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DreamLeague Season 8 Preview - Europe vs.The World

Forum Index > Dota 2 General
9 CommentsPost a Reply

DreamLeague Season 8 Preview - Europe vs.The World

November 30th, 2017 14:26 GMT
Text byShiaoPi
DotaPit Season 4 Playoff Preview

Table of Contents


Intro

Meet the European Defenders

The Challengers around the Globe

The Matches

More on Liquipedia


Welcome to DreamHack, welcome to Jönköping and one of the oldest traditions of esports. In recent years DreamLeague had lost a bit of it’s luster but this season marks its return to prominence as the second major of the season.

With a double-elimination bracket and 8 teams in attendance the stage is set for a battle not only for a million dollar prize pool but also 1500 DPC points up for grabs. Can the Europeans do just as well as the Chinese did during the Perfect World Minor and keep those points in their scene or will the numerous challengers from abroad take it home with them? Get ready for some high-end Dota as the second Major champion of the Dota Pro Circuit gets crowned.

Meet the European Defenders

As 4 out of 8 attendees are hailing from Europe they very much so represent the strongest the “old world” has to offer at the moment. We have the champions of Hamburg, Virtus.Pro as well as Natus Vincere, looking quite revitalized and “back” (yet again) representing the CIS community. For the Western European scene we have TI Champions Team Liquid and Hamburg runner-ups Team Secret carrying the torch as OG missed out on DreamHack with their current struggles since the post-TI shuffle.

Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid are certainly among the favorites to take home the entire event as both teams show no signs of letting up and will be hungry to gain some more DPC points. Taking two majors in a row would also be quite the success for VP and the achievement-starved CIS region after the longest drought was just ended in Hamburg. For TL Jönköping is also a chance to further drive home the point that Hamburg was just a hiccup and that the TI-Winner’s curse is just a myth. So far they seem utterly unaffected by it as their dominance is still largely felt throughout the scene via their two already bagged Minor championships.

Team Secret would love to be counted in the same row as VP and TL but unfortunately for them their recent performance at the Perfect World Masters was not the boost the silver medalist in Hamburg was looking for. While partly excused by the lack of their complete roster, DreamLeague Season 8 finals are very important for Puppey & Co. to keep their momentum and to fill the void left by OG in the European powerhouse category. If Secret is not quite up to the level of the two front runners Na’Vi has to be even more so the odd one out.

The story of Na’Vi being down and then back again has been already retold countless times, but this time around there seems to be more credit behind their claim to be “back”. Not only do they make it more consistently out of the CIS qualifiers but their performances on LAN have been nothing to scoff at either. While still empty-handed in terms of DPC points, their recent victory over VP in a Bo5 on LAN in the Adrenaline Cyber League was impressive to say the least. Then again they also just lost to Team Spirit in the qualifiers for Galaxy Battles, so how good Na’Vi actually are is difficult to say at the moment. Keeping that in mind DreamLeague is doubly important for them as their performance in Sweden will decide if the recent months are just a repeat of their never-ending story or the start of a “true” rebirth of the team that dominated Dota 2 in its infancy.

The Challengers around the Globe

Travelling to the icy north we have some of the best of the other regions in attendance at Jönköping. Leading the charge are without a doubt Newbee, recent champions of the Perfect World Masters and with vengeance in mind for their lackluster performances earlier in the season. Following the Chinese giants are the ever-present North American darlings of EG. With the return of Fear expectations had been high for EG, but approaching the second major of the season all they have to show for is a measly third place at PGL Open Bucharest. Not only has their performance in inter-regional competition been disappointing but even more worrisome is their lack of a stranglehold on the NA scene. With new challengers clawing at their heels from all directions EG has much to prove in Sweden.

The other two teams have a distinct lack of pedigree that Newbee and EG can boast of. Fnatic has been struggling ever since they imported EternalEnvy and pieliedie from the North American scene and their lack of results so far has been quite the letdown. But since they brought in Abed to replace Excalibur Fnatic have become a much more serious threat to the competition. While they still cannot completely escape Mineski’s clutches in the SEA region, their recent form has shown a remarkable amount of improvement from what we had seen from them during the ESL One Hamburg Major. Now heading to their second major with a stronger lineup they might be able to finally give their massive fan base the success they have been hoping for.

Hope is the term that coincidentally characterizes the South American representative Infamous the best as well. With the advent of the new Dota Pro Circuit chances have been given aplenty to a region that prior had just been a footnote in competitive Dota. But neither the reformed SG e-sports or Infamous had been quite able to recapture the magic that was the Brazilians upset of Secret during the Kiev Major. With SG having had their shot at Hamburg it now falls to Infamous to carry the weight of a region’s hope on their shoulders, will they step up to the momentous task in front of them or crumble like before?

The Matches



Virtus.Pro vs Natus Vincere

Who would win? The Hamburg Major champion, who had been among the top teams for month or “some washed up team that should have given up long ago”? Prior to the recent weeks the question would have been incredibly easy to answer. With the result of the Adrenaline Cyber League and Na´Vi’s current upwards trajectory it gets quite a bit harder however. With domestic matches it also is hard to predict what happens as the teams know each other very well. Nevertheless Virtus.Pro’s superior skill, experience and captainship should win out over Na´Vi, especially considering that Na´Vi had also just lost to Team Spirit, who are far from the strongest the CIS region can boast.

Prediction: VP 2-1 Na´Vi

Team Liquid vs Fnatic

On paper this is a matchup that should be incredibly easy to call and in contrast to the first one I have little doubts that TL can meet the challenge from SEA with ease. Fnatic has been too inconsistent and flaky to present a real challenge to the reigning TI champions. While Abed’s addition is a step in the right direction for Fnatic they need more time to truly become a threat to the established top tier teams.

Prediction: TL 2-0 Fnatic

Team Secret vs Evil Geniuses

This matchup has undoubtedly the potential for the best games out of all Ro8 matches at DreamLeague Season 8. Two teams with some of the strongest individually skilled players in the world and both with a burning need to prove the strength of their roster. Secret to make us all forget about their performance in Shanghai and EG to finally retake their spot among the elite teams. I expect this one to go the distance of 3 close maps, but in the end Secret should come out on top. EG might just as well pull off the victory here though as we have not seen them play officials for quite a while and their strength is hard to gauge with all the potential within their roster.

Prediction: Secret 2-1 EG

Newbee vs Infamous

If there is a David vs Goliath matchup at DreamHack it certainly is this one. Newbee coming in hot from their victory at the Perfect World Masters against the on paper weakest team in attendance. I see little chance for the South Americans to upset the Chinese favorites here but then again so did we all when SG clashed against Secret during the Kiev Major. Can Infamous take down their giant? Unfortunately I don’t think so.

Prediction: Newbee 2-0 Infamous

Semifinals and Further:

According to my predictions this would lead into the matchups TL vs VP and Secret vs Newbee in the Winner Bracket, who will take it all the way from there? A difficult question that I don’t trust myself enough to answer. These 4 are all close to each other in strength if they are at their top form, making it anyone’s tournament to take. For the Lower Bracket I see EG and Na´Vi making it past the first elimination round but how will the matches go from there? Everything seems possible, we might as well just see those two make a inspired run from the Lower Bracket back to the finals, all I can say is that we are in for quite a treat of top-tier Dota 2. Be sure to find out during the DreamLeague Season 8 Finals this weekend as we crown the second Major champion of the season.

Writer: ShiaoPi
Editor: OmniEulogy
Frontpage and banner image: DreamHack
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Writer@TW_ShiaoPi
TL+ Member
Kelefei2016
Profile Joined August 2016
Papua New Guinea470 Posts
November 30 2017 15:05 GMT
#2
Gogo Secret & Fnatic
Archeon
Profile Joined May 2011
1846 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-11-30 15:51:19
November 30 2017 15:45 GMT
#3
Nice writeup

On November 30 2017 23:26 ShiaoPi wrote:

Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid are certainly among the favorites to take home the entire event as both teams show no signs of letting up and will be hungry to gain some more DPC points.

VP's has been struggling quite a bit since ESL, they barely qualified to DL and got 4th in Dotapit (they won vs Fnatic and SGE and lost against VG and NB). IIRC their record vs Navi's current iteration is 2:3, so I'm fine with the match estimation.

Just saying that "showing no signs of letting up" isn't really what I'd say about a former t1/1.5 team that tied against OG and MoF, dropped a map vs Fnatic and got 2:0ed by VG. TL also has a bunch of draws, but they also beat NB and VG when it counted.
low gravity, yes-yes!
Pandemona
Profile Joined March 2011
Charlie Sheens House6595 Posts
November 30 2017 16:38 GMT
#4
VP have beaten Liquid though showing they can bleed, if they can navigate past NAVI i see them going to winners finals and waiting to see what happens from there. Not saying they will win the whole thing but i can see them winning the first two series on day 1.
Team Liquid Football Thread Guru! - Chelsea FC ♥
OmniEulogy
Profile Joined July 2010
Canada2797 Posts
November 30 2017 16:41 GMT
#5
That's true but I wouldn't discredit VP as a top contender for losing to VG and Newbee, VG is in the middle of becoming the #2 team in China and Newbee always has the ability to win games. China as a whole right now tbh has 3~ teams who could really win every tournament they enter, they probably wont and some might bomb but they could do it xD
Front Page Lead
DucK-
Profile Joined January 2009
Singapore9453 Posts
December 01 2017 01:15 GMT
#6
Stacked tournament except for infamous. Hope they surprise, otherwise I'm starting to think that SA winners should enter a playoff with na runner ups or something. That said, it's not like na is looking that hot too.

Fnatic's entering the tournament in good form since abed joined. Hope the form continues.

Also wishing that the real secret appears. So much promise but somehow always falling short.

I'll be rooting for navi though, and VP after navi gets eliminated XD
tehh4ck3r
Profile Joined August 2013
Magrathea5823 Posts
December 01 2017 03:24 GMT
#7
Secret or newbee should win this tournament
AdministratorIn those days, spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri.
Xurr
Profile Joined April 2016
Germany313 Posts
December 01 2017 03:34 GMT
#8
So secret will try to make us forget about their performance in shanghai. What exactly was wrong with their performance in shanghai? So you can't win against Top10 teams in the world with a stand in who does not speak your language, who would have thought?
Sapaio
Profile Joined October 2017
Denmark701 Posts
December 01 2017 06:38 GMT
#9
On December 01 2017 01:41 OmniEulogy wrote:
That's true but I wouldn't discredit VP as a top contender for losing to VG and Newbee, VG is in the middle of becoming the #2 team in China and Newbee always has the ability to win games. China as a whole right now tbh has 3~ teams who could really win every tournament they enter, they probably wont and some might bomb but they could do it xD


I feel VG actually better players and talent level like the top 3 teams TL, VP and Secret. Seems like Newbee wins because of sccc willpower more than talent, not that its a bad thing.
GO OG
Jisira
Profile Joined October 2011
371 Posts
December 01 2017 08:30 GMT
#10
VP has been the only team in Jonkoping for a few days, and a few more teams has zero jetlag. However, Liquid still looking so strong in practice...

I hope Fnatic is feeling well rested and Abed is ready to shine. Hopefully he can help Fnatic upset some teams.
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