-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wings Gaming -- Wings is one of those teams that seems to have come out of nowhere. Their current lineup has been together since August of last year, and remained pretty quiet until ESL One Manila, where they won the Chinese Qualifier convincingly. Furthermore, they went on to beat out compLexity and eventually upset Fnatic and finally Team Liquid in the Grand Finals. It was Wings first appearance in a premier event, and they upset the heavy favorites--Team Liquid--and graduated to the top tier of Chinese DotA. Unfortunately, that success at ESL One Manila hasn't translated well for Wings. They struggled at the Manila Major, quickly exiting the tournament with a final placement of 13-16th, but have since rebounded placing 2nd at Nanyang and beating out OG at The Summit 5. Wings is definitely a team to watch, and the current meta heavily favors their playstyle.
Players:
1. Chu "Shadow" Zeyu
2. Zhou "bLink" Yang
3. Zhang "Faith_bian" Ruida
4. Zhang "Innocence" Liping (Captain)
5. Li "iceice" Peng
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eliminated Teams
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital Chaos -- Digital Chaos is a team formed from the ashes of the EG and Team Secret shuffle. Originally they were a North American organization with a team full of North American players. After the shuffle their entire team had basically gone elsewhere, so they rebuilt with w33, Misery, and Resolution as the foundation. They now compete for the second place North American slot with compLexity on a regular basis, and have taken it upon themselves to play literally every tournament they can, including playing 3 tournaments over 2 weeks leading up to TI6. DC is like a lower tier version of Team Secret, all the pieces are there but they just can't really seem to make them all work correctly. They have the potential to be a top tier team, but can't seem to compete with teams like EG and Secret, let alone teams like Liquid and OG. With the massive amount of practice before TI6, hopefully DC will be able to work all the kinks out of their team, because the talent is there, and they deserve a Top 8 finish.
Players:
1. Roman "Resolut1on" Fominok
2. Aliwi "w33" Omar
3. David "Moo" Hull
4. Martin "Saksa" Sazdov
5. Rasmus "MiSeRy" Filipsen (Captain)
Final Placement: 2nd
Evil Geniuses -- The returning TI5 champions, Evil Geniuses fresh off their most recent round of musical chairs, is looking to not only win a second Valve event, but be the first team to win back-to-back International champions. After winning The International last year, EG took a break and relaxed, then surprised the world by changing up their roster. Despite dominating at TI5, they decided to replace Aui_2000 with Arteezy, who is widely considered to be one of the best players in the world. EG managed 3rd place finishes at the Frankfurt Major and Shanghai Major, but then Arteezy and Universe left for their rivals Team Secret. After filling in their gaps, EG placed 13-16th at Manila--as did Team Secret. Rather than try and make their failing lineups work, EG and Team Secret both decided to fight their way through Open Qualifiers and change their rosters for a better chance at winning--despite the risk of failing to qualify--and despite some tense matches, both qualified and EG is looking more like themselves. Their newest lineup has only competed at the StarLadder i-League Season 2 LAN, and was knocked out by the ex-Virtus Pro lineup, which doesn't exactly bode well for their chances at TI.
Players:
1. Clinton "'Fear" Loomis
2. Syed "SumaiL" Sumail
3. Saahil "UNiVeRsE" Arora
4. Ludwig "zai" Wåhlberg
5. Peter "ppd" Dager (Captain)
Final Placement: 3rd
Fnatic -- Directly after the Manila Major, most of the DotA 2 community considered Fnatic a lock for an invite to The International. They placed Top 4 at ESL One Manila, and Top 6 at the Manila Major. At the Manila Major they looked very solid, but had the misfortune of playing Liquid more than most teams (taking a game off them in Groups) as well as a very strong Newbee in the Loser Bracket. It's no secret that Fnatic is probably the best SEA team, but unfortunately winning every online qualifier doesn't matter when MVP gets a direct invite, and they only want to invite 1 SEA team. Fnatic was also supposed to plow through the SEA Regional Qualifier, but ended up being beaten out by TNC who played substantially better than anyone expected. Fnatic has what it takes, and if MVP has a reasonable chance of winning, Fnatic has at least an equal chance of being the first SEA team to take the Aegis home.
Players:
1. Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung (Captain)
2. Yeik "MidOne" Zheng Nai
3. Chong Xin "Ohaiyo" Khoo
4. Djardel Jicko "DJ" Mampusti
5. Adam Erwann Shah "343" bin Akhtar Hussein
Final Placement: 4th
MVP.Phoenix -- Potentially the most polarizing of the invited teams, MVP seems to have a problem with consistency. When they are on, MVP is easily a Top 10 or even Top 5 team, but then you see them drop games left and right to Tier 2 and Tier 3 organizations. This year, MVP secured a solid 4th place finish at the Shanghai Major, as well as 1st place finishes at DotA Pit (over EG) and WePlay DotA 2 (over Vega Squadron). Since then they have only played in the Manila Major, where they shocked everyone with a 2-0 victory over Team Liquid in the Upper Bracket, only to drop down courtesy of OG in the next round, and proceed to get knocked out by LGD. At The International 2016, MVP will be looking to deliver the Aegis to the SEA region for the first time.
Players:
1. Pyo "MP" No-a
2. Kim "QO" Seon-yeob
3. Lee "Forev" Sang-don
4. Kim "Febby" Yong-min
5. Kim "DuBu" Doo-young (Captain)
Final Placement: 5th - 6th
EHOME -- EHOME was the Wild Card entry from China. EHOME is one of those organizations that has popped up a few times over the last several years with a powerhouse lineup of chinese talent. Unfortunately their success never really seems to last. Last year was probably the closest EHOME came to sustained success, but then--like most Chinese teams--they have since completely shuffled their team around. Since then they just haven't been able to find that level of success that they desire. On paper they have an absolutely fantastic team, but from one event to the next they continually get outplayed by the top tier Chinese teams, and regularly by the second and third tier Chinese teams. EHOME will look to rebound from a rough several months, and after working their way through the Wild Card--beating out Execration and Escape to secure the first Wild Card spot--and reassert themselves as a top tier Chinese team.
Players:
1. Daryl Koh "iceiceice" Pei Xiang
2. Wang "old chicken" Zhiyong
3. Ren "eLeVeN" Yangwei
4. Zhang "LaNm" Zhicheng (Captain)
5. Lu "fenrir" Chao
Final Placement: 5th - 6th
TNC Gaming -- There's no other way to put it, TNC Gaming is a very bizarre situation. Prior to the Qualifiers for The International 2016, TNC--a Filipino organization--brought in Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho, a now legendary American player as their new captain. DeMoN has played for a lot of teams, and is jokingly referred to as the most effective DotA Mercenary in history. But something weird happened when TNC started playing in the Qualifiers--they looked really good. They made their way through the Open Qualifiers, and into the Regionals. Normally, you would expect their story would end there, but they then managed to force a 3 way tie in the Group Stage, and after playing a series of tiebreakers, beat out Execration, and Fnatic--placed top 5/6 at the Manila Major--who they managed a 2-0 against, to win the Regional Qualifier and guarantee a spot at The International. I don't really know what to say other than that, they are a literal dark horse team, and should be a lot of fun
with Jimmy playing.
Players:
1. Marc Polo "Raven" Luis Fausto
2. Carlo "kuku" Palad
3. Samson Solomon "Sam_H" Enojosa Hidalgo
4. Nico "eyyou" Manalaysay Barcelon
5. Jimmy "DeMoN" Ho (Captain)
Final Placement: 7th - 8th
Team Liquid -- Team Liquid is the reigning European powerhouse in DotA 2. Team Liquid has had a couple rosters, but their current is absolutely the most successful. With a slew of unfortunate 2nd and 3rd place finishes, Team Liquid finally found a notable win at EPICENTER back in May, but also lost a tough series to OG in the Manila Major Grand Finals. Team Liquid has managed to place 2nd at the last 2 Valve events, and is hellbent on finally winning one for themselves. Team Liquid has consistently struggled to seal the deal at premier events, and will be looking to prove themselves on the big stage.
Players:
1. Lasse "MATUMBAMAN" Urpalainen
2. Adrian "FATA-" Trinks
3. Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Borislavov
4. Jesse "JerAx" Vainikka
5. Kuro "KuroKy" Salehi Takhasomi (Captain)
Final Placement: 7th - 8th
Newbee -- It has been an up and down couple of years for Newbee. The International 2014 Champions, went from being an unbeatable juggernaut, to a punchline in a matter of months. Since then, due to some roster changes and shifts in the metagame, Newbee is back with a vengeance, to put it mildly. They have since set a new DotA 2 record for most consecutive professional matches won, and consistently placed at premier tournaments while outclassing just about every other Chinese team. Newbee--along with a few others--will be looking to become the first organization to win multiple Internationals. Coming off a win at Nanyang over Wings (overall they tied 4-4 though), Newbee is finally starting to look more like a team capable of taking home the Aegis.
Players:
1. Chen "Hao" Zhihao
2. Zhang "Mu" Pan
3. Damien "Kpii" Chok
4. Wong "ChuaN" Hock Chuan
5. Hu "kaka" Liangzhi (Captain)
Final Placement: 9th - 12th
Alliance -- Alliance is a Swedish organization, and another former International winner, having beaten Na'vi in a now classic Grand Finals back in 2013. Since then, Alliance has had a lot of struggles, and have failed to even qualify for the last 2 Internationals. They have managed to play in all 3 Majors over the past year, and pretty regularly finish middle of the pack. They started out 2016 with a bang though, and a lot of cheers started claiming "Alliance is back!", after they won WCA and StarLadder Star i-League. That success quickly faded, and Alliance seems to struggle when specific heroes fall out of favor. They managed to secure a spot in The International, placing 2nd in the European Qualifier, but still have a lot to prove after publicly complaining that they (and other teams) failed to receive a direct invite. Lets see if Alliance can become the first team to win two Internationals.
Players:
1. Jonathan "Loda" Berg
2. Gustav "s4" Magnusson (Captain)
3. Henrik "AdmiralBulldog" Ahnberg
4. Joakim "Akke" Akterhall
5. Jerry "EGM" Lundkvist
Final Placement: 9th - 12th
LGD Gaming -- LGD is another team that has been up and down over the past few years. The Chinese scene for DotA 2 is very competitive, and LGD seems to regularly have fallen through the cracks over the years, even when they were heavily favored. The organizations first appearance at The International was at TI2, where they stormed the Group Stage going an impressive 14-0, only to be knocked out by iG in the Main Event (the eventual winners of the event), for a 3rd place finish. TI5 saw them in a similar situation where they fought their way to a 12-2 Group Stage record, only to be knocked down by CDEC (the dark horse team that finished 2nd), and knocked out by EG (the eventual winners of TI5) for another 3rd place finish. Unfortunately for LGD, their position 4 support player Xue "September" Zhichuan will not be playing with them, after failing to secure a Visa for the event. Their coach Wang "Banana" Jiao will be filling in, and hopefully their performance won't suffer because of it. LGD will be looking to top their previous 3rd place finishes, and take maybe win the Aegis for China once again, but due to the aforementioned last minute roster change, it will be an uphill battle.
Players:
1. Sun "Agressif" Zheng
2. Lu "Maybe" Yao
3. Zhang "xiao8" Ning (Captain)
4. Wang "Banana" Jiao
5. Lei "MMY!" Zengrong
Final Placement: 9th - 12th
OG -- OG are the definite favorites coming into The International. Coming off a victory in the most recent Manila Major, OG are nigh untouchable in the world of competitive DotA. They are the only team to win 2 Valve Events--Frankfurt Major and Manila Major--and are looking to continue building on a strong year. What started as a rag-tag group of teamless pro players from every corner of the West, is now arguably the best DotA 2 team in the world. Despite a recent loss to Wings Gaming at The Summit 5, OG still have the potential to absolutely dominate any team in the tournament, and will be looking to achieve an unprecedented 3rd Valve Event--and win the ultimate title in DotA 2.
Players:
1. Johan "N0tail" Sundstein
2. Amer "Miracle-" Barqawi
3. David "MoonMeander" Tan
4. Andreas Franck "Cr1t-" Nielsen
5. Tal "Fly" Aizik (Captain)
Final Placement: 9th - 12th
Natus Vincere -- Na'vi, the winners of The International 2011, and runners-up in the 2012 and 2013 International, have had a crazy few years. After dominating professional DotA 2 for a solid 3 years, Na'vi started to struggle, and have spent the last year and half trying to find a combination of players that worked for them, and their fans have been patiently waiting. That wait may be over, as this new Na'vi lineup is finally able to compete at the highest level. After failing to qualify for the Shanghai Major, Na'vi made a few more changes and ended up with their current lineup, that managed to sweep their group at the Manila Major, and finished an unfortunate 7th-8th having lost only to OG (the eventual winners) and Team Liquid (the runners-up). Na'vi finally secured a win--their first in 20 months--at StarLadder i-League Season 2 a few weeks ago, and is finally looking like a top tier team.
Players:
1. Dmitry "Ditya Ra" Minenkov
2. Danil "Dendi" Ishutin
3. Victor "GeneRaL" Nigrini
4. Akbar "SoNNeikO" Butaev
5. Ivan "Artstyle" Antonov (Captain)
Final Placement: 13th - 16th
Escape Gaming -- Escape Gaming was the Wild Card entry from Europe. Escape Gaming originally started out as a pub stack based around legendary player--and commentator--syndereN. Don't be fooled though, despite starting out as a somewhat goofy group of friends, Escape has a lot of talent hiding in their roster. Era, syndereN, and qojqva have been around for the past several years, and have consistently qualified for major tournaments, and KheZu was the highest earning professional HoN player (beating out swindlez and Chessie from coL) prior to switching over to DotA 2. Not to be left out, YapzOr has spent the last few year playing with the likes of Miracle-, who is now considered one of the best players in the world. Despite having a good mixture of old and new talent, Escape hasn't really accomplished anything short of a 3rd Place finish in the European Wild Card for TI6, and managed to beat out Execration and compLexity for the second Wild Card spot in the main event. It's going to be an uphill battle for them, but also interesting to see how they perform against the best teams in the world.
Players:
1. Adrian "Era" Kryeziu
2. Max "qojqva" Broecker
3. Maurice "KheZu" Gutmann
4. Yazied YapzOr" Jaradat
5. Troels "syndereN" Nielsen (Captain)
Final Placement: 13th - 16th
Team Secret -- Team Secret has been struggling. They have some of the most renowned players in DotA 2, including a TI-winning Captain (Puppey) and two of the best carries\cores in the world, probably the best in North America (RTZ and EE), but just cannot seem to find success. They had the talent, but the chemistry just was not there, and it was painfully obvious when watching them play. So they swapped out Universe in favor of BuLba, hoping that going to a less greedy offlaner would help them, and they stormed their way through the European Open Qualifiers, and eventually topped the Regional Qualifiers. Prior to that, a Team Secret with varying lineups placed 7th/8th at the last International, 2nd at the Frankfurt Major, and won the Shanghai Major. After the Shanghai Major they replaced w33 and Misery with Universe and Arteezy, and it all fell apart. They (along with EG and Wings) placed 13th-16th at Manila, and decided they had to make changes. Their current lineup managed a 2nd place finish at StarLadder i-League--losing to Puppey's former team Na'vi--but that wasn't exactly the highest skill tournament in recent months, and Team Secret needs to prove they are a top tier team.
Players:
1\2. Artour "Arteezy" Babaev
1\2. Jacky "EternaLEnVy" Mao
3. Kanishka "BuLba" Sosale
4. Clement "Puppey" Ivanov (Captain)
5. Johan "pieliedie" Åström
Final Placement: 13th - 16th
Vici Gaming Reborn -- Vici Gaming Reborn was one of the times that rose up after the massive Chinese reshuffle of players following the Shanghai Major. They have a mixture of established players and up-and-coming talent. As is the case with many teams, they have spent the last few months being tempered by the brutal Chinese DotA scene. They had a great showing at the Manila Major, placing 7th-8th beating out teams like coL, Alliance, and Wings, as well as a win at StarLadder i-League, having made a strong run through the losers bracket beating out Virtus Pro, OG, LGD, and finally Na'vi. They are definitely slotted as one of those teams that is a major victory away from being a Tier 1 team. Unfortunately for VGR, their normal offlaner Zhou "Yang" Haiyang--after failing to obtain a Visa in time--won't be able to compete with them, and instead Mikasa will be their offlaner. That puts VGR at a severe disadvantage as a team, because Yang is widely considered to be one of the best players in China--often compared to Miracle due to his absurdly high MMR. VGR will only be successful if Mikasa seamlessly slips into the 3 position, otherwise they may make an early exit.
Players:
1. Yang "Zyf" Pu
2. Wang "Nono" Xin
3. Tong "Mikasa" Junjie
4. Xu "fy" Linsen
5. Leong "DDC" Fat-meng
Final Placement: 13th - 16th
compLexity Gaming -- compLexity is the Wild Card entry from North America. compLexity is probably the single team that is being punished the hardest by EG's shuffling of its roster, because coL has played every Valve event since TI5, and regularly placed in the Top 6, except Manila where they managed 9th-12th. They are also impressively unlucky when it comes to who they play in the tournament--coL has been knocked out by the Winner or Runner-Up in every Premier Tournament they have participated in this year. compLexity gets a lot of criticism, but they regularly take games off top tier teams, and could easily fly through the wild card, and into a promising position in the main event.
Players:
1. Rasmus "Chessie" Blomdin
2. Linus "Limmp" Blomdin
3. Kyle "swindlemelonzz" Freedman (Captain)
4. Zakari "Zfreek" Freedman
5. Simon "Handsken" Haag
Final Placement: Did Not Place
Execration -- Execration is the Wild Card entry from South East Asia. Execration is a team that has been slowly working their way up through the SEA region, and they had their best showing to date in the TI6 Qualifiers. They managed to force their way into a 3 way tie with Regional Qualifier favorites Fnatic (who they beat in the Group Stage), as well as TNC Gaming. After a tough tie breaker, they then went into the Wild Card playoffs and ended up facing Fnatic again in the Wild Card Finals, where they suffered a tough 3-1 loss. Execration has managed to take games off top teams in the region, but they will need to play a lot more disciplined if they want to make it to the big tournament, and especially if they want to make it far into the tournament.
Players:
1/2. Fernando "Nando" Mendoza
1/2. Abed "Abed" Yusop
3. Ralph "RR" Penano
4. Timothy "Tims" Randrup
5. Kimuel "Kim0" Rodis (Captain)
Final Placement: Did Not Place
