posted by Malystryx.GDS,
The last Major LAN on the Dota 2 calendar this year is the World Cyber Arena 2015, an international competition with a whopping $650,000 prize pool. Here's your guide to the 16 teams and the competition.


The WCA 2015 is to be held in Yinchuan, the capital city of Ningxia, a province in northern China bordering Mongolia from the 17th-20th December. There will be competitions for several titles all going on simultaneously just like last year, including Hearthstone, Warcraft3 and CrossFire. The event itself is organised by the Yinchuan Municipal Government, which is responsible for the impressive financial funding.

Last year's event had the largest prize pool of a tournament outside of TI and DAC, with $472,000 in prize money. It may seem eons ago, but cn Newbee were the victors of WCA 2014, and were rewarded with $325,000 for first place. read more

Last chance to fight for direct invites to Shanghai Major
The WCA 2015 is beautifully positioned to be quite the spectacle. Why? Because it is not only the last LAN of 2015, it is also the last LAN before direct invites go out for the Shanghai Major. This means for the European teams such as eu Team Liquid and ru Team Empire, a good result here could result in a direct invite.


1. The Top 3 contenders

The top contenders for the title are Team Secret, LGD Gaming and CDEC, with Team Secret arguably the front-runner based off a top 2 finish in all three of their last LANs. All three of these teams did not compete in The Summit 4, but while Team Secret seem certain of a Shanghai invite, CDEC and in particular LGD Gaming, are balancing dangerously on the edge. Both received an invite to the Frankfurt Majors off a top3 at TI5, but a poor finish at WCA 2015, might mean losing out to EHOME and Vici Gaming come January.


2. China's supporting cast

The WCA 2015 has tried to balance homegrown talent with foreign competitors, with a heavy Chinese presence in all of the titles on show. For two Chinese teams the WCA 2015 is their only shot at a direct invite for Shanghai, Invictus Gaming and Newbee. iG had only one LAN appearance last Major season, a 3-4th at ESL One New York after having to forfeit their spot at the Frankfurt Major due to lack of foresight. Meanwhile Newbee were one of the first teams to exit the Majors, finishing 13-16th in Frankfurt. An early exit here at WCA 2015 would mean regional qualifiers for the Shanghai Majors.


3. European challengers

The Defense 5 champions eu Team Liquid and GameShow winners ru Team Empire are also in Yinchuan for the WCA, and Empire's last visit to China for the MDL saw them finish 2nd. With no Virtus Pro or Vega, Empire are in fact the only CIS team at the event, and after the addition of ua Alexander 'XBOCT' Dashkevich appear to have rediscovered their mojo.

Alliance head to Yinchuan after announcing the reunion of the entire TI3 winning roster. se Gustav 's4' Magnusson came back to the team in September, and se Jerry 'EGM' Lundkvist's return last week marks what the Swedish boys hope will be a period of prosperity after what has been a disappointing 2015. Can EGM spark a revival that can stand the test of time? They will have their work cut out for them, as they find themselves in a group with both Digital Chaos and Team Liquid. Group D is definitely the one to watch!

4. Unknown factors

Digital Chaos, MVP Phoenix and Fnatic all have the potential to challenge the top, but we've been waiting a long time for their breakthrough tournament. MVP Phoenix last success was at TI5 where they finished 8th, but a change in personnel has not brought results, with kr Tae Won 'March' Park now moved to a coaching role to train the new blood in the team. With SEA regional qualifiers just around the corner, a solid performance here would instill a lot of confidence going into 2016.

Digital Chaos is another unknown factor, especially as they have not survived in the tournaments they have attended, and were first to exit in the playoffs of the The Summit 4 and the Nanyang Championships. Although, this time they have brought with them experience, borrowing the services of Evil Geniuses ca Artour 'Arteezy' Babaev for the competition who will stand in for pk Yawar 'YawaR' Hassan. Digital Chaos and SUNSfan have waited patiently for their big break, with the addition of 1437 and Arteezy as a stand-in, it's now or never. This roster should definitely reach top 8 at least at WCA 2015.

Fnatic on the other hand are significantly weakened, letting go of de Dominik 'Black^' Reitmeier rather suddenly just days before the roster lock transfer period ended. Instead of looking for a new 5th player to replace the German carry, they opted to let their coach my Ahmad 'ADTR' Syazwan fill the role. Following the excellent performance of my Mineski at the Frankfurt Major and recently my Orange.Taring* at the Malaysian Cyber Games, Fnatic's hold on the SEA scene is slipping. Can they find their way?

5. The others

The other five teams are here for the experience, and are unlikely to challenge for a playoff spot. us Leviathan and ca Team YP* have almost 0 previous LAN experience, whilst Execration, TNC Gaming and Wings Gaming have only really played domestically. An international event of this scale and a new patch to boot makes this a very difficult challenge for them, but practise against top opposition ahead of the regional Shanghai Major qualifiers will be priceless.

You can find out more about the competition which is already underway on our coverage page



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