The International 2017: Main Qualifiers have concluded and the field of nearly 60 teams is whittling down to the final 18 qualifier spots. Those 18 teams will earn their way into The International for the chance at the ultimate prize in Dota 2 -- the Aegis of Champions (and a lot of money).
There were six regions represented at the main qualifiers: North America, South America, Europe, CIS, Southeast Asia, and China. Each region boasted stiff competition and it led to three exciting days of action to determine the cream of the crop. Here's what Timothy Lee, Justin Banusing and Paolo Bago thought coming out of the qualifiers.
Timothy Lee: I personally felt like China was the top region. There were Dota legends represented and all-star lineups that played in the qualifier. The top two teams that made it out, iG Vitality and LGD.ForeverYoung (LFY) should be considered two of the biggest threats to the rest of the field. Both teams were built around a superstar player -- Zhang "Paparazi" Chengzun for iG Vitality and Xie "Super" Junhao -- and a ridiculous supporting duo. These two teams needed to best a field that included EHOME (three former wings.gaming players and Chen "cty" Tianyu) and the two actual all-star rosters of LGD-Gaming and Vici Gaming. If that wasn't a minefield of talent to get through, you're kidding yourself.
Justin Banusing: South East Asia (SEA) was equally stacked because no teams from the region were directly invited to The International; it was a battleground filled with top-tier talent. On one hand, you had Team Faceless, the region's dominating team. From there, you had notable teams like a resurgent TNC Pro Team fresh off its pick-up of North American theorycrafter Theeban "1437" Siva as its captain, Clutch Gamers, which is a roster that won nearly every SEA qualifier in the lead-up to The International, a Fnatic team that was comprised of players like Korea's Kim "QO" Seon-yeop and Philippine's Djardel "DJ" Mampusti, and Execration with Ryan "Raging Potato" Qui. I'd argue that South East Asia was the most competitive region.
Paolo Bago: I wouldn't say SEA was the most competitive, but it certainly had its share of surprises. If you compare the group stages for China and SEA, it was parity for the Chinese region in contrast to the domination of TNC Pro Team.
That's not to say that the games weren't competitive. The qualifiers saw the revival of Clutch Gamers to what made them so good in the region -- mid-game focused line-ups centered around efficient team fighting and a lot of sustain and tanking. Fnatic was another team that woke up in the qualifiers. They underperformed relative to the talent they had on paper entering the qualifier and it was a question mark to whether QO would be a good fit in the 7.06x metagame. QO's focus on melee agility carries like Phantom Assassin and Bloodseeker wasn't a match to the current aggressive and tempo-controlling mid heroes like Puck, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, and Storm Spirit. Finally, Execration was the highlight. They knocked out Team Faceless (ending its year of regional dominance) and eliminated Mineski and Chai "Mushi" Fung.
Was SEA the most competitive? It's hard to say, but it was the bloodiest and most drama-filled.
Justin Banusing: I can agree with you on the bloodiest and most drama-filled part, Pao.
That aside, I think we should talk about the North American and CIS qualifiers because those regions had amazing performances from teams that many didn't classify as top-tier.
After missing the Zotac Cup Masters due to visa issues, Team Freedom came into the qualifiers with low expectations, but it crushed the group stages with an 8-1 record. The team took out squads like Planet Odd and Team NP. Team Freedom nearly qualified to The International as North America's top seed, but lost to Team NP in a runback tiebreaker. Its midlaner Quinn "CC&C" Callahan and support Stanley "Stan King" Yang were the standouts throughout Team Freedom's run and I see great things for the team as a whole if it sticks together.
Another roster with a potentially successful future was M19. It dominated the group stage with a 7-2 score after qualifying through the open bracket, before its elimination in fourth place by Team Spirit. Former Natus Vincere player, Gleb "Funnik" Lipatnikov and his team of mostly-teenagers proved that they had what it took to compete in the big leagues. While they didn't qualify for The International, the fact that a 2-month old roster was able to achieve such a feat speaks for itself.
Paolo Bago: Outside of the regions, how crazy is it that this will be Danil "Dendi" Ishutin's first time to miss The International? Not only that, but other legends like Mushi and Daryl "iceiceice" Xiang are out too. Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen won't make this his seventh TI as well. Only Leong "DDC" Fat-men remains as one of the oldest pillars of TI. Meanwhile, a lot of the teams that have made it in have a lot of new players. I think we're seeing a shift in the history of Dota 2 and the old guard are well and truly on their way out.
Timothy Lee: The Main Qualifiers provided a good look at what potential hero drafts were strong and popular. It could be a sneak preview as to what The International's drafts will look as well. Although the drafts were rarer, I particularly enjoyed the aggressive lineups that employed heroes like Night Stalker, Tusk, Clockwerk, or Spirit Breaker. These drafts are not conducive for long-term success, but the mix of these kind of heroes allow teams to truly diversify their various strategies and throw a wrench into a series. While the push (with heroes such as Death Prophet, Terrorblade, and Nature's Prophet) or team fight-oriented drafts (with heroes such as Puck, Sand King, Warlock, and Disruptor) were highly effective, the draw for me was the pure early game all-in compositions.
Paolo Bago: I think a lot of that had to do with the qualifier formats being best-of-one round robins. Early game all-ins for this season look a bit different from past The International seasons because heroes like Nightstalker is ganking earlier as the roaming position. Now, it's all about getting a substantial lead for your laners.
What I particularly enjoyed in terms of drafts and strategies is the emphasis on flexible openers. We've seen Puck picked highly in the draft to lull unprepared teams into thinking it's the middle lane matchup only to see it shift to the off lane or even the safe lane. We've also seen Lina go to the hard support role after drawing some of the heat off in the draft as teams racked their minds around countering it as a potential middle lane match-up.
Justin Banusing: Another thing I saw was that many teams picked heroes with a lot of scalability, like Legion Commander and Silencer for example. In the matches that went to late game, teams that drafted these heroes onto the lineup often won. Team NP clinched out its 2 hour group stage match against Planet Odd off the back of its Legion Commander on Arif "MSS" Anwar. With their relative strength and utility in this metagame, we may see more of these heroes at The International drafted for the late game in mind.
Timothy Lee: The one thing we can all agree on is that The International should be action-packed and unpredictable.
Paolo Bago: Yeah. It's also going to feature some intense new talent finally stepping out of the shadow of the old guard. It's Execration and MVP Phoenix reunion tours.