posted by Sun_Tzu,
With The Asia fast upon us, infrequent contributor au Kurt 'zMuffinMan' Armstrong reached out to us to help get people up to speed on this clash covering all different corners of the Asian scene.


Us Dota 2 fans are all spoilt it seems. As the StarLadder LAN Finals near their end, The Asia 2012 begins and not long after that the G-League will commence. There just isn’t enough time in the day to watch it all!

The Asia will take place in Kuala Lumpur at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on the 22nd-23rd December.

In search for the best teams in Asia, many teams had the opportunity to fight for a slot in The Asia 2012. As far back as June all the way up to October, teams from all across Asia (and Oceania) competed in the Alienware|Game Victorious, Battleground Asia Pacific and Asian Cyber Games. These teams have had a long time to prepare for this exciting tournament and the wait is finally over!

There could only be one winner from each country and one winner of the South-East Asia qualifier (which is why both my Orange and my MUFC from Malaysia are participating). Unfortunately Japan will not be represented at this event and therefore Group B has one less team than Group A. The groups are:

[groupstage_old matches=1 title=0]111[/groupstage_old]

Team Previews and Group Predictions:



Group A:

cn LGD.cn - cn 'xiao8' , cn 'Yao', cn 'DD', cn 'Sylar', mo 'DDC'

They are the heavy favourites to take this entire competition. An all Chinese top 3 finish could have been confidently predicted if it weren't for only one team from China being able to qualify for this event. At the time of the Chinese qualifiers for this event, LGD.Cn was the better team. LGD was also the better team at the G-1 League LAN Finals, besting cn Invictus Gaming and cn DK.

in Elunesin 'Ben^Dover', in 'Mr.Crowley', in 'WaBisuk3', in 'L@cky', in 'PulseOfHell'

Yes. India do in fact have a Dota scene and these guys have proven to be the best by qualifying and are now representing their country. Whilst they come into this tournament as underdogs with the odds heavily against them, this will be a vital experience for them as Dota players and hopefully they will make the most of this opportunity.

my MUFCmy 'Net', my 'Sharky', my 'Ling', my 'Ohaiyo', sg 'HyHy'

MUFC have turned it up a notch lately; they've shown that they are a top contender with solid performances, most notably in the crucial G-League Qualifiers where they took down Orange to secure their slot in the prestigious event. They also took a 2:0 series off of LGD.cn in GEST Dota 2: The Challenge, although later dropping out against the same team in the losers bracket with a 2:1 score. With KeN having left the team, it seems as if they always have at least one Singaporean in their squad now a days, where sg Nicholas 'xFreedom' Lim of sg Zenith was seen standing in as their fifth, it is now sg Benedict 'HyHy' Yong, the legendary Zenith player making an appearance out of retirement. MUFC are in it to win it.

bn Revivalbn 'Wan', bn 'xiiaovinz', bn 'Ace|Q', bn 'Mich', bn 'K71'

This is the great thing about events like these. It gives teams that you’ve never heard of before the chance to show what they’ve got to the world. With their recent second place finish in the TFF Gamecon 2012, a local LAN Tournament in Brunei, they are set to ride the momentum through to The Asia.

vn 1st.VNvn 'HCMA.BeTac', vn 'HCMA.Misa', vn 'HCMA.JangNaroldol', vn 'HCMA.Boss', vn 'HCMA.Ares'

Vietnam has a history in Wc3 DotA, most notably the iconic Vietnamese team, vn StarsBoba. It’s regrettable that Vietnam has yet to make a splash in Dota 2. Signs point to that still being the case with 1st.VN, but anything can and will happen at The Asia 2012.

au Invasion.N9au 'r1sk', au 'Shatan', au 'Godot', my 'WinteR', my 'Fzfz'

This is a very different Natural 9 to the one that played under au Absolute Legends in TI2. To recap, r1sk came back to the team, ca Scott 'bLeek' Jensen, au Trong 'Snoopy' Truong and au Justin 'xMusiCa' Yuen left, and two Malaysians, WinteR from Orange and Fzfz from my Invasion.Red joined. G-1 League wasn't the best showcase of their talent as they placed last in their group stage due to time rating despite draws against both cn TongFu and sg Flash. This is the tournament where the new N9, fighting under the Invasion tag, are looking to make a statement and show the world what they have to offer.

Group A predictions: This is a skewed group and only two teams can make it. LGD and MUFC are my picks for topping this group.

Match of the Group: MUFC vs. N9. I believe this will likely be the battle for 2nd place in the group and a spot in the Semi-Finals.

Group B:

sg Zenithsg 'xy-', sg 'xFreedom', sg 'LuX-', sg 'K-I-N-G', sg 'IceIceIce'

Zenith has been relatively quiet lately, with HyHy's retirement, se Jonathan 'Loda' Berg moving back to Sweden and joining se No Tidehunter, IceIceIce standing in for Orange and xFreedom standing in for MUFC, it almost felt like Zenith vanished. Fortunately, The Asia 2012 has brought them out of hiding. It can be said with confidence that they are still the best team in Singapore, qualifying over the likes of Flash, sg AliKuKU and sg Harrosh under the moniker, ‘1v5’. They've also recently taken out the GosuCup Asia, which had N9, Mith.Trust and my SpaceMonkeys competing. Could this mark the return of Zenith or is it just a one off grab for the prize money?

id Joe.Netid 'DonXwaN', my '993', my 'dabeliuteef', id 'DummyNation', id 'Fate'

Indonesians love their DotA and have been very quiet in Dota 2 so far so it's refreshing to finally see an Indonesian team compete in a big event. Here they are lending help from the Malaysian, HONTRASHPLAYER (dabeliuteef) from Orange’s HoN team. He also used to play for au Tt eSports (ex-Frenetic Array) and before that has had a long history in Wc3 DotA. Joenet are probably the weakest team in this group and their work is cut out for them. There is, however, a shining ray of hope; they managed to take a game off Orange a month and a half ago.

Update:
We have received word that 993 is in fact a pseudonym for former MUFC member my Daniel 'TFG' Wong.

my Orange Esportsmy 'Xtinct', my 'Yamateh', my 'ww_', my 'Ice', my 'Ky.xY'

Things have gone from good to bad to worse for Orange Esports. They looked good with my Chai 'Mushi' Fung and IceIceIce during G-1 League where they managed to take down iG at LAN to finish 3rd place. Those two big names won't be with Orange for The Asia 2012. They’ve been inconsistent ever since G-1, they failed to qualify for G-League and fell short of 3rd place at WCG to by iCCup. Their performances as a whole have been lackluster recently. With Mushi's absence it will be a struggle for Orange to make it past group stages. This is a tournament for my Lee 'Ky.xY' Yang to step up and shine.

ph TNC.Pag-ibigph 'Cast', ph 'JessieVash', ph 'ninjaboogie', ph 'Foxx', ph 'Ryo'

Whilst the Pinoys rejoice in the land of Wc3 DotA as they reign supreme at SMM 2012, there is a team with their focus aimed squarely on Dota 2. Representing the Phillipines as their best Dota 2 team, TNC.Pag-ibig is out to make their country proud. Some may notice that this squad features ninjaboogie, who was instrumental to the half Pinoy, half Singaporean squad, ph Duskbin, who made some waves in the SEA scene a number of months ago.

th MiTH.Trustth 'Tnk', th 'LK', th 'aabBAA', th 'r5r5', th 'sD'

Thailand and MiTH.Trust are synonymous when it comes to Dota. That's the legacy of this team. They've been focusing a lot on Dota 2 lately and are not a team to be underestimated. They have the skill and potential to beat pretty much anyone. Their most recent results include wins over JoeNet, N9 and ph Izone Gigabyte. They just may snatch a victory over Orange and this could see them in the finals.

Update:
The returning player th Noppadon 'sD' Paopongprapun is in fact one of the original pioneers of solo mid Batrider.

Group B predictions: I predict Zenith topping the group and a battle for 2nd place between MiTH.Trust and Orange.

Match of the Group: Zenith vs. Orange. The winner of this will likely be the top of the group. How will IceIceIce fair against the team he was standing in for not too long ago?

Prediction to win it all:



I favour LGD.Cn to take home the Championship. A Chinese team of that calibre and at LAN, with the responsibility of representing China, will do everything they can to make sure they win. MUFC will probably put up the best fight, but ultimately be bested by LGD.Cn.

Schedule and casting information:



The group stage is a best-of-1 format and will be played in its entirety on day 1 of the tournament. Day 2 will see the top 2 teams of each group match up in the semi-finals, followed by consolidation final as well as a best-of-3 grand final.

The main stage games will be brought to you live from the convention centre in Kuala Lumpur by our very own au Toby 'TobiWan' Dawson and ph Joshua 'Jtan' Tan.

us David 'LD' Gorman will be covering off-stage games.

Prize pool



Champion: USD 15,000 + Trophy + Medals
2nd Place: USD 9,000 + Medals
3rd Place: USD 6,000 + Medals

Written by: au Kurt 'zMuffinMan' Armstrong

All opinions and predictions included within are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of joinDOTA as an organization.

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