPYBABY
Dec 15, 2007

by Reene
Can DeMoN actually play the 5? I remember seeing him try to carry on some poo poo tier NA teams a year ago and he just did dumb poo poo and fed mostly.

schmitty9800
Feb 10, 2003

attackmole posted:

Can DeMoN actually play the 5? I remember seeing him try to carry on some poo poo tier NA teams a year ago and he just did dumb poo poo and fed mostly.

http://www.redbull.com/en/esports/stories/1331807294842/ti6-demons-incredible-wildcard-journey
he says that basically they made him captain and in game leader and that's what lead to their success

botany
Apr 27, 2013

by Lowtax

Radical posted:

nahaz is gonna sub in for swindlemelonzz and col will easily win the wild card

he cant be much worse

Elyv
Jun 14, 2013



Empire vs vega in the finals of some tournament if you want to see the best of the rest

Majuju
Dec 30, 2006

I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.
Zurreco et al: Secret Shop preorders are apparently live now

gangnam reference
Dec 26, 2010

shut up idiot shut up idiot shut up idiot shut up idiot

attackmole posted:

Can DeMoN actually play the 5? I remember seeing him try to carry on some poo poo tier NA teams a year ago and he just did dumb poo poo and fed mostly.

Demons the best drat support that's ever played the game

gangnam reference
Dec 26, 2010

shut up idiot shut up idiot shut up idiot shut up idiot
First post seems to be missing significant info on how China is poo poo and the USA is going to send them the gently caress home

Incoherence
May 22, 2004

POYO AND TEAR

Majuju posted:

also I'm seriously blown away by how lovely Valve are being re: information around the event, but it's not going to matter because they made $50 million off compendiums so who cares
CyborgMatt said something on Reddit about how they're waiting for all the visa poo poo to resolve itself before they make big announcements. I guess it doesn't make sense to announce the wildcard schedule when it's entirely possible that the wildcards will just get into the main event.

gangnam reference posted:

First post seems to be missing significant info on how China is poo poo and the USA is going to send them the gently caress home
Uh, excuse me, it's an even year and that means China supremacy.

drunken officeparty
Aug 23, 2006

All Teams Are Bad

Elyv
Jun 14, 2013



do people actually pick undying? Vega just did but I don't watch much these days

The REAL Goobusters
Apr 25, 2008
Who's going to ti

E: go team secret

Desperate Character
Apr 13, 2009
undying is pretty terrible in a meta where everyone gets dragon lance (even without that he's a meh pick only used for tri-laning)

Centzon Totochtin
Jan 2, 2009

Majuju posted:

Zurreco et al: Secret Shop preorders are apparently live now

I wonder how most items not having a digital unlock of any kind this year is going to affect sales

Peanut President
Nov 5, 2008

by Athanatos

(and can't post for 9 days!)

Complexity and Escape are gonna win the wild card, book it.

Peanut President
Nov 5, 2008

by Athanatos

(and can't post for 9 days!)

also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJoaKVHA3Gk

Red Red Blue
Feb 11, 2007



I feel like undying needs items now with tombstone getting nerfed so much but it's also hard to justify giving him farm priority so he doesn't really have a place anywhere

Bonnono
May 2, 2006

Immortal III

Zurreco
Dec 27, 2004

Cutty approves.
New rules at KeyArena are that you can bring in outside food and drink if it's not in a can. Can't wait to get drunk on DIY mixed drinks and chant USA all week.

There's also a new barcade not too far from QA now in case folks need postgame drinks.

e: If Secret Shop is open my UI is broken :(

Zurreco fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Jul 26, 2016

The REAL Goobusters
Apr 25, 2008

Peanut President posted:

Complexity and Escape are gonna win the wild card, book it.

Ehome and escape


Col will lose because they been playing like poo poo and lose to everyone

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

IncendiaC
Sep 25, 2011

that ogre immortal is glorious

  • Locked thread