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October was a busy ass month for dota with the conclusion of the first round of big tourneys. Since I found myself with way to much time on my hands I watched them all and felt like making a power ranking for the top 5 teams.
Honestly, PPD's drafts are ridiculous sometimes. In a tournament where the winner gets over 100g's who the hell picks a carry lina+ Show Spoiler +. His drafting is at times a bit YOLO but nobody gives a damn when you win; and these guys win. A lot. First in WEC (which was technically September), second in ESL One, and first in last weekends Star Ladder finals. $228,847 from those tourneys alone. Arteezy will be able to fund the careers of several terrible musicians if they keep at this rate. Towers usually fall quickly to the boys in + Show Spoiler + blue and it just gets easier from there. Solid play from Universe generally anchors this team when things go awry but lately the secret carry Zai has been my MVP. I don't expect these guys to slow down any time soon and with old man fear at full strength it feels like they have already punched their ticket to Seattle.+ Show Spoiler +It's not even fucking November yet..
2. Newbee Your TI4 champions had a slow start to the "new season" and looked a bit lost without their director. Fourth place at WEC had them feeling vulnerable coming into October but a quick bounce back with a dominating performance at WCA (give me some creativity in the naming china, please?), reminded us why they were the top team in China. Going 9-1 in a tournament is certainly a good way to make a statement. Since then they haven't been seen much, giving up their position at Star Ladder because... Ukraine? Winning their group stage matches against well, everyone, has them on top in The Summit 2. They also qualified for the Synergy finals + Show Spoiler +(the tournament you only know because Arrow played against CSW) . While Newbee seems to have regained their T1 status, I can't help but feel we'd have a better gage on them if they had come to Kiev and done some mortal combat with Secret and EG... Until then, I'll just leave them at 2 and look towards the next lan.
3. Team Secret There's no secret that these guys are talented + Show Spoiler +. The question was whether it would ever transfer to a lan event. Star Ladder was a pretty good answer. Puppey drafted well and Simba/Fly.charliemonolithselloutdota played some of the best dota I've ever seen from him that tournament. The dunks from Notail + Show Spoiler +(yes Notail, I won't say io and I sure as hell aren't gonna say bigdaddy... 'Murica) were ridiculous and damn near won them the finals. Their ability to lose the lane and win the game are almost c9 level. Before Kiev, they dominated Europe from the comfort of their homes but disappointed in New York, getting run over by a dominating Vici squad. While Simba still needs to grow and expand his hero pool before he challenges Scar + Show Spoiler +, this squad now seems able to play with anyone, anywhere, and is definitely the top dog in Europe.
4. Vici Gaming Black is back, and on a good team. Remember when nobody seemed to want Black on their team because he was one dimensional? + Show Spoiler +Well fuck those guys and fuck their couch. Black still hits creeps like it's his job, and it is, but he seems capable of doing whatever his team asks of him. Taking offlane and even midlane when needed, playing heroes other than antimage, the kid does it all with a smile. Throw in iceiceice + Show Spoiler +who has some practice I hear, creating space for a 1 position who likes to farm , stellar supports, and have a wild Super mid appear; that's a pretty solid team. After taking a mediocre fourth place in WCA, they proceeded to take a dump on every team they faced in New York. Beating NaVi, Team Secret, and even our number 1 place EG. Since then though, they have looked solid but definitely mortal, qualifying for the Synergy finals and just barely made their way out of The Summit 2 Chinese group stage. As the rest of the Chinese scene catches up to the patch and adjusts to their new teams, you have to wonder if they will continue as a top 2 Chinese team or if the rubber band effect is too strong. A showing in Ukraine would have been great for seeing their worth and moving them up the ladder but, you know... Ebola.
5. Cloud 9 Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, EE-sama will catch that bouquet one day+ Show Spoiler +the anime they are making about his life said so . Seriously though, these guys can't catch a break. Second at WEC, Second at WCA, 3/4th at ESL One, third at Star Ladder+ Show Spoiler +with a standin that just happened to be around and had a whole... 24 hours to practice with the team? . These guys got into Star Ladder after China decided to censor Ukraine and they certainly made the most out of it. Losing Bone7, not to a visa issue but to his body rejecting non-chicken food stuffs felt like a killer blow. But you can't keep a man[ga] down. The blue and white made a loser bracket run that would have made TI3 NaVi proud. They even managed to take 2 games off EG in the tournament. The greediest kids you know showed that terror blade can still be pretty stronk in the right hands+ Show Spoiler +. Fata has been the rock of this team, giving solid play and time to an otherwise up and down group of cores. Many questioned whether replacing singsing would make the team better, the answer seems to be yes. Solid play from Aui, PLD, and Bone7 has certainly helped in their solid results; but make no mistake, this is EE's team and where he goes, so goes the team.
Honorable mentions + Show Spoiler +or disappointments depending on how you look at it
Team Tinker Star power with mediocre results. It feels like they can be better than they are, but how long can you say they are "figuring things out". Qojqva feels like the best player in the world right + Show Spoiler +seriously go watch his fucking centaur game... right meow now so I'm very interested to see how they change things moving forward.
Alliance A dynasty of a bygone era+ Show Spoiler +. After some moving pieces finally settled everyone was interested to see how this new squad came together. The answer is... still coming. Sometimes they are terrible, other times they feel like Alliance of old. Having their squad whole again will probably help going forward.
Team Malaysia They look like a dwarf among midgets, but they play to their competitions level much of the time. I am glad that Mushi continued playing dota and I hope his return brings the scene some attention and sponsorships+ Show Spoiler +they could use some positive attention after the last month . Hopefully they can find a groove and bring some respect back to SEA.
Rising fast:
4ASC Solid play in most of their games, catch a game or two of theirs; or I'll come to your house and find you...
Disbanderino Incoming:
Virtus Pro But honestly, when isn't it?
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This is actually hilarious and informative. A+, would/10
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Russian Federation194 Posts
No love for IAP My only worry for EG at the top is they remind me of Na'vi last year winning tournaments but not scrimming or bootcamping which might cause issues later in the dota year (TI5 qualifiers to TI5). Could be completely wrong and I'm not flaming EG at all. Glad you threw Alliance in there though, remind me of Newbee last year that didn't look good going into TI4 but if they can get hot at the right moment can be on top.
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The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are.
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On October 28 2014 11:34 Kashll wrote: The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are. Nice VG flair
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On October 28 2014 11:34 Kashll wrote: The fact that you put EG at #1 and VG at #4 despite VG smacking them the fuck down just shows how biased you are. Thanks for the input dog.
User was warned for this post
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C9 at 5, honorable mentions to TT and Alliance and no Na'Vi to speak of?
They may not be #2 International material, but I would place them to win against Alliance all day. And, C9 and TT half the day.
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Well to be fair when a team beats another team in a Bo5 finals for a giant tournament how can you say that the team that lost is 3 slots better?
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Cascadia1753 Posts
I feel like you could have added like 3-4 more teams to the disband section...
Fnatic, Denial, basically every CIS team..
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I think vici should be 3, and secret 4. Otherwise, I agree with your ranking. PPD showing how drafting should be done. You base it around your team's strength, and not blindly follow the trends. I like how he experiments ideas on each tournament, but still keeping the generic style the same. Defensive support on him, flashy support on zai, some carry on rtz, space creating hero/second carry on fear, and universe on universe. It leaves their drafts very flexible and hard to counter, a trait the old alliance had.
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5/5 youtube links, 4/5 spoiler jokes. I'll round up...
...this time.
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On October 28 2014 13:10 Kashll wrote: Well to be fair when a team beats another team in a Bo5 finals for a giant tournament how can you say that the team that lost is 3 slots better?
You could do it based on all results against all teams. If you go strictly by "X beat Y so X must be above Y", you end up with very confusing and probably impossible rankings. VG looked great in those finals but have not since then. And even if someone has a different opinion from you, it doesn't mean they're being horrifically biased - it just means that you guys don't agree. Nobody is being harmed by someone blogging their own personal rankings.
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Dwarf among midgets. I'm stealing this if I'm ever going to write something.
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sorry, c9 is actually the best team
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i had fun reading this
except that you put EG over VG
VG best team yow .. and C9 should be placed not for any logical reasons but for traditions sake
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On October 28 2014 18:40 LennX wrote: Dwarf among midgets. I'm stealing this if I'm ever going to write something.
I don't get it though. What does dwarf among midgets mean? Isn't a dwarf the same height as a midget?
Edit: Also need more love for Chinese teams apart from NB and VG. Also also, I think NB/VG are better than EG.
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Dwarf among midgets is the idea that you look better in comparison when the entire scene is weak, not unlike EG as the best western team at TI4
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In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes.
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On October 29 2014 00:11 Kupon3ss wrote: In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes. Stole the words out of my mouth.
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Such a gosu ranking
... literally.
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On October 29 2014 00:11 Kupon3ss wrote: In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes. It's a deep burn sir. But yeah, I generally watch less of the chinese scene (probably3-5 games a week) and have gone more off the results. VG could be higher but they looked fairly lackluster in their recent group stages and sat out SL. Would've been great to see them and NB in that mix. The writing was supposed to be espn grantland style so take it as serious as you will.
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On October 28 2014 12:43 danl9rm wrote: C9 at 5, honorable mentions to TT and Alliance and no Na'Vi to speak of?
They may not be #2 International material, but I would place them to win against Alliance all day. And, C9 and TT half the day.
when was the last time navi finished above c9 in a tournament?
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On October 29 2014 01:06 giftdgecko wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 00:11 Kupon3ss wrote: In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes. It's a deep burn sir. But yeah, I generally watch less of the chinese scene (probably3-5 games a week) and have gone more off the results. VG could be higher but they looked fairly lackluster in their recent group stages and sat out SL. Would've been great to see them and NB in that mix. The writing was supposed to be espn grantland style so take it as serious as you will. VG lost a lot when trying weird stuff, a few bara games or pos 4 NP (this one worked wonder). They looked unstoppable with more conventional picks and they also threw some random games for fun or for facing better opponents in bracket. Newbee are also really strong atm, I would place those 2 above all other teams atm.
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On October 29 2014 03:14 nojok wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 01:06 giftdgecko wrote:On October 29 2014 00:11 Kupon3ss wrote: In general there's no real reason to write both East/West into the same rank, especially when the author seems to know nothing about one of the two scenes. It's a deep burn sir. But yeah, I generally watch less of the chinese scene (probably3-5 games a week) and have gone more off the results. VG could be higher but they looked fairly lackluster in their recent group stages and sat out SL. Would've been great to see them and NB in that mix. The writing was supposed to be espn grantland style so take it as serious as you will. VG lost a lot when trying weird stuff, a few bara games or pos 4 NP (this one worked wonder). They looked unstoppable with more conventional picks and they also threw some random games for fun or for facing better opponents in bracket. Newbee are also really strong atm, I would place those 2 above all other teams atm. I can see an argument for VG above secret but either way I found it too hard to place either them or NB above EG right now. Hopefully with BTS2 we can get some more head to head matches.
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On October 28 2014 13:10 Kashll wrote: Well to be fair when a team beats another team in a Bo5 finals for a giant tournament how can you say that the team that lost is 3 slots better? Bo3 finals, actually.
Plus VG were knocked out of WEC and WCA by EG and C9, respectively, so it's not really clear cut.
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United States2186 Posts
VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?!
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On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?!
White power confirmed.
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On October 29 2014 15:49 Kashll wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?! White power confirmed.
I don't think you know what a typical Teamliquid Power Rank looks like (which is fine, most people weren't here in 2009-2010). In essence, how the games look trumps results, and to me, Secret has looked damn impressive, while VG has looked lackluster to me, especially last few weeks.
I mostly agree with, I don't like the idea of Newbee being second, maybe 3rd is more ideal. Also dislike no Navi in the honorable mentions, I certainly think they are above Alliance, and right behind C9, and on par or ahead of TT.
I feel like the Chinese are being a bit underestimated here, especially LGD and CDEC, who I'd favor against C9, Alliance, TT, Navi, but it's hard to say, as we haven't seen these teams much in the western scene, or vice versa.
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On October 29 2014 17:52 FiWiFaKi wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 15:49 Kashll wrote:On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?! White power confirmed. I don't think you know what a typical Teamliquid Power Rank looks like (which is fine, most people weren't here in 2009-2010). In essence, how the games look trumps results, and to me, Secret has looked damn impressive, while VG has looked lackluster to me, especially last few weeks. I mostly agree with, I don't like the idea of Newbee being second, maybe 3rd is more ideal. Also dislike no Navi in the honorable mentions, I certainly think they are above Alliance, and right behind C9, and on par or ahead of TT. I feel like the Chinese are being a bit underestimated here, especially LGD and CDEC, who I'd favor against C9, Alliance, TT, Navi, but it's hard to say, as we haven't seen these teams much in the western scene, or vice versa. Alliance recently got 3rd at WCA and 4th at Starladder. Two events where Na'Vi was present and got 5/8th and 5/6th at, respectively.
Alliance is completely 1 dimension right now, but they can at least get results with what they're good at.
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When I was writing it up I didn't want to list more than two teams in the honorable mentions, so I chose TT( because they are more in the failing some expectations category imo), and Alliance (because I felt their best was better than NaVi's best so far). Probably Should have given LGD (or their former affiliate) some love though.
I'm also a bit disappointed it was the same as the gosu rankings but w.e. It was fun to write up either way.
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On October 29 2014 17:52 FiWiFaKi wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 15:49 Kashll wrote:On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?! White power confirmed. I don't think you know what a typical Teamliquid Power Rank looks like (which is fine, most people weren't here in 2009-2010). In essence, how the games look trumps results, and to me, Secret has looked damn impressive, while VG has looked lackluster to me, especially last few weeks. I mostly agree with, I don't like the idea of Newbee being second, maybe 3rd is more ideal. Also dislike no Navi in the honorable mentions, I certainly think they are above Alliance, and right behind C9, and on par or ahead of TT. I feel like the Chinese are being a bit underestimated here, especially LGD and CDEC, who I'd favor against C9, Alliance, TT, Navi, but it's hard to say, as we haven't seen these teams much in the western scene, or vice versa.
c9 and alliance outfinished both of those teams in china
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On October 29 2014 17:52 FiWiFaKi wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 15:49 Kashll wrote:On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?! White power confirmed. I don't think you know what a typical Teamliquid Power Rank looks like (which is fine, most people weren't here in 2009-2010). In essence, how the games look trumps results, and to me, Secret has looked damn impressive, while VG has looked lackluster to me, especially last few weeks. I mostly agree with, I don't like the idea of Newbee being second, maybe 3rd is more ideal. Also dislike no Navi in the honorable mentions, I certainly think they are above Alliance, and right behind C9, and on par or ahead of TT. I feel like the Chinese are being a bit underestimated here, especially LGD and CDEC, who I'd favor against C9, Alliance, TT, Navi, but it's hard to say, as we haven't seen these teams much in the western scene, or vice versa.
Oh I know how Teamliquid Power Ranks look like, I started coming here right after the Bisu vs Savior series and always followed them.
All I'm saying is that this ranking has a pretty clear bias against the chinese scene.
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Sanya12364 Posts
LOL
You could easily fit the entirety of the 2nd tier of Chinese scene (6-7 teams) in between C9 and the honorable mentions.
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On October 30 2014 12:15 Kashll wrote:Show nested quote +On October 29 2014 17:52 FiWiFaKi wrote:On October 29 2014 15:49 Kashll wrote:On October 29 2014 14:44 Ver wrote: VG beats EG and Secret. Newbee beats everyone except they don't play EG/Secret. Hidden formula??? EG on top of Newbee and Secret on top of VG.
White power?! White power confirmed. I don't think you know what a typical Teamliquid Power Rank looks like (which is fine, most people weren't here in 2009-2010). In essence, how the games look trumps results, and to me, Secret has looked damn impressive, while VG has looked lackluster to me, especially last few weeks. I mostly agree with, I don't like the idea of Newbee being second, maybe 3rd is more ideal. Also dislike no Navi in the honorable mentions, I certainly think they are above Alliance, and right behind C9, and on par or ahead of TT. I feel like the Chinese are being a bit underestimated here, especially LGD and CDEC, who I'd favor against C9, Alliance, TT, Navi, but it's hard to say, as we haven't seen these teams much in the western scene, or vice versa. Oh I know how Teamliquid Power Ranks look like, I started coming here right after the Bisu vs Savior series and always followed them. All I'm saying is that this ranking has a pretty clear bias against the chinese scene. Don't really see how. Maybe a Team Secret bias, at most.
Seems more like you're just ignoring WEC and WCA.
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On October 28 2014 19:03 teddyoojo wrote: sorry, c9 is actually the best team I agree wholly
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Which Qojqva game am I supposed to go watch? Heard about that cent, no clue where it is though.
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On October 30 2014 22:15 Blackspikes wrote: Which Qojqva game am I supposed to go watch? Heard about that cent, no clue where it is though. I believe this is it against XPC.int
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Do you just not like Chinese teams? I mean they cleaned house at TI and I see nothing to put any western team above Newbee or VG. Your taking western teams beating other western teams and from that deciding they are now better than the Chinese teams. If you don't watch/care about China just do a western one.
Edit: And as for rising fast CDEC I'd probably rank above all western teams apart from EG and Secret now. Seems you just didn't really want to include the Chinese scene.
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On November 01 2014 02:37 Eyx wrote: Do you just not like Chinese teams? I mean they cleaned house at TI and I see nothing to put any western team above Newbee or VG. Your taking western teams beating other western teams and from that deciding they are now better than the Chinese teams. If you don't watch/care about China just do a western one.
Edit: And as for rising fast CDEC I'd probably rank above all western teams apart from EG and Secret now. Seems you just didn't really want to include the Chinese scene.
You do realize that the TI4 rosters and current rosters are different, right?
And you also realize that Western teams and Eastern teams have all played each other in three LAN finals already? WEC, ESL One and WCA all have fairly varied results, but it's fairly obvious that EG and C9 can match up against any Chinese team.
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On November 01 2014 07:57 WolfintheSheep wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2014 02:37 Eyx wrote: Do you just not like Chinese teams? I mean they cleaned house at TI and I see nothing to put any western team above Newbee or VG. Your taking western teams beating other western teams and from that deciding they are now better than the Chinese teams. If you don't watch/care about China just do a western one.
Edit: And as for rising fast CDEC I'd probably rank above all western teams apart from EG and Secret now. Seems you just didn't really want to include the Chinese scene. You do realize that the TI4 rosters and current rosters are different, right? And you also realize that Western teams and Eastern teams have all played each other in three LAN finals already? WEC, ESL One and WCA all have fairly varied results, but it's fairly obvious that EG and C9 can match up against any Chinese team. ^This^ was a big factor in it. Looking at the Chinese teams at WEC and WCA most of them looked mediocre. I expect that to change and maybe it would have if they played at starladder. I have nothing against Chinese teams or the scene, I watch a fair number of games, this was the ranking I came to. If anyone disagrees that's fine, it's kinda the point of power rankings and why I did it (along with some fun videos and puns). Putting CDEC above C9 is something I would argue is premature.
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United States2186 Posts
Uh the Chinese teams did bad at the first lan cause either a) they just formed or b) (newbee) didn't play the game for a month. Ever since then it's obvious VG and Newbee are a step above all other teams. This is just whitepower! or regionalism reasoning, be honest.
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On November 01 2014 09:40 Ver wrote: Uh the Chinese teams did bad at the first lan cause either a) they just formed or b) (newbee) didn't play the game for a month. Ever since then it's obvious VG and Newbee are a step above all other teams. This is just whitepower! or regionalism reasoning, be honest.
WCA happened earlier this month. VG lost to Alliance 0-2, and then C9 1-2. And this was a tournament in China.
Clearly a step above every other team.
Don't get me wrong, they're both very strong teams. Newbee did win WCA over Alliance and C9, and VG did win ESL One. But neither are actually dominant against Western teams.
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Reading all the comments and then the flair is pretty hilarious
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